Of Rock And Roll Legends
Rockers often climb from beneath heaps of uniform codes and rigid control mechanisms, that for various explainable reasons make absolutely no sense at all, and thus, cannot be followed due to a desire or drive to think as independent Beings. Such challenges to excepted logic and potentially corrupting influences perpetuated through so-called normal culture come in the form of artistic expression . . . , and in this case, rock and roll.
When compared with other professions, where individuals might gain the status of legend, I would argue that rockers are more inclined to be empathetic and humane within their status. Of course, we're all on this highway to hell regardless of any illusions we might employ in our attempts to escape our living hells unharmed, while at the same time leaving Earth in a heap of shit, which to a Dung Beetle is a necessity of life, teaching us, that rolling our shit into harmless art forms, may likely be the most positive task at hand.
Such artists often gain legendary status which is not earned through name or artistic ability alone, but further inspired by character that reflects an ascent to the top, and which positively reflects on all the shitty baggage encountered along that ascent, which if interpreted wisely, often pied-pipes us down an introspective road to artistic reality.
For my two cents, the most humbling and respectable qualities of many aged and aging rockers are two values, the first being [not to harm], and the second being [gratitude]. That is not to say that those who cannot achieve such wisdom or control aren't brilliantly tuned to what they do, but that one should be skeptical of a character that leaves others searching for something positive to grasp in order to validate their given status as legend, which they may now or might somewhere down the line hold.
While working with The Dogs over the past fourteen years, I have discovered the model of how rockers can age, and can positively influence the world, making it a better place to rock and roll with the punches that we all face in our daily lives. More over, after videotaping nearly fifteen-hundred bands in as many years divided by one-hundred, and having met most of those bands, I can attest to the fact that not all aging rockers are able to transcend the juvenile delinquency, teenage angst and irritated longing that gives rise to their art, their underlying characters and, possible status as legends. However, most of the rockers I have met over the past thirty odd years do display an amazing selflessness that comes with experience, wisdom and awareness of self.
We all own our personal angst and the energy it creates, and perhaps we simply look to art and artists for validation, inspiration, community and communion to justify and share our angst. In the end, it is how successful we are at rolling our angst into positive balls of art, like the Dung Beetle, which gives us the possibility of becoming artistic legends of substance, which in turn may inspire others to achieve a wiser understanding of self.
Why? Because fans, like artists, look to art for a myriad of cultural inspirations: inspirations that can enlighten the realities, the roots and origins of characters that produce art, and which influence for the positive . . . , while angst ridden negativity in turn, delivers a destructive message that can leave a generation blank, the results from which, humans may not recover.
The goal of such an ascendency is not to throw away or negate the angst that drives many of us to express ourselves, but, to gain understanding of self, and grow more powerful within our angst as we nurture and reflect upon our characters in order to share ever increasing substance with a greater and greater audience . . . , artistically, positively, and perhaps, as rock and roll legends.
Detroit Jack
24 September 2007
Rockers often climb from beneath heaps of uniform codes and rigid control mechanisms, that for various explainable reasons make absolutely no sense at all, and thus, cannot be followed due to a desire or drive to think as independent Beings. Such challenges to excepted logic and potentially corrupting influences perpetuated through so-called normal culture come in the form of artistic expression . . . , and in this case, rock and roll.
When compared with other professions, where individuals might gain the status of legend, I would argue that rockers are more inclined to be empathetic and humane within their status. Of course, we're all on this highway to hell regardless of any illusions we might employ in our attempts to escape our living hells unharmed, while at the same time leaving Earth in a heap of shit, which to a Dung Beetle is a necessity of life, teaching us, that rolling our shit into harmless art forms, may likely be the most positive task at hand.
Such artists often gain legendary status which is not earned through name or artistic ability alone, but further inspired by character that reflects an ascent to the top, and which positively reflects on all the shitty baggage encountered along that ascent, which if interpreted wisely, often pied-pipes us down an introspective road to artistic reality.
For my two cents, the most humbling and respectable qualities of many aged and aging rockers are two values, the first being [not to harm], and the second being [gratitude]. That is not to say that those who cannot achieve such wisdom or control aren't brilliantly tuned to what they do, but that one should be skeptical of a character that leaves others searching for something positive to grasp in order to validate their given status as legend, which they may now or might somewhere down the line hold.
While working with The Dogs over the past fourteen years, I have discovered the model of how rockers can age, and can positively influence the world, making it a better place to rock and roll with the punches that we all face in our daily lives. More over, after videotaping nearly fifteen-hundred bands in as many years divided by one-hundred, and having met most of those bands, I can attest to the fact that not all aging rockers are able to transcend the juvenile delinquency, teenage angst and irritated longing that gives rise to their art, their underlying characters and, possible status as legends. However, most of the rockers I have met over the past thirty odd years do display an amazing selflessness that comes with experience, wisdom and awareness of self.
We all own our personal angst and the energy it creates, and perhaps we simply look to art and artists for validation, inspiration, community and communion to justify and share our angst. In the end, it is how successful we are at rolling our angst into positive balls of art, like the Dung Beetle, which gives us the possibility of becoming artistic legends of substance, which in turn may inspire others to achieve a wiser understanding of self.
Why? Because fans, like artists, look to art for a myriad of cultural inspirations: inspirations that can enlighten the realities, the roots and origins of characters that produce art, and which influence for the positive . . . , while angst ridden negativity in turn, delivers a destructive message that can leave a generation blank, the results from which, humans may not recover.
The goal of such an ascendency is not to throw away or negate the angst that drives many of us to express ourselves, but, to gain understanding of self, and grow more powerful within our angst as we nurture and reflect upon our characters in order to share ever increasing substance with a greater and greater audience . . . , artistically, positively, and perhaps, as rock and roll legends.
Detroit Jack
24 September 2007
*All photos and content property of Jack Waldron (photos may not be used without written permission)
