02 October 2010

Deep Breath, Sucker


Take a deep breath. Read a zen koan. Cherish your wife and kids. Don't watch Chronicle Live. Stay away from ESPN. Sip a Chianti. Breathe deep.

Or fucking hyperventilate and start panicking. What the hell do I know? The boys are in full gag mode, and take it from an old tennis player- once the throat constricts, ain't nothing good gonna happen. I suggest the boys take Chili Davis' break-outta-a-slump advice- have 12 gin and tonics tonight and call a hooker. The man went 4-4 and then admitted to this pre-game regimen. Given the last two games, Chili may be a sage.

I escaped the terror of dawn by watching a documentary on Chicago punk. The Effigies and Naygun Raygun and, well, not a whole lot more than that. Unless Steve Albini counts, but Big Black came after the 1984 end point for this film. I suppose it was interesting, given that I didn't know much about these bands, but if you rent it from netflix, I suggest you skip the last ten minutes, when forty-something punkers berate the state of today's youth. It's a sad and pathetic generation war that's beneath them, but the filmmakers decided to end their film, which I'm sure took them years to make (its running time is over 2 hours), by wallowing in nostalgia. We had energy and these kids don't. We were angry and they're not. What we did mattered and nothing matters today. Etc. Maybe there are slivers of truth in all this, but middle-aged folks ought not judge the energy of their children. It's unseamly, and let's face it- I'm sure there are plenty of interesting underground music scenes for kids we simply don't know about. Maybe I'm wrong, again, but even if I am, getting in front of a camera and complaining about the "kids of today" is bad form. Really.

By the way, I'm listening to live Naked Raygun and it fucking rips. Throb throb, brother.

3 comments:

Barry Zito said...

Interesting points about the state of todYs youth and the rules regarding passing judgement. I guess I agree with you. But I have to take it as a matter of faith that there is still a rock n roll scene involving young people . Cause I never see it. If anyone knows a website, blog, magazine, pls let this 41 yo know.

Anonymous said...

thank you for your eloquent response- I'm not sure what it has to do with the price of tea in China, but I'll take it under advisement.

bruce said...

had some kids stay with me during gonerfest, some of them were annoying some weren't