It just makes me kind of sad. And the reference back to Madam George nails why. He could see things that should have made him less of a jerk. And yet, here we are.
Like a lot of "aspiring, sensitive boys" I came to Van, and "Astral Weeks" specifically through the Lester Bangs essay. For all of each of their flaws, it really was a match of artist and listener/writer there. I can quibble with aspects of the essay, but even then he was wrestling with the same things we're wrestling with re: Van today.
I'm clawing through the tangled vines of this idea, but thinking about Van (the human) is the eternal problem in the star-making machinery where we can't "just" hear the art (see the movie, look at the painting, read the book) without "knowing", usually in a parasocial way, the artist. Often, to our regret. And then there is something else in the space we have to contend with when it's someone like Van, as opposed to just hearing the opening notes of "Saint Dominic's Preview" on "It's Too Late to Stop Now" and having your heart soar. (It's why I am often SO glad when artists I love turn out to be total mensches. Hello, Mr. Hood.)
And I agree with my dear friend Jeff: at some point a full, complicated reckoning of Van is gonna happen, and I hope you're the one to tackle it.
Love Van and think his string of 70’s albums could be put up against anyone’s catalogue, but, as you say, insane in insane times. His refusal to allow Tupelo Honey back in circulation for his fans is just maddening. It’s kind of fresh in my mind as I was just re-listening to Joe Strummer’s London Calling radio series (with Jon Langford intros) and Joe played “Starting A New Life” on one of the shows. Made me remember this record I love and how when it disappeared from my digital music library on my last phone upgrade, I had to dig through piles of storage boxes to find the old CD, buy a disc drive, and reload it into my library and then phone synch, which messed other things up. Sorry…but I had to get this out to the Interrogator!
"Because of Astral Weeks, which my early experience of was as “mood music” for aspiring, sensitive boys,"
Damn, Elizabeth. Never ever thought about it that way but judging from the pain I just experienced reading that you're somewhere between dead on and pretty damn close, at least with reference to a certain time and place and boy. Call it 9.8.
Please write more about Van and his music. Not many people have anything useful or worthwhile to say about him or it and you are one of those few.
It just makes me kind of sad. And the reference back to Madam George nails why. He could see things that should have made him less of a jerk. And yet, here we are.
Makes me sad, too.
Like a lot of "aspiring, sensitive boys" I came to Van, and "Astral Weeks" specifically through the Lester Bangs essay. For all of each of their flaws, it really was a match of artist and listener/writer there. I can quibble with aspects of the essay, but even then he was wrestling with the same things we're wrestling with re: Van today.
I'm clawing through the tangled vines of this idea, but thinking about Van (the human) is the eternal problem in the star-making machinery where we can't "just" hear the art (see the movie, look at the painting, read the book) without "knowing", usually in a parasocial way, the artist. Often, to our regret. And then there is something else in the space we have to contend with when it's someone like Van, as opposed to just hearing the opening notes of "Saint Dominic's Preview" on "It's Too Late to Stop Now" and having your heart soar. (It's why I am often SO glad when artists I love turn out to be total mensches. Hello, Mr. Hood.)
And I agree with my dear friend Jeff: at some point a full, complicated reckoning of Van is gonna happen, and I hope you're the one to tackle it.
"we can't "just" hear the art (see the movie, look at the painting, read the book) without "knowing", usually in a parasocial way, the artist. "
Or, in my personal shorthand, "the Woody Allen dilemma."
Love that you simply refer to "the Lester Bangs essay." I didn't realize that it is so widely recognized.
And yes, of course, another appreciation for P. Hood and others like him.
Love Van and think his string of 70’s albums could be put up against anyone’s catalogue, but, as you say, insane in insane times. His refusal to allow Tupelo Honey back in circulation for his fans is just maddening. It’s kind of fresh in my mind as I was just re-listening to Joe Strummer’s London Calling radio series (with Jon Langford intros) and Joe played “Starting A New Life” on one of the shows. Made me remember this record I love and how when it disappeared from my digital music library on my last phone upgrade, I had to dig through piles of storage boxes to find the old CD, buy a disc drive, and reload it into my library and then phone synch, which messed other things up. Sorry…but I had to get this out to the Interrogator!
"Because of Astral Weeks, which my early experience of was as “mood music” for aspiring, sensitive boys,"
Damn, Elizabeth. Never ever thought about it that way but judging from the pain I just experienced reading that you're somewhere between dead on and pretty damn close, at least with reference to a certain time and place and boy. Call it 9.8.
Please write more about Van and his music. Not many people have anything useful or worthwhile to say about him or it and you are one of those few.
I just read this. You put your fingers through the glass on this one and I appreciate that !