Particle Accelerator was a beautiful day of music of all sorts of genres, all twisted round in this gorgeous little town called Putnam CT. We haven’t been shy about extolling it’s virtues, and even as the businesses and people and music that we’ve Loved here have moved on and out we still return again and again because this little place has so much heart.
Oh – and no matter who’s making it, the coffee standards in this town remain HIGH. I’m looking at YOU Chubby Dog Coffee. Holy crap my spicy mocha was one of the best I’ve ever had!
I am fortunate in that suicides have been few and far between in MY Life since leaving college. I think if we manage to get out of our early 20s, we’re often free and clear for a couple of decades and I’m grateful that, at least in my own social circles, that’s held true. But most everyone who attends or plays a festival like this has a personal story, a friend or family member who committed suicide, or their own dark thoughts or actions.
I relate. I get it. Life is truly the hardest thing to Live through and often it simply doesn’t seem worth it, but I’m grateful for this collective celebration of LIFE that we get to participate in. I’m sad it’s not BIGGER – but maybe people just don’t think that suicide prevention is as cool of a cause… Or perhaps, if you KNOW you KNOW – and if you don’t – this is the sort of thing you’d just rather not think about.
The whole event deserves more attention and certainly more turn out than it gets.
By the next morning, Sunday breaks grey and rainy. It’s supposed to clear up for our afternoon show, but I know anyone who was on the fence about coming out is going to have their spirit broken by the enthusiasm of the storm clouds happily watering us. We too, deserve more attention and more turn out, but no matter what I have the suspicion we’re going to have a wonderful time this afternoon.
I have been reading up on the antics of the House of Representatives this morning, and an article about the 80s TV movie “The Day After” and thinking about a comment on Gizmodo. Believe it or not, it all comes together.
But first – a vignette. Heather’s in the basement, putting on her makeup in the grey light of a rainy morning, and I’m sitting on the porch, listening to it all come down. Moist breezes are turning the planters behind me, reflected in my laptop screen. Kristen’s mom is opening the blinds up front and Kristen’s finishing her bagel as Joey listens to jazz and helps with the dishes in the kitchen. I did them yesterday, so I’m happy to listen to the clatter and rush of water through the screen door. We have about an hour before we go anywhere and I’m not finished with my coffee yet.
Saint Cecilia save me from my lazy Sunday morning momentum. I could stay right here.
Meanwhile, I think about the antics of the House of Representatives, “The Day After” and, as mentioned, a comment on Gizmodo.
First : the House! What’cha guys up to today? Passing a budget? Nawp. Immigration reform? Not a CHANCE! Putting guardrails in place so that organizations and individuals are responsible for their speech when it’s inflammatory in ADDITION to being false? No… that’d be UNMERKIN!
Now, in all fairness, they weren’t quite doing what a friend of mine claimed they were doing, either. Congress had not passed a law “censoring anyone, including the U.N., who spoke up against Israel”. The House had passed a BILL censuring anyone in the I.C.C., who brought CHARGES against Israel.
Man, the person who brought it to me was up in ARMS about this – and… there’s a lot to be angry about in the world, including being angry that the House of Representatives is wasting everyone’s time with demonstrative bills that can’t become law that do NOTHING (the penalty being that these peeps have to leave the United States, and since the ICC is based in Brussels, it seems unlikely that they’re based here) while they should be addressing real issues in real ways – but the disinformation / misinformedness swirling around the bill is indicative of just how broken our democracy is.
People can’t be informed on the simplest of things, how can they POSSIBLY be informed on the most-complicated things? How can they vote? How can they judge their representatives if they can’t even critically weigh the information they’re receiving. If you see a meme and it makes you angry, fucking research it rather than simply spread your ignorance…
Ahem.
Second : “The Day After”. It can’t be overstated how formative growing up under the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction was got Gen X. Why worry about the little things if Reagan might have a bad day and launch nuclear weapons? Grunge was perhaps rooted in sloppy playing because you had no time to perfect your art on the way to the stage if being wiped from the Earth at any given moment was a real possibility. War today is a distant thing for most Americans. Bombs dropping on Ukraine and Israel and Gaza is cause for a lot of emotion, but it’s not existential to us here.
If you don’t know about this made-for-tv movie, still one of the most-watched television events ever (and with the way the world has transformed, it will likely remain one of the most-watched-Live moment on television moments EVER) I recommend reading this article so you know more about it and it’s impact. I don’t know that I recommend WATCHING it per se. We have enough horror in our Lives and maybe you don’t need this transcribed onto your heart, even if it DOES hold up to a modern audience.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/09/entertainment/the-day-after-abc-movie-cec/index.html
It’s an incredible example of art changing minds, and maybe even policy. Too many people can’t SEE what’s not actually in front of them and can’t accept the invisible or unrealized-as-of-yet as reality. Science fiction does NOT always become science fact, and art isn’t always Art – but at it’s very best it is a reflection of our Lives, a what-if, that can help us imagine the unimaginable – perhaps helping us turn from otherwise unseen cliffs…
And Third, A Comment on Gizmodo : ties to this last point.
The Boys is NOT for everyone. It’s highly-political and highly-violent, and absolutely over-the-top gratuitous. However, unlike far too many things like this the gratuitous violence and sexuality serves the purpose of speaking about right wing politics, cults of personality, and how you never have true free choice when someone’s holding a gun (or generally, the threat of violence).
The gun doesn’t have to be on the table. It doesn’t have to be pointed at you. It simply, absolutely, and completely changes the balance of the conversation.
And The Boys has a lot to say on the above subjects. It’s vehemently and clearly a left-wing, anti-Trump metaphor, extremely thin in it’s veiling. Just like Rage Against the Machine, just like the Day After, it’s big and loud and it worries plenty of people, but you’d have to be pretty dense not to GET the messaging.
Now, that’s not the same thing as being swayed by it.
The article on Gizmodo was basically “the creator of the Boys says if you don’t like my message, you don’t have to watch!” And the COMMENT on the article on Gizmodo was basically “I don’t like your message, but I like your show – still gonna watch – and then I’m still gonna vote for Trump”. He’s not saying he doesn’t get it, he’s saying he’s not swayed by it.
And somehow, that gives me a lot of hope. That people can listen to a message, weigh it, disagree with it, and still go on listening. Maybe there’s hope for communication in there. If having hope for the future exists, it must lie in the idea that we don’t write one another off, but continue to have dialog – and even if we don’t value the point of view, at least still put value on the place it’s coming from.
Or maybe it merely says that the opportunity to salivate over sex and violence outweighs intelligent thought, so maybe there’s NO cause for optimism there – but a boy can dream.
