post 99

yikes, if i may.

somehow i've almost hit the triple digits in posting (it only took me 2 years and roughly 4 months to do it). but i've neglected it for the last few weeks and that is only slightly wrong.

i do like music. there are certain songs that i relate with certain experiences and memories.

'flight of the bumblebee' takes me back to a talent show where one judson abernathy and myself let our imaginations take us on a voyage that, to this very moment, makes me laugh much like a school boy deep down within.

'i want to know what love is' takes me back to middle school love and an emotional car ride with my then girlfriend/older woman whitney wiggins. this took place within my prime (7th to 8th grade)

'how bizarre' takes me to those first days of experiencing the freedom of the first days of driving with friends and one-hit wonders.

the list goes on and on, making me all the more wistful as each song plays in my head. it is amazing to me how the mind will tie things like this to our experiences. our lives have soundtracks, music that plays in the background or that defines the moment.

when i look back at moldova and my time there, two of my favorite moments revolved around a song. one, was the infamous ray parker ghostbuster's incident which involved air guitar and the gyrating hips of the boys i worked with and my own child-bearing set. the other, perhaps less familiar, took place on the most dreaded means of transportation: the marshrutka. the song was joe dassin's 'les champs-élysées.'

the marshrutka full of people and i were simply getting from one place to another. there were a couple translators with me. on the radio, this song began to play. immediately, i loved it. i just didn't realize how much i could and would.

as it played, the volume was increased, the passengers became happier, the sun shown a little brighter and even the typical olfactory funk alleviated (it smelled of glory). one by one people were sucked into the moment.

they began to sing and sway to the music. they did air symbols and trumpets. they sang the chorus with zeal and gusto.

i sat back and watched with joy and happiness. this is music at its heart. it changes you, almost metaphysically. the best songs can change your whole being, your emotional standing. that is what the best art in general does, whether it be film, painting, written word or the like.

this moment and this feeling comes back to me now mainly because it was used by wes anderson for the credits in 'the darjeeling limited.' i watched this film only this week though it's a year or so old.

for reasons fairly well known to me, the use of this song bugged me uncontrollably. 'les champs-élysées' was a song set in my own context. the lyrics are in french, thus i understand next to nothing. this allowed me to let the actual music form the context in which i hear it. to me that song will always encompass the mood of that day.

hearing it allows me to go back to that moment. it is what victor turner would call the 'illud tempor' -or something to that extent- in a book called 'the ritual process' -or something to that extent. he basically argues that our rituals are an attempt to go back to 'that time' when things were good or better than the present. our traditions take us back to a past to which we wish we could return.

songs become a part of our own, personal ritual. we have those songs that impact us. they are almost exclusively tied to a memory, an emotion, a relationship, etc. we listen to them and they take us back. when somebody associates it with something else, like anderson did to me with 'les champs-élysées,' he threatens that memory if only on a minor level.

but this nostalgia is a useful tool. you can take those things that have a sort of ingrained cultural association and exploit or use them for positive ends. the jaws music can be used to instill fear, or the feeling of the hunt. chariots of fire equals running on the beach and the feelings of achievement or the race. there are hundreds of examples. when these associations are used skillfully, artists have the ability to literally change people, change society.

this is the kind of art i'd like to produce, to be a part of, to take in. this is why i love music, film and books. they tie me to my past. they remind me of 'that time' when things were perfect or even awful. they grab a hold of the emotions and change i was going through at a specific time and encompass them. they connect us to each other in ways nothing else will.

this has the signature of God all over it. only he could compose our hearts in such a way. beauty and creativity are in His nature. being made in His image, it is in ours too. if only we could tap more into it.