Cheap Trick is still alive!!! Ok, not actually "breaking news", but it was an interesting discovery. Not only are they alive, but they have been basically performing and touring since the late 70's. THE LATE 70's!!! Let me just say that I am not in any way a huge Cheap Trick fan and have never bought any of their music, although I really love a lot of their songs, especially now that I hear them again. I can remember the bald guitarist with the hat who always changed guitars and flicked his pick into the air. And the drummer who had a cigarette perpetually dangling from his lips while playing, looking more like a businessman on break than a percussionist in a rock band. And I vaguely remember hearing about the lead singer, something about him being a teacher...maybe a music teacher or the flute...anyway, it is really vague.
Well, the interesting thing is that I looked Cheap Trick up on YouTube tonight to hear one of their songs, I Want You to Want Me for a video idea that I had. One thing led to another and I ended up finding out that they are still active and still together. Except for the bass player who was absent for some years in the 80's but has returned, the same four guys have been playing this whole time! Amazing and pretty cool!
This revelation is in stark contrast to some thoughts I have been thinking about today, which was centered around the fickleness of fame and the fleeting nature of pop-culture. As I grow somewhat older, it is fascinating to look at how people become famous, do various things in culture, and then die, often literally, like a spark leaping from a bonfire. What is fascinating is that the people who come in to replace them, which always happens, invariably seem to feel that they will last forever. I notice how oblivious the newcomers seem to their futile attempt to make the spark somehow seem profound in its value and contribution. In some way, the newcomers lose any sense of taking time to attempt the art that sparks longer, but instead make as bright a spark as they can, which of course makes them "flame out" all the sooner. Instant gratification put into a time warp. Reminds me of the Steven Wright joke, "I put instant rice in the microwave and I almost went back in time." The essence of this thinking, I believe, is that "things" become valuable to the newcomers simply because it is in the "now". It is definitely not old school, not by a long shot. It is not really new school either, but is just rehashed from a week ago. It is ok to be new and to be just like last weeks news, because last weeks news is gone, what matters is what is "now".
But I wasn't really thinking about creating art that lasts past the era that is was created in because of its inherent genius. Even so, that art, as great as it may be, is finite as well, it is just a more lengthy spark that lasts beyond our ordinary sense of observable "flaming out". It is important, don't get me wrong. There is truth and profundity to be sure, and music and art, for example, are staples of my diet as a human that I relish as much as anyone. But I am thinking more about the fact that all things are fleeting...even the good things, even the profound things, even the things we think should last forever. It doesn't seem right, does it? But the fleeting sparks of pop-culture are really just everything else in life thrust into hyperactive mode. In this sense the greatest of art is no more significant in and of itself than the most recent fleeting spark.
Elisabeth Elliot wrote a novel called No Graven Image. In short, the story is about a missionary who spends her lifetime working with a group of people in a primitive-like society. She learns their language and over her lifetime manages to create a large body of work relating to these people, their culture and language, all in her efforts to bring faith to them for their ultimate good. After the tragic accidental death of an associate of hers, the tribe of people turn against her and in minutes destroy all the work she has done, a lifetime of dedication taken away in an instant. The book was poorly received by many in the christian community, basically because people felt that God would never allow this to happen to somebody serving so faithfully. But no, this book was actually based on Elisabeth Elliot's life and yes, God allows things to happen to those He loves and who serve Him. Things don't last forever, even the profound, even the things we think should last forever. Of course, the things that only live in the "now", they are easier to spot as fleeting sparks...but the other things are harder to see, I think.
But there is something that really, truly and quite profoundly does last forever. Now that is something that I really want to see. It could be called the ultimate important thing, profundity on steroids of a "beyond cosmic" scale. Something that is so unimaginably profound, it can never be taken away or "flame out" like a fleeting spark. It cannot not exist, and it will always "be", because it comes from the only person who has always existed and will always be. What is amazing is that Jesus humbled himself by leaving the "profound" to enter into the "fleeting sparks" along with all of us, where he accomplished the only profound thing that transcends all other things. He did not come to extinguish the sparks but to make them last forever. Jesus gives meaning to even the most meaningless of fleeting sparks. Which leads me back to the song that I was looking up in the very beginning, which brought this lasting thing to my mind. I think there is a tremendous amount of poetic irony in this, because the thing that lasts forever, that is accomplished through Jesus, is really the thing that the "fleeting sparks" are mostly talking about. Now, I think I will listen to some more Cheap Trick, somehow I think I can find Jesus in there, even if only because Jesus is what it needs...just like me.
Well, the interesting thing is that I looked Cheap Trick up on YouTube tonight to hear one of their songs, I Want You to Want Me for a video idea that I had. One thing led to another and I ended up finding out that they are still active and still together. Except for the bass player who was absent for some years in the 80's but has returned, the same four guys have been playing this whole time! Amazing and pretty cool!
This revelation is in stark contrast to some thoughts I have been thinking about today, which was centered around the fickleness of fame and the fleeting nature of pop-culture. As I grow somewhat older, it is fascinating to look at how people become famous, do various things in culture, and then die, often literally, like a spark leaping from a bonfire. What is fascinating is that the people who come in to replace them, which always happens, invariably seem to feel that they will last forever. I notice how oblivious the newcomers seem to their futile attempt to make the spark somehow seem profound in its value and contribution. In some way, the newcomers lose any sense of taking time to attempt the art that sparks longer, but instead make as bright a spark as they can, which of course makes them "flame out" all the sooner. Instant gratification put into a time warp. Reminds me of the Steven Wright joke, "I put instant rice in the microwave and I almost went back in time." The essence of this thinking, I believe, is that "things" become valuable to the newcomers simply because it is in the "now". It is definitely not old school, not by a long shot. It is not really new school either, but is just rehashed from a week ago. It is ok to be new and to be just like last weeks news, because last weeks news is gone, what matters is what is "now".
But I wasn't really thinking about creating art that lasts past the era that is was created in because of its inherent genius. Even so, that art, as great as it may be, is finite as well, it is just a more lengthy spark that lasts beyond our ordinary sense of observable "flaming out". It is important, don't get me wrong. There is truth and profundity to be sure, and music and art, for example, are staples of my diet as a human that I relish as much as anyone. But I am thinking more about the fact that all things are fleeting...even the good things, even the profound things, even the things we think should last forever. It doesn't seem right, does it? But the fleeting sparks of pop-culture are really just everything else in life thrust into hyperactive mode. In this sense the greatest of art is no more significant in and of itself than the most recent fleeting spark.
Elisabeth Elliot wrote a novel called No Graven Image. In short, the story is about a missionary who spends her lifetime working with a group of people in a primitive-like society. She learns their language and over her lifetime manages to create a large body of work relating to these people, their culture and language, all in her efforts to bring faith to them for their ultimate good. After the tragic accidental death of an associate of hers, the tribe of people turn against her and in minutes destroy all the work she has done, a lifetime of dedication taken away in an instant. The book was poorly received by many in the christian community, basically because people felt that God would never allow this to happen to somebody serving so faithfully. But no, this book was actually based on Elisabeth Elliot's life and yes, God allows things to happen to those He loves and who serve Him. Things don't last forever, even the profound, even the things we think should last forever. Of course, the things that only live in the "now", they are easier to spot as fleeting sparks...but the other things are harder to see, I think.
But there is something that really, truly and quite profoundly does last forever. Now that is something that I really want to see. It could be called the ultimate important thing, profundity on steroids of a "beyond cosmic" scale. Something that is so unimaginably profound, it can never be taken away or "flame out" like a fleeting spark. It cannot not exist, and it will always "be", because it comes from the only person who has always existed and will always be. What is amazing is that Jesus humbled himself by leaving the "profound" to enter into the "fleeting sparks" along with all of us, where he accomplished the only profound thing that transcends all other things. He did not come to extinguish the sparks but to make them last forever. Jesus gives meaning to even the most meaningless of fleeting sparks. Which leads me back to the song that I was looking up in the very beginning, which brought this lasting thing to my mind. I think there is a tremendous amount of poetic irony in this, because the thing that lasts forever, that is accomplished through Jesus, is really the thing that the "fleeting sparks" are mostly talking about. Now, I think I will listen to some more Cheap Trick, somehow I think I can find Jesus in there, even if only because Jesus is what it needs...just like me.
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