don't shake me lucifer

"the world's a mess, it's in my kiss..." i don't think the following'll make much sense unless you're down in the valley, too...
1. a stupid tirade: the whole wide genre called "blues" was born in pain, not fashion, from the little i know. all kinds of variations then arose from that core, like the wonderful new orleans acadian / shuffle/ cajun/ zydeco tradition. such a core should be respected, not aped. the "fashion blues" attitude is what i don't like about the whole "blues brothers" thing. all them salaried middle-aged suburban guys in their ray-bans and bowling shirts playing "authentic delta blues" and singing willie dixon and jimmy reed between leers, swigs and high-fives with their weekend-warrior buddies creep me out. people shouldn't perform songs unless they're authentically felt to the toes, not because they think "the blues" will make them look cool. enjoying the music, or relating to it, that's another deal, but once i take on a song to learn and it starts coming from my mouth onstage, i'm saying i'm a piece of that song or want to carry forward its experience. that's why, unless my despair deepened significantly, or drug-hell resurfaced, though i love her music, i would never sing billie holliday.
2. the unforgettable books "go cat go" and "man in black" describe how carl p and john c (respectively) dealt with the darkness. they walked and kept walking and didn't give up. i guess.
3. roky erickson said, "don't shake me lucifer"... sometimes it feels that way, tho i ain't religious. i like roky's brilliant hallucination lyrics. maybe that's the smartest way to deal with tragedy and despair. some native cultures think the clown or kashari to be the most sacred character around. better to laugh than cry: is that the ticket?
4. johnny cash said, "i'm gonna sit right here until i die"... or maybe this is the ticket? nah. i've done this, and you just have to get up after a few days to go to the bathroom or eat. speaking of cash, maybe i should transfer these feelings into disgust over the casting of two talented but inappropriate-for-the-roles hollywoodians as johnny and june in the new "walk the line" biopic.
5. a lot of hank williams' catalog was joyful, ebullient honky-tonk/love tunes or sad songs so beautiful, they pull you out of the despair pit cause HE FELT IT, TOO, & expressed it so awesomely... these extremes, i guess, are associated with the creative temperament. just imagine if the man had lived... knowing these talents lived at all can help a person not want to hang oneself, yes...
6. john lennon screamed, "how can you laugh when you know i'm down?" great song, but nah -- too self-pitying.
7. blablablablablablabla... this ain't me usually, but "blog" starts like "blab," doesn't it? sometimes the blabbing gets dark. this is one...
what a profundity: when the world's all upside down, anybody can get sad. you need the dark to see the light. etc, etc. duhh. i guess all a person can do is keep walking. and laughing. and trying not to say, "i told you so." the chinese proverb says, "fall down seven times, get up eight." time to get up. i'm gettin. i hope.