The trees are already half-leafed out here in Houston. It’s a balmy lovely day. I am looking forward to tacos and plantains from the delicious and friendly Cantina Barba. Mmmmmmmm! I’m pretty tired so I don’t notice random things like I usually do. I have to remind myself to do it. I find it’s more internal wandering. I can’t stop thinking about something my Uber driver said last night in New Orleans. He was about millennial age, maybe a little older. We were on the way to Tipitina’s for the show and he was waxing affectionately about all the bands he’d seen there and how much joy the club represented in his life and his family’s. He told me his brother was the one who got to see the
Hey I was at that Tip’s show! ‘Twas great! And yes, Tipitina’s will always be a big part of New Orleans music. Got to see The Cramps and Bad Brains in their heyday play epic shows there. Glad the Galactic folks are keeping the club going.
I saw the Plastmatics and they blew up a Cadillac and everything! If you liked stunts, they were gonna give em to you. They were excellent on SCTV's Fishin Musician. Relevance from a pop music perspective is as fleeting as a shooting star. Best not to put too much stock in that. Better to be relevant to the people and animals around you.
I saw Wendy O and the Plasmatics at Bonds in NYC about a month before the Clash shows there. She chopped up a tv on stage with an ax and one of the knobs ended up in my hair.
There's a difference between being relevant and being authentic --if you are true to yourself, you'll have periods of irrelevance and might worry about your place in the world and what you are doing to earn it. If we don't worry about that sort of stuff, we're probably doomed to being neither authentic or relevant. I think we benefit from wondering about what we're doing and what doing it does. However, I'd hesitate to recommend suicide to someone based on either lack of relevance or lack of authenticity. Short of severe mental illness, suicide is an ultimate statement of irrelevance and inauthenticity. Or, as a friend of mine put it when asked why he continued to work at the crappy place we were working, said "Morbid curiosity." As long as we have that, we're striving to be both...
And then there's all the shade being thrown at Bridget Fonda for not adhering to someone's western beauty standards at 58. Sad how some people are so mean online. 😿
I think you just added a clue to the (my) puzzle. I worked a job much longer than the normal age for “retirement”. I fear and loathe the idea. But there you have it! It’s about relevance. Not the Protestant ethic of work. And relevance for some of us is adversarial. RIP WOW.
This post is so beautiful and thoughtful. My good friend angie b from detroit is a giant plasmatics fan. I remember them but never got into them. They seemed to be too gimmicky or maybe too one note to me. In other news i just found a copy of Canadian Amp on vinyl. I love that lp so much. You signed my copy of it on cd at a show you did at Joe’s Pub in nyc. I still remember the funny thing you said to me!
Hey I was at that Tip’s show! ‘Twas great! And yes, Tipitina’s will always be a big part of New Orleans music. Got to see The Cramps and Bad Brains in their heyday play epic shows there. Glad the Galactic folks are keeping the club going.
Thank you, Neko. Hoping you feel refreshed after your visit to the Cantina Barba. You ARE RELEVANT to us, your fans.
A Jim Jarmusch vibe here..
I saw the Plastmatics and they blew up a Cadillac and everything! If you liked stunts, they were gonna give em to you. They were excellent on SCTV's Fishin Musician. Relevance from a pop music perspective is as fleeting as a shooting star. Best not to put too much stock in that. Better to be relevant to the people and animals around you.
Much love to Wendy O. I have a large tattoo of her on my arm that got when she passed. Thanks for remembering her ❤️
I saw Wendy O and the Plasmatics at Bonds in NYC about a month before the Clash shows there. She chopped up a tv on stage with an ax and one of the knobs ended up in my hair.
There's a difference between being relevant and being authentic --if you are true to yourself, you'll have periods of irrelevance and might worry about your place in the world and what you are doing to earn it. If we don't worry about that sort of stuff, we're probably doomed to being neither authentic or relevant. I think we benefit from wondering about what we're doing and what doing it does. However, I'd hesitate to recommend suicide to someone based on either lack of relevance or lack of authenticity. Short of severe mental illness, suicide is an ultimate statement of irrelevance and inauthenticity. Or, as a friend of mine put it when asked why he continued to work at the crappy place we were working, said "Morbid curiosity." As long as we have that, we're striving to be both...
The only movement that is really important is a regular bowel movement. That lasts about as long as relevance in the "pop" or "poop" world.
And then there's all the shade being thrown at Bridget Fonda for not adhering to someone's western beauty standards at 58. Sad how some people are so mean online. 😿
♥️
I think you just added a clue to the (my) puzzle. I worked a job much longer than the normal age for “retirement”. I fear and loathe the idea. But there you have it! It’s about relevance. Not the Protestant ethic of work. And relevance for some of us is adversarial. RIP WOW.
This post is so beautiful and thoughtful. My good friend angie b from detroit is a giant plasmatics fan. I remember them but never got into them. They seemed to be too gimmicky or maybe too one note to me. In other news i just found a copy of Canadian Amp on vinyl. I love that lp so much. You signed my copy of it on cd at a show you did at Joe’s Pub in nyc. I still remember the funny thing you said to me!