The Basics
I'm a fan of Green Day.
A simple statement, but true.
Last Saturday night after Marina's sister's wedding, we were lounging in our hotel room in downtown Sacramento when Saturday Night Live came on, with Green Day the musical guest. The two songs they played, "Know Your Enemy" and "21 Guns" got me more excited for an album release than I have been since Counting Crows' last album.
I don't generally get worked up about an album. I like music, but it's been hard to define what I'm passionate about. I can't really talk at length about the profound intricacies of what makes me prefer one band to another. I quite often just don't care enough to dissect it.
But those songs, and then some of the publicity in the last week, made the purchase an easy decision. I mean, they've called George W. Bush an idiot, and they refused to buckle and offer Wal-Mart an edited version of 21st Century Breakdown. If there were ever corporations whom I would like to tell to go to hell, it would be George W. Bush and Wal-Mart. Yeah, I called Bush a corporation. I'm okay with that.
I walked down Valencia Street to Aquarius Records, a small indie shop, bought the album, and I've been listening to it all afternoon, and it has been an awesome afternoon indeed.
I think it is one of the hardest questions to answer, really: "Who am I?" Not to sound like a cliched philosopher, but how many of us are lost for so many years, not knowing really why we do the things we do, or not knowing what we should do. For instance, if someone acts thoughtfully, I think it can be hard to find the boundary where his motivation crosses from doing it so people will like him to doing it because he wants to, or because he is genuinely thoughtful.
There have been times in my life, particularly with online 'flirtations', where I'm not sure that I've always been true to myself, where in looking back at what I wrote I have to ask myself what I was thinking; it doesn't reflect who I am, or at least not how I carry myself in real life, and when those 'flirtations' went off-line, things went awry. I was fortunate to keep two good friendships out of the three such flirtations, but the third, we don't talk any more, and I have a book she lent me, and I feel guilty about that.
I think part of the problem was that I wasn't really comfortable with who I am and what I want. But I could be wrong. Maybe I was just making mistakes.
But things are changing. I met Marina, and she is wonderful, and I can be myself around her, and I know this much: I like Green Day, and Counting Crows, and Bob Dylan, and the Beatles. People I care for a great deal have given me a hard time for liking Green Day, saying they have become commercialized. But I can't help it. I think they're fun, and I'm finding it easier to accept that I like things for as simple a reason as that.
It's easier to be confident about yourself when you know what you are actually all about.
A simple statement, but true.
Last Saturday night after Marina's sister's wedding, we were lounging in our hotel room in downtown Sacramento when Saturday Night Live came on, with Green Day the musical guest. The two songs they played, "Know Your Enemy" and "21 Guns" got me more excited for an album release than I have been since Counting Crows' last album.
I don't generally get worked up about an album. I like music, but it's been hard to define what I'm passionate about. I can't really talk at length about the profound intricacies of what makes me prefer one band to another. I quite often just don't care enough to dissect it.
But those songs, and then some of the publicity in the last week, made the purchase an easy decision. I mean, they've called George W. Bush an idiot, and they refused to buckle and offer Wal-Mart an edited version of 21st Century Breakdown. If there were ever corporations whom I would like to tell to go to hell, it would be George W. Bush and Wal-Mart. Yeah, I called Bush a corporation. I'm okay with that.
I walked down Valencia Street to Aquarius Records, a small indie shop, bought the album, and I've been listening to it all afternoon, and it has been an awesome afternoon indeed.
I think it is one of the hardest questions to answer, really: "Who am I?" Not to sound like a cliched philosopher, but how many of us are lost for so many years, not knowing really why we do the things we do, or not knowing what we should do. For instance, if someone acts thoughtfully, I think it can be hard to find the boundary where his motivation crosses from doing it so people will like him to doing it because he wants to, or because he is genuinely thoughtful.
There have been times in my life, particularly with online 'flirtations', where I'm not sure that I've always been true to myself, where in looking back at what I wrote I have to ask myself what I was thinking; it doesn't reflect who I am, or at least not how I carry myself in real life, and when those 'flirtations' went off-line, things went awry. I was fortunate to keep two good friendships out of the three such flirtations, but the third, we don't talk any more, and I have a book she lent me, and I feel guilty about that.
I think part of the problem was that I wasn't really comfortable with who I am and what I want. But I could be wrong. Maybe I was just making mistakes.
But things are changing. I met Marina, and she is wonderful, and I can be myself around her, and I know this much: I like Green Day, and Counting Crows, and Bob Dylan, and the Beatles. People I care for a great deal have given me a hard time for liking Green Day, saying they have become commercialized. But I can't help it. I think they're fun, and I'm finding it easier to accept that I like things for as simple a reason as that.
It's easier to be confident about yourself when you know what you are actually all about.
posted by Devin at 9:21 PM
1 Comments:
Devin, I'll never harp on you for liking Green Day. And I'm glad for you.
Ben
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