My name is Dave. Or David, if you prefer? I want to be a writer. If you know me even a smidge, that should come as no huge surprise. I've been butting heads with my desire to write the great American novel for about as long as....well, it's been a really long time. In order to give that desire the requisite "kick in the ass" it needs, I'm going to get away from it. Which, goes against every credible piece of advice I've garnered or borrowed the last year or so. But, I can't stop writing. That is one axiom that is resolute, non-negotiable. Rather than focus on penning my "Hemingway", I'm going to write "stream of consciousness", or blog about music. Who knows, maybe Hemingway was a closet Nirvana fan? Quick, but amusing side story. A friend of mine(thanks Jen!) forwarded to me a "sort of" application/query for Diffuser magazine who is looking for freelance journalists with a slant towards the 90's scene? Well, I"m an 80's slanted guy, but, intrigue caused me to press on. Ahead of the process involving the whole resume crap, they threw out 3 questions that the ideal applicant should "immediately" know the answer to. The first asked why REM started sounding different in 1998. Well, I didn't instantly know the answer, but after a bit of reflection, it came to me. Ok. I felt qualifed to read on. The second asked about the head of "Third man records"? I'm out. No idea. A familiar name jumped out at me from the third question and I was once again reunited with intrigue. The mini interview concluded with the following "What was the best Stone Temple Pilots release? (This is not subjective)". Sorry Diffuser, I'm out. I didn't and don't care for that tone young man. Implying that there are some wrong answers to liking one of my fave bands releases? Nope, I'm not your guy.
This particular blog is going to twist and turn on you. Let me burst a bubble right now. It is NOT about Prince. I feel like some of you may have been on the verge of, and now are definitely going to jump off?! No, although, the glyphed one is sort of a backdrop? Or kind of the best supporting actor? I've been pondering this subject ever since the day after Prince passed away. And as these things are wont to do, its been eating away at me to the point that....here I am? Now that I've popped the balloon, let me hopefully reel some of you back in. Cause....the whole vibe of this piece is all Prince. Confused? Me too.
I have a confession to make. I'm a tad nervous about making it. Breathe, breathe, breathe...ok, here goes. You see, the thing of it is...I've never been what you would call...a big fan...of Prince. Breathe, breathe...you still there? Now, for clarification, It's absolutely not that I disliked him or his work. I have always held a ton of respect for his place in the musical pantheon, and would hum along to some of his uber hits when they casually came on the radio. But, I just never felt that "thing". Never made the connection that so many millions did. Confession number two. I, like countless others, am jumping on the Prince bandwagon post mortem, so to speak. I may not have been a fanatic, but I am eating up all this coverage. Living here in Minnesota? It's incredible. Everyone, and I mean everyone is recanting their tales of past meetings with the eccentric mega star. There has been a non-stop vigil outside of the Prince compound in Chanhassen, Paisley Park. There have been impromptu parties and celebrations and jam fests, each thrown together for the sole purpose of partying like its 1999? People are even painting huge memorials on bluffs above rivers, and then stirring up the local legislature about the covering up of said memorials, but...that's a diff. blog. The global reaction has been unlike anything that I can recall since Michael? The Eiffel tower ensconced in purple. Las Vegas casinos bathed in it. Nearly every building or structure of note here in the twin cities has been coated in some form of purple. But, being a music head such that I am, I have been easily swept up in the Prince wave since his passing. YouTube and the rest of the social media heavy-weights have been teeming with stuff. Old videos, interviews, skits, and the list goes on and on. I'd buy the music itself, but Prince and his empire have seen an increase in sales of a whopping 4000%?! It's sold out everywhere. I suppose the moral of the story is to not wait until an artist is gone to embrace the work. But, that's not the moral of THIS story.
Mixed in with this sea of positive vibes and tearful memorials and general all round "purple" overload is a wee bit of negative. And one of them struck me deep and it's the sole purpose for my ramblings. One of the other negatives, that I don't care about, is the speculation about drugs and the events leading up to "the event". I couldn't care one bit. I almost kind of just assume that there will be some sort of narcotic angle. But,so what? No one should be shocked by that. Anyone who feigns dismay or angst over the notion that a rock star of the ilk such as Prince just might be taking a drug or two or twenty...just doesn't get rock and roll. I'm not saying its right or wrong, but I"m saying there's no changing it so why give a F? The negative I'm referring to is the folks who have expressed their admonishment of all the attention being devoted to Prince and his passing. I've seen posts and tweets in the arena of "There are hundreds of thousands of people who die on this planet every day, and no one cares". Then there's the very simplistic but ridiculous comparison of the passing of a rock and roll icon and those who have fought and served in our military. Look, there is nothing and nobody who can come out of such a comparison faring well. The military and the incredibly brave folks who serve in it are to be revered and honored and when those folks succumb to the ravages of war and strife and are called on to make the ultimate sacrifice? There is nothing at all that tops that. My fingers tremble even typing it. So, I throw out that notion not just from talking about coverage of a dead rock star, but also when talking about sports, music, politics, religion....pretty much all of it? Here's my point to all those folks who are bemoaning the amount of time and coverage being paid to Prince...It's gonna be ok. All death sucks. Can we all agree on that? Those hundreds of thousands who die every day have sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and family, and for those who knew that person? Yes, it sucks and many times it's tragic and unexpected and even when its just good old age and a life well lived comes to its final breath, we mourn and remember. We feel bad for those left behind. So, why in the hell does an entire city stop in its tracks and prop up the life of one of its own who was taken unexpectedly? Why does the president of our United States feel the need to post a pretty coolly written eulogy to this same artist? Why does the entire globe seemingly feel the need to pay its respects to the purple one? Isn't all this just too too much? No. And i'm gonna tell you why.
These artists aren't just numbers. They aren't just like those hundreds of thousands. There is simply no debating that. And I don't write it to be cruel or elitest, I'm just being real. You can argue about just how high of a pedestal we put them on whether alive or dead, but in the end, I feel confident I'd win that argument. These artists are so much more. Music is all powerful. It transports our souls to other worlds. It's the tie that binds us all together. From here on, I"m not even referring to Prince. We all have our own "Prince". We all have our own music, our own artist that we go to for safety. We all have in our "memory lanes" those artists and that music which invokes the sweetest of memories, the fondest of emotions. Music is there from the beginning. The good and the bad, and yes, even the ugly. But, for today's lesson, I'm mainly referring to the fact that these artists become our best friends, our secret keepers, our soul mates. And losing that? Wow. I'd guess that nearly 99.9999% of the folks "affected" by Prince's death never met the man. At least in person. I'll bet a good many of them saw him in concert. I'll bet many of them fell in love with the music. And I'll bet that once they fell in love with the music, that the music began to craft the soundtrack of their lives. The fights, the break-ups, the loves sought, the loves lost. First kisses, that first time venturing into the back seat. Those youthful and care-free parties where Prince and his masterful lyrics were blaring in the background. Those first drives, with the windows down and the car stereo cranked to max volume as "Let's go Crazy" laid down a dance track to those in and outside the car. Did I mention first kisses? Pardon the french, but that first fuck, and all the sexuality and sensuality that Prince exuded. So....when the guy that was there for ALL that passes away? Pardon me, actually...pardon them...for making it a big deal.
Me? I'm just pissed that I waited so long to fully jump on board. I'll close with this personal snippet. I moved to Minneapolis in January of 2003. It must have been in February of that year that I ventured downtown with one of my best friends and we went to a local band battle thing that was in a teensie tiny hole in the wall called "Seventh Street Entry". Think dark and dank bar with room for a hundred or so to cram next to each other and listen rather intimately to some local music? Anyway, I was then very ignorant of the music scene here in Minny. The hole in the wall bar is located in, and is actually part of another bar. One with a bit more mystique to it....First Avenue. He took me around to the other side and I touched many of the stars painted on the wall, including Prince's, and he took me inside and while I may not have been a Prince fanatic, I wasn't and am not an idiot. I love music history and knew I was standing in sacred and holy ground. I got chills then and have them now even remembering it. I get it. I absolutely get it. We all have our own Prince. Oh yeah....there is currently legislature here in MN regarding an official state color. It seems we have 19 official "things", but a color has never been one. Did I say this wasn't about Prince so much? I need to go find a copy of Purple Rain. See ya.
No comments:
Post a Comment