Just to answer a question – It isn’t a question of trying to be different or of playing at being eccentric or intellectual or odd or anything. I listen to as much popular music as anyone and my shelves are full of very mainstream records and CDs. I just don’t think it makes any difference to write about it and it’s hard to believe that anyone else finds it interesting enough to merit the ink expended upon it. It’s just part of the scene going on with the trendmongers at Big Swifty’s, to paraphrase Frank Zappa. Writing about popular music is just marketing for the most part. It’s far more interesting and relevant to beat about the fringes to see what’s going on out there. That’s why this 1985 cassette from Netherlands by DUSTBIN SILENCE made it to my playlist. Had I been browsing in a record store (if record stores still existed) it would have come home with me on the merits of the cover art alone. That’s how it’s always worked for me. Not that it always worked but that approach usually yielded good results. Of course there was always the rare one where mediocre or run-of-the-mill musicians paired up with an interesting artist, but…

This is another foray into that often frightening inner space that people usually leave the door closed on. Keep on with that approach and you’ll never heal, motherfuckers, because what ails you is usually hiding somewhere in there… I’m just saying. There are echoes here of the experimental oddness that Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart ventured into, beginning in the 60s. Someone else was probably before them. It’s not pretty. Not at all, and to make it more curious, this is a live recording and at least a handful of people are there in the audience applauding between songs. You could hear things like this in the rare club or private performance space in New York City in the 80s as well, but it wasn’t easy to find. Accessibility though tends to limit art though and it often becomes more about performance to expectations than the art itself. So…

It’s funny how listening to things like this help me to open up the possibilities of a day. It cuts across channels and breaks down grooves and ruts and paths. It leaves me better prepared to see and do and experience the world in a way that may have not been otherwise possible. It’s hard to explain but it strips off the filters. It helps me see without bias or prejudice or purpose. It’s a trip and rather than bring my own rhythm into a day, I fall into the rhythm of the day. And nothing is going to help that make sense. You either get it or you don’t. I’m not crazy. I’m just limited in vocabulary.

A day with an open mind is like a holiday.

Selah.