06/11/01 - I was trying to do some reading but I couldn't seem to concentrate. I just kept reading the same sentence over and over, nothing. Nothing made any sense. Then I read this: A WEEK WITHOUT MUSIC: A critic proposes tuning out music for a week in July, refusing to listen to a single bar. "Our aim is to dismantle the apparatus for the music industry, to afford ourselves some peace and quiet, thus enabling us to rethink popular culture. This can only be done in total ascetic silence." The Guardian (UK) Funny, huh? Rethink popular culture ... The thought of doing that makes me dizzy. Wouldn't it take more than a week without music? I would need to tune out everything and take a vacation to Walden Pond. Of course it would be impossible for me to give up music. I know I could live without television. I watch a little here and there. I don't have any favorite shows. I mostly watch the Bravo channel while I'm working the graveyard shift. Newspapers would be real easy to give up. I only read the date book section on a regular basis, and even then I just skim it. I could benefit immensely by giving up some of the surfing I do on the Internet; there's information overload for you. And there's no doubt that the net is popular culture. But give up music? I don't think so, not even for a week. For one thing, I don't overindulge in any one type of music; I'm eclectic and well balanced. I'm pretty sure total ascetic silence would do me a lot of harm. This is one protest I'm going to pass on. This morning I had to keep myself awake after graveyard shift. I had to go enroll The Kid at yet another school. He'll be starting continuation school next semester. The principal looked at The Kid and remarked that it didn't look like he was too interested in the school's program. The Kid responded by saying it wasn't that, he just doesn't like getting up at 8 a.m. The Principal was real impressed. The Principal talked about standards and goals and yada yada yada. I walked out of his office and made my way through the hallway crowded with Eminem look-a-likes and glazed eyes ... standards and goals. The Kid will fit in just fine. |
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Dream A Little Dream ... |