it's about art asshole....

I know the feelingIt is the real thing
The essence of the truth
The perfect momentThat golden moment
I know you feel it too
I know the feelingIt is the real thing
You can't refuse the embrace
It's like the pattern below the skin
You gotta reach out and pull it all in
And you feel like you're too close
So you swallow another dose
The pinnacle of happinessFilling up your soul
You don't think you can take any moreYou never wanna let go
To touch the roots of experienceThe most basic ingredients
To see the unseen glitter of life
And feel the dirt, grief, anger and strife
Cherish the certainty of now
It kills you a bit at a time
Cradle the inspiration
It will leave you writhing on the floor

This is so unreal, what I feel
This nourishment, life is bent
Into a shape I can hold
A twist of fate, all my own
Just grit your teeth, make no sound
Take a step away and look around
Just clench your fist and close your eyes
Look deep inside, hypnotize
he whisper is but a shout
That's what it is all about
Yes, the ecstasy, you can pray
You will never let it slip away

Like the sacred song that someone sings through you
Like the flesh so warm that the thorn sticks into
Like the dream you know one day will come to life
Try to hold on just a little longer, stronger

It's the jewel of victoryThe chasm of misery
And once you have bitten the core
You will always know the flavor
The split second of divinity
You drink up the sky
All of heaven is in your arms
You know the reason why
It's right there, all by itself
And what you are, there is nothing else
You're growing a life within a life
The lips of wonder kiss you inside
And when it's over the feeling remains
It all comes down to this
The smoke clears, I see what it isThat made me feel this way

I know the feelingIt is the real thing
The essence of the truth
The perfect momentThat golden momentI know you feel it too
I know the feeling It is the real thing You can't refuse the embrace
This is so unreal, what I feel
Flood, sell your soul, feel the blood
Pump through your veins, can't explain
The element that's everything
Just clench your fist and close your eyes
Look deep inside, hypnotize
Yes, the ecstasy, you can pray
You will never let it slip away

Like the echoes of your childhood laughter, ever after
Like the first time love urged you to take it's guidance, in silence
Like your heartbeat when you realize you're dying, but you're trying
Like the way you cry for a happy ending, ending
I know

*****I remember When this song came out when I was in high school,All these guys thought it was about masturbation because of some T-shirt that Mike Patton wore at the time.But it's about the connection between a person and their art.The need to create and communicate somethinng that is too hard to explain,something indifinable.It has to be put across through visual art,through music and through lyric, poetry and prose.It's about a way to convey what you are feeling.Bringing that into being.Ultimately it's about connection.

I tried to tell people that back then,It was how I felt about art at the time.That song still makes me feel a little high on creativity.I used to love to drop acid when I was in college and listen to that album on repeat and paint all night long.Push myself to the edge of my abilities and see what came out.Sometimes I saw the edge very very clearly.Once I tried to describe it in a song. I have since forgotten the words.I remember how to play it on guitar...but the words don't come anymore.Then again,the edge can be terrifying to some,so it's probably best that the words be an apt sacrifice to history swallowed up by time.

i'lll be fine until the time comes to put out all the lights...

A freak of nature type storm rolled across the city last night and knocked out power while I was at work.We were runnin on generators and sweating like slaves all night.Thankfully when I got home the power was still on in the house.Alot of the city is still without power today,and it might be that way for a while.Cooper Young is completely out.

It was so strange to look out teh windows during the storm and see these inline winds blowing everything sideways.The darkness on the drive home was just to alien and so still.There were downed trees all over the place and you had to navigate the streets to get around them.The strange part is that the storm part only lasted about 20 minutes.Afterward,the sky turned gold and there was this intense double rainbow.It had to be the most vivid one that I have ever seen.It lasted for quite a while.

I guess that I am counting myself very lucky that I still have the lights and air on when so much of the city is still dark.

I haven't been writing nearly enough lately.Things are just moving too fast.I am trying to slow down every now and again to make sure that I am enjoying life,instead of just living it.It seems a simple thing (it is)But that just makes it easier to forget to do it.

I figured out what I have been doing wrong for the past few months.I did it while I was in the mountains,and promptly stopped as soon as I got home.It is a ritual that I started when I was eleven years old.Smoking and Writing.I started doing it in the morning when I was 14.I think that it contributes to my sanity.I like to write longhand in jounals in the morning.I like the fact that I will eventually burn them.I burnt them either up to 93 or up to 98.I haven't unpacked them in a long time and I was rather drunk when the burning happened.It was kind of like burning my children,but I was moving again and I had sooooo many heavy boxes of journals that I could no longer lead my nomadic lifestyle with anything resembling ease.I knew I could not just toss them,let them out into the world (too incriminating)So burning...I feel no regret.

Apparently I am in trouble for this act.I was recently told that I was the one remembering everything.Noone can remember shit,but they didn't sweat it,because they knew it was written down somewhere.My ex wife actually took me by the shoulders at my birthday party and shook me over it.I did end up having to straight-arm slap the shit out her later in the evening,So I don't know exactly how much of shit I give about her displeasure.But one of my old roomates (my lovely diva friend Kenny) seemed genuinely distraught over the loss as well. Deep inside I know that as many people are ticked at me,there are many more who are rejoicing in the fact that those particular years of history went up in smoke(for good this time)

Writing and Smoking in the morning helps me to get my perspective straight for the day,before the world gets ahold of me.

This is what gave me my life back.

I had to get out of the city for a while,so Pax and I drove up into the Ozarks to visit an old friend,Cassie,and her wonderful family.Her mother is especially wonderful and I really didn't want to leave her.Some souls come into your life for a reason.I feel like something inside of me healed up while I was up in the mountains.Something that had been wounded for several years and just needed the rest to let me walk around everyday without wincing a little at times from something that I didn't even know was there,leaking out my vitality day by day.I don't know what else to say,other than I am meant to see these mountains and valleys every once and a while and I had ignored that need for far too long.I think that I am ready to start practicing again.I haven't been for a little while now.I cannot do it if I don't quite trust myself.I am finally getting my balance back.I am shedding the things and people in my life that were dragging me under.It's getting better every day.