You have no faith in medicine
My relationship with tin openers has been a bit shaky.
I was standing in the kitchen trying to open a tin for my supper when John Powell walks in. I'm trying to open the tin with a knife. It's a very sharp knife, but it's still only a knife and to open the tin I have to jab downwards repeatedly trying to cut a hole in the tin. It's almost like trying to clear landmines with a spoon, but it was working until John walks in and sees me there.
He stands behind me watching. I can see him out of the corner of my eye while I struggle with the tin jabbing downwards and trying to twist it open. I guess that he could be thinking one of several things:
a)Okay- There's a black man in my kitchen with a sharp knife. Time to get the hell out of here.
b) What a thicko-can't even open a tin! And what on earth is he using?
"There's a tin opener in the drawer" He says after a few seconds and opens up the drawer and gives me the opener. I thank him, but it is not helping. A knife I can deal with- a tin opener might as well be a jet engine to me. He leaves and I struggle with the tin opener. I am not suprised to discover I do not know how to use it. Have I been opening tins with knives all this time? I go back to the knife an just stare helplessly at the tin opener.
John walks in later just as a I finally make a hole in the tin.
"Couldn't figure out how to use the opener eh?" He asks as he notices how badly opened the can is. I glare again at the tin opener but its not its fault.
All this brings me to Bob Dylan (well it doesn't but I've got here anyway) I like the man- he's made some amazing music and God knows almost everyone who picked up a guitar after 1970 was somehow influenced by him. However listening to him the other night I wondered why he never learned to sing. Oh, he tries but the man couldnt carry a tune in a bucket. I guess in a way it is part of his charm- amazing lyrics, wonderful guitar-playing and that strange, nasal voice.
But anyway what I also like about Dylan is the way he completely tried to reject any talk about being some kind of protest figure. He was singing songs in the 60's that got students out on the streets protesting and saying he was talking about them and giving the middle finger to the government. Dylan said he was just making music. But what about songs like The times they are a-changing Bob?
Rest of the world: Bob, you are a hero! In these tumultous times with the war in Vietnam and the march for civil rights, you are saying the things everyone is trying to put into words! You are our leader! A hero!
Dylan: Fuck off.
That was the conversation that went on then and in a sense is still going on now. Dylan completely refuses the mantle that's been given to him as a protest icon and yet continues to this day to sing songs that make it obvious that is what he really is. He's a stubborn man our Bob.
I was standing in the kitchen trying to open a tin for my supper when John Powell walks in. I'm trying to open the tin with a knife. It's a very sharp knife, but it's still only a knife and to open the tin I have to jab downwards repeatedly trying to cut a hole in the tin. It's almost like trying to clear landmines with a spoon, but it was working until John walks in and sees me there.
He stands behind me watching. I can see him out of the corner of my eye while I struggle with the tin jabbing downwards and trying to twist it open. I guess that he could be thinking one of several things:
a)Okay- There's a black man in my kitchen with a sharp knife. Time to get the hell out of here.
b) What a thicko-can't even open a tin! And what on earth is he using?
"There's a tin opener in the drawer" He says after a few seconds and opens up the drawer and gives me the opener. I thank him, but it is not helping. A knife I can deal with- a tin opener might as well be a jet engine to me. He leaves and I struggle with the tin opener. I am not suprised to discover I do not know how to use it. Have I been opening tins with knives all this time? I go back to the knife an just stare helplessly at the tin opener.
John walks in later just as a I finally make a hole in the tin.
"Couldn't figure out how to use the opener eh?" He asks as he notices how badly opened the can is. I glare again at the tin opener but its not its fault.
All this brings me to Bob Dylan (well it doesn't but I've got here anyway) I like the man- he's made some amazing music and God knows almost everyone who picked up a guitar after 1970 was somehow influenced by him. However listening to him the other night I wondered why he never learned to sing. Oh, he tries but the man couldnt carry a tune in a bucket. I guess in a way it is part of his charm- amazing lyrics, wonderful guitar-playing and that strange, nasal voice.
But anyway what I also like about Dylan is the way he completely tried to reject any talk about being some kind of protest figure. He was singing songs in the 60's that got students out on the streets protesting and saying he was talking about them and giving the middle finger to the government. Dylan said he was just making music. But what about songs like The times they are a-changing Bob?
Rest of the world: Bob, you are a hero! In these tumultous times with the war in Vietnam and the march for civil rights, you are saying the things everyone is trying to put into words! You are our leader! A hero!
Dylan: Fuck off.
That was the conversation that went on then and in a sense is still going on now. Dylan completely refuses the mantle that's been given to him as a protest icon and yet continues to this day to sing songs that make it obvious that is what he really is. He's a stubborn man our Bob.
posted by Minzo at 12:28 AM
1 Comments:
Minzo,that can opener tale Killed me "I glare again at the tin opener but its not its fault.
" HAHAHHA Then the switch to the closely related topic:Dylan! HAHA!Nigel Mansel Has nothing on you in the gear shifting department
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