'Wounded' / Third Eye Blind

Wounded  Third Eye Blind     

So I’ve noticed this trend at shows recently.

A few years ago, between songs, the lead singer of a band might make a snarky comment about everyone watching through a lens -- that is, on their phones. If you’ll allow me to paraphrase: “We’re up here, guys -- and if you’re too busy checking that you’ve got a good angle, you won’t get a single real thing out of this performance.”

That kind of comment has died down, against the waves of social media; the financial importance of an Instagram hashtag; the desperation to be relevant. Purveyors of culture can’t afford to deny progress anymore: whatever you think about it, watching through a lens is how most people consume media in 2015.

But there’s this new trend of the lead singer pausing. Looking up. Saying, almost pleadingly: “This night could be magic -- but we’re all so disconnected, don’t you think? We’re all afraid of what people are going to think, afraid of what happens if we let loose, afraid that if we don’t capture it online it didn’t happen in real life. Tonight, we’re going to change that, okay? I want you to turn to the person next to you and introduce yourself. Say hi. We’re all here together, and maybe if we get to know each other a little better, we won’t be so scared, and we can just enjoy the night and really let go.”

Paraphrased: “FOR ONE NIGHT, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE TWO DAMN THINGS. There are real people next to you. And music is meant to be felt, not passively absorbed. PLEASE BE ACTIVE IN THIS."

This isn’t, like, a NEW~ comment -- but I’m starting to hear it at almost every show, and that’s what’s weird. This cry for genuine interaction, genuine enjoyment, genuine anything ----- it’s missing from live music these days -- or so you’d be led to think.

On Monday night, I fulfilled an old, old music dream: I saw Third Eye Blind live. Drove five hours into New England with one of my best, had a really killer Manhattan at The Tunnel Bar in Northampton, and danced like a fucking lunatic for two hours straight. TWO HOURS, man; two consistently fantastic hours. They killed it.
 
But partway through their set, Stephan Jenkins paused. Looked up. Said, almost pleadingly: “ This night could be magic…” And I stopped myself from rolling my eyes, because you know what? Fair enough; they’ve earned it. I mean, these guys have been around since the 90s, right -- music was a qualitatively different experience, then.

Music was a qualitatively different experience, then.

Hm.

Standing there -- one of my teenage-favourite bands in front of me -- calling for people to connect to each other, to the music -- I got a little nostalgic. Felt a little intense. A bit too much.

And I’ve been realizing, over the past several years, that I don’t listen to music the way I used to. I mean, literally -- you don’t need to tape songs off the radio or buy CDs anymore; there’s an immediacy there didn’t used to be. In some ways, awesome -- music as a hobby is the easiest. You can download terabytes of any genre and click through songs without blinking, without stopping. It’s all at your fingertips, whenever you want it.

But what do we lose, with that immediacy?

I think we lose a lot, actually.

So I’m inspired, Third Eye Blind (and everyone else who said essentially the same thing in the past year): I’m going to start connecting -- perhaps with people, but definitely with music. I’ve participated in a music blog before, but this project is going to be a bit different. 

   No structure.
I’ll write what I want, when I want. Sometimes it’ll be about a song that’s blowing my mind; sometimes an artist I’m obsessed with; sometimes blabbing about cursorily related shit like whether Miley Cyrus is awesome or the worst (for the record: I think she’s pretty awesome, or at least getting there). 

   No bullshit.

If I like something, I’ll say it. If I don’t, I probably won’t write about it. I’m not down with reviews, either -- I’ll likely write more personal essays than you-should-listen-to-this-becauses. I want this to be a genuine reflection of my relationship with music, which is why I also have... 
   No readership goals.

If you’re still reading, and you want to keep doing so, amazing. I would love to talk to anyone about music, anytime -- and I’ll probably post download links for the songs -- or at least playable audio. But this is for me -- a record, a safeplace, where I can write about all the musical feels & thoughts I don’t say out loud for fear of boring the shit out of everyone around me.

   Only passion.

If I’m not feeling anything, for whatever reason, I won’t keep to a schedule of posting. Only when I genuinely feel there’s something worth writing will I actually do it.

The shape of this will change as I go. For now: a first song, with minor comment --- Wounded by Third Eye Blind. This song was everything to me 14 years ago -- and Monday night, blaring into my ecstatic 29-year-old ears, it was everything again.

May music never be so immediate it loses its diamond quality: may it always hit like a fucking exploding wave.