Another young fan
curmudgeoness
Posts: 3,987
I have mentioned before that we took both of our boys to Mansfield 1 last year, and we all had an amazing time. I was surprised by how much my older son (now 13) enjoyed that show, and I was equally surprised to see how excited he is about going to all four shows in Philly. Unlike most teenage boys, he rarely listens to music.
Last weekend, my son ran a half-marathon as a charity fundraiser (see sig, I have yet to remember how to change it). I gave him my iPod, fully loaded with "my" music as well as about 150 science podcasts and biology lectures. He decided to listen to Camden 2.
He did not exactly set any speed records on his run, so the concert was over before he reached the finish line. When I asked him what he did next, he said "Oh, I just kept listening to "Given to Fly" and "Love, Reign O'er Me" over and over; those are pretty good songs, you know!" I was touched, especially since GTF is a song that I wrote about in relation to my son here: http://aftgangagly.blogspot.com/2009/01 ... o-fly.html
I think I can safely say that all four of us will be going crazy in Philly.
Last weekend, my son ran a half-marathon as a charity fundraiser (see sig, I have yet to remember how to change it). I gave him my iPod, fully loaded with "my" music as well as about 150 science podcasts and biology lectures. He decided to listen to Camden 2.
He did not exactly set any speed records on his run, so the concert was over before he reached the finish line. When I asked him what he did next, he said "Oh, I just kept listening to "Given to Fly" and "Love, Reign O'er Me" over and over; those are pretty good songs, you know!" I was touched, especially since GTF is a song that I wrote about in relation to my son here: http://aftgangagly.blogspot.com/2009/01 ... o-fly.html
I think I can safely say that all four of us will be going crazy in Philly.
All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
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anyway, great story and I look forward to meeting you and the family in philly! be safe in your travels down here!
It's godawful cold up here, too; I think the last of the snow just melted. :x We are looking forward to taking a break and having four days of fun and goofiness.
I'll not lose my faith, it's an inside job today
St. Louis 5/4/10 Hope for many more!
And Pearl Jam is your favorite band???
GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!!!
Do you own any of their bootlegs cd's (live shows)????
Till there aint nothing left worth taking away from me.....
www.cluthelee.com
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Its cool to see some young fans, my friend whos 15 went to the seattle shows like me and the next day at school he asked around and like no one at school had heard of pearl jam, sadddd
Seattle Key Arena 9-21-2009
Seattle Key Arena 9-22-2009
I read your blog post, it really touched me, moved me. Thanks. It sounds heartbreaking. I have recently come through the mental health system in the UK again; Hospitalised, sectioned, beaten up by the police, CS gased, handcuffed, truncheoned, later operated on (to rectify these injuries!); now discharged thank god.
It was a real reminder of just how bad psychiatric care can be, and just how much some people (less fortunate and supported than me) struggle. This time I was in and out of the hell-hole very swiftly and like the cat seem to have landed on my feet pretty much the right way up again. I attribute my 'miles better than expected' recovery to 2 main things - my tai chi / qigong training and Backspacer! hehehe. You could argue it was Backspacer which spilled me back over the edge, but that's another story!
When I emerge from psychosis, where I'm so wrapped up in my own pain and fears, I alsways get an aftershock which is looking back and seeing the trail of pain and anguish I left in my wake; it's a pretty fucking brutal enlightenment. Inevitably it seems to be my closest loved ones who bear the brunt of my swearing, crying, shouting, lashing out. My Mum, Dad and Bro are like rocks, and no doubt the biggest difference between my positive outcomes and the fragile frail 'Inpatients' who seem doomed forever to roam round and round between the smoke room, canteens, fading and fading amongst the volunteer-staffed shops and the newsagents 15 and 25 minutes away (this is highly significant on the ward because those who have greater liberties to leave the intense observation deck can come back with more shiny flashing trinkets that send the smoke-room people into turbo charged paroxysms of quick-fire envy and interpretation). Me coming back from weekend leave to the souls I abandoned with my new shiny and warm brass Zippo kind of put the cat amongst the pigeons!
What was I trying to say? I think it was something about being a mother. Something I by definition will never experience unless advances in modern science get even more perverse than currently. I guess I was also wanting to say something hopeful, that actually in the UK there is definitely a sea-change going on within mental-health-care where more and more workers actually believe there is value in talking to patients and people who are ill respectfully, interestedly, and taking their ideas seriously, even though the ideas may be pretty messed up. To be honest, there are plenty plenty plenty of people roaming the Earth, living 'normal' lives and holding down jobs etc who have far stranger ideas than me and some of my new friends in the hospital. Personally I've come to think universal sanity will only be reached when we accept that David Gilmour timed his guitar solo on the Fletcher Memorial Home to sync exactly with the DVD of the faked lunar landings that were actually a cover for a covert attack by Jewish Lizards on the World Trade Centre 7 (as prophesied in whatever sacred text is currently floating through our transm).
There is a great guy you might be interested in from the UK called Rufus May, he is a clinical psychologist who has done a lot of radical work inside the psychiatric system, having experienced psychosis himself as a youth. I love the idea that he hid himself within the system working his way up for ten years or so before announcing he was in fact an ex-lunatic himself. He's a radical. Rufus talks about 'unusual ideas' over psychosis and delusions, and he has a very humane attitude to mental illness which is really forgiving and tolerant in nature. That attitude helps me a lot. Rufus and his peers don't set out to obliterate or purge symptoms, they work with them and around them, and even talk to them, with the aim of finding peace and having a decent life, rather than sedating the humanity out of someone who is somewhat strange. I don't know much about Tourettes itself, but I think I probably exhibit a lot of its features when psychotic myself.
Sorry peeps, this is another Dostoevsky length post of mine. I got a spark of inspiration from your post, but now the trail seems cold......
What made my eyes water was thinking of the music, the mothers and the waste the waste. Pearl Jam have helped me to keep my head above the water within cataclysmic turbulent whirlpools many, many times now. They are the line on the horizon which even if it hurts me, I won't give up. Backspacer has some frightening ideas in it (in my world at least), but in hospital, as it unfolded song by song (averaging one a day due to my infernal malfunctioning devices!) it brought the light of hope into my world. And here I am, back. Safe.
Ok, I'm going to listen to Force of Nature and Above the Waves and try to recapture that feeling of tender, tearful hope I got from your post, and from previously first hearing Indifference at Seattle I (2009).
Peace (and love people), and I'm out of here.
t
Send my credentials to the house of detention
Yeah, I have Live at the Gorge, New York '03, and Live On Two Legs. Want to see them myself very badly!!!!
I'll not lose my faith, it's an inside job today
St. Louis 5/4/10 Hope for many more!
pjfan21_matt and pjkidd, it is nice to know something makes me "cool."
Some people think it is strange that we would take the kids to all four Philly shows. I think it will give the boys some great memories, and it will be pretty cool to say "My first concert was Pearl Jam, and I was nine years old when I first saw them play." I mean, the first concert I was taken to was Harry Chapin [ask your parents -- or your grandparents]. :oops:
My first ever show was Pink Floyd, Wembley Stadium, 1987 (correction - 1988!) (age 15?). Joints and inflatable beds were in plentiful supply amongst the adults, and both passed by me pretty liberally! My last show was Pearl Jam, Shepherd's Bush Empire, so quite a circuit eh?! I have a few more shows on the horizon now, and I am back watching my favourite TV programme- X-Factor avec Simon de Cowell who I love! This is a clear sign of of my recovered sanity!
Regards to all here; Peace love and understanding,
t
Send my credentials to the house of detention
I related to a lot of the piece, especially as it was based around some of my favourite Bruce Springsteen lines!
I know nothing about the politics though. I have never heard of 'Autism Speaks', so I'm unqualified to comment on that side of it. I just appreciated a lot of the ideas, which chime with many of my own; especially about the importance, the centrality of music to healing, which I believe is a conviction of many of us in this community.
http://www.wellsphere.com/autism-autism ... you/815093
ps - Curmudgeness, how were the Philly shows for you guys?
Send my credentials to the house of detention
"..That's One Happy Fuckin Ghost.."
“..That came up on the Pillow Case...This is for the Greek, With Our Apologies.....”