My good friend John, whom I've known since 1996 or so, is a deep thinker and a terrific drummer. He is a fan of Rush, and has been since he was a wee lad in Olympia, when riot grrl and twee punk were what all the cool kids liked. He was a true punk among faux punks, in that he stayed true to his beliefs in the face of judgmental hipsters who were sadly (or hilariously) unaware of how uninclusive and closed-minded they were. The irony is that they had no idea how ironic this was.
John tries to figure out what the cool kids are into.
Can't say I was much better when we met, or through the ensuing years, although my issue was mainly indifference. The Beatles were my jam. Folk rock. Rap music. I didn't like the big names of 70's rock much, which led to the big names of 80's rock, which indeed mostly sucked. Truthfully, in the 90's I lumped grunge right in with the rest, at first: loud shouty music. I soon figured out the difference, and started to pay attention to underground stuff, but I got off to a slow start.
When I met John, he was a bone-deep, unabashed Rush fan, along with The Police, and Frank Zappa. He started a band called Canvas, with Howard and Justin, two bassists who possessed equal love and regard for Rush. I was friends with those 2 dudes, but didn't really know their drummer. As I said, this was the mid-90's and I was a college radio DJ by then; we all were trying to figure out a way to fit into the emerging indie rock culture.
In short, Canvas made a record and I helped them put it out. Not many ears heard it, really, but they played some great shows and evolved over the course of 5+ years into something quite powerful and unique. So many influences and/or points of comparison: Primus, Slint, Unwound, Don Cabellero, and above all (?) motherfucking RUSH.
If you want a copy, I will absolutely send you a CD for the price of shipping. Just ask.
We graduated, moved around, and went our separate ways. Thanks to the internet, we have been able to keep in touch here and there. I never got into Rush. John is earning a Master's degree now, has a wife and a young son, and lives in Eastern Washington.
Recently we reconnected over email thanks to my radio show, partly. He still likes to talk about philosophy and faith, and we have had some fun, illuminating discussions - for me, at any rate. Mostly he explains stuff to me. One of his messages, describing Aristotle's views on friendship, blew my tiny mind. Without going into detail, I'll just say that my feelings about friendship are complicated lately. Moving away from the Pacific Northwest, nearing 40, and the repercussions of mistakes I've made in the past have helped me become insecure. Friendships I believed were bulletproof have waned or flat-out vanished. When John described Aristotle's views on friendship, I read his interpretation of those views out loud to my girlfriend ...and ended up sobbing.
Here:
"Aristotle breaks friendship into three kinds: friendship of utility, friendship of pleasure, and, lastly, virtuous friendship, which tends to involve the first two levels, but also involves the cultivation of virtue as a common thread between friends. This last kind of friendship is the highest form of friendship. Without getting into just exactly what we mean by virtue (and thus virtuous friendship), at this level of friendship, the friends are, among other things, very devoted to the betterment of the other's well being, and not just their own betterment, and so there is a real kind of love that exists between the friends. But it's not only just a matter of caring for and loving each other, but mutually caring for and loving what's good and right. It's a type of friendship that looks outside of itself to a higher and more righteous good.
The reason I'm mentioning this is because as Aristotle points out, most of our friendships are of the first two kinds, and very few of them are of the later highest kind. This is for many reasons, but part of it is because of practical limitations such that to foster this kind of friendship takes much in the way of time, energy and commitment, which is something we often have a short supply of. In other words, of this best type of friendship, among other reasons, it's just not practically possible to have that many of them; in fact, if you even have just a couple of friends like this, you're a lucky man! The other friends tend to come and go, and don't always have your best interests in mind.
By way of China, where I'm going with this is that while you may have felt a fair amount of pain in seeing the truth about many of your friends--many of whom I presume were friends more at the level of pleasure and utility--your truest friend is the good, and if the good is the main focus of your life, then I'm quite confident that as time passes, more of these same minded good people will come into your life and fill it with the blessings of friendships that are lasting and durable."
It was heavy, in spite of the uplifting tack at the end. Or to be more specific, it touched me in a sensitive place, and felt very true, and as such, also difficult to accept.
Plato on the left, Aristotle on the right.
Not long afterward, out of respect for him and genuine interest in a band I had always been "meaning to check out," I picked up Rush's Moving Pictures on vinyl at my local neighborhood record shoppe, and let John know. It is indeed a great album - got some "Tom Sawyer" on it yo! My interest piqued, I decided to keep exploring and downloaded more of their work, and continue to keep him informed. We have an ongoing thread going.
Bus stop @ corner of Damen, North and Milwaukee in Chicago, 12/6/2012.
The title of All The World's A Stage is taken from Shakespeare's As You Like It.
The other day he told me that no matter what I do, don't buy the 1976 live album All The World's A Stage. "It really sucks!" he said. "Just trust me." I noted his dislike for it, and said I wouldn't bother. And then yesterday, the vinyl arrived in the mail. This guy. This fucking guy. This lovely, sneaky fucking guy bought me the double LP and didn't want me to buy it before it arrived. Somehow I didn't gather what he meant by the winky emoticon. I am gullible.
Holy shit a tri-fold LP jacket! Look at all the pictures!
Damn there's some fine playing on this thing. Authentic and precise. I see why it is essential as live document.
