(October 8, 2004)
"Despite," because the political situation is so grim, but no grimmer than the zeitgeist. Too many creative people have turned all their talents to the art of just being noticed, and have given up looking for ways to make art or science that are revolutionary. Vast numbers of well-intentioned people nevertheless embrace popular style and mannerism, rendering their work, upon release, already halfway to having subverted itself (along with anything of value in the vicinity). There are also large numbers of creative people who reject popular forms, but who neglect to create new forms, believing that it will just happen, as will meaning. (I'm thinking of my former stomping grounds in improvised music and astronomy here.)
"Because," despite the mysterious difficulty that those who talk and write most about music have in saying anything at all about any actual subject. To read any music magazine is to immerse oneself in the cold and still bathwater of Lester Bangs. His encounters with music and musician are now mimicked in emotionally unmoving accounts of staged non-events; while encounters between writer and a musician's ideas are simply nonexistent. The arts of analysis and reflection are no longer practiced. But still, "Because," because art does do its work, whether or not it is recognized as being an aspect of our current version of "reality." Art can't easily be erased, once it happens. Also, surely "reality" has never been thinner than at this time; but this recognition leads me to hope that it might only need a few little pokes to crumble away entirely.
Hence, our persistant, if sadly rare (due to personal time constraints and not at all to any of the above) performances. Let's just see what happens.