Satisfied Mind
Recorded this impromptu while taking cover during a washed out photoshoot in Melbourne.
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- Mon 20 Feb Just got off the phone with The Straits Times…let’s hope I wasn’t spewing out too much political incorrectness!
- Mon 20 Feb Most of the upcoming gigs in Singapore are now up on the BandPage and on the website! Also playing Penang and… http://t.co/NnY1neq8
- Mon 20 Feb @tengkuadil I’ll be playing in Penang on the 24th, so thinking about staying in the KL till the 31st!
KOTOR
My attempt to follow the Republican primary, or what’s left of it anyway, would have been a lot more nauseating if not for the daily dose of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s comedic cushioning. It’s hard to escape the whole illuminati cliché when you’re trawling YouTube for some counterpunches to right wing agitprop, but you have to admit it’s getting easier to deduce that the system is governed by a handful of predesignated krangs looking out for their own homies while setting up a well-lit circus to present their troupe of floundering presidential wannabes to the ever-hopeful ninety-nine percent who are still looking for “real change”. Every debate has been littered full of wonderful distractions, but peel back the minor bickering and you’ll find that both parties are really under the same roof. Once again, the landlords will be cashing in regardless of the outcome, and everyone else will have to clean up the mess.
Then there is Ron Paul, the only candidate who is least likely to be a shapeshifting reptilian and appears to be just as pissed off as the rest of us. There is little doubt about his message’s consistency, and it’s easy to see why his policies are appealing, especially to the incensed youth. It’s a simple killer combination of raging against the machine while implementing the golden rule of doing onto others what you expect in return. While there are just as many skeptics who have branded him a madman for being overly simplistic, you have to wonder whether that cynicism is largely derived from the fear of an old system being drastically overhauled and taken to where it’s never been before. But even if they are right, the only problem with Ron Paul would be that he just has way too much faith in humanity. And well, if there really are darker and more twisted powers at work currently incapable of being brought down by a president and his people anyway, then he’s probably better off not being elected for his own sake.
It’s quite strange; you get overwhelmed and disillusioned by all of this crap for a while, but then you find your way back into the groove, like none of it mattered in the first place.
I mean, I’m just a musician. So what do I know, right?
Prayer
C.S. Lewis on prayer, from the 1993 film Shadowlands.
I have a lot of trouble believing in an interventionist God, but I still cry out to him anyway.
Restart
Hello,
I am writing from a headspace of half static and half frenzy. Once again, I have managed to self-sabotage my way into a familiar limbo, fuelled by the paralysing combination of perfectionism and procrastination. You don’t need a shrink to tell me that my problem is self-inflicted, and that it all stems from some need for self-validation. But I am writing because this needs to change.
I am writing because I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I am going back to the start, to reiterate what really makes all of this worthwhile. I first have to work on learning how to just be happy, even if that means putting a few things on hold. Right now, the thought of finishing an album any time soon is impossible, almost reckless. There is too much intellectualising and not enough living. Sometimes having momentum is more important than finding direction.
I need to remember how to take my time and explore the things I actually love doing, instead of constantly staring at a mold that certain people decided are necessary for you and I to fit into in order to be their version of success. If art is a biproduct of living, then I’m focusing on being the best person that I can be before anything else.
The alternative is too boring and depressing to contemplate.
Airbag
Our alleged cameraman bailed the day before this severely underrehearsed gig took place, so we got our mix engineer to prop his crappy camera up on a crappy tripod in the worst possible angle in the live room of 3MBS Studios and swivel it around like nobody’s business. We also told him not to breathe for 7 minutes. Enjoy.