Thirty Days in the Hole?
Whoa! Humble Pie on a most played list from one of Kurt's readers? I mean, Kurt has the most sophisticated readership in all of blogdom, and now Humble Pie shows up on a most played list.
And Melanie, please, please, don't take this as a slam against your taste in tunes. It's not that they were a bad band. But for me they never transcended their time. I enjoyed them in their day. They did a good show when they played an outdoor concert with Peter Frampton and Boston. But mostly they're the kind of band I listen to when I'm getting nostalgic - sit on the porch in the rocker chair with a Molson Ale (or maybe a Pearl, depending on which old days I'm yearning for) and regale each other with tales of days gone by.
Maybe it really should be here. Kurt has a tendency to use his blog as a digital form of "porch sitting." And to leave tracks in the dust of memories. And here in the Northeast we had a real taste of summer for Memorial Day weekend - it almost got to 90 degrees. And summer is a time for escaping realities. And renewing connections, with others and ourselves. And these old tunes have a great way of doing that.
I hear a song like Thirty Days in the Hole and my response ISN"T to hit mute and groan about how could I have ever thought that music was any good. No. Instead my mind jumps back to days cruising in a '68 Mustang convertible. To warm and misty summer nights. And I'm filled with pleasure. And suddenly I'm ready to hear a little "Black Coffee." And if I'm hanging with folks who also remember when, or my sons, we're searching through the iTunes library and going oh, you gotta hear this, or remember this song, etc., etc.
But most of y'all who leave comments are far to young to be joining Kurt in residing in the "remember when world." Then again, it isn't long after high school that we begin vacationing there. And then, when we get settled into the work world, these flights into the past become necessary excursions to preserve our sanity. Especially when we gather with our college buddies and other cohorts in early adulthood crimes. Add kids and a few more years of being "adult" and the lure of the past gets even stronger. Having those kids begin moving into adulthood themselves, and suddenly building a second home in remember when world becomes a very appealing option.
Of course Kurt's readership is much too cool to end up there. Or even to begin to slip away from the center of hip. Or are they? Sadly, unless we're in the arts or entertainment business we never can stay on that edge of cool. It's not our world, and almost by definition, as we move into the "real world" we move farther and farther from the cutting edge.
All this isn't meant to depress y'all. Instead, I hope it helps to reassure you when you begin to notice that you have no clue who that band is that you're hearing coming from the iPod hanging off that college kid that you're still okay. You truly were cool in your time. And still are. It's just a different cool now. If it isn't then you really are in trouble. There's nothing less cool than an old fart trying to be young. And it happens a lot sooner than we think: both our becoming "old farts," and our being seen as trying to be young. The high school kids in our youth group get a hoot out of the twenty-somethings who they think want to be seen as cool.
Maybe our problem is that as we age we sometimes forget what makes cool. Or at least cool as I understand it. (Which may or may not have any basis in reality.) Cool in living, is like cool in jazz. It's that sound that's comfortable just sitting there in the background, not overwhelming and grabbing the spotlight by flash and other non-substantive things. But that is also so proficient, so compelling that we can't help but stop and pay attention, to listen and be taken in by it. Cool in jazz has specific form, and yet is so fluid that boundaries are totally permeable. Cool takes you into unexpected places and makes connections you'd never think to make. And brings you back to home. Cool is what it is. It doesn't try to be something else. It doesn't project an image, even though it does have a certain way of carrying itself, a certain personna. Cool isn't the latest thing, and yet it lives on the cutting edge. Not the cutting edge of trends, but the cutting edge of discovery. Which is why some of the people who seem to have the most mundane existence can be truly cool, why others who are always trying to stay in step with all the latest trends can be as far from cool as one can ever get. It's why a Mr. Rogers could be totally cool and timeless, while Barney and Cabbage Patch and Twinkie Dinks (or whatever they are) come and go.
You may not have a clue as to which bands are the current darlings of the indie crowd. But if that isn't the world you live in everyday you don't need to know to be truly deeply cool.
For another take on this whole subject from someone who does have an idea who the good new bands actually are read Annamaria's post on Greg Dulli and The Afghan Whigs.
And Melanie, please, please, don't take this as a slam against your taste in tunes. It's not that they were a bad band. But for me they never transcended their time. I enjoyed them in their day. They did a good show when they played an outdoor concert with Peter Frampton and Boston. But mostly they're the kind of band I listen to when I'm getting nostalgic - sit on the porch in the rocker chair with a Molson Ale (or maybe a Pearl, depending on which old days I'm yearning for) and regale each other with tales of days gone by.
Maybe it really should be here. Kurt has a tendency to use his blog as a digital form of "porch sitting." And to leave tracks in the dust of memories. And here in the Northeast we had a real taste of summer for Memorial Day weekend - it almost got to 90 degrees. And summer is a time for escaping realities. And renewing connections, with others and ourselves. And these old tunes have a great way of doing that.
I hear a song like Thirty Days in the Hole and my response ISN"T to hit mute and groan about how could I have ever thought that music was any good. No. Instead my mind jumps back to days cruising in a '68 Mustang convertible. To warm and misty summer nights. And I'm filled with pleasure. And suddenly I'm ready to hear a little "Black Coffee." And if I'm hanging with folks who also remember when, or my sons, we're searching through the iTunes library and going oh, you gotta hear this, or remember this song, etc., etc.
But most of y'all who leave comments are far to young to be joining Kurt in residing in the "remember when world." Then again, it isn't long after high school that we begin vacationing there. And then, when we get settled into the work world, these flights into the past become necessary excursions to preserve our sanity. Especially when we gather with our college buddies and other cohorts in early adulthood crimes. Add kids and a few more years of being "adult" and the lure of the past gets even stronger. Having those kids begin moving into adulthood themselves, and suddenly building a second home in remember when world becomes a very appealing option.
Of course Kurt's readership is much too cool to end up there. Or even to begin to slip away from the center of hip. Or are they? Sadly, unless we're in the arts or entertainment business we never can stay on that edge of cool. It's not our world, and almost by definition, as we move into the "real world" we move farther and farther from the cutting edge.
All this isn't meant to depress y'all. Instead, I hope it helps to reassure you when you begin to notice that you have no clue who that band is that you're hearing coming from the iPod hanging off that college kid that you're still okay. You truly were cool in your time. And still are. It's just a different cool now. If it isn't then you really are in trouble. There's nothing less cool than an old fart trying to be young. And it happens a lot sooner than we think: both our becoming "old farts," and our being seen as trying to be young. The high school kids in our youth group get a hoot out of the twenty-somethings who they think want to be seen as cool.
Maybe our problem is that as we age we sometimes forget what makes cool. Or at least cool as I understand it. (Which may or may not have any basis in reality.) Cool in living, is like cool in jazz. It's that sound that's comfortable just sitting there in the background, not overwhelming and grabbing the spotlight by flash and other non-substantive things. But that is also so proficient, so compelling that we can't help but stop and pay attention, to listen and be taken in by it. Cool in jazz has specific form, and yet is so fluid that boundaries are totally permeable. Cool takes you into unexpected places and makes connections you'd never think to make. And brings you back to home. Cool is what it is. It doesn't try to be something else. It doesn't project an image, even though it does have a certain way of carrying itself, a certain personna. Cool isn't the latest thing, and yet it lives on the cutting edge. Not the cutting edge of trends, but the cutting edge of discovery. Which is why some of the people who seem to have the most mundane existence can be truly cool, why others who are always trying to stay in step with all the latest trends can be as far from cool as one can ever get. It's why a Mr. Rogers could be totally cool and timeless, while Barney and Cabbage Patch and Twinkie Dinks (or whatever they are) come and go.
You may not have a clue as to which bands are the current darlings of the indie crowd. But if that isn't the world you live in everyday you don't need to know to be truly deeply cool.
For another take on this whole subject from someone who does have an idea who the good new bands actually are read Annamaria's post on Greg Dulli and The Afghan Whigs.
posted by Wake of the Flood at 8:35 AM
1 Comments:
Melanie: Been gone to conference for a week so I didn't see this and figure you probably won't even see this, but thought I'd post anyway.
I wasn't slamming your choice of Humble Pie. It was seeing it on your list that got me thinking about how some music seems to have a connection that transcends any time period. It can connect with folks when it first comes out, and then years later it will connect with a whole new generation, not as "roots" to some band they like, but standing on its own and being liked and meaning something to them today.
And then there's some stuff that's good, but doesn't transcend. It's just great for its time. For me, Humble Pie is one of those bands. Nothing wrong with them. Good tunes. But they don't connect to who I am now, they connect to who I was. And I don't see them connecting to folks now like they did when they were around.
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