It’s the revolving door, mildly insistent but insinuating argument
again.
I am self-stuck in the past endlessly reliving things
I already know, making myself unavailable for new
experience.
Even when steeped in ancient history studies, I have always tried
to honor Charles Fourier’s tenet “il
faut être absolument moderne.” But in a world where so-called
“thought leaders” dictate so-called “post-modern” ideas and values to
would-be acolytes and it is considered essential above all to
despise Sarah Palin with passion rendering Christ’s Passion cool
and platonic by comparison, I am finding
it difficult to board the train.
Driving to-and-from Washington yesterday retrieving Mulan from her
stimulating weeklong academic program, I tuned Pandora
to my Pretty Things channel. Caroline liked
and asked about a non-Pretties track she liked; neither of us were
familiar with the song or the artist. She’s
fairly new to Pandora and wasn’t aware that the service mixes up the music
to include “simpatico” material with eponymous artist channel fare. This time we heard a fine,
tight contemporary r&b tune in the Pretty Things/Rolling Stones tradition. Both the music and lyrics were catchy,
non-retro-derivative and bright. Caroline
took the opportunity to renew her challenge to me to try again to open my
mind to new, non-ancient music and let light and air penetrate and
freshen my Miss Havisham attic-mind. In
her loving view, I might “live a little.”
Reading one of Andy Warhol’s entertaining books a long
time ago, I remember him mentioning how important it is to try to listen
to well-intentioned advice, and clearly one should pay close attention to one’s
own wife. So, for her sake at least, I
guess I’ll try to climb out of my rut.
In the meantime, however, I am happy to share again this
superb psychedelic era Pretty Things track, which I have always
loved and also this break-frame Small Faces number immortalizing the band’s
amphetamine dealer.
All Aboard! And as we
leave the station, let’s please get rid of Daylight Savings Time or at
least the twice-yearly time changeover. Post-modern
society neither requires nor desires it.
