NOTE: I have so many musical and artistic heroes, I couldn’t begin to name them all, so I’ll only mention one: ALICE COLTRANE (The widow of another musical hero of mine, John Coltrane). If you have the opportunity, check out the album: “Ptah the El Daoud.” One of my all-time favorite songs is “Turiya & Ramakrishna.”

ROMANCE, PT. I
MUSIC

I love music. There’s nothing like music. As a young man, I was obsessed with music. I could ignore the whole world and sink into a music-induced daze. Now that I’m older, and understand the concept of Escapism and how it detracts from practical life, I know this isn’t a proper way to behave. But damn it, I still love music.

I love music that makes me think. I wonder if that makes me a Romantic. According to the man in the dictionary, one definition of a Romantic is someone whose thoughts are, “marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized.” If that’s the case, then music can be extremely Romantic.

How does this pertain to men and women’s misunderstandings of each other?

Well… yesterday morning, I ran into a friend and walked with him for a bit. It was nice because I was in a great mood, the sun was shining, and I left home after listening to Prince’s new single, “Black Sweat,” which had me upbeat.

We reminisced about how MTV used to actually play videos and expose people to music (at least popular music). And how it’s now just a janky “reality” station/24 hour commercial, and almost never plays entire videos.

Why isn’t there a show on MTV that showcases up and coming talent from every genre of music at different local venues around the world every week? I don’t know. You tell me.

I guess I’m just dreaming. Although it seems to me that they don’t even give respect to established artists who are no longer under 25 years old, like Prince (a one-time MTV darling), whose last three albums: The Rainbow Children, Musicology, and now 3121, have been entertaining and worthy of popular airplay.

Maybe it’s me, but I sometimes look at popular notions of Romance and music in the same light. Musical taste and artistic taste in general seem to be far less sophisticated than even three decades ago. Similarly, it seems to me that people's basic views on Romance are more crude than some of the most recent previous generations (excluding of course the debachery of Antiquity and the Greaco-Roman era). But maybe it’s just a change in trends. Sometimes these things are generational. I wonder about it though.

Now, I’m not all caught up in the nose-in-the-air connotations connected with the word “sophistication,” or anything like that. By sophistication, I mean an appreciation and understanding of the level of skill, originality, inventiveness, dedication and mastery it takes to produce a piece of music.

Today, it seems that the greatest skill is found seldom in the music itself and more in advertisers and marketers. I must admit, promotion companies are more sophisticated than ever before, and they’re getting even better. Though I’m not sure that’s a compliment to our tastes.

To me, I think Romance can be similar. It takes skill and imagination to be a competent Romantic. I’m a firm believer that Romance can be divested from sexuality. I can think of women I never have and never will touch physically that arouse my spirit, not in a carnally sexual way, but in a loving way. Perhaps that’s why Romanticism is considered impractical; there can be too many contradictions.

I guess the conversation with my friend yesterday morning brought this to mind. My buddy is a cool guy, a true Romantic at heart. That might be one of the reasons he’s a musician. Hell, he carries his guitar around with him everywhere he goes like Linus and his blanket, or maybe Tommy-lee with his groupies.

But here’s the thing…

I wonder if I’m over-thinking this one. I asked him that. We both kind of agreed that sometimes artistic snobbery is at play when people that have art and music obsessions discuss their conception of "Art."

Though I think I have a decent appreciation for music, I wonder if I take time to understand what others are experiencing when they listen music. I wonder if I could learn something from their experiences. Many times, people aren’t listening to music at all, they’re simply gyrating and feeling the back-beats. And if that’s the goal of most popular music, then it’s successful, and worthy of praise.

Hmmm… this is just one of many things I’m not sure of.

All of this vaguely reminds me of Romance, I suppose. I’ve found that most people aren’t really interested in Romance, or practicing it as an art. Most people are just going through the motions, unaware of whether they are genuinely reaching their partner on a challenging level (intellectually challenging as opposed to confrontational).

On a superficial level, I can think of many popular songs that invoke memories; songs that touch me not because they provoke my concept of art, but because they were to soundtracks to important moments in my life.

I'm gonna have to think about this one some more.

Peace and Love,

nosthegametoo

Romantic Memory Note: I could put a million songs on here for a million reasons. But I tried to find a few popish songs that give me genuine and serious emtional memories.

The song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” by Green Day, will forever remind of my good friend. I wasn’t surprised to find out that she loved this song. I figured she did. There’s something about the “feel” of this song that reminds me of her. It also reminds her of herself. Weird, how we both knew that before discussing it.

Then, there’s “Cry Together,” by the O’Jays. Apparently, my late Uncle, who passed when I was an infant, loved this song. I think it was playing on the radio when him and my Aunt feel in love, or something to that effect. It reminds my Aunt of him, so she prefers not to hear it. But because of that, I always think of my Aunt when I hear it. And my friends think of me when they hear it, because they know about my Aunt, and that she never remarried.

I love the song “Under the Bridge,” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I met one of band members when I was younger, he was cool. This song also reminds me of one of my best friend. We’ve been through life together since the age of six, there’s a lot behind this song.

I laugh every time I hear “Sweat (A La La La La Long),” by Inner Circle, which reminds me of a vacation my friends and I took south of the border. Ah, the shameful stories I can and will tell at my friends’ weddings. Though I won’t break the Man-code and put it ALL on the table.

There’s “Tuesday’s Gone,” by Lynard Skynard. Aside from my memories of the close relationship I had with my first roommate, this song played before a very important milestone in my life. I can derive a lot of emotion from this song.

And finally, "Ain't No Fun (If My Homies Can't Have None),” by Snoop Doggy Dogg (presently, “Snoop Dogg”). This reminds me of a very close buddy of mine. We have since drifted apart, but this time in my life was fun.

While writing this, I listened to each of these songs, and I smiled a bit, just because they can all still make me feel something.

Ah... nothing like pleasant memories.