Popular Music and Why Most of It Sucks

This post will be rank with opinion, so try not to be offended. Alright, so ever since I was old enough to understand music I listened to the weird stuff. Ranging from Deathcore and progressive metal, to chill indie and EDM (electronic dance music), my taste was far from normal (seriously guys my favorite band was Born of Osiris when I was 12). After thinking carefully about this, I think I finally understand why. Popular music these days just sucks chode. Most popular artists don't even write their own music anymore, and those that do are hard to find, and often much less popular (i.e. Beyonce vs. Imagine Dragons or Mumford and Sons). The thing about this is that most popular musical artists only write music with the intent that OTHERS like it. In other words, they cater to the audience to sell more and thus make a greater profit. Now, there are some popular bands that DO write their own music (the two listed above), but they are not NEARLY as popular as the titans near the top. Unfortunately, these bands will probably just fade away when the fads change, but lets bring this down to our level. Personally I could care less if someone liked or disliked my own music, what matters to me is that I enjoy playing it. This is why you don't see me in the stereotypical group of girls playing 'Hey There Delilah' until old age and despondency consume my soul. To be honest, I hate it when musicians only know how to play OTHER people's songs, it's silly. To learn Hey There Delilah, just because you want attention from others is sad. I'd rather sit there and improv everything I play- "hey play Crazy Train" "FUCK. OFF"-, and then build up the skills to play other artist's music if the need arises. In my opinion, this way is much better than learning a whole slew of songs, because you would never learn to come up with anything on your own- "yea man I can play every Dragon Force song......what do you mean you just want to jam". So the reason that I enjoy weird music is because it was not created to be mass produced. It's like the difference between a hand carved statue, and one that was made in the factory. Yes, the hand carved statue has more flaws, but it was made for art's sake, not for the consumer's sake. Music is becoming less of an art form, and more of a mass produced commodity/ fashion statement/ fad. "Oh yes I only listen to indie, can't you tell by my weird clothes and the scent of weed?" or "Yea dude I just got a new pair of skinny jeans and Toms for this years Warped Tour". No No No No No. Please Stop. I love Hardcore and indie as much as the next guy, but I don't dress like a concert poster. Let's all just bring it back to the music, and support artists who are trying to make their own place in this fucked up power struggle for the top 40s chart (and even more for those who just don't give a shit).

On Family

Over the past several days, I've spent a lot of time with my family. Usually I'll spend a few hours a day at most with them, and then spend the rest off on my own or with friends. But over these past few days, I've spent every waking hour in their presence as we explored the island and found new adventures. And during that time, I learned a lot about my relationship with them.

My relationship with my family is most certainly not the best. They don't really know me, mostly because I don't let them. They aren't the most fun to be around and we fight a lot. But even though I tend to enjoy the time spent with friends more, there's a certain satisfaction in the time spent with the family. There's no worries about whether they about whether they actually like me or find what I say interesting or, perhaps most importantly, will still keep in touch in five years.

In other words, the family offers a certain permanence in its relationship with me that no one else can.

I plan to be friends with all of you in five years. But suppose we aren't? For some of us, it's extremely unlikely. And as we are a pretty solid group, I think we'll stick together. Unless someone somewhat deliberately splits himself off from everyone else, it seems that we'll stay together.

But what about in twenty years? Fifty? Again, I'm not trying to assume that we won't be. But the question still remains.

With the family, however, that question is practically non-existent. You might not speak to your sibling for four years, but you know that once you do speak again everything will return to normal. The family offers a security in its relationships. They are lasting.

Of course, there's always the cases of families that break apart. But even then, it's incredibly difficult to break that bond. Serious, grave offences must be committed to even attempt to separate two people in the family with any sort of permanence. Because that's what the family is: it is permanent, well-guarded against such disasters.

My sister may be one of the most ego-driven, annoying, and wrong person I know (so am I though), but the fact remains that she is my sister. And that will always be the case.

The tribe has become even more family-like over the years. But we aren't there yet. Let's keep trying.

The Role of the Gluteus Minor in Hip Extension

Why the fuck would you click this post? Honestly? Go outside and enjoy the damn holiday with family and friends. Celebrate today like our founding fathers would have done with some old fashioned vitamin D (even though this isn't actually Independence Day but whatever).

Re: Real Talk with Brendan

AKA really just Zach's relationship with music.

Note: I'm typing this on an iPad and it's terrible. Literally the worst thing I've done. Oh my gosh the keyboard just disappeared. But it still works. Picture below. I'm typing blind. No keys. They only appear once you tap them. Please help. 

Music is strongly related to memory and relationships for me. 

All of my favorite songs are almost universally not my favorite because they sound good, but because I have strong emotions related to them. Sometimes I first heard it during a certain event. Or I really grew to like it during one of those times. Or sometimes I really only like it because someone else likes it.

For example, I like most Irish folk songs because I strongly associate them with the trip to Hampden-Sydney.

I like My Moon My Man by Feist because Brendan played it after school one day Junior year when I was just starting to become a part of the tribe.

I like Polaroid by Imagine Dragons because Brendan likes it, I guess. I never really liked it at first, but then I sort of realized it represents my relationship with Brendan and all of our carpool talks. It's my favorite song on the album now.

And I like Toes by Zac Brown Band because, in a way, it sort of embodies my relationship with Blake. I don't really know why, it just does. 

Why is this? Music, like any form of art, demands a strong emotional response from us. It's created to do so—it's emotional in nature. It's supposed to convey meaning, information, beauty. And beauty evokes emotion in us.

And yet for some reason music does this for me the most. Visual art almost never does this. I'm an incredibly visual person, but visual art never seems to evoke any emotion in me. At most I'll think "that's cool" or "that light is really interesting". Sometimes a picture of friends will do a little, but never like music does.

In the same (but opposite) way, I'm not an auditory person at all. It's incredibly difficult to separate sound into the three deminsional array of layers and reflections and textures that the visual world is. Images constantly spin in my head, revealing all of their hidden caverns and interior converging lines. But music (or sound) never does this. It remains flat, in a constant stream of static input that shows only its most obvious side.

I'm exaggerating slightly here. I really enjoy music, but I can't play with it in my head like I do with pictures. If that makes any sense. There's no spiderweb of infinite possibilities with music. 

Anyway. The point is even though I tend to respond better to imagery, music conveys emotion and gets a response way more than images do. Those songs I have a strong emotional response to become my favorites. My favorite music is almost never based on the song itself, it's based on the associations I form with the song. For all I know this is a universal thing, but it's equally my thing.

I listen to music to remember. Remember my friends, remember the moments, remember the late night talks and the Tuesday afternoon river trips and the spur of the moment theological explorations in the middle of the woods.

Take a Walk, I Like Birds, Volare, Gooey, Latch, Happy, The Distance. All memories. 

The Myth, the Legend: Harris Teeter

Some call it The Empire, and some call it the best thing since Jesus, but most just call it Harris Teeter. This beautiful company was actually conceived (much like Jesus) through a coalition between two small town grocery stores. One was owned by W.T. Harris in Charlotte and the other by Willis and Paul Teeter in Mooresville ( . Y . ) <--teets for visual learners. Both of these markets began in the mid-late 30s, and grew substantially through the passing decades. Eventually, however, each owner owned multiple grocery stores and in 1960, they decided to merge and create Harris Teeter.
Fifteen stores were already open and in operation after the merger, so Harris Teeter grew rapidly. This rapid expansion drew the attention of the Ruddick Corporation in Charlotte, which bought Harris Teeter in 1969 (LAWL). There was now a steady incline for the Harris Teeter company as it continued to open more stores in and around North Carolina. The 80s, however, would be the true game changer with a boom (much like the creation of the Universe) in sales and stores. This was due to the company's new acquisition of Hunter Farms Dairy in High Point NC, which allowed Harris Teeter to distribute and sell dairy products at lower rates.
From here on out Harris Teeter had pretty smooth sailing. New stores were appearing (we have 235, and mine is number 43), and it had become the most prominent grocery store in NC (with those miserable Food Lion cousin fucks in second). But unfortunately not all was smooth sailing. In 2013 the illustrious Harris Teeter was bought out by Kroger, which I'm not really happy about. I mean, I'm glad that Harris Teeter is expanding, but Kroger? It's not a question of how many Kroger employees it takes to screw in a light bulb, Harris Teeter does that for them. The question for Kroger is if they can find the fucking light switch and not burn down the whole store, yet they buy out MY EMPIRE. YOU'RE FUCKING KIDDING ME? THIS IS AMERICA AND I WILL NOT LOSE TO SOME KROGER FAGOT IN A BLUE DICKIE WITH A HAND IN HIS PANTS AND A COCK IN HIS MOUTH. THIS IS NOT SOME COCK CHOKING ANIMAL PORNO WHERE THE PROTAGONIST JUST CRIES AND IT KINDA MAKES YOU FEEL BAD, THIS IS HARRIS TEETER...........thank you for reading.

Social Charity: The Importance of Us

I realized that I have yet to post on this blog, and I've finally gotten over the recovery period needed after the end of senior year papers and thesis and am ready to write. Enjoy.

Anyone who hangs out with any number of permutations of the tribe members will notice our propensity to turn everything to a "we" thing. One of the funnier and more absurd of these happened in the Great Smoky Mountains during a trip for our outdoor elective. During the hike in we stopped at a waterfall to check out the place and readjust packs. Josh, Brendan, and I decided to head toward the pool at the bottom of the fall and have a quasi-competition over who could best handle the 30-40 degree water as inevitably happens when you have a high density of testosterone in any place. We dunked and came back up and Brendan's prescription glasses were no longer on his face. Without missing a beat he says, "Josh lost my glasses." You may thing of that as a humorous accusatory statement or maybe even rude, but I see a strong bond that holds friends together.

There is a reason our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived in tribes. The more people you have in a group, the better chance for survival for the whole group. In a tribe, the skills of each individual works toward the betterment of the entire group. One guy may have a natural talent for hunting, so he provides meat for the tribe. Another may be knowledgeable about plants and so would gather and help the tribe hit its micros. One guy may be really good at building so he would take care of shelter. Likewise with other skills. These are the basics of a key concept that Adam Smith calls the "division of labor". Futher, not only does each individual improve his own talent, but he learns the talents of others and improves his skill set because he is a member of a larger group.

How does this relate to blaming something you did on someone else? Well, it doesn't really. But Brendan wasn'y actually blaming Josh. In a way though, he was sharing his defeat. Going back to the hunter-gatherer society, if one person failed to provide with his skill, the others would be able to help share the defeat so the one who failed would not suffer as badly. If the hunter could not bring home a kill, maybe the gatherer could gather more wild edibles and so the hunter would still get to eat. If the hunter were a lone wolf he would have gone to bed hungry and not hit his protons, resulting in death or worse... catabolism. Joking aside, sharing defeat is an important aspect of social bonding that I think our group does well. If one guy feels lonely or goes through a break up, or procrastinates on homework and ends up with a ton of work to do the night before the some of the other guys can help ease the load. This isn't exactly division of labor because it doesn't really split jobs. Rather, it is something I call "social charity."

On the surface, social charity would not seem to benefit the entire group. It is helpful to remember that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If one guy is particularly falling behind he risks weakening the entire group by either holding us back or by breaking off from the group. If he breaks off we lose the talents and skills that he has to offer. It is exactly like the mustical body of Christ that St. Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12: "But instead, there are many parts, indeed, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need for your works.' And again, the head cannot say to the feet, 'You are of no use to me.' In fact, so much more necessary are those parts of the body which seem to be weaker... so that there might be no schism in the body, but instead the parts themselves might take care of one another. And so, if one part suffers anything, all the parts suffer with it. Or, if one part finds glory, all the parts rejoice with it. (1 Corinthians 12:20-22, 25-26 CPDV). Social charity seeks to strengthen the weak parts of the chain instead of expunge them, for if the weak parts are destroyed, there is no more chain.

Social charity also works on the opposite end of the spectrum. Say one guy has the potential to be set up pretty well going into college due to a good bit of money from graduation and no debt thanks to a full ride. Well then, "we" are set for college. We share in each other's successes as well as defeats. 

Personally, social charity helps me to stay humble. It is rather easy to become prideful and greedy with wealth but sharing the success reminds me that goods are for the bettering of each other. In a world of greed and chaos, the "we" concept helps us survive as friends to enjoy success as well as help stave off depression, anxiety, stress, and loneliness. Reading these blog posts, we almost sound like a group of depressed teenagers, but really these guys are some of the happiest people I know when we are all together suriviving and thriving as a tribe. Together we are better by a power-that's exponents ladies and gentlemen, not your everyday multiplication- of eight than any of us could be on our own. 

There is no "I" in "team" but there is a "we" if you screw around with the letters a bit.