I have friends who see psychics, I have friends with life coaches, and me, I take advice from AM radio.
You pay them money, and eventually they say the very thing that gives you permission to do what you wanted to do all along, at a more or less conscious level. And you never have to admit that you were never not going to do that, that you never had autonomy.
Policy change: the new meaning of the word "discourse" will be any thing that allows social choices to appear as something other than ideological.
In this, it resembles the old meaning of discourse rather closely.
Click below to read Franklin Bruno's breathless excursus on the Urinals' 60-second chant "Ack Ack Ack Ack," the most stuttering ode to an avant-European cinematic auteur ever.
In 1987, an early version of Nothing Painted Blue was the only band at the Claremont Colleges not covering "Cocaine,” "Sweet Home Alabama,” and half a dozen Eagles songs.
On the rare occasions we were hired for frat parties, we had a standing policy of playing this song, The Urinals two-chord, one-minute readymade "Ack Ack Ack Ack," whenever anyone yelled for "Freebird." On some nights, this meant we played it five or six times in a set, before everyone got the idea -- which was just fine with us.
In fact, sometimes we'd practice at night in a hallway near some dormitory bathrooms.We’d wait for students to wander in, especially drunk ones, and hold our fire for a while. The moment we saw the bathroom door open, we’d count off the song, and watch 'em scatter like roaches.
This was also the period when I would stand on stage and grate cheese over the crowd, and into their flat beers, while the rhythm section vamped, in place of a guitar solo.
I no longer advocate these particular ways of alienating neighbors, audiences, and potential friends. I’ve found other coping mechanisms, sonic and otherwise. But the rules only said you had to think it was the best song ever, not that you had to be the best person when you did.
Posted by jane at April 25, 2004 10:59 AM | TrackBack