Remember that
Fugazi song "Song #1"?, I got the single years ago, before I really stepped into the world of hardcore, zines, etc.. I was just checking out a new 7", unaware of the subculture that
Fugazi was such a big part of. Despite my ignorance, the lyric "People always talking about their hometown scenes and hurting people's feelings in their magazines, you want to know what it all means? It's nothing." always stood out to me. I've been humming this song in my head for a few days, kind of giving a voice to a plethora of feelings I've been having lately.
Some sisters of mine have started a new amazing (and highly popular) blog called
US Ponytails. You should check that shit cause all of the women writing for it are insanely smart, wonderful, challenging people with good things to say and amazing perspectives. One of the more recent posts was on celebrity and how the current state of American society has made room for everyone to exist in two spheres, the famous self
(myspace, blogs, your tacky DJ night or band or art show or ice cream truck or whatever the fuck) and the secret self, that personality linked to your famous self, but maybe even hiding behind your famous/public self. It's an interesting thought and reading it from afar
(my friends back in Michigan, surrounded by a life more familiar, me in New York, officially transplanted and probably not going anywhere soon) made my head spin out with questions.
In my younger days,
pre-
internet, things were somewhat more sequestered. The sway of collective perspective was different. There were always groups of people doing what people do, but the way they thought about each other was a little more word-of-mouth and possibly more instinctive due to how slowly things became public knowledge. The notion of public fame/notoriety, belonging to everyone or anyone with an
internet connection and the desire for it is a strange, kind of fucked thing, but maybe not too much different from the
pre-
internet era. It doesn't matter, because people always love to talk about other people, positively or negatively, it's a very human thing. I've been thinking more lately about how awesome it would be to dismantle the fame part of it. The idea of public perception as a huge factor in the process of making work can go either way. In cases where it eclipses real live (
IRL?) inspiration or real feelings, that's when things get kind of fucked. I guess I'm saying, remember when no one was famous? Remember when it was known from the jump off that nothing we were doing was ever going to make a million dollars or win the hearts of America? That was given because that's what we wanted to some extent, right? To contest and reject winning the hearts of millions, and to build something better on our own.. Cause we had big problems with what passed for OK to the majority of people around us. Cause otherwise whatever we made would just turn into the back-stabbing, insecure and terrified non-art and non-beauty that we were reacting against to begin with. There are always exceptions and things that get past the obstacle course of success, but it's pretty rare.
Recently I've seen moments where even the best examples of what I imagined to be this culture me, you, and all of our friends have been building have just kind of turned on their own, mirroring the ugliest of the insecure, angry and hurtful of the world around us. I suppose the point of what I'm saying is I'm striving for a place where someone
else's idea of fame doesn't come into the picture at all because it invariably corrupts things. And in the end, it's nothing.
All day I listened to Jesus& Mary Chain and Terry Riley's "In C" and then I made this song:
City Center "Stones"Think I'm still coming down from all the shows last week and a little stressed about going to Europe because all my creative energy is coming out so middle-of-the-road. Did I tell you about the new slang in Brooklyn? Things that are just OK are FINE LIKE FUCK BUTTONS, based on a conversation I had with Anna & Bones when I was like "I love the new Fuck Buttons record!". Anna looked at me and said a very
declarative, "It's fine." She looked over at Bones, who with a look that could destroy a building said simply, "Fine." Hence, a lot of things are Fine Like Fuck Buttons. The songs I've been doing lately have been
FLFB, but
whatevs.
I've been wondering about
Mediafire because it won't let you just download stuff anymore without
Quicktime. Pete left this helpful comment:
actually, all you have to do is right click and save as rather than just click on the d/l on the mediafire page.
which rules, but I have a G4 with no right-clicking abilities. Is there a right-click alternative? Or does anyone know another free site to post stuff easily for downloads? I'm sure there's a million.
TOUR BE RULING. HERE IN NORWAY, PLAYING TONIGHT IN OSLO. THIS PHOTO TAKEN BY MEG, THE TOUR MANAGER IN COPPENHAGEN A FEW NIGHTS EARLIER. BETTY GOT SUPER SICK THE FIRST NIGHT AND HAD TO GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM, BUT SHE'S IN STOCKHOLM RESTING NOW AND FEELING A LOT BETTER, JUST NOT REALLY ABLE TO PLAY AS MUCH AS PROJECTED. OUR TOURMATES THE BLACK ATLANTIC ARE RAD GUYS AND WE ARE TRAVELING IN THE LARGEST VAN I'VE EVER TOURED IN, COMPLETE WITH FLATSCREEN TV (HAND TO GOD). I HONESTLY CAN'T GET THE CAPLOCKS OFF ON THIS COMPUTER, BUT IT'S COOL. IN A FEW DAYS THE BELOVED SOMES MEETS UP WITH US AND THERE'S REALLY NOTHING THAT COULD MAKE ME HAPPIER. OH, IT'S THREE AM AND THE SUN JUST CAME UP. LOVE AND MISSING TO ALL FRIENDS AND ENEMIES.
