Rock and Roll

Here is the deal with Rock and Roll. And for that matter, all of the creative arts:

The advent of recorded music has been wonderful. Truly wonderful. We have been able to preserve for all time the legendary moments of the most enduring figures of the creative pantheon. How cool is that??

It is has been an incredible thing that has blessed and blessed and blessed our generation.

However, we of the early 21st century are at odds: The purpose of music is obviously to get people moving, to heal. Art in general does this. It serves to accompany us in our solitude. It is the voice of another human, reaching all the way into our most private moments and saying, "Yo, I been there. You are not alone."

Recorded music (and all media for that matter) is ONE RENDITION of such a healing moment. Because it feels good to heal, we like to hear the song again. For even the memory of healing feels good.

It feels so good, in fact, that two things happen: 1) We begin excluding new potential healing experiences for the record of a previous healing, and 2) We become quick-to-judge a new potential healing experience for its dissimilarity to our previous, well-studied healing.

This is bad. This is the cart driving the horse. This is man attached. This is the arrogance to pressume to know what is good/bad for oneself.

They used to say Rock and Roll is dead. But then we whooped their ass with Nirvana. Rock is never dead! But all of our old icons? Yes, their time has passed. Would you expect your grandmother to live forever singing, "Give it up or let me go?"

Put down your search for the next John Lennon and you might find he's just around the next corner...