Gossip [&] the Devil

I’ll be honest. I haven’t submitted to anything print in a long, long time, save the Columbia Poetry Review (who have a history of rejecting me, but I’m hopeful this time). I’ve felt like writing but nothing decent is hitting the paper. I think I’m getting out the dust and mold before the clean work comes. Cracking my creative bones.

In the meantime, I conducted a short interview with the rock photographer Lisa Johnson the other day, which I’ll post later when it’s closer to the release of her collaborative effort with wiL Francis, Flowers + Filth. Lisa has shot some of the biggest bands in history, captured chaos all across warped tour, but I won’t get into that until the write-up. I have contacted wiL as well, but since he’s just had a baby I’m not sure his schedule will allow.

I was fortunate enough to see U2 and Muse in Dallas this past Monday. Two iconic and epic bands, for separate reasons, together in the same huge, tin room. The show was a trip for my birthday back in April as well as my roommates way of getting me to see U2 since she’s been singing their praises since I moved in. I’ve never seen Muse before and what I walked away with was yes, they’re very good performers but because you can tell they do the performance a lot. They played “Map of the Problematique” which was the only song I’d asked for and they didn’t play “Knights of Cydonia” which was the only song I asked not to play. So it was a win all around.

U2 was pretty unbelievable. Everyone said Bono was a priest and I’m inclined to believe them after what I saw. He’d say “raise your hands” and you’d think you were in church. There was a man next to me so enraptured I’m not sure the smile left his face the entire show. At one point Bono quieted the entire band while the crowd sang “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and I wondered, as I mumbled along with the believers, how that must feel to have so many thousands of people say your words back. How could that ever get old? I saw sisters, brothers, boyfriends, girlfriends and parents hugging each other during various songs. The crowd didn’t have a mean bone in it’s body, they just wanted Pastor Bono, The Edge, Larry and Adam to deliver them from real life for two hours, where they could hug and feel safe doing so, where a smile didn’t come barbed with guilt. Since it was their “360 degree tour” their big pile of “space junk” went around the arena so there wasn’t a bad seat in the house.

Not in dallas, but you get the idea. No clue who took this. Email if offended.

The acoustic “Stuck in a Moment” with Bono and The Edge was a personal highlight for me, where I discovered The Edge had a very nice singing voice and that the song resonated with me in such a way that I was forced to tears. But, as he evangelized, “it’s just a moment, this time shall pass.” I’m sure I’ll write more about this later, but I thought I should at least mention it since it impacted me in a way I”m not used to.

After the show a marathon 8 hour drive home because of concert traffic and we landed back in Tulsa at 8am, just in time for my roommate to go to work. I’d ask her occasionally if it was worth it. She always said the same thing: “Yes.” If you can answer “yes” to those question about the things you do in your life, regardless of what comes, you’re headed in the right direction.