Reptiles

Reptiles
Silly Grins

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Blowing Minds, One Spoon at a Time




This is about spoons. But it (this post) is not about the kind of spoons that are not there - those imaginary gems we see on the screen and put into our mental matrices. 

No. Not this.


Not this at all. This is not real.

Let's drop a few pegs down, shall we? 

You ready? 



 They think he's a street person, or he's doing this because he can't hold down a regular job. They put him a few pegs down on the social ladder because of how they perceive someone who dresses differently.- Chris Cornell

"He's going to be there," a voice had said

"He who?" the other had answered.


"The Spoonman... Artis!"

"A spoon artist?" he said, still not getting it.

"He's famous. Has played all over the world. A world-famous busker." 

"Look. I'll go. I didn't really know Builder, but I'll go for his widow. Not that I'm a big fan of memorials or anything."

The memorial service was a community thing, held by people who had known each other for quite some time. The widow had been a pillar of sorts and her husband... he'd been willing to do things his own way, off the grid for the most part. He'd gone blind before he died a somewhat premature death. Last time 'Courier' had see Builder had been at a drum circle. He had had his cane with him to serve as his 6th sense. A cane. A cane that didn't really make up for the abandoned eyes floating in their sockets behind an over-sized pair of black shades. At the drum circle, Builder sat off to the side, just smiling and listening. 

So now, Builder was dead. Diabetes has a way of doing that to some people. All those good times borrowed against during our youth...well...some people have to pay back their health debts all at once, so it seems. Out of the red and into the black.

Memorial services were never a thing for him. Part of the reason comes from urban wisdom that dictates everyone be polite about this life. Very few people seem to actually wanna admit that most of our troubles are somehow bred from our illusions of what life is supposed to be about. Very few people will admit this in the open, out in front of a crowd anyway. And for the most part, life does seem to do pretty well just kind of flowin' on its own. 

Yeah, right.

So, when a fairly normal looking man... fairly normal in the sense that he didn't really stand out where he was... when this fairly normal looking fellow stepped to the front of the gathering and laid out his wares, Courier had not a clue as to what he was about to witness. Something happened in the performance that wouldn't let those moments simply fall back into the general wrack of memories. Nope. There are some things you just can't forget, maybe because they remember you.

And while he, Courier, isn't still sure exactly what that something was, he kind of knows that it's still there. 


Borrowing a little from the Spoonman:


To all you, out there, who are presenting emphatically what you believe in... to all you crazy, self-absorbed, bloodthirsty, brutally honest... to you blog-evangelists, "Thank you."



A good interview...
 
 
 

OTHER STUFF

Bits and pieces from another conversation someone else had:
RC: Do you think people in this country [the US] are, in general, less informed about things? 
Artis: I think, in general, yes. I hesitate to make any general statements about that because I could easily find my foot in my mouth. But the English-speaking places, like Australia, they are more determined to be isolated. Australia is a country of bigots-the whites are the complete dominant race, it's like being in the U.S. in the late '50s. 

When Courier read this, he thought, "Well, if the Yanks are so ignorant, it could be related to the kind of news many of them tend to watch. And considering who has been in charge, it more or less makes sense." 


Whatever...

8 comments:

  1. You had me at Chris Cornell, the greatest rock vocalist ever... Nice read.

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    1. Never really listened to Soundgarden and didn't really know or have any idea who Cornell was until just a few days ago. And I'm really enjoying every moment of this 'discovery'.

      Thank you.

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  2. "some people have to pay back their health debts all at once, so it seems. Out of the red and into the black."

    I LOVE this line and it scares me all at the same time.

    I thought about that Soundgarden song....then I saw the Chris Cornell quote and put it together...me thinks?

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    1. That line... is from kind of seeing it happen. Not everyone's debts are collected in the same nor on the same day.

      Just saw the song for the first time a few minutes ago. And got the message, I think: Save your self.

      I've noticed there are people who carry a similar vibe through life. That 'vibe' or whatever it is is something I tend to notice. Some might say that vibe is in all of us, a noticeable majority who kind of bury it and never let it develop.

      And then some people just shine.

      (Not that it makes any of 'them' easy to get along with nor necessarily fun to be around. Still, gotta respect that.)

      Back to that line. Bodies get worn out, fall apart or 'malfunction' all the time. Even those that belong to people who supposedly have taken real good care of their gear from day one. That said, I do think we all could take a lot better care of our mortal equipment as a way of hedging our bets.

      (Hope nobody is standing too close... all of this is uttered through the stale breath of carbo-loaded hypocrisy)

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  3. The spoonman sounds kinda nutty and fairly interesting at the same time. I can only imagine how one would find interest playing with spoons, but than again I play with something that saves images and steals human souls.

    I don't think you can just label that one news source as more of the problem than the other ones. However biased it is, the 3 other main news sources are equally as biased. Nothing is fair and balanced anymore. That could be why newspaper numbers and news channel ratings have gone into the toilet in the last few years.

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    1. The photography in Soundgarden's A&M music video for "Spoonman" may interest you... if you haven't already seen it. This morning way my first time to view the video itself, something that was produced and released nearly two decades ago during a time in which I had no television.

      As for the labeling of the news source... in my posts, I often attempt to tie things together with the threads that are available. In the interview between RC and Artis, one of the questions was about Japan. And recently, big blogs have been talking about racism, and it all just fell together in a way. There's a lot more there, but I've not get the time and energy for that at the moment.

      Main news sources... living in Japan, getting information is not always an easy thing. Even for those who do have language ability. And often, so they say, tabloids are willing and able to print that which the press club supposedly can't (or just won't). Irony control.

      With this, I'll end with the message on Artis' shirt that kind of sticks in my head: FREE YOUR SELF.

      Thank you for your time.

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    2. Thanks for telling me about that video. When soundgarden were still around I had absolutely zero concept of art and whether it was good or bad. That video, the band, artis, and the artwork in the video were all incredible and I can't believe I never saw it before. That guy really does deserve the same type of recognition as equally talented musicians like Slash and The Beastie Boys.

      with the labeling news sources, I have common sense most of the time, but the way you write your words just fly right past my head sometimes. I probably should stop and read a few times before attempting an intellectual answer. my fingers and my mouth move way faster than my brain does and I don't take the time to process. It completely makes sense what you wrote and I just went off on a tangent.

      Great post btw.

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    3. No need to attempt an 'inte-whatever-it-is-lec-chwe-all' answer (waaaay too many syllables). And definitely no need be apologetic about moving at your own speed.

      Tangents can be some of the best places to head off in 'cause that's where the creativity is. Or something like that.

      Good to hear you enjoyed the video.

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