The last day of 2008 is slipping away like the lingering flaver of the last sip of a pitcher of beer that I had never tasted before but found both flavorful and invigorating. I do like to savor a nice brew.
Time was that KISW radion station in Seattle (used to be REAL RAWK! {aggressive growl} but now is probably Classic Rock {breathy quieter growl}) would always close out the calendar year with a survey of the greatest 1000 rock and roll songs of all time. It always used to end with Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven at number one. When I was a kid listening to this list always excited me and I was unfailingly thrilled to be in air-range of KISW to hear any part of this list as it played.
I would anticipate the next song and swell with satisfaction at my predictive hits and near misses. This kind of ritual - the recounting of exactly where things belong has seemed to mark the culture of mass media throughout my consumptive lifetime. The week between Christmas and New Year is a kind of inventory exercise land fit only for compiling self-reflective lists of what was either ubiquitous in the ending year or what may have been genuinely interesting. This ritual has become comfortable for me - maybe it's my Catholic background which has helped make ritual (in general) so comfortable, or maybe it's just the comfort of anonymity in not bothering to go against the "let's review" grain.
What then was 2008? What was beautiful and inspiring? What remains? What was horrific and terrifying? What mattered? Does anyone care?
For me 2008(my own personal inventory) was a year of:
Children and Family, Friends and Gatherings, Beauty and Awe, Laughter and Smiles, Love and Loss, Passion and Warmth, Challenge and Change, Confusion and Despair, Joy and Connection, Playfulness and Maturity, Loneliness and Inspiration, Silliness (Salinas?) and Profundity, Planning and Discussing, Struggle and Resistance, Hope and Change, Drinking and Singing, Excitement and Reflection, Realization and Acceptance, Growth and Regression, Music and Games, Worry and Frustration, Warm Cuddling, Awkward Tension, Doubt, Knowing Smiles, Displaced Confrontation, Reassuring Eye Contact, Suspicious tones, Trusting words,
Transition...and the never ending search for redemption.
Finding what was lost and savoring what was good.
Some of my own personal inventory is really just a playlist of greatest hits that will probably be there from year to year, but the interesting stuff may be the new bits. I don't know where or how all of this fits in the greatest rockers of all time. My suspicion is that Stairway to Heaven is safe at number one -- but I have to say I was thrilled when I heard Nirvana make the list for the first time. It looks like lately the Grunge messiahs even made it as high as number three last year...and that is what really keeps things interesting.
Thank you to the Universe and the wonderful people in my life for both the real RAWK and for keeping it interesting. I am neck deep in life's river but I am not alone and in the words of the great Zen proverb:
"After enlightenment, the laundry"
Time was that KISW radion station in Seattle (used to be REAL RAWK! {aggressive growl} but now is probably Classic Rock {breathy quieter growl}) would always close out the calendar year with a survey of the greatest 1000 rock and roll songs of all time. It always used to end with Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven at number one. When I was a kid listening to this list always excited me and I was unfailingly thrilled to be in air-range of KISW to hear any part of this list as it played.
I would anticipate the next song and swell with satisfaction at my predictive hits and near misses. This kind of ritual - the recounting of exactly where things belong has seemed to mark the culture of mass media throughout my consumptive lifetime. The week between Christmas and New Year is a kind of inventory exercise land fit only for compiling self-reflective lists of what was either ubiquitous in the ending year or what may have been genuinely interesting. This ritual has become comfortable for me - maybe it's my Catholic background which has helped make ritual (in general) so comfortable, or maybe it's just the comfort of anonymity in not bothering to go against the "let's review" grain.
What then was 2008? What was beautiful and inspiring? What remains? What was horrific and terrifying? What mattered? Does anyone care?
For me 2008(my own personal inventory) was a year of:
Children and Family, Friends and Gatherings, Beauty and Awe, Laughter and Smiles, Love and Loss, Passion and Warmth, Challenge and Change, Confusion and Despair, Joy and Connection, Playfulness and Maturity, Loneliness and Inspiration, Silliness (Salinas?) and Profundity, Planning and Discussing, Struggle and Resistance, Hope and Change, Drinking and Singing, Excitement and Reflection, Realization and Acceptance, Growth and Regression, Music and Games, Worry and Frustration, Warm Cuddling, Awkward Tension, Doubt, Knowing Smiles, Displaced Confrontation, Reassuring Eye Contact, Suspicious tones, Trusting words,
Transition...and the never ending search for redemption.
Finding what was lost and savoring what was good.
Some of my own personal inventory is really just a playlist of greatest hits that will probably be there from year to year, but the interesting stuff may be the new bits. I don't know where or how all of this fits in the greatest rockers of all time. My suspicion is that Stairway to Heaven is safe at number one -- but I have to say I was thrilled when I heard Nirvana make the list for the first time. It looks like lately the Grunge messiahs even made it as high as number three last year...and that is what really keeps things interesting.
Thank you to the Universe and the wonderful people in my life for both the real RAWK and for keeping it interesting. I am neck deep in life's river but I am not alone and in the words of the great Zen proverb:
"After enlightenment, the laundry"
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