So, Again, Where the Fuck Are We?
This is the second of three posts dealing with the question of should the Wild West stay or should it go. Keep in mind that we have taken a two plus year break. A hiatus. These three are a kind of a sorting of why I do this, why I want to continue to pursue this. For those wanting to find the other two, here are the links:
Where Are We? (The first of the three)
So, What’s It going To Be? Finally (The third of the three)
My last post, (Where Are We?) was basically a trip down memory lane to 2005 and how I arrived here. It is what is sometimes described as an origin story. But that story does not help us at this moment. It tells us how I came to have a blog with all of the content that the Wild West has. It does not answer the question of where we are today.
Perhaps it does answer the question, but it does not inform me regarding how to proceed. Do I close the place down? Do I let it sit for another two years in fallow hoping the soil will improve like neglected farmland? There is something there regarding the of letting it sit for a while. Sitting in silence. Removed. Fallow. There is also something to the benefits of aerating the soil. Enough with farming metaphors. Rock n roll is rarely compared to farming. Leave it to me to go there.
The metaphor does remind me of a barn we had in Frenchtown, back 40 years ago. We tore down the stalls we had in it for two horses. The horses were gone, and the band needed a place to rehearse. My dad was pissed when he saw what we had done. Those were nice sized stalls solidly constructed with some good lumber. It would have lasted a long time. We used it for the summer but then fall and winter followed. It was too cold and we found better accommodations.
If not for my parent’s ongoing divorce, all of that may not have proceeded. That band may have never had happened. Maybe. Maybe not.
A friend of mine said to me last week regarding the site,” You should close it down. It is the end of an era. Time to move on.” This was a few days after Ozzy’s death. The guy offering that advise is not a rocker, though he has the hair. Looks like an old hippie, but he is inspired rather by Ben Franklin. Another friend, who I shared that advice and tale with responded, “Fuck that.” That was my take.
But that response was almost instinctive, reflexive. But there is some truth to the suggestion of moving on. Then again if a few dead rockers is all that is required to shut things down, we could have done that in the early seventies with the demise of Hendrix, Morrison, and Joplin. I was pondering something for past two-years before Ozzy’s passing.
In short, life has a way of intruding. People do die. People do get sick or just get old. Life is a bitch. I have my health, do have a spouse of 30 plus years, a son. And a money pit of a house. We all have our angels and demons. And I have returned to reading and pondering philosophy in recent years. Folks like Plato, Hume, and Wittgenstein. Pondered going back for a graduate degree, which is not happening, but I do work on project. Dare I say a book.
So, it is not because an era is passing that I ponder moving on. It is a question of priorities. Is an era passing though? I am afraid an era is always passing. Don’t let that get in the way of shit. But damn, if you were around in 2005 and you compare it to what is going on today, I would say an era has passed. NYC Rock n Roll is done, if you make that comparison. It is hard not to. But again, if you compare 2005 NYC to 1975 NYC. . .
In a nutshell, this project will continue. And the reason for that is I want to continue to witness shit. I may not be making music but just witnessing some of those moments can be sweet and recording those moments in some fashion, writing about them just reinforces and affirms such moments.
To be continued. . . Yes, we are milking this.
