in theory
Posted on August 11th, 2004, under Out in Vegas, Randoms, Teaching
well i now have a sniffle and a sore throat, no doubt from too much excitement at the ben kweller/ iron on gig saturday night. but no matter, it was worth it–thank you ons for your hospitality, dress sense and rock. standing in line outside the zoo, with so many undergraduate ladies in cords and converse, i inquire, ‘what is it about this guy that attracts such a particular crowd?’ chantal had volunteered on kweller’s website to put up posters and sell merchandise, and got her name on the door in return: ‘he’s like that guy you have a huge crush on, who you just want to take home and hug and look after’. to which i ask, ‘but surely that is far from rock. is there no sex involved at all?’ chantal: ‘even if there was, you wouldn’t want to do anything about it in case you fuck up the friendship’. hmmm. unfortunately, i now understand completely.
so today after another night of weird dreams i’m quite concerned that i’ve depressed all the 2220 students with too much Althusser, and that the enrolment numbers may have dropped down to pre-recruitment levels. thankfully fi is doing the foucault lecture next week, so if sex is no longer rock, it is Theory.
On August 12th, 2004 at 11:20 am, Ian said:
Rock music => communication of ideas in less tangible and/or unspoken ways => intimacy. The intimacy part, obviously, is where my ad-hoc value chain flares out a little.
The fantasy that someone might go to a show and take Mr Kweller home for a hug and a milo is lovely but also as implausible as the one involving Ben performing upon them titanic feats in the bedroom. Both are imagined on bequest of the same impulse.
But I’m sure there were equal measures of both fantasies running through the Zoo’s collective consciousness that evening. There must have been, his pants were impossibly, impossibly tight. Much has been made in the practise room of my ‘fitted pants’ but his jeans were an altogether different story. Described as ‘painted on denim’ by a friend, Mr Kweller’s upper half may have been all ‘boy next door’ but his lower half did not connote ‘the hug’.