Chickenshit Conformist Like Your Parents

Today I commented on someone's post about Denis Leary. I don't like Denis Leary. This action then got me to thinking "Well, why don't I like Denis Leary?"

Then my usual trainwreck of a thought process brought me to start thinking about art, music, comedy, everything... the highs and lows of both, etc.

I recall sitting in a bar in Medford, Oregon with some "punks" (quotes necessary, I despise that label). We were talking politics over $2 beers of course, because we are bohemians. Both I and the other person stated our personal political beliefs and then the other went on to say "I can't believe you'd believe that in this day and age..."

This then led me to this point, which I truly believe stands true always... I said "You know what is great about the whole rock n' roll/punk rock mentality? The fact you stand for individuality and equality of all beliefs, equality and union of all people in a cause. The fact that difference is great and we can unite over a love of music, of being good people, of helping each other out... but the one moment you disagree, you shun that person with all your worth."

In all honesty, punk is change. Punk is a revolt against the norm. Keeping that in mind, think about this... everything that was a revolt against the norm of the day was in essence "punk".

Still I think about that conversation in that dingy bar with the overly tattooed people who would become some of my favorite people to this day still, and I wonder.

I admire revolutionaries. Whether it be literary, on stage, muscially, comedically, socially, politically, etc... but listen to that song I posted...

As much of a bad example Jello Biafra is; he hit the nail on the head. In the end revolution has become a commodity, a hairstyle, an attempt to grasp onto something that can produce money in the end.

Finally, I am brought back to the original thought... "Why don't I like Denis Leary?" Denis Leary bastardized a revolutionary. Bill Hicks was the last bastion of an ideology. Often imitated but never quite touched, Hicks was the last true form of "punk". He did what he did because he wanted you to listen, to understand, to change.

He did not die rich, he will not be in the new Spiderman movie, he is not starring in a show about firefighters.

That's the ultimate conflict though... do what you love and die poor? Die unknown? Cult status? Cult legend?

I guess the medium needs to be bridged, how can you do both?

I had a friend who was a P.R.A.F (punk rock as fuck) kid. He believed in the ideology more than I ever did. I just dug the music. He lived and died for that mentality. No one outside family and friends recall him, just another dude who believed in something that died without much notice.