A MEGATONIC JOURNEY WITH JOEE ADAMS
Saturday, January 29, 2005
A bit of compassion for the nihlist of nihlists... a few words on Lester Bangs.. and a few more of my own.
I can vividly remember sitting all alone in this shitty little dormacile type bedroom that I had un-willingly spent 3 or 4 days in while I was visiting my ex- girlfriend somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Sitting and listening to " Loaded" by The Velvet Underground..and reading " Mainlines, Bloodfeasts, and Bad taste, a Lester Bangs reader" and I can remember being a little too absorbed in it for some reason, maybe it was the utter and total boredom that seemed to be the only thing going on in that hellish prision of a supposed getaway, or maybe it was the distasteful odor of sweaty bodies and reefer that seemed to linger everywher that made me turn to Lester for some sort of comfort. I mean here I was surrounded by a bunch of self proclaimed " hippies " and instead of being my normal self, and super imposing the ritualistic stylings of my ego-maniacal type fetish for preaching to those that I somehow find worthy of my time, ( mind you this is after about a dozen beer at very high altitudes ). I just sat there and read on trying to catergorize a list of chronological events that led to my utter fascination with this guy. It was quite difficult. I mean besides the obvious draw to his writing, his gut wrenching honesty and fearless approach of every question most would have never dared ask and how it seemed that everything he wrote was so ( or seemed to be ) effortless. Or maybe it was the way he had of telling it the way .. not necessarily how it is ( or "was" I should say ) but what he felt needed to be said whether it was positive or negative, which is what any good critic does really, but with Lester it was different, he seemed to anaylyze everything that was analyze-able, then he'd turn it inside out and find a negative to every positive and vice versa to educate himself and his readers. It was just.... legitimate.
So why is it that Lester is so reknowned? . Is it because of the genius he had when it came to writing?... maybe... Is it because he was the father of modern criticism and what critics are today?... maybe.. Or is it because of his genuine love for music? More than likely it's all three and then some. Nothing or no one is perfect .. especially when it comes to rock and roll. Good music will always have a flaw to it, because it's human.
Music is human feelings, and emotions transcribed into sounds and spurts of energy, and when that's done in the right context it sturs the synapses .. it's magical, it's whimsical it's un-worldly, it's rock and roll.
Rock and roll was never alive, nor was it ever concieved by any one person or entinty, rock and roll is an attitude, a state of being, a way of life, so much more than mondo ruckus possessed with ideoligies self induced damage or swaggering hips.. rock and roll is anything that makes you feel good. There are some who say that rock and roll isn't dead.. it's just waiting to be regurgated. There are some that say rock and roll never left it's just changed faces, then they're people like Lester who knew better. ¶ 10:51 PM 0 comments
I can vividly remember sitting all alone in this shitty little dormacile type bedroom that I had un-willingly spent 3 or 4 days in while I was visiting my ex- girlfriend somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Sitting and listening to " Loaded" by The Velvet Underground..and reading " Mainlines, Bloodfeasts, and Bad taste, a Lester Bangs reader" and I can remember being a little too absorbed in it for some reason, maybe it was the utter and total boredom that seemed to be the only thing going on in that hellish prision of a supposed getaway, or maybe it was the distasteful odor of sweaty bodies and reefer that seemed to linger everywher that made me turn to Lester for some sort of comfort. I mean here I was surrounded by a bunch of self proclaimed " hippies " and instead of being my normal self, and super imposing the ritualistic stylings of my ego-maniacal type fetish for preaching to those that I somehow find worthy of my time, ( mind you this is after about a dozen beer at very high altitudes ). I just sat there and read on trying to catergorize a list of chronological events that led to my utter fascination with this guy. It was quite difficult. I mean besides the obvious draw to his writing, his gut wrenching honesty and fearless approach of every question most would have never dared ask and how it seemed that everything he wrote was so ( or seemed to be ) effortless. Or maybe it was the way he had of telling it the way .. not necessarily how it is ( or "was" I should say ) but what he felt needed to be said whether it was positive or negative, which is what any good critic does really, but with Lester it was different, he seemed to anaylyze everything that was analyze-able, then he'd turn it inside out and find a negative to every positive and vice versa to educate himself and his readers. It was just.... legitimate.
So why is it that Lester is so reknowned? . Is it because of the genius he had when it came to writing?... maybe... Is it because he was the father of modern criticism and what critics are today?... maybe.. Or is it because of his genuine love for music? More than likely it's all three and then some. Nothing or no one is perfect .. especially when it comes to rock and roll. Good music will always have a flaw to it, because it's human.
Music is human feelings, and emotions transcribed into sounds and spurts of energy, and when that's done in the right context it sturs the synapses .. it's magical, it's whimsical it's un-worldly, it's rock and roll.
Rock and roll was never alive, nor was it ever concieved by any one person or entinty, rock and roll is an attitude, a state of being, a way of life, so much more than mondo ruckus possessed with ideoligies self induced damage or swaggering hips.. rock and roll is anything that makes you feel good. There are some who say that rock and roll isn't dead.. it's just waiting to be regurgated. There are some that say rock and roll never left it's just changed faces, then they're people like Lester who knew better. ¶ 10:51 PM 0 comments
