I am sitting on the porch of some of my oldest and most beloved couple of friends. I’m trying to learn how to just “be”. It’s supposed to be a natural state but we have to practice it, which seems unnatural. Though I guess we humans are more well-oiled for living when we regularly practice
Welcome to Toronto. The birds and foliage are excellent right now. Did you ever read The Past is a Foreign Country by David Lowenthal? Oh and The Future of Nostalgia by Svetlana Boym also so good. Be good to yourself.
YES to porches, angled light, and the company of longtime friends. Neko I often wonder how it is that you've been able to tweet and photograph and anecdote and muse online to the extent you do, especially while touring (during which such online human-ness is the tip of the iceberg - the bulky under-the-water part being advancing shows, promo, and beeswas of that sort). In contrast i feel like a '66 corvair that's been sitting in a barn covered with 20 years of bird poop. and maybe some possums living in the trunk. idk if you're in mono, but a friend has a farm there (more like mono cliffs) that is the most peaceful and spirit-nourishning place i've had access to in a long time. birds, or more accurately bird sounds, have a lot to do with it. makes me happy to think you might be soaking up some of that. btw, sorry for the long post - it's the first time i've been able to post on the lung, due to a snafu which was recently fixed. oh ps...neighbour kid reports seeing "car blood" under dad's jeep, which instantly inserts my brain into the everlasting night air of that '69 falcon crime scene <g>.
The Matador!! I pass it everyday on my way to work. What a place it was. I still smile at the good times I had there (though somehow missed the Neko show there once upon a time). I hope places like this still exist in Toronto for other generations to make bad, but harmless decisions in!
I'm finding that our memories interrupt our present, and not in any specific or organized fashion. My sister and I were talking recently, and she asked where I thought the impetus came from to have these moments of recall, and usually guilt. That may be because we're Irish, but I suspect that the interruption of the present by a unsuspected visitor from the past is perhaps universal and possibly tied in some way to the nature of time and our interaction with it. I've applied some random AA advice to these moments. Recognize it, learn from it, shake my head and move on. Reminds me of the Rankin song, "Moving On" and the only song of the Mercury period of Johnny Cash that charted, "I would like to see you again." He wrote and sang "Guess I better straighten out my head, straighten it out, and go to bed. Pray that I don't dream about old times, some old times, gone and dead." The act of unclutching sounds a bit like a guide to meditation, and that is the hardest part of that act of just being. Somehow reality intrudes in the form of an itching nose or "didn't I used to know that guy?" moments.
Friend in Kazakhstan sent me some old pictures of her folks and her as a baby and wondered if I was nostalgic for my childhood. Had to think for a second and no, I'm not. Not even a little; I recall a period of low grade anxiety at its best. Not sure what brought that on except that maybe it was the right time to grow up that way. Best years of my life were probably the last ten years in the Army...
Welcome back. You are treading through my neighborhoods and I assure you, my own hometown memories will always include you and our beloved Sadies. I hope this time here will bring new memories that will continue to draw you back to our city. This tornado loves you.
Running in your head , making plans , lists and whistling in the dark. Sometimes it is hard to let the past wash over me with its sickly sweet nostalgia , joy and regrets. I like to picture you on a porch with friends and that is a blanket to wrap around me today.
One of the reasons I love your music so much is that you so often put words that I can't find to the things I'm feeling, myself. I'm having a real killer of a time, not in the good way, and I needed this. Knowing someone else reacts to things the same way I do is a little like getting a cosmic hug, if you believe in that shit. Which I do not. Alas...
"A kind of unclutching" is how I try to experience nostalgia and nostalgia-adjacent sentiments. Let the feeling come, don't grasp at it or allow myself to languish in longing, enjoy any pleasant feelings that come with it, and let the feeling go.
Thank you for this! I don't think people realize how personal nostalgia intersects with societal nostalgia -- which is a stagnation pit. Cheers to your beingtime, a glorious space.
Welcome to Toronto. The birds and foliage are excellent right now. Did you ever read The Past is a Foreign Country by David Lowenthal? Oh and The Future of Nostalgia by Svetlana Boym also so good. Be good to yourself.
YES to porches, angled light, and the company of longtime friends. Neko I often wonder how it is that you've been able to tweet and photograph and anecdote and muse online to the extent you do, especially while touring (during which such online human-ness is the tip of the iceberg - the bulky under-the-water part being advancing shows, promo, and beeswas of that sort). In contrast i feel like a '66 corvair that's been sitting in a barn covered with 20 years of bird poop. and maybe some possums living in the trunk. idk if you're in mono, but a friend has a farm there (more like mono cliffs) that is the most peaceful and spirit-nourishning place i've had access to in a long time. birds, or more accurately bird sounds, have a lot to do with it. makes me happy to think you might be soaking up some of that. btw, sorry for the long post - it's the first time i've been able to post on the lung, due to a snafu which was recently fixed. oh ps...neighbour kid reports seeing "car blood" under dad's jeep, which instantly inserts my brain into the everlasting night air of that '69 falcon crime scene <g>.
The Matador!! I pass it everyday on my way to work. What a place it was. I still smile at the good times I had there (though somehow missed the Neko show there once upon a time). I hope places like this still exist in Toronto for other generations to make bad, but harmless decisions in!
❤️❤️❤️❤️ so true of the lighting in Southern Ontario. Nothing like it anywhere. Even the sky and clouds look different than anywhere else.
I'm finding that our memories interrupt our present, and not in any specific or organized fashion. My sister and I were talking recently, and she asked where I thought the impetus came from to have these moments of recall, and usually guilt. That may be because we're Irish, but I suspect that the interruption of the present by a unsuspected visitor from the past is perhaps universal and possibly tied in some way to the nature of time and our interaction with it. I've applied some random AA advice to these moments. Recognize it, learn from it, shake my head and move on. Reminds me of the Rankin song, "Moving On" and the only song of the Mercury period of Johnny Cash that charted, "I would like to see you again." He wrote and sang "Guess I better straighten out my head, straighten it out, and go to bed. Pray that I don't dream about old times, some old times, gone and dead." The act of unclutching sounds a bit like a guide to meditation, and that is the hardest part of that act of just being. Somehow reality intrudes in the form of an itching nose or "didn't I used to know that guy?" moments.
Friend in Kazakhstan sent me some old pictures of her folks and her as a baby and wondered if I was nostalgic for my childhood. Had to think for a second and no, I'm not. Not even a little; I recall a period of low grade anxiety at its best. Not sure what brought that on except that maybe it was the right time to grow up that way. Best years of my life were probably the last ten years in the Army...
Wait, I didn't know sentimentality was off the list. There go all my 90s YouTube adventures 😞 cancel culture has gone too far.
Welcome back. You are treading through my neighborhoods and I assure you, my own hometown memories will always include you and our beloved Sadies. I hope this time here will bring new memories that will continue to draw you back to our city. This tornado loves you.
Running in your head , making plans , lists and whistling in the dark. Sometimes it is hard to let the past wash over me with its sickly sweet nostalgia , joy and regrets. I like to picture you on a porch with friends and that is a blanket to wrap around me today.
Yes, being in ‘the now’ is a practise I also need to practise…
Wise words Neko. Toronto is changing so much and so fast. Sometimes it makes me sad, sometimes angry. I need to practice letting go. Be Here Now 🌷
One of the reasons I love your music so much is that you so often put words that I can't find to the things I'm feeling, myself. I'm having a real killer of a time, not in the good way, and I needed this. Knowing someone else reacts to things the same way I do is a little like getting a cosmic hug, if you believe in that shit. Which I do not. Alas...
thank you.
Beautiful - rings deep + true. ❤️
"A kind of unclutching" is how I try to experience nostalgia and nostalgia-adjacent sentiments. Let the feeling come, don't grasp at it or allow myself to languish in longing, enjoy any pleasant feelings that come with it, and let the feeling go.
Thank you for this! I don't think people realize how personal nostalgia intersects with societal nostalgia -- which is a stagnation pit. Cheers to your beingtime, a glorious space.
I love the term unclutching, and your thoughts on nostalgia. Thanks.