Guest Book

bear with me for a second here. this is from the introduction to barabra ehrenreich's new book "dancing in the streets: a history of collective joy." read it through, or just read the last paragraph, and you'll see instantly why i'm posting it here. "Yet for all the local variations, there are certain commonalities, or at least common ingredients, that can be found in ecstatic rituals and festivities worldwide and throughout the ages.... These ingredients of ecstatic rituals and festivities — music, dancing, eating, drinking or indulging in other mind-altering drugs, costuming and/or various forms of self-decoration, such as face and body painting — seem to be universal.... But the core elements are, again and again, the dancing, the feasting, the artistic decoration of faces and bodies. "Some of these rites are recognizably religious, in the sense that they aim to evoke the presence of a deity or deities. Others, like the !Kung rituals, are understood by their participants to serve an almost medical function, whether or not a deity is enlisted. Still others seem to be "merely" recreational, if we are safe in assuming that the distinctions between religion, healing, and recreation carry over from Western culture to others. "Anthropologists have tended to believe that they do, and draw a line between ritual and festivity, with the former being seen as having religious or healing functions, whereas "festival designates occasions considered to be pagan, recreational, or for children." But it is not clear that this distinction between ritual and festivity, religion and recreation, is always meaningful to the participants. A Georgia slave recalled that other slaves used to say of their church services or "meetings" — and please forgive the patronizing rendition of dialect in my source here — "I like meetin' jus' as good as I like a party." "The question that motivates this book originates in a sense of loss: If ecstatic rituals and festivities were once so widespread, why is so little left of them today? If the "techniques" of ecstasy represent an important part of the human cultural heritage, why have we forgotten them, if indeed we have? ... Everyone is vaguely aware of the decline of community human societies have endured in the last few centuries, a development many social scientists have analyzed in depth. Here we are looking at a much sharper, more intense form of pleasure than anything implied by the word community, with its evocations of coziness and small-town sociability. The loss of ecstatic pleasure, of the kind once routinely generated by rituals involving dancing, music, and so on, deserves the same attention accorded to community, and to be equally mourned." as much as i love it when the Brothers come to town to play our local shed, what she's describing as a fundamental part of the human community is EXACTLY what happens with us over 3 or 4 nights in a row at the Beacon Theatre. EXACTLY what happens, and why it's so important to some of us. get it while you can, and i don't just mean the music. i LOVE a good meetin' just like a LOVE a good party, and that's why i keep coming back to the Upper West Side...it's a meetin' and a party! (this, and some of the discussion the past few days also reminds me of a sentiment attributed to jerry garcia near the end of his life, that from the stage he wished sometimes he could be a part of the celebration in the crowd, and not where he was standing. the invitation to come down off the mountain and be yourself by losing your "self," well, you know that invitation's always open, and you know who you are. you know, we might just be experiencing that collective joyous experience you might be missing, and not even know. just a kind thought) anyway, in my never-ending quest to get in the door, and maybe get to the right spot, i've been calling TM several times a day, waiting for the presale tickets to magically reappear. here's a heads-up and a suggestion for you: the "telephone only" thing with the first 10 rows. i'm seeing that there are singles available (and i haven't called this morning yet, but i'm about to!) for the saturday shows, in the back of the loge, that don't come up on the TM site. (Grandenko's not the only evil b*****d with drones, you 24 afficionados!) if i was wanting tickets, i'd start calling this morning, and KEEP calling until tickets that aren't singles-at-the-very-back-of-the-loge start popping up! that'd be, i'm guessing, when you'll know that the taken-back-from-the-scalpers presale seats are gloriouly and rightfully there for...YOU. happy tuesday everyone.