BLOG: More Music Talk and What I'm Offering You Here...
Welcome back friends!
So far, so good! I like this Substack thing. Slowly the followers are trickling in and finding me. I know it will be a slow process and that’s okay. Not running a race here. But it feels good to be writing more steadily again. I used to blog a lot back in the early 2000s, before most of the world decided that reading is not as fun as quick short videos of people getting kicked in the balls. To me, nothing is better than sitting and reading a well thought out blog about something. ANYTHING. Anything other than what I am spoon-fed daily from the bullshit trending topics of non-importance. The internet festoons with sludge and drudgery. It makes my skin crawl the older I get. I lose patience for it. And here in the United States, the election season certainly isn’t making it any easier. That’s largely why I decided to leave social media behind. Forget “promoting my stuff.” The numbers never equate anyway. At least, not right now. Time to build it up again, one word at a time. So here we go!
I have been talking about music a bit to start this thing out, so let me continue that. Yeah, I’m a metal head. Yes, I love tossing on my “Tribute to Jack Johnson” complete Miles Davis sessions. And by the same token, I like to shake my drunken ass to Whitney Houston’s “I wanna dance with somebody.” I love it all.
A couple days ago I was asked what the saddest song is that I know. Some standards come to mind. “Tears in Heaven,” by Eric Clapton. “Bridge Across Forever,” by Transatlantic. “Daydreaming,” by Radiohead. So many more I could toss on my playlist and curl up in a chair with a bottle of Vodka and cry out the whatevers that I am feeling (Or making myself feel. Music tends to do that).
But two songs in particular spring to mind. First is this: Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18 - II. Andante ma moderato
Listen to it here:
The other that hits me hard is Daniel Johnston - The Story Of An Artist
Listen to that here:
I think those two aren’t mentioned on any list that often, so I wanted to shine a light on them in case you were interested in adding them to your growing “sadness” playlist. Just don’t open a vein on my account. It’s not my fault. The world beats us down. The art reflects that. And then we die. So it goes.
I’m going to share all I can in these writings at my site. I love to write. Not just comics either. I’m very difficult to nail down. I don’t just do that one thing. Perhaps I have a bit too many interests. Too many dreams. But that is okay. Life is about chasing the whimsies and occasionally, you catch one in your net. As I age, I find that sitting down to draw has become more difficult. Bad back, aches and pains and (gulp) maybe arthritis is all heading my way! I’ve found ways around it. Such as switching to digital drawing so I can lay on my belly to draw or sit in a comfy chair while I save my precious files in the cloud. Wonderful things we can do nowadays. I even have the machine that goes, “PING!” But in a quickly growing Ai world, my art tends to not be as “sexy” as it used to be. It’s still me, it comes directly from me, no trickery added. Same with my writing. I hope you all know that I will never bullshit you.
One thing I’ve neglected for too long is my writing. When the world shifted to 180 characters and an even more limited attention span, I protested. I preferred to type long form thoughts and pieces. It is my intention to eventually finish and publish the ten books I have started. Goddammit… if only I could sit down and finish one project before starting another. Too many pots on the stove and not enough arms. And oh! I’ve ran out of salt. And eggs. Shit…
So, I hope to post a lot here on my new site, my substack. I will perhaps earn new readers that desire more than the quick feed scroll life that everyone else is doing. You know when you leave the house to actually go in public and you see groups of people gathered? You know what they are doing? Certainly not talking. Not sharing ideas or concerns. They all have their heads down on their phones. Scroll. Scroll. Scroll. Death. Disease. Famine. Religion. Trump. Repeat… It’s sickening. With the doom scroll of news as entertainment and then the shortened attention span we’re all leaning towards, I’m reminded of the Neil Postman book: “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” (Buy that here: Amazon Me Baby!) I think about that and I hope its not too late for us.
If you must scroll, you can count on me to give you something to read. I can serve up a nice pot of gruel. And thanks to substack, you don’t have to remember to go to my website to get it. It delivers it right to you. And I thank you for letting me into your head for a few moments today. Hopefully everyday! I’ll keep the lights on for you.
Okay, you can now run off to google pictures of Platypuses, then hit the Wikipedia to find out if that one hit wonder 90s band are still together, while seeing what that one asshole said today. You know the one. And yeah, probably a short video of a nice kick to the nuts. Nice one! But just save the Xvideos links for later will yeh? No one wants to see that out in public, you sick perverted so and so. (And you’re my kind of people if you do have a NSFW bookmark in that naughty phone of yours. Wouldn’t hurt to run a sanitizer towel over it too… Just saying.)
Thanks for reading! -T
Get my comics via digital download! https://www.drivethrucomics.com/browse/pub/14301/phymns
My NSFW Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/ADAMTALLEY
Always feel free to email me at: phymns@yahoo.com