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 |   A tentative blog to test the temperature. |
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Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end. So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.     |
| Found One! People do not appreciate what a traumatic event the break up of the Beatles was. Not to the iconic John, Paul, George and Ringo themselves, as, by all accounts, it was an enormous relief to them, allowing them to get on with their individual lives at last. But to us, the generation that grew and blossomed with the band, it was a shock that remains with us to this day. We had thrown our lives into the effort to create a new and kinder world and now this group, that had given expression to the most magical and meaningful years of our lives was gone. I was not alone in looking around for whoever or whatever was going to replace them. For fifty years I have waited for the band that rises to the level that the Beatles attained. And now, now that I’ve found it, it turns out to have been right in front of me for the past twenty-five years. It’s no wonder that I failed to spot this for so long. The band turned out some very likable stuff to begin with, even some experimental things that, on occasion, succeeded. But there was a certain nerdiness about the group, in particular its lead singer and genius, that gave no hint of the greatness to come. You will understand when I tell you that the band was and is Weezer. You will object that its music is pop, something that we claimed to despise back there in our heyday. Well, yes, much of it is, but the same can be said of the Beatles’ stuff. You will tell me that it’s all about Rivers Cuomo’s teenage angst and I’d have to admit that there were occasions when he allowed his feelings to show. But have you forgotten Lennon’s public eviscerations of his deepest being? You can say that their music is all over the place, invading other genres, creating new ones and ignoring all the rules. And you’d be right but isn’t it beginning to sound awfully familiar? This is where it becomes apparent. Like the Beatles, Weezer always sounds like Weezer but it admits to no genre and is unafraid to try new and unheard of methods. The other day I was watching a video of a gig they did recently and, at one point, the four of them gathered around a single microphone and did a barbershop quartet version of their song, Buddy Holly. Then they dispersed to their instruments and ripped the roof off the place with the original and loud version of the same song. It was this that confirmed the theory to me. Only the Beatles would have carelessly and openly messed with their own creation in such a way. To stride from as humble and outdated a thing as a barbershop quartet to serious and hard rock in an instant showed minds as open as it's possible to get to anything that goes beyond the boring old norm. Well, only the Beatles and now Weezer. It’s impossible for me to demonstrate the depth and breadth of the band’s repertoire with just one song. Instead, I’ll have to show you just one aspect, atypical of their style but then, nothing is. It’s not even a Weezer song, although it could have been. This is a Rivers Cuomo demo of a song he was considering for the band, something that he’d written, worked up to some sort of level and then recorded so the others could hear and decide. It’s rough and apparently simple , just like the Beatles’ Two of Us. And, most importantly, it’s different! Word count: 602 |
| Don’t Ask No doubt we all remember being asked, “What does it feel like to be umpteen (or whatever age you happen to be)?” That sort of thing dies out somewhere along the way to seventy-three. At a guess, it is probably after twenty-one that the question becomes even more pointless than it was before. Although I can imagine it being asked at forty, if only to rub in the terrible jokiness of the occasion. The truth is that the answer is, “Exactly the same as it was yesterday.” We might wake up one day, knowing that it’s our birthday and fairly excited or aghast at the prospect, but that’s not an age-related experience. It’s all about perception of the celebrations to come. The actual fact of being a year older has absolutely no effect at all on the way we feel. So the answer to the question, if we’re being truthful, is, “No different.” Unless, of course, we’re younger than twenty-one. Before that, significant changes happen over a year and it might be that achieving a new number could feel rather different (see my essay https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/2199996-Now-We-Are-Twelve). That is a rare and special thing, however. Most of my memories of being asked as a child what it felt like to be a year older are of complete bewilderment , there being no difference that I could discern. In adulthood, the matter of age has no bearing on our feelings at all. We might be a bit depressed at the way the counter keeps mounting and accelerating at the same time. But that’s a product of the modern worship of youth. In the next instant it’ll be forgotten and you’ll carry on as if nothing happened. And that’s because nothing did happen in reality. There’s more, however. I’m now going to tell you a secret that you must swear to keep to yourself, no matter what happens. Years ago, this secret escaped somehow into Facebook and I was buried under an avalanche of comments that proved impossible to answer individually. I had to resort to what I call “the shotgun response” in the end, merely sending out one message that dealt with all. It was most unsatisfactory and I removed all traces of the secret at the first opportunity. So I must ask that you promise to keep this information to yourself (and also, please don’t react to it in any way whatsoever). And, presuming that you have taken this oath, I can now tell you that today is my birthday. No, not the first one, obviously. As it happens, I gave the clue several paragraphs ago. I am seventy-three today. Do you know how it feels to be that age? Precisely the same as it felt yesterday and a million yesterdays before that. Which gives the answer to the inevitable question, even though no one is going to ask it today. It’s just another day with a new number to remember for a year. Nothing to celebrate at all. Word count: 503 |
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I've always remembered that episode and thought that was a fun idea.
Quite good is quite a good compliment 
As someone who just reviewed an item in your port, I can't help but wonder, Did I pick an item that you'd throw out? 
