Lenny Bruce once said "There's a big difference between a big piece of art with a little piece of shit in the middle and a big piece of shit with a little piece of art in the middle." I have no idea which of these I am presenting to the public with this blog. I do know that I sat here polishing what I wrote in my last post for the last hour. And I realized I wasn't "polishing" anything, I was censoring, and I needed to stop. If I want to revise or change my mind on something I wrote, I will simply address it in a new post. I also encourage anyone reading to call me on my bullshit, and to help correct any mistakes. All success should stand next to failure.
Lenny Bruce thought out loud in front of people who bought tickets to hear him think out loud. He was jailed and crucified by people who didn't buy tickets and didn't like the way he thought. I owe it to him to keep all my thoughts on the record.
Martyrdom, Hmmm. Where do Gandhi, ML King, Lenny Bruce and the 'Gospel story Jesus' differ? Gandhi and ML King did what they knew they needed to do, and felt that if they should Happen to die in the process the futility would be not only accepted but embraced . Jesus basically committed suicide to prove a point, by walking directly into the lion's den, so to speak. Lenny Bruce died of a heroin overdose after all his money had been drained paying for lawyers to pay for the rights performers take for granted nowadays. Yet all these characters seem to express some 'birth of tragedy' moral, or embedded meaning to be extrapolated from their plights. All express sacrifice...Bill Hicks communicates it poignantly: "Finally something snapped in me, one of those road gigs. I'm playing these places, it's a real ego boost, I mean I felt like the MONOLITH from 2001, people are building tools around me. Suddenly I just realized the hopelessness of life and finally just started laughing and said, forget it, I'm gonna dress in ALL BLACK and scream at people. I'm gonna tear the veil out of their poor eyes." -Bill Hicks... thank you very much. [bow] [bow] [three shots ring out - Bill crumples to the ground] CUT: Bill slams against the MONOLITH, and slides to the ground CUT: the riderless white horse walks along the road, away from the camera VO: It's Just A Ride... It's Just A Ride...'
ReplyDeleteI can still listen to Lenny Bruce over and over, but I just can't listen to Bill Hicks anymore. The anger and the bitterness, while at one time Medicine for me, has become Poison. If it was still funny, I think it would be evidence that I hadn't really healed those old wounds. Hicks was my medicine for an extremely fucked up world, and for an extremely intense hatred. I identified with him when I was 20, and maybe if he were still alive I would be able to identify with what he would be saying today. But the albums gather dust by the cigarettes, the Hustler magazine, and the pain.
ReplyDeleteMy mother played Lenny Bruce records all the time while I was growing up. I did not get the full depth however until Jr. High. This was around the same time Aenima came out and I had to look up who Bill was. As far as middle Amerikkka was concerned Bill was truly a living Monolith. Neither of these cats were afraid, and that I believe is what counts.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree.
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