“I am I, and I won’t subordinate my taste to the unanimous judgment of mankind.” // “A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy!” // “I prefer not to.”
“We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. We have room for but one sole loyalty, and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States
USA. Summer. It is 95 degrees outside, and I am shivering inside a sandwich shop.
I have discovered how Americans forge strong souls.
Outside, the sun is trying to kill everyone. Inside this small restaurant, it is winter. My breath does not fog, but it is thinking about it. A man near me is eating a cold sandwich while wearing a jacket. In summer. Indoors.
In Japan we would simply turn it down. Americans do not turn it down. And now I understand them better than they understand themselves.
This cold is not an accident. This cold is a gift.
The owner has built, inside his shop, a second season. He invites you in from the brutal heat and hands you the one thing the sun has denied you all day: a reason to be cold. To endure it is to be tempered. You walk in soft and sweating. You walk out sharp and clear, a slightly stronger person than you were.
So I did not complain. I removed my outer layer and offered it to the woman at the next table, who was hugging herself. She said, "Oh, no, I'm fine, thank you." She was not fine. Her lips were blue. But she, too, understood the training. She would not break first. I respected her deeply.
The owner asked if everything was okay.
"It is perfect," I said, through my teeth, which were chattering. "Thank you for the winter."
He said, "...I can turn the AC down if you want?"
I told him no. A man does not ask the mountain to be shorter.
I stayed two hours. I ordered a hot coffee to survive. Then a second one, to hold. By the end I could no longer feel my hands, but my spirit had never been clearer.
So now, on the hottest days, I seek out the coldest rooms. I sit. I shiver. I sharpen.
And when I finally step back out into the summer heat, and it wraps around me like a warm bath, I feel it.
Reborn.
A man who has survived the winter, in August, indoors, for the price of a sandwich.
@JerryWa08839032@RollingStone Maybe, maybe not, but since he’s been doing it that way for forever, maybe the brand is pretty well set and the blame is for those who go expecting something else. 🤷♂️
Brian Setzer demonstrates how he transitions between single string and fingerpicking, and how he likes to play melodies behind the song, rather than just strum out a rhythm ���
From “The Guitar of Brian Setzer (Hot Licks)” #briansetzer #guitaristofinstagram #fingerpicking #rockabilly #straycats
On this day in 1967, Jimi Hendrix performed a cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” at London’s Saville Theatre just days after its release, with Paul McCartney and George Harrison in the audience.
@grantcohn Lame. You know that was months ago. His lawyer will appear, things will get handled, and he’ll pay fines and/or community service. The bigger question is if the 49ers will use this as face saving cover to cut him now, or if the mindless pettiness will continue.