So, long story short, I met John through this very blog, and at the root of that connection is probably a borderline unhealthy obsession (well, let’s be polite and call it passion) with music. All of our communication thus far has been via email and through The Belldog. And yet, despite never having met in meatspace, John has opened up his corner of the webs to me and invited me to have my way with it. His invitation and hospitality left me intrigued, contemplative, and a bit giddy.
The experience has left me thinking again about the power of music to bring people together. Many of my deepest friendships, both old and new, are predicated on love of music. With some friends, our sensibilities are spot on. With others, we may find common ground around a period of time (say, the 1970s), or genre (Prog, perhaps), but differ significantly in the details. Regardless, that love of music has fueled those relationships throughout the years. Without getting all Bono, music can truly bring people together.
And yet, as if to remind me that the world doesn’t really work that way, I read this article earlier in the weekend: Man Punched by African-American Teen for Listening to Rap Music in Possible Hate Crime, say Police.
I don’t really know where to begin. First, somewhere over the last, I’d say four to six years, whenever I read “news” on the internet, I often find myself checking to make sure I haven’t accidentally clicked over to The Onion. In this case, I hadn’t. Second, I don’t know anything about Gucci Mane’s music. Maybe he’s just got that kind of sound that gets people fighting but, in this case, I kinda doubt it. This doesn’t seem to rise to that whole “Dylan goes electric” level. I’ll leave alone for now the entire topic of hate crime, but if hate crime laws are necessary, is this incident a hate crime? Again, I kinda doubt it.
Personally, these two occurrences seem to be one of those balances I tend to notice and to which I attach unnecessary significance. I get this thing from John that was based on our love for music. Then I read that. Maybe I unconsciously honed in on that to keep the score tight. Wouldn’t want too many things to stack up on the plus side. Might change my whole outlook.
Curtis Mayfield – Mighty Mighty (Spade And Whitey)
Matt
john
Shawn
