zero360|music

Hairballs

Aug 8, 2009 ramblings

Yep, life’s a hairball… a tangled mess. We either live in it or hover just beyond it, but can’t live without it. Get too close, you get sucked in — too far away and you’re isolated from the hairball — but then, what’s life without life?

After my first pass through Gordon McKenzie’s “Orbiting the Giant Hairball,” a book touted to address the mayhem inside large corporate work environments, I got to thinking the same is true of life. Very interesting read, IMO, from the format and style of delivery to the content… I’m buying a copy to keep on my nightstand with the other books I periodically thumb through.

I work in the corporate hairball described and addressed by this book, and have for many years. Having to navigate the gravity surrounding the tornadic swirl of red tape and politics and not get sucked into it — yet not get so far from it that I either quit or get fired, wears the heck out of me. But, as an artist, I’m totally with the proclamation McKenzie makes in the last chapter about “my life’s masterpiece”, entertaining and profound.

[begin rant]

Now, I don’t write politically charged protest songs, and don’t necessarily intend to start — but of late I’m really struggling with all the yak about who’s to blame for the current economic hairball we’re experiencing, why we’ve gone from digging an economic hole with a shovel to a backhoe and all that jazz. Uh, not the [only true] American art form, but the fuzzy math and self-centered “if you don’t agree with me you must be stupid” type of jazz.

Does anyone read history anymore? I mean accurate stuff, not the interpretations and CNN/MSNBC commentary. I mean stuff like how economies cycle, and people get blinded by poop-y promises made by politicians put on pedestals built on the frustration and disillusion of the masses? And how societies crumble because we seemingly [choose to] avoid learning from those mistakes?

Are we so entangled within the hairball, that the simplicity of hope and trust between good people seems out of reach? Has the collective isolation of minds shut off from reality by earbuds, the web, addiction to virtual reality, etc., made it easy for those holding the reigns to steer us down roads we shouldn’t be on?

Sadly, me thinks — YES.

I’m not saying anyone should compromise on what they believe, or give up our 1st Amendment rights. But should we be required to fund (via taxation) abortion and Acorn… should these type of social issues and vehicles of manipulation really be part of the Washington [funded] agenda? Shouldn’t our “representation” be more concerned with ensuring federal funds [aka stimulus] allocated to states keep teachers teaching, roads built and maintained and beefing up local law enforcement and fire departments, instead of building tourist attractions and funding bogus research projects? It concerns me when “we the people” allow the 10 Commandments to be torn down in the name of separation of church and state (and to appease those who like the great opportunities we all have by living in America but aren’t signing up for the heritage part of the deal), then time and again vote in government officials who endorse billions in illicit gain… help me out here?

Any chance we can get back to basics (like “Thou Shall Not Steal” from the taxpayer to bail out the boardroom) before my hairball adventure is over? Is common sense passé?

[end rant]

I recently read CB’s blog about “needing to write,” which really speaks to me. I do need to write, but sometimes avoid writing what I’m really passionate about. Like God, the one who I believe sent Jesus, so we could have a reason to hope in a future past the hairball… controversial, for sure. And I believe in living life to the fullest, while not abusing my body or taking advantage of others, also controversial to many. I also believe the music industry has blown its feet off up to its hips, and now barely keeps its collective head above water with gimmicky playlists.

True artists will keep good music and song alive, for the sake of art, in the name of hope. I can only hope to be part of this troupe, and that I’ll continue to create my own masterpiece. One thing’s for sure, whatever it is I write next will be from the gravity surrounding the hairballs I’m living with… whee!