Filed by Trevor at 10:12 pm under Fightin' Words, Pop Culture, The Arts
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I love this woman and I hate what is happening to her. This is not the fake Promises attention-whoring that is happening; this is behavior that will end in death. Addiction has absolutely torn my family apart — domestic violence nearly claimed my mother’s life and mine — and the thought of it claiming someone so precious to today’s music world tears my heart out. This cannot stand.

Filed by Trevor at 8:50 pm under The Arts
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I dare you to watch this and not cry:

Filed by Bil at 11:21 am under General
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Someone I know had a baby today. I don’t know all the details yet — I’m stuck at work. She’s not immediate family, or even a blood relative. She’s an in-law. And she’s fine without my help, so I really have no grounds for the old “family emergency” excuse to get out of the office.

So I’m biding my time here in the Loop. Immediately after work, I need to go to Wicker Park because a play depends on my ability to provide green tea that looks like tequila. Wicker Park is in the wrong direction from the hospital.

So I don’t know when I’ll finally get to meet this kid. I’m pretty far down the ladder of who needs to see this child immediately. Devon’s family are a whirlwind of energy, and they’ll get to her today. My in-laws’ parents — both sets — of course will need to see the kid, and they’re from out of town. I imagine she will be completely surrounded by closer, more related loved ones than me, so I probably don’t need to add myself to the menagerie of germ-infested bodies she and the baby are about to encounter.

I’m very curious how this baby’s life will turn out. Born little bit early — will everyone assume he is a punctual person? How will being surrounded by people who assume he is punctual actually affect him? Will it make him more or less punctual? And how will everyone respond to his name? I personally don’t know what his name is yet, but if it’s more than four syllables from start to finish I plan to respond by giving him a dickie every year for Christmas.

Will he like fireworks?…’Cause we can get him some fireworks. He’s not my kid, so I can be as irresponsible as I like (within reason). Actually, by the time he’s old enough to really enjoy fireworks, they probably won’t be living in Chicago. Will he still be a Cubs fan?

Hopefully, when I do finally meet him, “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” will be playing overhead.

Filed by Trevor at 3:09 pm under Pop Culture, The Arts
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“You are the one/You’ll never be alone again/You’re more than in my head” — Shiny Toy Guns, “You Are the One”

I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet this past month. I’m moving to Chicago this coming Monday and all of my time and energy has been thrown into packing, etc. It’s interesting: I’ve been out of a job (read: self-employed) for just over a month now and it barely feels like it. I was in Chicago for a week looking for a place to live, then on the gulf coast of Florida for another week at the UUMN conference, then I spent a week with my grandmother soaking up as much time as I could before I close up shop. Plus, I’ve got another recital this Sunday. So in the interest of sanity I’m taking just a brief break from all of the mirthful packing activities that dog my footsteps this week.

So anyway, on to something I hope will make you happy.

I heard “You Are the One” in the car while on the way to Lincoln Park to drop Devon off at the Royal George and I’ve been hooked ever since. I finally bought the album last night and I’ve had it on a loop for the better portion of the day. Not exactly the most insightful lyrics on the planet, but that’s OK — the music is what I respond to most. The updated ’80s synths are a nice touch, plus the harmonic language the band uses is unusually complex compared to much of what is being turned out today. And anyone who knows me well enough knows I’m a sucker for a good straight tone. The chick needs to go, though. Even Amy Lee has a difficult time keeping a healthy voice with all that belting, and you, ma’am, are no Amy Lee.

This is the kind of music that feeds me. I have yet to hear them live, though, which in my opinion is the truest test of a band’s musicianship. Until then, enjoy the guyliner!

Filed by Trevor at 11:16 pm under Fightin' Words
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Days with you
and the footage to prove it,
tapes that stretch for over eighty years.
Six of them
(a windy old gal, you said)
that seemed so many at the time
but now
is a pitiful pile.
Grant that I should go bankrupt
buying enough to fill them all –
rooms of them –
and what should ever have prevented you from doing so?

I hope you’ll forgive me.
Oh God
Please.

I’m pulling anchor.
Please.
Forgive me.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen,
for those who have gained everything
stand to lose everything.
And those that have lost everything already
have lives that are abandoned galleries of regret.

Bother her, I say –
anyone should be so lucky to have such a nuisance.

You have ceased to be permanent –
lance the statue in the arm
and warm blood pours out.

It’s only a matter of time.
Brace yourself.

She’s been there all the time.
Oh God, help me.
Waiting.
Waiting for you.

She’s pulling anchor (don’t you see?)
And she’s throwing things ashore –
are you ready?

It’s begun.
Brace yourself.
Oh, God.

Please.

Don’t wait to put flowers on her grave.
Put them on her table
and do it now.

Filed by Bil at 8:42 pm under Fightin' Words, The Arts
1 Comment

I’m gonna lay it out there: I’m a little bit tired of all this talk about truth. Truth with a capital T. “Truth” in quotes. Truth with a cherry on top. I’m up to my neck in truth.

I will avoid naming them because of the nature of this entry, but lately I have been reading some blogs by some very sharp minds. Without commenting my fair share, I have been privy to some very interesting blogalogues, rife with wit and insight. It feels a little bit like stealing. Like pirating intelligence.

But goddammit already. The more they write about it, the more impassioned they become, and the more impassioned they become, the sloppier they get. On some blogs it’s like everybody is shoving their version of truth down each other’s throats.

To what end, I ask?

Don’t get me wrong. Discussion is good, respectful disagreement is even better. People should have these kinds of discussions. But for as much as I hate to be a hater, I’m starting to hate when people talk about truth in art. It feels like lies.

Or maybe it’s just that I don’t believe it. I can suspend my disbelief for the most absurd of absurd, but when you start telling me things like “art is useless without truth,” the first word in my head is bullshit. Why is it useless? For that matter, why is truth useful?

I think what gets me is the fact that there is this overbearing pretension in that mindset. What a lot of these bloggers are doing is separating their artistic working life from their real life, putting it on a pedestal, and saying, “look how much truth this contains!” I can almost guarantee that when you inject truth into your work, that truth is fake truth. Which is both amusingly ironic and maddeningly comforting. To me, at least.

But that’s what it’s all about. Truth is subjective. Truth is everywhere and in everything, very much in the same sense that art is everywhere and in everything. And aside from blunt scientific fact (as it is, not necessarily as we know it), there is no such thing as universal truth. Because truth is what you believe to be true. You can take that as deep or as shallow as you like, but that’s the bottom line. There are certainly things that certain amounts of people happen to agree upon, and artists like to tap into these things in order to reach out and communicate to people. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s part of the fun of creating a piece of art. But there is no be-all/end-all truth with a capital T, and there is certainly no more truth in any work of art than there is in the dried-up leaf still attached to the plant in the corner of my apartment that I haven’t watered since April. So — bloggers — artists — let’s take that pressure off each other, huh?

Filed by Bil at 11:31 am under Activism, Politics, Social Issues
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Lately I have seen headlines that make me cringe and I have been making myself ignore them. I don’t usually notice these headlines when it is convenient for me to be outraged or depressed, so I tend to just roll my eyes and move on with my life. It’s nothing new, I figure, nothing useful or good.

Like this headline:

Bush committed to tracking al-Qaida

Sometimes I can’t help but start to read it, but then I see the opening paragraph:

CAMP DAVID, Md. - President Bush said Monday that with the right intelligence U.S. and Pakistan governments can take out al-Qaida leaders, and wouldn’t say whether he would consult first with Pakistan before ordering U.S. forces to act on their own.

This is both laughable and frightening, and I’m at work today, so I stopped reading that one right then and there.
(Keep reading…)