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What's going on

Marvin Gaye, What's Going On...1970



Lyrics:
Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today - Ya
Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on
In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on
Father, father, everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What’s going on
Ya, what’s going on
Tell me what’s going on
I’ll tell you what’s going on - Uh
Right on baby
Right on baby

Thanks to Graycharles for posting this today on his site, www.graycharles.com




In 1970, I was three years old. I think more and more often about the times in which I grew up, the social instablity, the political scene, the war. I was sheltered as I grew up, as were most people my age today. I have found it fascinating to look at that time now as an adult and see how the events our country experienced in the late 60’s and 70’s has shaped modern culture today.

And what amazes me even more is how music was then, and is now, a conduit for the thoughts, joys, bewilderment, frustration, etc., of present day man.

Today’s “popular” music to me seems to be a pretty accurate reflection of our self absorption and our greediness, our hedonistic tendencies. While we may lament that “real” music hasn’t been on the scene for a while, I think we need to look long and hard at ourselves first. Pop culture, while it can in some ways be thrust on us and marketed to us, is still and extension of who we are as people.

I think artists like Taylor Hicks, Jack Johnson, Marc Broussard, John Mayer, even controversial artists like the Dixie Chiicks, are finding the spotlight not only because of their talent, but because they are resonating with a population that has begun to soul search…again. And it’s about time. We may not always agree with the message the singer has to communicate, but we can agree that we need to stop living on the surface and start finding meaning in life…all aspects of life, even the arts.

Enjoyed reading the lyrics to this song. They are timeless and were a great catalyst for me to express some things that have been churning in my head for a while.

Must stop...must stop now....

Ah....this must end. But I can't help it...what GREAT photography. Looks like some infrared work to me...or an infrared filter was used in Photoshop. I'm totally jealous of the photographer.





This is my no-longer-a-professional-photographer analysis of this very engaging photo.

Obviously, BW works for Taylor. His coloring begs for it. The cropping is fantastic. I love the open space above him…and he is sitting in an area of the photo that is a strong focal point…lower left hand corner. The curve of the wall that begins in the lower RH corner leads your eye to look directly at his eyes. I don’t think I see anything more than steeliness in those eyes…and that steely stare works very well in grayscale. No malice, no anger, nothing except steady conviction and determination. The way he is dressed works well, too…the lines of the vest give structure to the profile of his body. The dark pants and dark vest are magnets that draw the eye straight to the subject, but not in an overt way. The angle of his arm and leg are a really strong contrast to the curve of the wall. His hand is relaxed on his knee and the fingers are obscured which lets the eye see the strength of the forearm and the back of the hand, rather than focusing on fingers. Great posing. Leaving the wrist band in would have “broken” the wrist and the eye would have been drawn there, rather than following the curve of his arm. The other part that works is that the two darker lines that occur in the background within the trees, also serve to “point” towards Taylor in a very subdued way. Again, that along with the curve are strong points in the overall composition.

That being said, what really works is the perfect moment that this photo was captured. The intensity of the stare, the great angles of the body, the tilt of the head…all captured at precisely the right split second.

Bravo to the photographer. I want to see more.

Well...here we go again

Ha. I promise I won't keep doing this. But here is a marriage made in heaven...B/W loves Taylor Hicks, don't you think?

Brokeness

I've recently been paying more attention to the things we do and the ways we behave. I was drifting off the sleep the other day (yes, a very RARE daytime nap), and all of these thoughts about human behavior and our inherent brokeness came into very sharp focus. Of course, I was nearly asleep and not about to get up and write all of these monumental discoveries down, but I did make a somewhat sleepy mental note to remember all this and write it down sometime in the future.

Needless to say, my thoughts when I tried to retrieve them post-slumber were a little foggy. But I think I have gathered them all back and tamed them down into some semi-coherent statement about broken people and broken behavior.

See, we are all broken. We are all born deficient in some way. It's easy to look at the impoverished, sick, and neglected and say that they are broken. But the most beautiful, the smartest, the most talented, the most charming, and the most anything among us, well they are broken too. We must sense this brokeness somehow, even if we don't communicate it out loud. I say we sense it, because we spend a lot of time, money and effort to fix ourselves.

Deep down inside, we seem to know that we need to feel valuable. Like we matter, like we count. And we go about finding our "niche" and trying to feel accepted. Guys play sports, conquer video games, hunt, etc. Girls spend tons on makeup, hair products, etc. Of course these are generalities, but think about it. If we didn't somehow sense our defiencies, why would we strive for something more...why would we strive for improvement? or victory? Unfortunately, for a lot of people the desire to be "fixed" leads to real problems. Like the girl who gives herself away to any and all guys who ask for it, and the heroin addict, the athlete so consumed with winning that he compromises his health with steroids, the gamer who has no social skills and lives 24/7 in a virtual world, the woman addicted to plastic surgery, the man addicted to porn. The list is endless...the ways we try so desparately to fix ourselves.

I challenge you to look around and see if you think I'm right. It seems like a desparate thing. And it is a desparate thing. Our brokeness won't leave us alone and we can't seem to ignore it.

We all strive to be and do something more because we need a real sense of life. Abundant life.

There is an answer to our brokeness.