I've never really been a blues man. I thought it was too rural, too southern. I didn't dislike it mind you, I just couldn't really roll with it. It wasn't my bag. Even though I was a knucklehead in many ways, I still considered myself an urbane knucklehead. More prone to listen to Miles, Coltrane, and even some Wynton before I listened to ANYONE named "gutbucket."
I still feel the same way more or less. One of the guys I play ball with suggested this blues cd set by an old guitarist that I KNOW has got to be the shit. But I politely blew him off.
When we've talked about what it means to be old school, I think the values that we've concentrated on don't really touch on what is our signal strength. Our ability to laugh in the face of adversity. Our blues aesthetic.
Over the past year one of my best friends has succumbed to a gambling addiction. A good colleague has just had divorce papers dropped on her, leaving her to take care of her daughter alone. My own family is barely making ends meet on a month to month basis. One of my boys from undergrad just got sent to the pen for a couple of years...convicted of a white collar crime. Another boy from undergrad may have to go deeeeeeep undercover because he may have to testify against a crew of stone cold killers. Another set of friends has taken up ponzi schemes to make money. I suspect they'll be taken out soon.
And that's just part of it.
So I'm talking with my girl undergoing divorce...and we're dropping sob stories about our friends like bombs over baghdad. And at one point we actually start laughing. Laughing as in "damn this shit is jacked, and we have to laugh to keep from tearing up." Laughing as in "man, I don't think RIchard Pryor could've written up a scenario funnier than this." LAughing as in "fuck it...at least we know we're not alone!"
That's the majesty of the blues to quote Marsalis. The blues wasn't performed to make people sad...it was performed to make people HAPPY through a recognition of one simple reality. While there are days of joy....there are YEARS of pain.
Let's make the most of these days shall we?
Happy holidays.
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