Rockin' Hard with Sloan

I'm old. I'm that old guy I used to laugh at whilst attending rock shows as a youth. I went to see Sloan last night with my old friends. We were all old together. It was great. I was singing along, clad in my work attire. I was rockin'. By the end of the night, my legs ached, my hands were cramped and I was just plumb tuckered. I drank a lot of beer. I can't rock the beer like I used to.

The room was Maxwell's. For those of you familiar with Maxwell's, it is a fantastic venue for seeing bands. The room was filled with grungy little city-dwelling girls in mod outfits. The boyz were all dressed in typical 'boy' clothing. There were a few fat guys with long goatees, whose modus operandi escaped me other than maybe being undercover bouncers. I'm sure the fat guy with the 'Nothing Lasts Forever Anymore' tee shirt was an employee, but I'm not quite sure about the others. Maybe they though Creed was appearing.

The band was truly energetic and apathetic as usual. It is quite apparent they fully enjoy performing, but not in front of people. I've seen them several times and they all seemingly purvey a sense of disdain and malice towards their adoring minions. I've attempted several times over the years to invoke conversation which usually elicits responses such as 'yeah' or something very Canadian. That's OK, because I empathize. I too love to perform and hate the crowd for whom I perform. It's is a strange dichotomy that cannot be explained. Maybe it's a case of extreme narcissism or agoraphobia. Maybe it's the fact that I'm simply not a handsome man. It could be that I am delusional about the importance of my being within this world. It could be that my daddy simply didn't kiss me enough.

I'm very tired today, but may muster the energy to see them at The Southpaw in Brooklyn tonight...

Those People

We all know those people whose woes of the world are the result of everyone else but themselves. We know those people who blame others for destroying things that they left out to be destroyed. We all know those people who are always being 'taken by the man'. We know these people who are always being slighted by others. The perpetual friendless bunch.

We must break this cycle.

If you know someone like this, do them a favor and tell them to snap out of it and grow up like a responsible adult. I can't re-articulate this any more. The words are becoming meaningless to me, like when you repeat a word over and over until it begins to sound foreign.

If you are one of these people, please heed these words; you are the cause of everything that happens to you, good or bad. Accept it and deal with it. You'll be much happier for it.

Alacrious Melancholy and Pupa-People

I've been contemplating the meanings of curmudgeonly and misanthropic as of late. I've spoken recently with someone aspiring to pair with a curmudgeonly drinking partner. I found that to be very funny only because I used to be that person. I was the drunken, curmudgeonly guy for a long time. I reveled in misanthropy (which wasn't really misanthropy, just pseudo-misanthropy because I really didn't want to see anyone die or suffer tragic dismemberments; I simply wanted them to go away) and constantly professed my hatred for society. I referred to these targets of my hatred as Pupa-People. These were people who weren't quite done yet. Half-baked humans. Not ready to fly. They were pupa-people in the full meaning of the term. I laughed when I'd use it. I would often couple that with my other slang for people... Earth Mutts.

My hatred for the obvious and typical is still quite alive. There seems to be an inherent need for humans to fraternize, even if within a circle of those who refuse to fraternize. Naturally, the average person is quite average. It is also true that the average person feels he is not. Those on the outer-fringes of 'average' can suffer an equally demeaning fate of being below-average, whatever that may entail.

I personally feel that I'm above average. I'm smarter, better, faster, wealthier, prettier, taller, stronger, and more humble than the average person...

Enjoy your afternoon.