A Long View

I piss and moan a lot about short-sightedness – so it was to my delight that I found this website: The Long Now Foundation is a collection of people who are concerned with the longer view. They have a podcast featuring lectures (…long ones, naturally) on Big Topics like science and religion and people and art which is well worth checking out! The musical connection is accidental: the foundation was named apparently by Brian Eno, who was surprised to learn – well, I’ll let them tell you:

“When Brian first moved to New York City he found that in New York here and now meant this room and this five minutes, as opposed to the larger here and longer now that he was used to in England. We have since adopted the term as the title of our foundation as we are trying to stretch out what people consider as now. “

I distinctly remember the first time I thought about the Long Term view in a conscious way: I was taking a class in First Nations/Native Canadian Literature at York in the early 90s, and read a speech by a man who spoke about a plan for his people’s recovery from colonialism – and it was a SEVEN GENERATION PLAN. It blew my mind. Wouldn’t it be good if the rest of us could even think in terms of decades?

Anyway, check it out.  I’ve posted this song before, but what can I say? It’s appropo.

I Like To Take My Time – Mister Rogers

A Campfire Song.

Been reading this book by Barbara Ehrenreich called Blood Rites, which examines some ancient aspects of humanity – especially the bloodthirstiest bits, like our sacralization of war and the bloodiness of our religions. It’s a great and interesting book.

The other night I was reading a bit about our lengthy history as prey – before we got all hunty. She was talking about how we’d gather around a fire in a huddle to protect ourselves from large predators, and how the people on the outside of the huddle-shape would be the (obviously) most likely ones to be eaten. These ’sacrificed’ people would be the weakest – the old, the young and the weak – and their being killed would sate the predator, who’d leave the rest alone for a time. This ancient, prehistorical phenomenon was so formative that it’s still evident in the way talk about social security – we have social circles, circles of friends, and the people who we despise are “on the fringes”, peripheral; they’re “outsiders” while those who are secure and popular are “insiders”.

Isn’t that interesting?  That is OLD, man. You should read this book.

The In Crowd – Marshall Crenshaw

Ready to Talk About the Weakerthans

I posted a “Yay!” type entry when I found out the Weakerthans were about to come out with a new record – then I bought it and didn’t love it much at all, but decided to stay positive, to wait for the Show. So I gathered some pals and hit the sold-out show at the Phoenix last Thursday night, to see whether that would turn me on to Reunion Tour.

Nope.

I think I hate it.

I’m seriously surprised, too – the record is produced by Ian Blurton, who did a bang-up job on Left and Leaving and Reconstruction Site. The lineup’s been touring solidly for a long time now. The writer’s just as clever, I’m sure. And there’s not a bunch of money interfering – the Weakerthans haven’t gotten so large that Interests would be involved yet. So what’s wrong with this crappy record? If I heard this one first, I wouldn’t have thought the Weakerthans were much better than, I don’t know, Hot Hot Heat or some pop-rock thing. Whereas I would place the last couple of records, especially Left and Leaving, up in the top levels of current CanRock, with the Wooden Stars and the late Rheostatics.

They hit the right buttons – the elements that give the songs their blasting, exciting qualities, and the little sweet things that give much of the rocking its character. The songs, I think, are seriously lacking something; if I had to give an off-the-top-of-my-head judgement, I’d say the writer sounds tired and uninspired, and that the album sounded like somebody trying to Do the Weakerthans and failing.

I didn’t want to think this, and have really tried to find my way into what other writers are hearing – genius, etc. But I’m done. The new album blows. The show was a drag too – too many kids, too crowded, impossible to find a friend or see the stage, all at a venue I generally love. If it’s just me, it’s not a mood thing – something more permanent. Maybe I’m just a dick. But I hate this album, and I hate smashing my enthusiasm into disappointment. Previously I said that this wasn’t At War With The Mystics disappointing, but it is.