SENDING LOVING THOUGHTS TO JOHNNY RAY MARTIN - WHO SURVIVED A PRETTY BAD MOTORCYCLE WRECK LAST NIGHT...

here is a poem i wrote as i sat watching pioneertown ablaze from twenty miles away last month...

i see the sky/filled with fire/where there's smoke/smoke gets in your eyes
the sun is red/where the horizon has bled/itried to memorize/everything you said...johnny ray/i hope you're ok/it makes me want to cry/just thinking of you...i went to an empty coffin funeral today/i'm hoping we remembered to say we love you...the baby & she/flew off to tennessee/well, they had to drive from little rock to memphis...and i'll be comin'/i'll be comin' for you, momma...we'll go to the resting place of elvis...the good doctor fell/at the sweet lorraine motel/we'll show that boy a piece of history...so don't feel lost/just wait for me to cross/that river full of blood of american mystery...johnny ray/can you hear me pray?it makes me wanna cry just thinking of you...i remember the day/when our dogs & instruments played/i'm hoping we remembered to say we love you...

tq july 06

 



The Death of Cool (Again) - CRITIQUE

The thing I love about this song is that every line contains a covert reference to some intelligent insight into other literature or song(s). I see the iron hammer; I hear A. G.; old quotes from Benjamin Franklin; myths from childhood our childhood; myths from psychology.

Sometimes when this all amalgamates, even the artist doesn't quite understand the sources that inform his musicality, but it's all propped up on the sound screen, and there is no denying it unless, due to ignorance (which is not a bad thing), you do not understand.

When I was young, "rock 'n' roll" was a toss-off: anybody could do it. Any twenty year old testosterone-plagued youth could bang out a ballad on a guitar. I had to enter into my thirties to see that this is not the Truth, with a capital, "T." Every note matters. Every choice of word matters.

This is art. This is carefully crafted, and even when it is done so sparsely, it is done so intentionally, to draw the listener's attention away from the artist and into the music itself. Like Rothko, who learned how to distance himself from his work, because, ultimately, it wasn't about him. It was about the canvas, about paint, about, more fundamentally, color. Then and only then did the colors stand out and take on a life of their own.

The rest is not meaningless, but is realized to be a warm-up for the main event, where, to mix metaphors, the gloves of even the boxers become but symbols.

But the ACTION, the DYNAMOUS, pervades and conveys to us what essentially matters.

Each of us has to determine that for her or himself, but the outcome is always at a distance, when the art is authentic.

Ted Quinn is authentic. There is no fakery. In fact, that is a crucial aspect of the beauty of his artistry. He sometimes done that undoable thing, which is to bridge representation with reality.

It changes, or has the potential to change, our world.
--------------------------------------------
Lawrence Udell Fike, Jr., M.Phil.
California State University, Los Angeles
Department of Philosophy

 

 



When we get older we find that the "Happiness" we thought we could attain
when we were young is not only elusive but unattainable in the way we
perceived. The car needed to be replaced over and over, the house needed
constant repair, the job, well it's a job. Money came and went.
Relationships changed, friends and family get sick and die and then our own
bodies begin to change, whether by age alone and/or disease. And we find
ourselves mentally and physically unprepared to handle the new challenges
ahead of us.
Quote by Irv Kochman



But true happiness is like a string of pearls and each pearl represents a
special moment in our lives. When we string them all together and wear them
proudly, they become our happiness. We can always add to them but never
take away from them. But, each pearl is separated by a knot. Separately
they are only individual moments. But together they represent a lifetime of
happiness and joy. So cherish the moments as they arrive, but more
importantly recognize the moments as new pearls and string them to your
necklace.
Quote by My Mother, Jennie Kochman