Well here we are, Friday night, and I got the music cranked up and the vibe is in the air.. Drinkin hot Starbuck’s special blend, I got a new Cult CD today along with John Mayer’s CD called “Heavier Things” I listened to Mayer first.. He kicked out a song called “Clarity” I hear this strange little piano whiff come out of the Speakers followed by a bit of a horn section.. He almost whispers through the first verse and he’s got my attention.. By the second verse I’m fully hooked.. “By the time I recognize this moment.. This moment will be gone… but I will bend the light pretending.. That it somehow lingered on..” great stuff... There’s a couple of other tracks that kick me in the ass.. This guys got some chops too.. And by the time that he cuts through a tune called “bigger than my body”  and another more poetic piece called “Daughters” I’m ready to get another helping of this guys music.. The second CD that I picked up on was another one by the Cult.. Its called “Pure Cult.” more of a rockin CD than the first one by Mayer but I enjoyed the contrast between the two.. And the transition of going from listening to one and then going to the other went fairly smooth.. The Cult just rocks their asses off, it doesn’t matter what track that you listen to, they all rock hard.. So here I am attempting to write yet another Friday Night Joint for the Asylum Blog, got the Tomb jumpin with some great music.. The vibe is definitely here to stay.. So how is your night going?? ….. Scratch.

I have discovered here of late that I can only take the sad reality of the daily news in small doses. Every time I try to watch I seem to become over taken by the same angry feelings as I sit there, the same bullshit story unfolds before my very eyes day in and day out, and the images the jog across that screen are simply disgusting. I can’t help sometimes but think back to 911 and even before then, and as my memory slowly moves forward, I begin to realize that the present day war in Iraq has this odd little echo to it, when 911 took place it was almost as if the events that followed it felt dare I say scripted. We went into Afghanistan looking for Osama Bin Raghead, and got the Taliban instead, and pretty soon it felt like that was good enough for some people, so hey! Ya know what? While we’re over here fighting terrorism, (Yeah Right.. Terrorism.) lets jump on over there to Iraq and see what daddy’s ol buddy Saddam has been up to lately. Bet HE”S harboring a few terrorists over there. So what the fuck! while we’re over here lets just finish what daddy started back in the early nineties. What??? No Terrorist??? Uhhhh…. How about weapons of mass destruction?? Bet he’s got some of those around here somewhere don’cha think?? No huh? Well what about democracy? We can force that down their throats can’t we?? Well I’m obviously no expert here but I do have eyeballs that still work. And what I see going on in Iraq seems like nothing more that settling old scores to me.. These people are the leaders of the free world and we’re suppose to trust them. At least that is what they honestly seem to expect from us. Speaking only for myself. I find it difficult to trust a man who would deliberately Hijack the most coveted office in the most powerful nation on this planet just to make it the biggest joke in history. Quit smiling George We’re not buying the act.

Scratch

The first thing that I did was to turn off the Television and open up the door, next thing on comes the stereo nice and low, got the Starbucks brewing in the pot, And now I’m pacing, lookin for that vibe, the beginning of one sentence that I can turn into something, I’m tapping the pen on the paper waiting for something to come to me, I’m getting nothing.. The stereo is loaded and waiting to unleash the sounds that I have chosen, I’ve loaded Three cd’s of one of my favorite bands from the eighties and early nineties called “The Cult.. As dusk is settling in I can hear a ruckus coming from across the street, a couple of young bucks are having a disagreement so I move out to the edge of the doorway to have a look, their giving each other the business but neither is doing much else besides yelling, and despite the small crowd that seems to want to watch the pissing match, I pretty much have dismissed the entire ordeal as posturing bluffing and bravado, I go back inside and the music slowly begins to reverberate off of the walls and as it comes from the speakers I can feel the vibe coming with it… Man .. Music is the shit.. The real shit that stays with you a lifetime, none of that M.T.V. horseshit, just raw unfiltered music, and no matter how many times that one special song has gone through your head, you know that what makes it special is that every time you hear it when you close your eyes it takes you some place different, its never the same exact experience.. It grabs you by the soul and pulls you away from the here and now.. Some place different, I recognize this song, It slowly begins to moan and then Billy Duffy’s Rhythm kicks in and cuts through the cold evening air like a knife, I pause to listen and the bass begins to slowly thump followed by the drums, I’m feelin it now, I’m a Sober man tonight.. No booze flowing, replaced by Starbucks coffee and my favorite drug of choice….. Music..

I drift back out the door briefly and the pissing match is over, not surprising there was no clear cut winner , I go back inside and hit the Starbucks and slide into my computer chair and sit back and wait with great anticipation for the first hint of Ian Astbury’s haunting voice… I don’t have to wait long.. He cuts into the first lines of “Soul Asylum” my favorite piece from the Album “Sonic Temple.” Ian Smokes it… “Who…. would break a butterfly on a wheel? ….. Not me… My precious child… sweet angel wrap me in your velvet cloak my dear…. Love is a sweet warm goddess … I invited here..” I close my eyes to see where they take me.. Damn there’s a beautiful young woman lying on her bed Her eyes are tightly closed and her fingers are slowly massaging and digging into the sheets… Lordy.. She’s feelin it too.. She arches her back as Ian cuts into the next line and her hips slowly begin to sway to the rhythm of the music… “So many times I call your name… oh baby , baby Please.. So many times I call your Name..” No fucking videos.. No M.T.V. horseshit .. Just the music and the power of the human voice reaching out through that blackness to pull you from the clutches of whatever ails you… Magic uncoerced.. No guidelines, just you and the drug and the experience.. I close my eyes again and now I can almost hear her moaning his name through the music.. He’s workin her hard.. And she’s feeling it.. Ian’s got the waistband of her panties in his teeth and he’s workin them down her beautiful tan thighs… the music has got her by the soul and its taking her away.. Work her boys…. Work that ….. Magic…

FIN….. Scratch.