At Workish

It’s just a Porcupine Tree kinda morning. I’m listening to Lightbulb Sun which is probably their most melancholy album. It almost gives Roger Waters and The Final Cut a run for their money. Must be the gloomy weather. On a brighter note, I ran into Ronaldo this morning at TH. He seemed in good spirits. We are thinking about going to see Queensrÿche together at the Barrymore next month. Dave, as he told me, was not, however. He and his Hungarian wife are not living a blissful marriage. This followed on the heels of a chat I had last night with Miss Pamela whose own marriage is not going optimally. Having known Pam for 15 or 16 years, I felt terrible about it. Hopefully she and hubby can sort things out and get over this lull in their relationship. It is just that it was like another brick in the wall. Her marriage is in a doldrums, her friends Kim & Sandy find themselves in the same position, if not worse, Dave’s marriage is doing poorly – when will the divorces start? I don’t mean to sound pessimistic but I spent a large part of my 20s going to everyone’s fucking wedding and then my friends had kids so, in this society, at least, statistically some of them should start getting divorced soon. Not that I want this to happen – far from it. When The Pollack and Miss Rosie got divorced at roughly the same time, my liver suffered because they constantly wanted to get drunk. Plus I don’t want to get in the middle of a divorce. I like my friends’ wives and would hate to be stuck between the opposing sides. And the kids! I know it sucks when parents split from personal experience and it would hurt to see my friends’ kids get stuck in the middle of a divorce.

Several of my friends have parents and grandparents that are still married – how do they do it? Do they just wait out the lows or are there tried and true steps to take during those times? Are these people really happy? Are they estopped by the seriousness with which they take their marriage vows or do they remain married out of habit, out of fear of leaving the comfort of a situation they’ve known for so long? We humans are creatures of habit, after all.

Well, one thing’s for sure, Miss Pamela is as horny as I am. It seems like most of our chat was about s-e-x. I’m thinking the toy she bought at A Woman’s Touch a couple weeks back is being put to good use. It seems odd to look back at our past together. We knew each other in high school where we basically had crushes on one another that were not acted upon seriously. Then zoom to 2004 and we’re good friends bitching about our sex lives and sharing porn on the Internet. Who’da thunk it?

On Saturday morning I will lose my Smut-N-Eggs virginity. Crystal has agreed to accompany me down to Bennett’s for some breakfast and blue movies. Since it was decided to start gaming on Saturdays, my weekend should start off in a most amusing fashion.

I find myself listening to Jethro Tull’s Roots to Branches frequently these days. I think that it’s a very underrated entry in Tull’s oeuvre. I really enjoy the addition of the bamboo flute as well as the introduction of elements of Eastern music to the band’s sound. Roots to Branches is not World Music by any means in the same way that Songs From the Wood wasn’t English folk music. It’s all of the traditional skewed rock elements of Tull’s music given new inflections. “Rare and Precious Chain”, “Dangerous Veils”, “Beside Myself”, and the title track all look to the East for inspiration. Although written in 1995, some of the songs are especially relevant today, namely, “Roots to Branches” and “Valley”. The first is about the twisting of religious views to suit the needs of some of the less savory believers.

True disciples carrying that message
to colour just a little with their personal touch.
Home-spun fancy weavers and naked half-believers
Crusades and creeds descend like fiery flakes of snow.
”Valley” is a song about intolerance generally.

Holding hands on the hillside.
Showing love to your brother -
your sister and your mother -
but we hate those people down the valley.

I love the tom fills and the crashing cymbals in the chorus. ”Dangerous Veils” is about the meeting of East and West on a personal level but I suppose one could extrapolate it out to a larger view.

Desert candle in a tented space
throwing softer shadows on a covered face.
Sister, silent to the likes of me
Pay my respects to her propriety.

Name of the Father ringing in her head -
Thinking over what the prophet said.
Words and tradition bind her in their spell.
Don't drink the water from this holy well.

Music is, like, cool. OK, my boss will be leaving soon. After she does, I’m going to listen to …ish.