Feodor Dostoevsky – Notes from the Underground
I've finally, at the age of 38 years, gotten around to reading some of Russian novelist Feodor Dostoevsky's writing, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Thus far I have finished “The Double” - a disconcerting tale of a split personality, and am now just getting started on “Notes from the Underground.” The actual plots are almost irrelevant compared to the sheer beauty and imagery of Dostoevsky's language. He is just masterful.
I started to become interested in the writing of Dostoevsky through the work of American writer Henry Miller; whose ribald tales of self-indulgence and debauchery have always connected with my own somewhat sleazy sensibilities. Miller is prone to mad flights of flowing poetic linguistic exploration. It is easy to get lost in those ramblings and he creates more flavor and thought than explanation. Miller brings up Dostoevsky regularly in his stories; describing him and his characters as “mad Russians.”
This is an aspect of literature, art, and music – human expression I suppose – that I just love. Over the course of history one writer flows into the next; the result is an endless shimmering river of language and thought. I became interested in F. Scott Fitzgerald after learning that Hunter S. Thompson had taken the time to type out “The Great Gatsby” word for word just so he could experience the flow of Fitzgerald's writing style. I believe Thompson did the same with some of Hemingway's writing. On a more macabre note, Thompson visited the site where Ernest Hemingway ended his life with a gunshot – Thompson went on to take his own life in a similar fashion.
I learned about the ethereal, spiritual songs of Leonard Cohen through the lyrics of Kurt Cobain in “Penny Royal Tea” - 'give me, Leonard Cohen afterlife, so I, can sigh, eternally” - its a nearly perfect four line description. Kurt Cobain was my John Lennon, or maybe my Elvis. I remember the day of his death like it was yesterday. I was working at a nursery in San Diego and a snarky co-worker came by and made some snide remark about “Kurt Cobain blowing his brains out...” I was absolutely devastated by his suicide. I found an isolated corner of the nursery, dropped to a knew, and cried. That was in 1994. Jesus; has it really been 15 years? I haven't been able to listen to his music since that day.
That may change though. This Friday, Cafe Coda is hosting a Nirvana tribute night featuring a host of local musicians and bands playing their favorite Nirvana songs. I can't say enough good things about Cafe Coda. The venue is perfect for those more intimate, thoughtful acts. The staff is friendly, the kitchen is immaculate, and everyone I talk to tells me the food is excellent.
The Year of Music Continues
One of my resolutions this year has been to bring more music into our lives. I have been playing and listening to more music. That goal got a boost from my wife who bought me a new turn-table for my birthday a few weeks ago! I won't go into the details of the transaction – in this troubled economy I don't want to cast aspersions on a corporation's customer service. I will say I had to scalp pieces off of a non-functioning turn-table I had in the basement in order to get the dust cover on my “new” turn-table properly mounted and working. Also, we have to keep out eyes open for the 45 adapter that was mysteriously absent from this “brand-new” out of the box unit. But whatever – I am absolutely thrilled to have it and it has vastly extended out music collection. I forgot how much fun turn-tables are! The artwork is so big and colorful, the sound is warm, I even enjoy the pops and bobbles that the records make as they spin around. There is just something about laying that needle down on a spinning piece of vinyl – and somehow it makes music! Don't ask me – but I love it!
This winter we have spent more time sitting by our wood stove and listening to music than we have done over the course of the last 5 years combined! I am enjoying it so much more than the usual mind-numbing television that drones away with its urgency and its advertisements.
madbob@madbob.com
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