I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. – The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz ZafWhat? You expected a Stalin quote this month?)
Peaches En Randalia #39
Meh is a great word.
Im not interested in its origins, or current or past slang usage, but to me those three little letters mean that one is being polite, and really means this is just fuckin uninspired.
I know. I know. What an eccentric person, but my standards have been raised, and I want something better, A LOT BETTER from everyone. Quit making excuses for being mediocre is my favorite phrase, and to be on a truly great and legendary Rant, I have to use that phrase at least once during my impassioned tirade. I need to know that there is something incredible, something wonderful, something dramatic that will wrap up everything into a perfect ball at the tail end of it all to make everything oh so clear.
Sobriety sucks. There is no getting around that fact. Life appears real and true and clear and focused, but it just doesnt feel honest. Once Alice has been down the Rabbit Hole of Life, and once Dorothy has opened the Door to Munchkin Land so Pink Floyd can continue on with the Dark Side of the Moon, there is no turning back. Ive seen skulls escaped, and Ive seen grown men weeping, and Ive seen LSD take a man from the upper balcony of a theatre and toss him in a horribly ugly soaring pattern down onto the floor below. That wasnt meh; it was fucked-up and distorted reality. Ahhbut that doesnt happen all the time, and normally, one can come out of that escapade intact, no?
So the sober person learns a new way to look at Lifea totally different approach to dealing with day to day existence, and it does, indeed, include finding a lasting resonance, and that word is as equally important as Meh. Resonancetight, hard, clear, anti-jejune, sweet, brief, descriptive, andwell, resonant. Stay sane; stay sober, man.
[Exit: Old Testament preacher. Enter: Robert Christgaus plain paragraph polemic.]
Meh is a great word, but INSPIRED is better. IT burns near the edge, as it should. And after listening to the new Phish single, the first PHISH song released in five years, I wonder about the quality of sober living when one is an artist, and I see how sobriety can sometimes be a very bad thing. Im not suggesting that living near the abyss is a good thing, but at least its honest. I can hear the parts slowly moving forward on the song, but I cant feel the music, and that aint good, its meh. Worse, it doesnt feel very sincere: this is just fuckin uninspired. Let us hope that moment soon passes, and the odd vibe is just a misguided detour, en route to a resonant future filled with clear-headed visions.