Hello. I am e.n.d. Once upon a time I came from Minnesota. But then I moved everywhere.
Curiosity didn't kill the cat. Complacency did.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
These guys…
All three of em’.
“He died in 1978. She died on the same day, ten years later.”
- The Eames House (Case Study House #8)
she walks on in
she walks on by
you bite your lip
and smile
you’re not allowed to be sad
Beck and Thom Yorke covering The Velvet Underground’s I’m Set Free.
February 26, 2002 - Los Angeles, CA
I’ve been set free and I’ve been bound
To the memories of yesterday’s clouds
I’ve been set free and I’ve been bound
And now I’m set free
I’m set free
I’m set free to find a new illusion
I’ve been blinded but
Now I can see
What in the world has happened to me
The prince of stories who walks right by me
And now I’m set free
I’m set free
I’m set free to find a new illusion
I’ve been set free and I’ve been bound
Let me tell you people
What I found
I saw my head laughing
Rolling on the ground
And now I’m set free
I’m set free
I’m set free to find a new illusion
I woke up to this in my feed. My ADHD self can’t follow a ton of people on this or Twitter (I can never handle all of the incoming as is!), so a breakfast wake up call to one of my favorite Radiohead B-sides is a nice surprise.
Especially this morning. My windows are screaming sun and blue skies. I heard the punk bakers below me setting up shop. I pressed play while still under the covers.
In very similar weather, I bought this single in Los Angeles when I was with my Mom over a long weekend in early 2002 while she was attending some kind of ‘product marketing insurance conference’.
Gross, I know.
But these trips were common and more often than not, she took me with her. I was always pumped to travel on these micro-domestic journeys. Perfect breaks spent with a person who is still one of my closest friends.
On this trip in particular, I’d take our rental car out of the too-nice-for-our-liking Beverly Hills hotel garage we were staying and I’d drive solo, every day, to Orange County on long freeways. I had every B-side from the ‘Knives Out’ single with me. Heavy rotation, playing while plowing on smaller seaside roads once I reached the good ole’ OC.
I was busy writing, reading and fresh out of a silly break-up. Silly in the sense that at 22 yrs old, you’re still pretty unsure but fairly confident that it’s not the end of the world but the occasional second pops up when you treat it as if it is. Damn emotions! But, it cracks up to just a young learning experience. After all, I wasn’t about to be kept in Minnesota. Break-ups were both tasty and painful at that age. Leaving Minnesota was key. The world was big.
So instead, I was a 22 yr. old who appreciated driving in cars alone to beautiful soundtracks, still searching for CD singles and unreleased bootlegs of live performances in the stores of cities and countries I didn’t frequently visit.
Wondering what a post-University experience would look like in six months, I compartmentalized and focused on writing my undergraduate honors thesis on ‘Debt Relief in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’ and defending it to a committee I feared might not be convinced to allow me to graduate at the top of my class later that Spring.
(I always felt that I sucked at writing. I’m far too passionate to make sense half the time).
Six months later, after sitting and speaking (trembling, really) in a small, hot room for two hours, completely sweaty and still terrified, that said committee was somehow convinced. After hearing my pathetic attempts to define what the ‘moral obligation’ was on behalf of the Belgian and US Government’s duty to relieve the Congo’s debt, I got a harsh lesson in what real Political Economy and Post-Colonial transitions were and they gave my Summa Cum Laude honors. Pointedly and so often, I stood harshly critiqued during the entire defense. Mystified, even after, as to why they rewarded me.
Still, after being challenged so much, I later (and rightfully so), convinced myself that debt relief was definitely the wrong way to go for any transitional economy, country or populous. Aid, too, was wrong and no longer worked in isolation. Period. And any attempt to develop anything only happens within. Within the country, the leadership, and every individual, no matter what the issue or topic. Personal or political. The continent of Africa, included, could only be helped if it wanted to help itself first.
These were all relatively controversial opinions I later went to graduate school with to make more friends and some, well, not so good friends.
Los Angeles, my Mom, some professors, music, and a lot of books.
“It’s such a beautiful day.
It’s such a beautiful day.
Go up to the mic,
Go up to the mic.
Go and get some rest.”
at seanfennessey:
Radiohead: “Worrywort”
from the Knives Out EP
It’s also the lyrics. The best track on The Eraser.
Seeing Thom play this live as a piano solo three years ago in Los Angeles meant…no dry eyes for me:
“Try to save your house
Try to save your songs.
Try to run.
But it follows you up a hill.
It’s all boiling over.
All boiling over.
Your little voice.
Your little voice.
No more conversation.
No more conversation.
You should’ve took me out when you had the chance .
You should’ve took me out when you had the chance.”
ario:
Thom Yorke (Radiohead) Cymbal Rush (live) (by thehungover)
Murs is playing in Berlin this week. Pumped.
“You could get a job even if you got a felony.
Check out my melody, let’s live in harmony.
We’re in this together, no man has a economy.”
Last Sunday, I had the chance to chat with Eric Eberhardt, the creator of You Are Listening to Los Angeles. Super cool chat! Super cool project! Check it out!
A deck-dancing Thom Yorke. A smiling Flying Lotus. And some DOOM from the speakers.
What.
Slam.
(Thanks as always to link-master-Mike)
