Appalachian American Ennui: April 2013

Sunday, April 21, 2013

CocoRosie - Fairy Paradise, Milk

The music begins at 1:45

Decemberists - Down by the Water

Pixies - Alec Eiffel, Digging for Fire, Number 13 Baby, and Gouge Away

I always thought that this song resonated in a rising morning sun. It takes me back to Nashville, when I would take my son, Paul, to school en route to my work downtown. I'd peek over at him while I played this music, to see how it was affecting my boy on the outside. But, it's the inside that matters.

Brian Aubert - Frontman for Silversun Pickups

This cat has an electric guitar extending quite naturally from the bones beneath his fingertips and bar-chord indices. I sincerely believe that he's one of the best guitarists I've heard in a long, long time. Maybe ever. I think I'll pronounce his last name using my faux French vernacular: AWE-bear. Brian AWE-bear.

And his voice. His voice is very intense in a high-pitched, almost painful resonance when he amps it up. Brian must be careful with that voice lest it merge smack dab into the dangerously close resonance of a boy-band member huffing helium before the show. My message to Brian:

Keep it on the alternative shoulder, Brian. You're very, very talented. Just stay away from nonsensical lyrics involving "magazines" and "sisters." You've got it all. Now you must give way to your own frontman - and it's named, Stewardship. Be a clever steward of this biological software, Brian. Charles Thompson's vocal chords were permanently damaged because he screamed too much. So throttle it when you can.
I could be wrong about you Brian. But I turned all my friends and family on to a very obscure band in 1988, named the Pixies after I saw them perform on television late one night in Tullahoma, Tennessee. I was hooked and have stayed that way now for 25 years. So have they, and countless others with good alternative taste buds.
One last thing - don't overdo it.
The list of over-doers is replete with colossal talent.
We all know who they are, but we'll never know who they all are.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

The Supremes - I Hear a Symphony

Long before he died, and when he had the house to himself, Greg was steady to rest the needle at the concentric circle where the spinning vinyl synapse, though hush and blank, silently portended the song he always selected: I Hear a Symphony, by The Supremes.

Those were the carpet days. Carpeting was everywhere. It has since been torn from the painful and revealing rises that still rise and fall beneath Greg's recollection, as he studies those moments in time from his tomb. Greg didn't understand the magnitude of what lay beneath the mat, so he danced aimlessly around the room.

Mapping the Pathology of Human Conduct: The BRAIN Project

Thankfully, President Obama has secured the necessary endowment to fund a momentous project that will effectively map the human brain. Known as the "Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies" Project, or BRAIN, the outcome will ease human suffering and enhance the overall wellness of our collective consciousness.

According to the April 8, 2013 issue of MIT Technology:

[t]he “next great American project,” as Obama called it, could help neuroscientists understand the origins of cognition, perception, and other enigmatic brain activities, which may lead to new, more effective treatments for conditions like autism or mood disorders and could help veterans suffering from brain injuries.

I trust that this project will shed flood lights on the nature and pathology of our conduct as it is dictated neurologically from the most fascinating object in our known universe: the human brain.

Oftentimes I muse over the etiology of things like morality, greed, altruism, elation, euphoria and my own hellish depression. When I consider the vicious actions taken by some people, I wonder if that portion of their brains devoted to the preservation of the ethic has experienced a congenital or traumatic warp. Alternatively, when I think of people, like my friend Tom Adams, who seem to be perfectly aligned to do the right thing under any set of conditions, I wonder if that same area of the neurological centerpiece is more vibrant, pink and full of thriving electric circuitry.

But verbs, like "wonder," and "consider," should be removed from the vernacular by the psychological and psychiatric communities, which are in critical need of the technology promised by the BRAIN project. As it now stands, psychiatrists must rely upon the reports of psychologists, which are, in turn, almost entirely dependent upon the narrative provided by the suffering patient in order to fashion a recipe of psychotropic medicines to counter their mental illness. There exists no in-depth MRI or CT scan, nor blood testing, which would enable these professionals to peer microscopically into our cerebral inner-workings. The result? Trial, error, adjustment, trial, error, adjustment and oftentimes successful treatment. But sadly, the ideal amalgam is never discovered in countless other instances, despite myriad attempts. In either event, the process now in place may be long and especially arduous for both patient and physician. And delay is not kind to this potentially fatal disease; fatal to both patient (suicide) and others (homicide).

So thank you, Mr. Obama, for your willingness to to stick your own head out in the name of progress, science, health and humanity.

The promise of cognitive rewards is as manifold as the brain itself.