It’s starting off to be a big finish to 2022.  The Nintendo OLED donation was accepted, first of all.  What a crazy week it had been and I was worried following my heart would once again prove to be misguidance.  Moving on with other Christmas gift shopping and wrapping, card writing and trip planning.  I bought tickets to see Tokyo Tower on getyourguide.com and Taipei 101 on the official site, partnered with klook.com, from the second highest viewing platforms open to the public.  I finally found a swimming suit on REI from Chubbies which doubles as shorts.  Album updates from the post This Year’s Albums include Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Unlimited Love, Jack Johnson’s Meet the Moonlight and Interpol’s The Other Side of Make Believe.  I had so much to say about some of these, but they all share some feeling to me which is something like “our love has died”.  I remember listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers when I was younger and feeling some kind of magic that now is like a cookie cutter.  Don’t think I hate them, I find the writing very impressive and the guitar sounds incredible.  Still I keep searching for “what is the problem”?  Is it the drummer parts or the lead singer’s limited range?  The whole work started to open up somewhat when I was searching for travel plans to visit Houston, so I give it that optimism.  Possibly I have to be incorporating the disc into my life for the perfect frame to let out the love.  The same thing with Jack Johnson and Interpol.  I think Jack Johnson’s last few album covers have a look that would be good for Disneyland or something and that is created with a really subtle change that wasn’t there in his inception.  Not that this artwork is the main concern.  I used to have a personal connection with Jack Johnson that made me feel like I could sing these tunes with sadness, anger and confidence.  Now I only hear it playing at the business lūʻau or corporate coffeeshop and the professionalism disallows a character I used to be with him in.  Should I be complaining?  Probably not because if it weren’t like this, possibly he would be having marital troubles, drug or alcohol addictions and every album could be his last.  Interpol sometimes does this thing with their relentless consistency to a fault at times as well.  For the first release though, I thought, they are trapped in it too.  What is it?  A cage of responsibility, the lifestyle budget keeping a band safe?  Possibly.  I listen differently when the music is free or on a streaming service.  Still it doesn’t have to be about the money, devotion or commitment to songs to get them the first time.  More listens to an album and our own souls bond using our mind.  I think if I spend ten dollars or something on a package of someone’s artwork and music, I can’t just move on to the next one.  Does that mean the band is lazy making us put more than an hour into it.  This philosophy is a battle of time since many artists spends years on a recording.  I’m glad to be trying to catch up with some of my favorites on the list and to fill in the gaps because part of why I’m not feeling these may be my fault.  I used to trust many artists with each release until the point I couldn’t afford to keep listening to them.  Now we are faced with many more decisions about value and convenience.  Finally though I feel that if I’ve taken a break from my original favorites for so long that it shouldn’t be like I never went away.  Like if you never saw your girlfriend for a year and then reunited, would it be like yesterday?  So I guess I’m expected some kind of growth besides “practice makes perfect”.  That is generally speaking because at times that is why I feel behind with my own talents.  Without a guitar or microphone for years, I don’t think I could say this competing with any of these artists, only as a writer and listener who has grown cold.  Off the topic I registered ckwal.com which will forward to this address and started the process in getting some cards made to share these sites on my travels.  Instead of thinking of them as business cards or of Ckwal as a record label and recording artist or tattooer, I’m simply calling myself a “vegan writer”.

 

Quote in this post’s title a deliberate reference to the Counting Crows’ track.