I wimped out last night. My plan was to see Aviv Roth at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture but I was tired and did not feel up the trip to Brooklyn. I don’t think other people feel guilty about things like that. I do. I haven’t seen Aviv perform in ages, I don’t like admitting limits to my energy, and I hate missing a gathering of the tribe. I’m sure that many of my friends were there. I have to find a way to get back to Brooklyn, the home of my people.
The problem was that it was Friday so I had to come from Harrison in Westchester; I have therapy. Therapy was fun as I got to tell my therapist about all my progress on medical issues. The most important part was not my health but that I was able to get myself to do it. I got over the psychological hump.
I hate the expression, “one door closes and another opens.” There is no cosmic balancing, any objective look at reality makes that obvious. The world is filled with disappointment and even disaster. When I got home I was disappointed that I had nothing on my musical calendar for a week. I then got a Facebook message, Micki, an online friend had a plus one for Caravan of Thieves tonight. So one door closed and another opened. The fact that it doesn’t always happen doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen on occasion.
This morning I realized that I hadn’t put Dar’s Boxing Day show, which this year is not on Boxing Day, on my calendar and I didn’t buy my ticket. I can’t afford it but it is something I can’t miss; a Festivus tradition. There are still tickets available, come join me, DAR WILLIAMS “CHRISTIANS, PAGANS & OTHER HIPSTERS”. Last year Anaïs Mitchell was the opener; there is no one listed this time, my dream opener would be Robinson and Rohe. Hear that Dar? Maybe next year.
I was productive last night, I created the Facebook event for All Types of Kinds, Low Lily, and Emerald Rae – On Your Radar. When telling the artists about it I discovered that Low Lily, I suspect I was talking to Liz, didn’t know that I do the social media for the series. I try to hide that on the On Your Radar accounts but I thought my friends all knew. I don’t do a good job at keeping my secret identity a secret. I’m not that familiar with AToK, just saw them do two songs at NERFA, but they other two are favorites. I hope you can make it to the show.
The topic of today’s sermon is mediocrity, I’m against it. That’s not true, most of everything, including most people, are mediocre, and I’m not against most of everything. What I’m against is not admitting the reality of mediocrity. People want to believe in Lake Wobegon where all the children are above average. The problem is that if everything is special, then nothing is special. You deny yourself the joy of being in the presence of the exceptional.
My favorite author is James Branch Cabell (rhymes with rabble). Though she only appears in two chapters the real antagonist in his most famous book, Jurgen is Sereda, the Russian goddess of Wednesdays. In Cabell’s vision as the Goddess of midweek she’s the goddess of mediocrity. She describes what she does as bleaching. She makes the exceptional seem ordinary, and robs the titular hero of his joy. The iconic image of her is by Frank Pepe portraying her as Jurgen’s shadow. When I mock bands like Dawes it’s not for being bad, but for getting acclaim even though they aren’t special. I don’t want art that is pleasant or competent or nice. I want art that is powerful and moving; art that changes the way I perceive the world. It’s hard to pin down how that happens but it’s clear when it does. Those are the artists that deserve acclaim. Having “a nice voice” or technical competence is not enough. I want transformative.
It’s the same way with people. I like most people; I am far from being a misanthrope, but there are a small number of people whose company is qualitatively different than others. Even more so than music this is subjective, but even more so than music, it’s clear who qualifies; a million small things delight me. Sereda has not bleached them.
I hope that Sereda hasn’t bleached this entry. She probably has, that’s the nature of mediocrity, it’s what you expect to find.
Wise Madness 