Monday, February 13, 2006

wilco, eating disorders, and the disillusionment of my generation

This is gonna be somewhat short, mainly because I am tired, but also because I feel like with tomorrow being Valentine's I should probably post something about beauty and love then, thus...a few things rattling in my brain.

Wilco--I think they rock. I love the way Jeff Tweedy writes lyrics and I tend to find myself in many of his songs. The 2 CD's I own are Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and A ghost is born. I did own AM, but it got jacked by a really cute girl one summer I worked at camp in college, so I can forgive. Nevertheless tonight on the way home from seminary I was just listening and realized how much I like this band. Every CD of theirs I have owned, including the aforementioned-jacked one, has become more imprtant to me the longer I own it. Every time I revisit one of their tunes that I haven't listened to in awhile it unveils something new that I dig, I think that is a key to lasting musical greatness. I don't know if this officially means I am old, or just in a phase but their tunes resonate with me. As I listened tonight, i think my life is probably more like their music, than the life of Diamond David Lee Roth--which is what I sometimes hopefully think.

Eating disorders--I can totally see how people get them. It is so easy to make yourself crazy thinking about health and food. Sometimes I think I have walked the proverbial line between healthy and unhealthy eating habits.(Note this is not a cry for help, I am OK)I just feel like at this moment in my life I can really sympathize with this kind of head game, and felt the need to communicate it.

Talking about my generation--So the world champion Chicago White Sox had the oppurutnity to visit the white house this week and 17 of the 40 man roster chose to attend. 17. I think this is perhaps a huge indicator of where we are as a people. I think it has nothing to do with the poltics of GW or the players. I think it is perhaps most indicative of the fact that we, meaning younger folk, are beginning to realize the futility of politics. As we grow up in school we are taught that in America anyone can be the prez. I think the older we get the more we realize anyone, can't really be prez, and even if we could we wouldn't want to be. I think more and more we are seeing that politics will not save our world. All the news channels seem to attempt to spin it like they can, in agreeing or disagreeing with a certain political decision, but I think most people in my generation realize the futility of this endeavor. Thus the president is quickly being relegated to little more than a celebrity in kind with Bob Dylan...future generations know this figure is important but can't exactly de/prescribe why. Furthermore I think we all realize in our bones how little power the president really has. I'm sure it makes us all feel good that at the end of the day we can pin success or failure on the shoulders of one person so as to alleviate our own responsibility, but nevertheless we all know this for the fallacy it is. No one person is the reason anything happens in terms of politics. But Jeff what about Hitler--Neville Chamberlain, pacificism, and so on. Alright this is getting whiny, and this whole thing could be cause I am tired, I'm really not sure however I think this whole Chisox thing is an example of a cultural reality. We want substance. i think we are all hopful that at some point we can be a part of something bigger than ourselves. I think the more I hear news from the globe, it is clear to me that that bigger enduring thing will never be diplomacy. Diplomacy will die with people--we yearn to connect with the eternal. I think this is what I feel and possibly what a lot of people around my age feel. This probably won't even make since to me when I wake up tomorrow, but nevertheless here it is. Perhaps it will be entertainment at least.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was listening to those very same Wilco albums on a coworker's itunes yesterday. Cool. And in response to you wondering if your finding something new in their music means you're old... Maybe so, but the fact that I call them albums instead of CDs definitely means I'm old. :)