"I'm no Sufi but I'll give it a whirl"
Drinking a cold New Belgium Blue Paddle and eating olives: briney Kalamata, herbed Sicilian, buttery Castleventro. It makes for a nice afternoon.
I've been listening to Patti Smith's Trampin'. I wanted to mention it a month ago but didn't know what to say. I could never do it justice anyway. Much of this album places me in an open field under a gathering storm--the wind picks up, the grasses dance, ghosts of sound from near and far fly past at the same speed, cold draughts unlace the summer heat, until it falls around me with such force and urgency that I feel electric, it washes the zombie from my skin, the cataracts from my eyes, and amidst this exhilarating freedom is the realization I could be zapped at any time. I have choices and choices have consequences. I have a responsibility. I can make a difference.
From the beginning she asks us to make our presence known, to be a cause for celebration. In "gandhi" when she says Awake from your slumber/And get 'em with the numbers, I know she's talking about rocking the vote, at least not suffering in silence. As for "radio baghdad"... There is power in this song. This is what I meant about artists lashing out and using their magic. I was on the highway returning from Joplin when I first listened to this--alone with the volume loud enough to be heard over the air from my open windows, and I found myself weeping. I don't mean Charlotte's Web. This was like someone had pulled the shroud from a pile of dead children and said "Look! This isn't just politics and tv. This is an atrocity and your 'elected' officials have forged your name to it for all the world to see. You footed the fucking bill!"
I have no doubt about what I'll be listening to on Election Day. She is supposed to be in St. Louis on June 20th and it would be so cool to see her.
There are a couple of good interviews over at Rolling Stone, if you aren't afraid of stepping in a pile of Avril Lavigne.