Re: Congratulations Bad Cog

"William Innes" <billyinnes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Joe, if I manage to muster civility in the majority of my posts (I know, I 
> know...there are times in which I still stray...but I try), then it's for 
> a few reasons:
> 1) I'm getting older
> 2) It suits my frame of mind better these days
> 3) I spend a good chunk of my time out of the classroom mediating 
> labor/contractual disputes....so, it's become almost second nature to me.
> 4) I'm still trying to atone for past transgressions....
>
> But, hey, that's me.  If it's a suit I try to wear, I'm not going to make 
> the presumption that it's a suit everyone would want to wear.
> And I get the impression that, for you, it's a suit you're more 
> comfortable wearing.
> End of the day, that's pretty much our choice.
>
> This may be a stretch...then again, maybe it's not.
> But I still think back to being a lad and hearing the Sex Pistols 
> interviewed on the Bay Area's K-SAN radio station.
> I was doing my homework in the kitchen's breakfast nook with the radio 
> on...and I was damn-near frightened by what I was hearing.
> And the unease was compounded by my ma cooking dinner in the same 
> vicinity.
> Appalling, disgusting, heinous...whatever...I've gotta say that it made 
> them all the more intriguing.
> And you can bet that I snuck NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS into the house the 
> first opportunity I could.
>
> It's unlikely that folks such as The Sex Pistols or The Who or Iggy Pop 
> would have made all that lasting an impression if they decided to become 
> poster-boys of old world manner and civility.
> That said, I can understand why NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS or RAW POWER isn't 
> going to be everyone's (including mine) idea of pleasant Sunday morning 
> listening.
>
> I think BC's posts sort of swept down on this newsgroup in much the same 
> manner that NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS eked its way out of my bedroom stereo 
> speakers.
> Gee....all these years later and the guy is still remembered (and would be 
> even without an impressive list of nominations and critical praise).
> That goes a bit beyond the infantile musings of a lot of others who set 
> out to outrage...but couldn't get arrested no matter how hard they might 
> try.
>
> I can understand why/how it wouldn't be everyone's cup of mud....but it 
> did sort of have the impact of a full force gale.
>
> And, after all is said and done, this is a newsgroup devoted to a rock and 
> roll performer...and often to rock and roll itself.
> I don't recall any rule saying that rock and roll needed to be civilized 
> in order to be taken seriously or to have an impact.

> Somewhere along the line it seems that a once nearly savage-like 
> performer...a cat who was damn-near exorcising his demons in public 
> (during marathon-length concerts, at that)...got turned into a 
> Feel-Good-Grateful Dead-like "community."
> And I'm not knocking this "community" aspect of this place.
> I've been on both the receiving and giving end of that "community."
> I've made a ton of friends as a result of such "community."
> I get the sense that you like aspects of this community as well.
> Again, that's our choice to buy into that sense of community.

> But, maybe there are those who remember that rail-thin cat who was 
> exorcising his demons in public...
> long before hitting us up for food-bank donations and saying catchy 
> phrases such as "Nobody wins unless everybody wins" (or whatever the hell 
> it was he said).
> You know, the same cat who wrote a song about the Virgin Mary serving Mass 
> on Sunday... and selling her body on Monday.
> It's doubtful that Springsteen would write that song any longer.
> He's getting older, too.
> And it's doubtful that I'd write posts with the rage and wit and 
> over-the-top style that Bad Cog wrote...I'm way too old for that game.

> But I think it's a bit presumptuous for everyone to think that in a forum 
> where Free Speech wears a crown, that everyone is going to play nice and 
> buy into the sensibilities of "community" and "civility" for which many of 
> us strive.

> I'm not saying he was a breath of fresh air.
> I'm not even saying that I liked his style.
> But I sure as hell remember it...just as I remember dropping the needle on 
> what felt like a contraband vinyl album and hearing "Holidays in the Sun."
> Sure, these days I'm more inclined to listen to The Impressions or The 
> Delfonics on a Sunday morning.
> But, like I said.......I'm getting old.

Comparing Cog to the Sex Pistols is brilliant.  It describes perfectly the 
impact that he had and the role that he filled.  But I bet he'd prefer you'd 
compared him to the Clash!


=======================================
Better bring your own redemption when you come
To the barricades of heaven, where I'm from
                                                         Jackson Browne



.

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