the defeatists!: Went from being an art student to writing songs...some you don't want to hear

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Went from being an art student to writing songs...some you don't want to hear

Ray Davies is still alive and kicking. Which is kind of fun, given that he's been shot in New Orleans pre-Katrina and has a hate-love-hate relationship with Dave Davies and probably with himself. However, at 66 he's running a festival in England with people like Sonic, Nick Lowe and Madness. Interesting, opinionated and an underappreciated genius..and, I get to read about him in the Wall Street Journal. What the hell is that about...I found this interview comment especially telling.

Many of your songs are about everyday people. Have you observed anything lately that might be a lyric in waiting?

Mr. Davies: Just the joy of seeing people in these troubled times who are basically just getting on with their lives. I was in the studio today. It's in a real down, blue-collar area. Over the road there's a Pakistani shop that's been there for eight years, or it's the Turkish café. The neighborhood is still struggling, and that's what I like to celebrate in my songs, the act of living. The characters. Everyone's got a soundtrack. Some you don't want to hear.

I find that telling because I keep wondering why and how we're all going to survive our current economic and cultural cesspool. There are bacteria that thrive in slime and gunk and dark, and there are humans who do the same. And, yet, there are still people who hope and watch and live.

I had to run some errands, and stopped at the grocery store. Saw a guy I've met before, who is now reduced to begging, sitting on the curb with a everything he owns because the mission has exhausted its space long since -- he used to work detailing cars but the GM dealership closed down. I gave him $20 and wished him better days. That's Davies, I think -- giving us music instead of a handout and wishing better days for us all, because the act of living entitles us to that.