Monday, June 9, 2008

What a Wonderful World remix



I am really hoping this is my last singing video. I hope I have gotten it all out of my system. (As do I suspect many of you.) This is basically an extension of a “Grand Old F**k”-- I recycled many of the same themes. What can I say, little has changed in the past few weeks—and I felt like singing again. Lately I’ve been working on my next Tonight Show and this mirrors many of the themes. Hopefully once I make that appearance, it will represent the final purge. I’m not a big fan of the F word—but in “Grand Old F**K” I was using it as a mechanism to grab people’s attention and then hit them with something perspicacious.

I took the two verse “What a Wonderful World” and made it six verses. It would’ve taken my fifteen more verses to say everything I wanted to say. As is, it already seems a few verses too long. The world is really NOT that bad, but it does seem a bit dismal these days. And I certainly feel when I was younger life was more innocent. We were naïve and ignorant—as youth should be. We discovered through experiences, many failed experiences, and not by googling.

We did not have this sense of entitlement. In “What a Wonderful World remix” I briefly comment on an aspect of contemporary life that boils me—the hurtful comments people make on message boards, blogs, and under my videos; I have fifteen year old kids criticizing my work—like they’re some sort of expert. A fifteen year old who’s greatest accomplishment is probably emptying the dishwasher telling me what I’m doing wrong? When I was a kid we had to take responsibility for our words. We didn’t have the internet— the space-- we had to say it face to face. And get punched. But zero accountability seems to be the trend. Not that fifteen year olds don’t deserve an opinion, but maybe they should accomplish something or put themselves out there in such a capacity and then express it. In other words, it’s OK to NOT say something too. What I am trying to say is, at least have a prom rejection under your belt before you write BLEH under my videos. The anonymous, drive by, hurling of insults has become a revered form of expression that I think will have later consequences for them in life… or at least I can hope so. I like justice. Careless opinions will get you no place fast—and the internet is habit forming. You can’t go through life just expecting to say whatever you want. The bigger problem created by the internet, kids start to think that their opinion even matters. Most of the time—OUR opinions DO not matter. WE are NOT supposed to know what everybody thinks about us!

Plenty of adults write hurtful things too—and often it seems to come from a sad place. I see plenty of individuals doing things I am not fond of, but I don’t feel the need to express it to them. Why are we trying to be so hurtful everybody?

I have been VERY fortunate lately—most of the time, people leave my stuff alone. That is the way I like it! If you don’t care for what I do—I don’t really care. So keep that in mind when you seek revenge for your own emptiness with the taps of a keyboard. I can also handle criticism, I have been a victim of plenty of it in the past. Through the years I have developed the temperament to cope with it. But in high school, I would’ve been a wreck if the internet was around and ADULTS were designing sites for kids to go on and defame each other. Honestly, I am more worried about this dark side of humanity than the high gas prices.

I create these videos for my friends and those that have continued to support me—the many that have reached out to me and encouraged. Enjoy them. These are not intended for the masses. So please share them quietly with those of like values and sensibilities. How the hell did I get off on this tangent… I sat down to write that I hope this is my last singing video and I started typing typing typing…??? COME ON O!

Want to lift your spirits? Watch the original Louis Armstrong version—I watched it about ten times to tried and mimic his non stop ear to ear smile. In two minutes, he smiles more than I have in all of 08. That is a gross exaggeration. But certainly more than January and February. I wanted to get a trumpet, hold it, and NOT play it like Louis did—but it seemed like too much work and then some fifteen year old buffoontard would slam me for it anyway… “bleh the trumpet… I want my four minutes back.” (Oh how original.)

Watch this guy and smile-- the world should be this way!