What a downer...

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:43 am

"Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn."

A bit of a 'bingled' legacy, to borrow Howard's term...But why don't we embrace Uncle Frank's words of affirmation: "The Theme of Tonight's Show is: It's So F****n' Great To Be Alive!"

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:53 am

What I was talking about was that was a drug infested area. Not trying to be racist but the street where that happened was full of black people. Some got evicted, some had guns, some sold crack (My dad told me he got some from there.

) and all were not to be trusted. When I was about 11 or 12 my dad would not let me go on that street AT ALL. One of his friends got beaten to a pulp on that street too. His head was so swollen.

I was a little suprised (sp?) but not shocked. It was as if I didn't care, it was bound to happen sometime.

I feel awful for that last paragraph.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 12:07 pm

Nattie, it's OK. You're among friends and I just wanted to clarify; it seemed odd coming from such a gentle soul...

jaybic · Post by **jaybic** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 1:17 pm

I truly feel blessed at times that I live in such a small community in central IL. The kind that if you were out past curfew, you can bet someone would call your folks before you got home. Now that I work in a larger city area, at times I am shocked and sadden by such violence. However, I am even more shocked by my co-workers apathy at said violence. What a strange world we inhabit.

bigbajo60 · Post by **bigbajo60** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:05 pm

Some of you may have heard via the national media outlets of the violence we've been dealing with here in my neck of the woods (Laredo, TX). It's scary to a point, and then it becomes a sort of background 'white noise' thing... you kind of mindlessly block it out, until one day you get cut off in traffic, start to mouth a few choice words at the other driver, and notice that the other vehicle is full of 'unsavory' types that you really don't want to get 'over-involved' with!

But it's been deteriorating for awhile now.

I recall one pre-Xmas gig a few years ago, where we were playing at a downtown bar for "open mic night". We had on Santa hats and everything. Well, the mic didn't "open" till after our 11:30 - 12 Midnight break. One particular acquaintance of our guitarists' was there with his 'homies', and he (being well soused already) was insistent on getting up and singing before it was time to. Guitarman says to "hang on" for "open mic" in about 30 minutes, and procedes to count off our last song before the break. Well, Mr. Wellsoused gets up, grabs a mic and starts to caterwauling! I get a subtle but unmistakable 'finger cross the throat' signal from guitarguy and I stop playing and turn to the drummer and wave my hand so that he'll stop too. We apologize to the house, say that "open mic night" will begin at 12... stick around, blah, blah, blah... and take our break.

Well I step outside (in my Santa hat no less) for some fresh air, when I hear some commotion from around the side of the building. I peek around and see that Mr. Wellsoused and his crew are getting tossed by security. Then, one of the 'homies' sees me peeking around the corner and says, "There he is!!!" And here they come! They were furious! And they were right in my face saying things like, "You guys finish playing at 2, right? You'll be dead by 2:30!" And here I am in my Santa hat, looking them in the eyes and asking, "What're you ****** at me for?" It seems that my gesture to the drummer was much more obvious to them than my guitarist's subtle finger across the throat, so they assumed that I had taken it upon myself to prohibit their friend from singing! These were bad dudes in the extreme. Fortunately, a couple of cops were driving by right at that moment, and a couple of these 'bad dudes' said something to the effect of, "C'mon... we'll get 'im later!"

'Course, the rest of the night I was pretty nervous. It didn't help that my position on stage placed me right in a window that faced the main thoroughfare past the bar. For the first 30 to 40 minutes of the "open mic" session, I watched as the 'bad dudes' passed by over and over, pointing at me and making trigger-pulling gestures with their hands.

Heh. I still have that Santa hat. I tell myself it's "lucky"!

Every once-in-awhile, we'll be walking out of our favorite restaurant after the post-gig breakfast and hear automatic weapons fire somewhere off in the distance.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:19 am

Alvaro, your town does have a rough reputation...sorry to hear it's accurate. It's been that way for a long time, apparently, and the words to the song "The Streets of Laredo" are part of the litany of army lifers...I remember my dad, drunk at 3 a.m., singing the chorus in the dark living room when he thought everyone was asleep...

rob · Post by **rob** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:45 am

This guy I know was talking about this kind of garbage last night. The discussion we had was about that this **** isn't new at all. It's been going on for thousands of years. Yes, it's sad, but since the dawn of television and the internet and other ways of communication around the country and world, people are seeing more of the wordly chaos. Many of these people are saying, "This world is going to hell." No it's not. It's been there. Every time I put on the news on TV, another convienient Midgit-Mart is being held up, or a guy is being chased on a four wheeler with a hundred cows behind him, and so on. You just gotta learn to make it as better as you can in your own life. What you can't control is what you can't control. Sad but true.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:29 am

The Hindus refer to this world as the Planet of Death, and it was this way long before humans made the scene...but the way it goes down has become more complex and chaotic, now that we're involved. I'm sure more people than ever are being trampled by cows, as paradoxical as that might seem...

rob · Post by **rob** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:59 am

The trampling by cows are probably their way of revenge because of places like McDonalds and Burger King. Or would that revenge actually be a Massive Coronary?

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 9:03 am

Not to mention blisters caused by ill-fitting shoes...

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 2:33 pm

Say what you will about those evel humans... we manage to produce some nice looking guitars.

stubby · Post by **stubby** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 5:19 pm

And so it will continue as long as many people feel unhappy with their lot, rightly or wrongly...the maladies are deep and need to be addressed before these terrible symptoms can be cleared. The human condition indeed.

As Zimmy said..."When you ain't got nothin'..."

bigbajo60 · Post by **bigbajo60** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:56 am

It's bad... but as a musician, it's still in me to have hope... even though that last post might've come across as a little despairing!

So hope will have to carry us through for now.

Hope and Rickenbackers!

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 1:12 pm

Bill, its always been that way abd most likely always will. There is a lot of sadness and pain out there and I guess the trick is to grab ahold of, and appreciate, the happiness when you can find it.

..... and now he breaks into song... "Now that my baby left me....."

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:23 am

Bill...funny you should use the word maladies...we just recorded a song a couple weeks ago that wound up being titled "Uncured Malady"...

I personally have a whole new positive outlook...I haven't heard shots fired in almost a week.