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Strange Poignancies (And Weird Coincidences)
November 14, 2011 06:25PM
www.salon.com/2011/11/14/michael_stipe_why_r_e_m_called_it_a_day/
This Salon interview I found particularly moving, maybe because it stirred some more recent memories while the other journalistic post-mortems I’ve seen focused on R.E.M.'s earlier years. I caught several of the band's 2008 shows, and with no logical basis whatsoever, I’d felt they might be my last chance to see R.E.M. Later, my irrational suspicions extended to Collapse Into Now – I was so convinced it might be the band’s swansong that I found myself deliberately avoiding the album even though I’d heard good reviews. I can be weirdly superstitious at times and felt I could somehow prevent the end from arriving if only I didn’t listen.
In mid-September this year I travelled to South Carolina for a cousin’s wedding, and I brought my mp3 player along for the drive between a layover city and final destination. When a random shuffle play brought up “Supernatural Superserious,” I blasted the volume and hit repeat over and over til the battery died.
R.E.M. was played several times at the reception, too. “Nightswimming” was the bride and groom’s first dance, and I found myself lost in memories I hadn’t really associated with the song before, memories of bonfires and shooting stars and yes, skinny-dipping on the coast of Maine. I remembered how much the band’s music had meant to my cousins, a love passed from older to younger down the line of five siblings and culminating in the youngest being driven all the way to Boston to see her first rock show.
I have so many other memories, too, of course, from different years and different places, with various friends and family or out on my own. But these were the associations for me while I listened after the wedding in September. The next day, I started and ended my return drive with more blasts of “Supernatural Superserious” at top volume. It was the only song that felt completely perfect, that penetrated and subverted a deep sadness I couldn’t shake and had tried hard all weekend to avoid sharing. I can’t carry a tune to save my life, but I sang along anyway, smiling and laughing all the while. Weird, possibly demented, but it felt so very good and necessary.
The day after I got home, September 20, I had two major tasks for the day: vote in Holyoke’s preliminary election and pick up Collapse Into Now. And the following day, as news of Alex Morse’s key victory (“I was the one!”) en route to becoming our new mayor-elect was eclipsed for me by word of R.E.M.’s demise, I was very sad about the latter but not at all surprised. I’ve saved my dated receipt for the album as some sort of memento mori (maybe memento demento is more like it!), but I’m not even sure what lesson to draw from it…something about the inevitability of fate, or maybe something about letting go and moving on, or about giving thanks for all I’ve been given, or maybe just getting my head out of my butt because it’s never about me even when it feels so much like it is. I should probably laminate that little receipt…
just a few random links
March 29, 2011 09:59PM
Oh my, more than a year has passed since I’ve posted anything here. **tumbleweeds**
Here’s an interesting Peter Buck interview with a couple of brief David Bowie mentions (some of R.E.M.’s latest album was recorded at Hansa in Berlin):
remhq.com/news_story.php?id=1364
Robyn Hitchcock’s website streams a few Bowie covers recorded at a Halloween 2010 benefit for Medecins Sans Frontieres, where Hitchcock & friends performed Hunky Dory in its entirety. Just click on the trolley bus in the lower right corner:
www.robynhitchcock.com/
Next, a clip from No Deposit No Return Blues, a film by K.C. Bull about her father, the incredible musician Sandy Bull:
www.myspace.com/video/sandy-bull/clip-1-from-no-deposit-no-return-blues/55836839
I was lucky enough to see the film in its entirety along with Oma, about Sandy Bull’s mother, harpist Daphne Hellman. If there’s a showing of the pair near you, go!
And some passing references in the Sandy Bull film led me to these Moondog pieces:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xj3-c1F384
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDfIEiU0Q0&;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dLPsw3i_P8&;
Finally, Deep River is a wonderful trio based near DC. Catch 'em in a living room near you, or just check this out:
www.youtube.com/deeprivermusic
Enjoy!
Video re: Afghanistan raid & attempted cover-up
March 27, 2010 04:08PM
I won’t pretend to have neat, easy solutions for Iraq or Afghanistan. I think Powell got much right when he said “You break it, you own it.” I opposed both wars/occupations before they started, but unfortunately once begun, the answer can’t be as simple as a quick withdrawal from either arena. Yet repeating the same mistakes is no solution, either. This video from Rethink Afghanistan shows the importance of continuing to treat Pentagon reports with great skepticism (warning: contains disturbing images):
www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=379707337434
(I'm not on Facebook, but the page is publicly accessible.)
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| Real Name: | Plain Jane From Maine |
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