Am I the only weirdo here?

[fasstrack]

First of all this is not about me per se. The thread title is like a song title or catchy hook (I hope).

Observing all the large response to various threads like the one on who's gay or not or the Jazz Manifesto from Chairman Kurt I'm beginning to wonder if time and even this forum is passing by a basic romantic like myself. I hope to hear from people that may agree (OK, hell, disagreeing is OK too...) that music and beauty have power to heal and rise above the vagaries of things like current trends or social issues. Is there anyone else besides me and Woody Allen who thinks that whatever happens in politics, war, inhumanity etc.---which was always here and is always gonna be---the real action (i.e. the stuff we can actually affect) is in human interaction (friendship, romance, etc.) and the real inspiration in striving (i.e. falling down, as we must, but getting up to try again)?

I had a meeting with a dear old friend yesterday, a very fine jazz musician. We've been having the same argument for years, he the paranoid conspiracy theorist who can only shut up relax when he plays, then it's pure swing and beauty, and me the guy who doesn't waste time on the above mentioned social vagaries, only knowing how to do friendship and some pretty notes to make things better. Chicken Little meets Pollyana (sp?), some would say.

Any other romantics here that might be thought of as ostrich-like by some but really only escape because the world will never make the cut with their standards?

PS: I hope you understand why I put this in the music and not non-political section. I can only talk about what I know.

(edited for grammar and clarity. JF)

Edited September 5, 2011 by fasstrack

[sonnymax]

First of all this is not about me per se. The thread title is like a song title or catchy hook (I hope).

Observing all the large response to various threads like the one on who's gay or not or the Jazz Manifesto from Chairman Kurt I'm beginning to wonder if time and even this forum is passing by a basic romantic like myself. I hope to hear from people that may agree (OK, hell, disagreeing is OK too...) that music and beauty have power to heal and rise above the vagaries of things like current trends or social issues. Is there anyone else besides me and Woody Allen who thinks that whatever happens in politics, war, inhumanity etc.---which was always here and is always gonna be---the real action (i.e. the stuff we can actually affect) is in human interaction (friendship, romance, etc.) and the real inspiration in striving (i.e. falling down, as we must, but getting up to try again)?

I had a meeting with a dear old friend yesterday, a very fine jazz musician. We've been having the same argument for years, he the paranoid conspiracy theorist who can only shut up relax when he plays, then it's pure swing and beauty, and me the guy who doesn't waste time on the above mentioned social vagaries, only knowing how to do friendship and some pretty notes to make things better. Chicken Little meets Pollyana (sp?), some would say.

Any other romantics here that might be thought of as ostrich-like by some but really only escape because the world will never make the cut with their standards?

PS: I hope you understand why I put this in the music and not non-political section. I can only talk about what I know.

(edited for grammar and clarity. JF)

As a psychologist and a person who wholly embraces emotion, I do believe some experiences (music, humor, love, nature, children, animals) can have cathartic and healing effects. Some people find healing and hope in these experiences that help them to acknowledge, accept and work through life's difficulties and uncertainties. Others, however, seek sanctuary in such experiences. They try to immerse themselves in such a way that they deny the difficult and confusing, claiming peaceful ignorance as others try to grapple with the reality around them. Ignorance might be bliss, but how can a person truly appreciate artistic expressions of life if they ignore the problems and inconvenient truths that are a part of life?

Edited September 5, 2011 by sonnymax

[fasstrack]

First of all this is not about me per se. The thread title is like a song title or catchy hook (I hope).

Observing all the large response to various threads like the one on who's gay or not or the Jazz Manifesto from Chairman Kurt I'm beginning to wonder if time and even this forum is passing by a basic romantic like myself. I hope to hear from people that may agree (OK, hell, disagreeing is OK too...) that music and beauty have power to heal and rise above the vagaries of things like current trends or social issues. Is there anyone else besides me and Woody Allen who thinks that whatever happens in politics, war, inhumanity etc.---which was always here and is always gonna be---the real action (i.e. the stuff we can actually affect) is in human interaction (friendship, romance, etc.) and the real inspiration in striving (i.e. falling down, as we must, but getting up to try again)?

I had a meeting with a dear old friend yesterday, a very fine jazz musician. We've been having the same argument for years, he the paranoid conspiracy theorist who can only shut up relax when he plays, then it's pure swing and beauty, and me the guy who doesn't waste time on the above mentioned social vagaries, only knowing how to do friendship and some pretty notes to make things better. Chicken Little meets Pollyana (sp?), some would say.

Any other romantics here that might be thought of as ostrich-like by some but really only escape because the world will never make the cut with their standards?

PS: I hope you understand why I put this in the music and not non-political section. I can only talk about what I know.

(edited for grammar and clarity. JF)

As a psychologist and a person who wholly embraces emotion, I do believe some experiences (music, humor, love, nature, children, animals) can have cathartic and healing effects. Some people find healing and hope in these experiences that help them to acknowledge, accept and work through life's difficulties and uncertainties. Others, however, seek sanctuary in such experiences. They try to immerse themselves in such a way that they deny the difficult and confusing, claiming peaceful ignorance as others try to grapple with the reality around them. Ignorance might be bliss, but how can a person truly appreciate artistic expressions of life if they ignore the problems and inconvenient truths that are a part of life?

I myself don't ignore those things. Unfortunately I have to live them. I get along the best I can and am fairly well-adjusted but do seek sanctuary in music and friendship. I take art seriously but reality less so, the better not to go nuts. And, to paraphrase our friend Mr. Allen (about casual sex as an 'émpty experience'), maybe these things are sanctuaries for the slightly maladjusted, but as sanctuaries go they're the best there are.

Edited September 5, 2011 by fasstrack

[sonnymax]

My post was not meant as a professional assessment or a personal attack, and I apologize if that's the way I came across. It is, however, how I see things in our society today. Some people try to understand life's mysteries and accept its inconsistencies, while others insist life should be the way they remember it or worse, the way they (or "God" or some other fictional character) thinks it ought to be. Again, I don't know how those in the latter group can fully appreciate music, art, and other expressions of life as it is.

Edited September 5, 2011 by sonnymax

[fasstrack]

My post was not meant as a professional assessment or a personal attack, and I apologize if that's the way I came across. It is, however, how I see things in our society today. Some people try to understand life's mysteries and accept its inconsistencies, while others insist life should be the way they remember it or worse, the way they (or "God" or some other fictional character) thinks it ought to be. Again, I don't know how those in the latter group can fully appreciate music, art, and other expressions of life as it is.

I didn't take it that way at all. I'm also sorry if it sounded defensive. Just trying to ask the right questions---and only claiming answers that work for me.

[JSngry]

... music, art, and other expressions of life as it is.

I don't know what that means.

[fasstrack]

Any other comments, Jim? From one fellow weirdo to another....

[JSngry]

Hey, I'm not a weirdo, I just live in a world in which mine is a distinctly minority viewpoint far more often than not. But I figure that if the majority was right, why aren't things any better than they are. Not that they're just godawful World Sucks bad, but...there's still plenty room for improvement.

And to quote Elvis Costello about that, I used to get disgusted, but now I only get amused. Mostly, anyway.

Yet, I smile a lot more than I smirk, at least on a good day.

And on a good day, I win. So...fuck em!

[fasstrack]

Hey, I'm not a weirdo, I just live in a world in which mine is a distinctly minority viewpoint far more often than not. But I figure that if the majority was right, why aren't things any better than they are. Not that they're just godawful World Sucks bad, but...there's still plenty room for improvement.

And to quote Elvis Costello about that, I used to get disgusted, but now I only get amused. Mostly, anyway.

Yet, I smile a lot more than I smirk, at least on a good day.

And on a good day, I win. So...fuck em!

Things aren't better than they are b/c most people seem to believe that might makes right and it's better to have your foot on someone's neck (ass?) than vice versa. And it's up to dummies like us who don't to ignore the majority opinion and survive healthily so we can have our own small victories as per these values.

[JSngry]

I've had two small victories, actually. One of them's actually gotten a job and moved out to start looking for small victories of his own.

We don't die, we multiply!

[fasstrack]

I've had two small victories, actually. One of them's actually gotten a job and moved out to start looking for small victories of his own.

We don't die, we multiply!

Like Steve Johns told me years ago when his son was very young 'there's my best chorus'.

Good for you. I don't have kids. Can barely afford myself, even with Spartan tastes. I use my songs as stand-ins. They're my children and I try to protect them and help find their way into the world. Then it's up to them. Like I said, my children.

[BeBop]

For me, I guess this is the third element of my jazz life: I play, I listen and I discuss and learn. If it doesn't enhance one of these, I've no interest in making it part of my Organissimo experience. If it interests me - really interests me - I probably have a better place for it in my life. That said, I find it possible to tune most of the "off topic" stuff out during my visits here, and I assume - with some difficulty - that these are improving someone's experience.

[fasstrack]

Anyone ever read the poem Miniver Cheevy (Edward Arlington Robinson)? It's been on my mind a lot lately, and I haven't read it since HS, back in the Age Of Steam. That's how I've been feeling lately, identifying as a wounded romantic like Miniver.

Another good title was Brian Wilson's I Just Wasn't Made For These Times.

Edited September 6, 2011 by fasstrack

[seeline]

The thing about that poem is that Cheevy is an alcoholic...

http://www.poemtree.com/poems/MiniverCheevy.htm

I like the stanza about the Medici.

Edited September 6, 2011 by seeline

[fasstrack]

The thing about that poem is that Cheevy is an alcoholic...

Who could blame him?

[ep1str0phy]

I actually just saw a video of (comedian) Louis CK paying tribute to George Carlin--and we're talking about two romantics who often couch romanticism in cynicism, or rather two very earnest stage personalities that are nonetheless extremely aware of the incendiary and being incendiary. What struck me was how much admiration CK had for Carlin as a craftsman and trailblazer--not just for what he said, but for what he did and the fact of his doing it. I've been thinking about this, and the very present realities of being a jazz musician, performer, person, etc. right now (and, being relatively young, scrambling is part of what I've come to understand as reality), I'm honestly proud to be making music right now with the people I make music with in the way that I do with the legacy that I'm a part of. Considering everyone here is either/both a musician or a music admirer, I'd be remiss in failing to articulate just how much the existence of this board, its contrasting realities, and its ultimate optimism mean to me.

Edited September 6, 2011 by ep1str0phy

[alocispepraluger102]

i still go about loving the beautiful i see and hear with no respect for time or society, and with increasing isolation. that comes with growing old, i guess.

strangely, i mix that romanticism with a generally despairing pragmatic, matter of fact, view of life.

what i cannot reconcile, i haven't come close, is me, an agnostic leaning heavily to atheism and having a deep, deep love for the finest spiritual and sacred expression.

Edited September 6, 2011 by alocispepraluger102

[Shawn]

There are certain topics that I know bother me and I'm now comfortable enough in my own skin to politely excuse myself from the discussion when they arise. Primarily anything political or religion based are arguments I have no business being in and will flat out avoid at all costs.

[sonnymax]

There are certain topics that I know bother me and I'm now comfortable enough in my own skin to politely excuse myself from the discussion when they arise. Primarily anything political or religion based are arguments I have no business being in and will flat out avoid at all costs.

That's unfortunate. The political and religious powers that be rely on some people's discomfort and other people's ignorance to continue to exert influence and control according to their own personal and financial interests, rather than the interests of the people.

[fasstrack]

(Posted from cell phone so options limited and brevity key). Alico, beautifully said. Epist: I hear you, and keep it up, from a jazz musician older than yourself who still believes. Although, let's face it, that's probably why I'm too fucking broke to fix my computer...