Christmas In Fallujah And No One Gives a Damn
It takes something earth shattering to get me to post anymore. Such just happened.I'm saddened. I awake to learn that Dan Fogelberg is dead. The original rock era did more to change the course of music than any other genre in human history. Proof positive for having lived in special times. Fogleberg was as much a part of that as anyone.
Such takes more than talent. It takes vision.
And balls.
Balls to, as Richard Ouzounian, entertainment reporter for the Star, put it... grab the right moment or spend the rest of one’s life regretting it. Balls to manifest a dream and say in song what no one else can or will say. He was a part of the 64 years that make up my reality. The older one gets the more of one's reality meets mortality. Comes with the program I guess. As Springsteen wrote... you get so sick of the fightin', you lose you fear of the end.
Some find comfort in knowing that, with death comes birth. So, to that crutch, I lean for some support and comfort in my sadness. But who gives a damn?
Birth.
Renewal.
It can come in many forms. Billy Joel, out on tour, takes Cass Dillon with him. I'm a long time Piano Man fan. Another rock of that original rock era and that reality of mine. But I must admit, Dillon is a new one on me. PDG talent I must say too. There's alot of PDG talent out there that I've missed along the way. That too comes with the program of gettin old I guess. But who gives a damn?
I'm constantly amazed at the syncronicities life brings. Someone sent me a link to the Troubled Texan Weblog. Right below the Lindsey Williams vid they wanted me to take a look at was a vid of Cass Dillon's, Christmas in Fallujah And No One Gives A Damn performance with Joel. Being a fan of Joel led me to click the link which led me to Dillon.
I love it when an oldtimer like Joel reaches a hand to an up-and-comer like Dillon. They recognize the talent and potential and mentor just as was done to them by their heroes. Heroes who inspired them to break new ground. New sounds. The sounds of their own personal expressions. A whole new paradigm which spoke to set them apart from all the rest. I love what they did and I hate to see them go.
Yesterday morning, another one fell.
So I'm watching this vid and thinking, man, this guy sure reminds me of Fogelberg. The face, the hair, the style, the voice, the body language. And the song. And, as life's enigmas will have it, while I'm watching Dillon do this song I notice a headline off to the side of the page... a link to Bluedaze and the headline... "Dan Fogelberg died today".
But who gives a damn?
Ouzounian put it best...
The troubador of might-have-been has sung his final song. Dan Fogelberg, the singer-songwriter whose melodies about feelings kept unspoken and loves left unrequited touched the hearts of a generation, died yesterday morning at the age of 56.
A generation. My generation.
Melodies about feelings kept unspoken and loves left unrequited. My feelings. My loves. Our feelings. Our loves.
One troubador dead and another born. Born to say what is left unspoken. In this case, about Christmas in Fallujah. But who gives a damn?
Such takes more than talent. It takes vision.
And balls.
Balls to, as Richard Ouzounian, entertainment reporter for the Star, put it... grab the right moment or spend the rest of one’s life regretting it. Balls to manifest a dream and say in song what no one else can or will say. He was a part of the 64 years that make up my reality. The older one gets the more of one's reality meets mortality. Comes with the program I guess. As Springsteen wrote... you get so sick of the fightin', you lose you fear of the end.
Some find comfort in knowing that, with death comes birth. So, to that crutch, I lean for some support and comfort in my sadness. But who gives a damn?
Birth.
Renewal.
It can come in many forms. Billy Joel, out on tour, takes Cass Dillon with him. I'm a long time Piano Man fan. Another rock of that original rock era and that reality of mine. But I must admit, Dillon is a new one on me. PDG talent I must say too. There's alot of PDG talent out there that I've missed along the way. That too comes with the program of gettin old I guess. But who gives a damn?
I'm constantly amazed at the syncronicities life brings. Someone sent me a link to the Troubled Texan Weblog. Right below the Lindsey Williams vid they wanted me to take a look at was a vid of Cass Dillon's, Christmas in Fallujah And No One Gives A Damn performance with Joel. Being a fan of Joel led me to click the link which led me to Dillon.
I love it when an oldtimer like Joel reaches a hand to an up-and-comer like Dillon. They recognize the talent and potential and mentor just as was done to them by their heroes. Heroes who inspired them to break new ground. New sounds. The sounds of their own personal expressions. A whole new paradigm which spoke to set them apart from all the rest. I love what they did and I hate to see them go.
Yesterday morning, another one fell.
So I'm watching this vid and thinking, man, this guy sure reminds me of Fogelberg. The face, the hair, the style, the voice, the body language. And the song. And, as life's enigmas will have it, while I'm watching Dillon do this song I notice a headline off to the side of the page... a link to Bluedaze and the headline... "Dan Fogelberg died today".
But who gives a damn?
Ouzounian put it best...
The troubador of might-have-been has sung his final song. Dan Fogelberg, the singer-songwriter whose melodies about feelings kept unspoken and loves left unrequited touched the hearts of a generation, died yesterday morning at the age of 56.
A generation. My generation.
Melodies about feelings kept unspoken and loves left unrequited. My feelings. My loves. Our feelings. Our loves.
One troubador dead and another born. Born to say what is left unspoken. In this case, about Christmas in Fallujah. But who gives a damn?
posted by Palooka's Revenge at 12/17/2007 10:49:00 AM
4 Comments:
RIP Dan - Hopefully you are up there with the rest of our dearly departed friends playing together in The Great Gig In The Sky.
PS i didn't know they celebrated Christmas in Fallujah or is that a new tradition as a result of the lastest Crusade?
yup! first a star appears in the east and 3 wise men come over the hill. now fallujah!!
in the first crusades the christians marched to stamp out the infidels. now the tables are turned. amazing huh?
Well, Palooka, I guess I'll put on a Fogelberg CD and listen to it while I make Christmas cookies. Jeez, he's two years younger than me. Goes along with my contention that us boomers are not going to live as long as our parents. Don't think there will be a social security problem - except the problem that many of us won't live long enough to get the first check.
I hear those older tunes and am suddenly snapped back into the day when I felt so alive and convinced that we were on the brink of a revolution and we could "dare to struggle, dare to win." I can still remember the first time I heard Billy Joel sing "Piano Man".Maybe when we die, we can be guided to the right place by listening for the music that we loved.
i still feel we're on the brink. even moreso. ya, its a bummer that what started in the 60's turned so.... well, into exactly what we were rebelling against. to see so many of those you stood side by side with or were even the leaders of a march for social change and justice become exactly the opposite is cause for pause to say the least. you just have to wonder what the fuck happened! i highly suspect that whatever it was, it was nothing new. it was what is when it comes to human nature and it is what cannot be ignored in the grand scheme of things. and the grand scheme of things is always in play. when the balance point becomes vulnerable to the point that life itself is under attack, universe steps in. such is the case on earth now. we're in for quite a ride.
as for social security, i'm not in alignment. never have been even though i've played the game. so i got mine comin as they say. if you're in the system you're in the game. i had to make a choice 15 years ago. join the system or go underground completly. i chose to join the system to see what it was all about. to see what it really was that i was against. you'll never know if you'll kill yourself if you don't put yourself in the position to kill yourself and give yourself permission.
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