all the news that print will fit.
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| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
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Wednesday, May 05, 2004 np: neu! - neu! i'm doing some expanding in my music listening. sort of. i go into used shops and come out with things like the inevitable, john wesley harding's new deal and magic and medicine; nothing terribly out of line for me. but i also order things like this neu! album. krautrock is not something i've delved heavily into at any time, but with the upcoming series of reissues of the first albums of kraftwerk, i thought it time to begin a tentative exploration; neu! isn't far off considering the band was two of the members of the first kraftwerk lineup (i.e. pre-autobahn era). to be honest, instrumental music has a tough row to hoe with me on the average. i'm a sucker for words, even if they're dismal and wasteful. so it's not often that i go out and purposely purchase something instrumental that was written in the 20th century. (john cage would be one noteable exception; there are others, i just don't feel like racking my brain for them at the moment.) but this neu! cd has really drawn me in. it will most likely not be something i am repeatedly pulling out; nor is it the quintessential party album. it's not even something i would go out of my way to play on my radio show. it occupies a space in my collection that satisfies something deep within me for eclecticism and a departure from my day to day; music that challenges me to step up to their terms and not to sit back and expect everyone to step to me like jay farrar. or paul westerberg. or the church. or the afghan whigs. or anything else from alt-country/folk/80s-90s indie-rock. however, even in this delving into new things, there are strings that connect. "negativland" (from neu!) falls squarely where joy division would be just six or seven years down the road. and, well, i love joy division. so there you have it. it's national teacher appreciation week. and i'm receiving lots of cutesy little emails from other teachers (forwarded to the entire staff, of course) about it. one got to me a bit though. so : The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man decided to explain the problem with education. He argued: "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." it's the bold line that really got me. the emphasis on what one makes, monetarily, has always rubbed me the wrong way. i could make more somewhere else. and sometimes i get down thinking about how that could be the case. but then i remember that if i really cared about that, i wouldn't have come here in the first place. and i laugh. and i don't worry about it anymore. i have a comfortable place to live, i have food to eat, i have lovely friends, i have students who make me smile. and that's all i really need. everything else is additional benefit. finally in the news in brief section, this article about the funeral of pat tillman (the arizona cardinals' safety who turned down his $3 million/per anum salary to enlist to go to afghanistan) is as well put an argument for the basic humanity of people i've ever read. tillman has been given the glorifying treatment of a hero, a martyr, an unselfish, faultless role model. and where, in all this, is the real pat tillman? where is the human who did all sorts of things in his life and happened into this untimely death? well he's right under your nose of course. read the article. and then tip back a pint of guinness for pat. on a sidenote, it's kinda nice to feel alright. to be okay. it happens infrequently of late. which is not normal for me. i'm good at feeling alright. i'm good at feeling like i'm in motion and doing things. whether it's sitting here railing about politics, music, etc. or sitting in my classroom railing at my students about literature, politics, music, etc. but things happen and shake your faith, shake your base. and a lot of times you overthink them. you let it all seep in too much. and you end up, head in hands, heart in guts. but sometimes you're alright. and that's a good thing. thanks. posted by J. Neas | 5/05/2004 09:59:00 AM
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