When Brian suggested I write a column, I said I'd take a stab at it.
First, to think of a title.
I was listening to a recording of Jack Kerouac reading from On the Road, describing the coming of Bop music from Jazz, "From the loudspeaker they suddenly heard a wild impossible mistake in jazz that could only have been heard inside their own imaginary head...They came into their own, they jumped, they had jazz and took it in their hands and saw its history vicissitudes and developments...he works, he wails, he bops, he bangs, this man who was sent, stoned and stabbed is now down, bent and stretched-out--he is home at last, his music is here to stay, his history has washed over us, his imperialistic kingdoms are coming."
Of course that reminded me of that song by The Who, Bargain, where Daltry sings, "To win you I'd stand naked, stoned, and stabbed."
So I use the term naked as in revealed; interviews in which artists, writers, and I reveal ourselves to the reader.
And stoned - Charles Baudelaire said, "Always be drunk ...On what? On wine, poetry, or virtue, whatever ... but get drunk in order not to feel time's horrid fardel bruise your shoulders, grinding you into the earth ..."
and stabbed - Well, we're all taking a stab at creativity, or expression, or art, or life -something. I don't know, I just like the expression. |
