Friday, September 06, 2013

Whither Tennessee?

I am ambivalent about Tennessee.  Both Memphis & Nashville seem nice, & Nashville has a great vegetarian restaurant called the Wild Cow which is pretty much better than any restaurant within a fifty mile radius of me.  & it's just three hours away!  I am mostly not a happy Kentucky vegan.

The rest of the state, I don't know.  It's like that all over, though.  I am not in lockstep with rural or even suburban America.  They think I'm a lefty pinko overeducated commie.  I am mostly just scared of them.  We both think the other is wrong, wrong, wrong.

I do thank Tennessee for having the sort of fucked-up racial & class-oriented situation to help in the rise of the blues, country, & rock & roll.  That stuff does not come from a well-ordered society.  It comes from need & want & sweat & alcohol & ambition & repression. It comes from a heart that needs to explode & it's got no place else it can turn to.  I sometimes think I will never be anything more than the thirteen year old boy lying next to the radio & using the music I loved to interpret & understand my life.  I sometimes think I'm right about that.

Lots of songs about Tennessee tonight!  From 10pm to midnight on 88.1 fm WRFL in Lexington, but online at wrfl.fm in Tennessee.  (& other places too.)

No comments: