Saturday, June 4, 2011

Vulcan Mind Meld

I'd like to get inside Keith Richards head. Roll around in there for a while and absorb the stuff I need. I'm sure some of it would be quite frightening but a good scare can sometimes vibrate the dust off your veneer and reveal the real you. You're a whole different person when your scared. I stole that line off Hunter S. Thompson who wrote it as part of a lyric for a Warren Zevon song. Warren was a cool guy. Check out some of his music. The lyrics will kill you. He wrote a song about a hockey goon, called hit somebody (The Hockey Song), that has David Letterman repeating the line "Hit somebody". This is fun cool stuff and all true. I don't lie. Any more.
I just wish there was a pill or some sort of cosmic approach that would allow you to get inside the heads of people you admire so you could experience their thoughts from the inside and then make that a part of your own personality.
There's a reason we admire the people that we do. I think they have traits that we wish we had. Keef knows exactly who he is and has never given a damn about how anybody else feels about that. Does as he pleases, dresses the way he wants. I mean, christ, just look at his hair. Would you leave the house looking like that?
Jim Morrison. I would have loved to get in that head. VERY dangerous. He pushed the boundaries. He tried to redefine the definition of being human, without limits, without restrictions. And he was a poet.
Muhammed Ali. The biggest, baddest black man in the land in his day. He took over the boxing world and he didn't do it quietly. Before him boxers were boring. He was intelligent, charismatic and BOLD. His mouth never stopped and he always backed it up. He embraced the muslim religion, he refused to be drafted into the war, he spoke his mind and he did all this when racism was rampant in this country. When it was fashionable to openly hate black people. He had balls. I could use some of that good stuff. I'd like to get into his mind today. Thank him for the joy he gave me and let him feel how much my heart breaks to see him today.
Bob Dylan. He brought intelligence and defiance to rock 'n roll. You had to have a brain to understand his lyrics, the references, the wording. He dealt with the issues of the day fiercely and he spit them right back into your face. He was a folk singer who grabbed an electric guitar and infuriated his folkie fans. He wasn't looking for adoration, he was looking for truth and exposing hypocrisy. His early songs made you want to get out in the street, scream and fight until the world became the kind of place it should be. He stills writes beautifully. The master of words. I love the man. He just turned 70. I hope he lives another 30 years.
George Harrison. A beautiful man. Kept down by John and Paul during the Beatle years, he exploded with an exquisite TRIPLE album when the Beatles broke up. All Things Must Pass. Buy it. Now. He embraced eastern religion deeply. Practiced what he preached. But he was not pretentious about it. It was who he was. It was how he lived his life. Had a wicked sense of humor. He financed many Monty Python projects. He died so goddamn young from brain cancer. Such a horrible way for a spiritual man to die. I got to believe that god needed beautiful music and a beautiful spirit in heaven to counteract all the assholes who were buying their way in.
Hunter S. Thompson. The man made me read about politics. I hate politics. But it was his approach. Completely irreverent. He was not afraid of anybody or any situation. And he was exceptionally knowlegable and intelligent. Wicked sense of humor, his writing was original, he came at things from his own perspective, he taught me, he made me question and he made me laugh. He was booze and drugs and guns and speed (motorcycles and cars), football and insanity. And writing. He was literally larger than life. His friends included actors and writers and politicians and journalists and athletes.
I've left many people off this list. I don't have the time and neither do you. But it would be cool to get into their brains to really understand how they think or thought. And another thing you have to remember is to not go for the easy stereotype.
It would be easy for you to laugh at some of the people on this list and dismiss them as clowns. Many people do. Many people are fools. I don't admire anybody who is not deep. Who is not an original.
Alright I'm not satisfied but I got to run. Working today and before I get there I got to exercise, shower and cook up a couple of supreme omelets.

No comments:

Post a Comment