Friday, June 25, 2010

Answer #152 - Maybe the future smells like Peppermint

On the road today without Adventure Boy.  4 shows.  No Adventure Boy.

I'll probably eat junk food.  Adventure Boy doesn't like junk food.

I'll make many phone calls, listen to NPR some, and AM radio some.  Some crap fiction.  Maybe some non-crap fiction.  I've been reconsidering my commitment to crap fiction on the road, especially since The Nanny Diaries (which, incidentally, still makes my stomach hurt).  I'm hunting for a copy of Into Thin Air by Krakauer.   Still haven't listened to it - but I think this trip is it.

Right now, I'm listening to a 15-year-old from India- in the studio on the other side of the door - singing a well-written song, with a lilting voice, not unlike the singers from the Sundays, the Cranberrys and the girl who sang Kiss Me.. (6 Pence None the Richer?)  a vocal quality I like quite a bit - the ultra-feminine aspect.  I don't embody it, but I like to hear it.

Writing a good song isn't much of an anomaly anymore.  Everybody's shooting for writing a great song, at one point or another - but it's a strange, changing world.  Good writers are everywhere - artists are everywhere - it's an incredibly prolific-seeming period for American creative culture.  I postulate, on occasion, it's not unlike the dying tree that bursts with an enormous crop of glistening fruit as it's last, beautiful exhale.

But those are in dark minutes.  Maybe it's a brighter thing - maybe the technology that has allowed so many voices to enter the market will spark the collective imagination of this great human beast- to save itself - and exhale an unspeakably beautiful future?

 I watched the documentary of Dr. Bronner, crazy soap guy, last night. I wanted a peek into the brain of the man with the diatribe-covered soap bottles. I was hoping for something other than egomanical nutjobness.  Didn't get it - but others may argue.

Still - he had imagination, commitment, drive, and exhaled a thing into existence.

Maybe the beautiful future smells like peppermint.

4 comments:

  1. Traveling can be really a fun and also time of spending quality time with Family .This year i am moving to Cyprus for Beach holidays.

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  2. Oh look. 'Rabica' is trying to sell you something on my blog spot. Moving on up, I guess. The spammers have found me! Red letter day...

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  3. You've arrived! Time to start putting that delete button finger to work. What's your favorite junk food?

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  4. I don't know... maybe I don't get out enough but I think there's a vast amount of mediocre music these days. I once heard a comment at a conference a while back from someone exiting a showcase: "That is a prime example of how it's too easy & too cheap to make a CD now." Indie bands & artists who have just put out their first CD are getting gigs too easily while really talented, experienced songwriters struggle. You may see more in your travels & in AB's studio, I don't know... but what I see when I chance a show with someone new, it seems that too often, making a simple I -IV-V progression into something creative & interesting is beyond most of them. That's why I value your work... really!!!

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