Do I Really Need To Come Up WIth a Title? I Do? Well, Alright Then....

I haven't been keeping up with this as much as I was before, been busy, hustling for that dollar. Also, I've been hungover a lot lately, which is not the ideal mode to be in while trying to organize thoughts. So what's new? Patrick Swayze died, and I didn't care. Nothing against the guy, Point Break is fucking incredible, but when Jim Carroll dies the day before and no one seems to give a fuck, I can't really give a fuck about some washed up actor. But there are bigger fish to fry; namely one who likes fish dicks, Mr. Kanye West.

So at the recent VMAs Kanye West jumps on stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance for the Best Female Video award and proceeds to rant about how Beyonce deserved the award, everyone's outraged blah blah blah. But you know what? I don't think it's that shocking. This Kanye West after all, if anything he's shown that he never knows when to keep his mouth shut. More so, I think Kanye can be held up as an example of our generation.
I'm completely serious. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but I think it's stock and trade for Generation Y to be prone to egotistical outbursts and attention grabbing behavior. We're talking about people who grew up with the little league culture of "everyone gets a trophy" and Barney telling all the kids that they're special and unique blah blah fucking blah. American culture is all about self-promotion, accolades for little achievement. Paris Hilton is famous because she's, well, famous. Stars don't get treated like everyone else, they're special and unique flowers who must be handled with care all the goddamn time, you wouldn't want to rattle them would you? We all know how fragile they are, precious stones to be shined and put on display in a glass case.

That's all well and good for the Hollywood set, stars have been pampered, self-centered babies forever, but the attitude is leaking from those rarefied heights down the line to the rest of the chum. The generation brought up on the junk culture of ego and celebrity have also had access to all these social networking sites from an early age. Kids get to stroke their egos and quantify their popularity, creating a culture of pompous self-importance. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, all tools used to continually reinforce for people their popularity, their social value. Because of this, I nominate Kanye West as the spiritual leader for this new generation of self-centered 20 something babies. He is a symbol of commitment to one's ego, the "me first" attitude. Who else can be such a consummate jackass as the illustrious Mr. West. Paris Hilton? Eh, we've kind of moved past all that, haven't we?

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So I will be away from sweet home Chicago for the next 3 days, trading in the city of big shoulders for some southern hospitality. I'll be in Nashville for the Hootenanny, I plan on drinking moonshine and riding bikes all day. I haven't really gone anywhere this summer, not even to jaunt up north to Milwaukee, Algonquin for the "Good Land", so it will be nice to cross some state lines. Hoping to return with a tall tale or two, and maybe, just maybe, some fresh injuries. For those of you in Chicago this weekend I suggest checking out the Brew Not Bombs show on Saturday, the 19th. Good friends the Read and Al Scorch will be playing along with local favorites Sassdragons and The Rustbelt Ramblers. Last but not least, we've got two of my favorite bands playing, Bloomington Indiana's Defiance, Ohio and This Bike is A Pipe Bomb out of Pensacola, Florida. Check it out for the rock and roll musics. 3951 W Fullerton 8:00pm $8

That's all
-Jon J