Preface
So, you've come to my page and you are at least curious enough to read the first sentence of my "About Me" section. That's nice to know. I don't know what to include and what to exclude. Should this section be in-depth, informative, and personal or should it be short, simple, and sweet? In the past, my “About Me†section has always been a copy and paste effort. I would post anything I found interesting including but not limited to; lyrics, pretentious spiritual/philosophical/quantum physics based essays, dialogues from films, cute anecdotes, and conspiracy theories. I have recently redone my entire page and I feel like this time around I should include something actually related to my life in my “About Me†section. So consider this first paragraph a preface of sorts. If I haven’t bored you to tears with setup, then feel free to read on. Spontaneity, by and large, affects the way I conduct my writing, which in turn sends my thoughts and points off on a maelstrom of tangents and by default is the source responsible for the occasional lack of relevance and/or consistency that may be found within. So it is safe to say that a stream of consciousness motif will be present throughout, yet there will be strong effort on my part to abstain from it as much as possible, and to instead pack your brain full of information about the intricacies, eccentricities, and subtleties of my being in a petite yet revealing little package.
Chapter I: Cliché Standard Information
My name is Joshua Steven Kane. I am the oldest son of Julie & Steve Kane. I have two brothers, Jeremy and Nicholas, both of which I love more than anyone else on this silly blue planet. I have a close insurmountable bond with both of them that only those with siblings will understand or relate too. I am from Sacramento, Ca, a bland an uninteresting city. I moved to Davis, Ca when I was eight. Davis is a small college town that puts up this accepting, pseudo-liberal, for the arts guise when in fact it is just a rich, close-minded, intolerant breeding ground for baby-boomers turned soccer moms. When I was 14 I moved to Dixon, Ca (a small conservative cow town with golden fields that stretch for miles) and at 17 I moved back to Davis. Dixon, for all its faults, provided some of the best friendships I’ll probably ever have, friendships that are still as vibrant and as strong as ever. From 17 –22, I continued to reside in Davis, purely for it’s familiarity and because it sort of acted as a comfort zone for me. In March of 05’ while hanging out with a conglomeration of friends and acquaintances on a typical alcohol induced Friday evening, I by pure happenstance met Hannah Marie Williams, a sweet blond haired, blue-eyed artist. I was immediately attracted to her. She had that true beauty to her, that naturally exquisite and untainted gorgeousness that needs no make-up or hip fashion sense to shine. We fell in love with each other instantaneously and we are still together to this date. In August of 05’ I finally left my hometown of Davis and moved to San Francisco to live with Hannah while she attends SFSU. San Francisco is very different than Davis, as expected, but it is a ton of fun and definitely exiting in comparison to the listlessness that Davis represents.
Chapter II: Aesthetics & The Scene
The physical & organic machine I embody stands around 5’10†and its pretty lean in structure. Its hair is long and black and its eyes are a soft brown & hazel hybrid. The sewn together fabric I ashamedly drape over myself to cover up my hair and genitalia generally falls into the fitted jeans & t-shirt realm. I try and refrain from getting involved stylistically with any sort of flavor of the week fads or fashion or any other “follow the leader/cows to the slaughter†bullshit motivated by a vanity driven dying scene. I am not a sheep and refuse to follow like one. This so-called scene, whether you’re talking about hardcore, indie, or 80’s Throwback Art-Fag Dance Noise, you’re dealing with sect of silly kids that put on silly costumes inspired by silly bands in order to feel better about themselves, to stand out, and to for once in their lives attract a little attention. Attention, even if it is negative fills these kids with a sense of purpose and reason, and ultimately fills the void created by loneliness. It’s the old self-a-steam tale, a modern scene that bears every resemblance to the sad story of the homely overweight pasty white girl that is virtually ignored in school only to discover Marilyn Manson and begin dressing in black. And I know what you might be saying to your self, “This guy is a prude, a conservative asshole, who doesn’t appreciate individuality.†Well, if this is you, let me explain where you are wrong. I am all for any form of self-expression, but unfortunately I don’t sense the characteristics of individualism all that much in contemporary underground scenes, it seems very monkey-see-monkey-do to me. The rock show itself, the actual performances, have subsequently taken a back seat to a “running†fashion show, where people congregate solely to stand around in their hippest threads with their arms crossed, motionless, all trying to look like the most “too cool for school†bad-ass there. No more dancing, singing, or an actual interest in the musical entertainment provided for us, nope. Traded in without a second thought for an arrogant and conceited charade. I’ll close this paragraph off with a couple of quotes. In the eternal words of David Bazan, “Style is taking over and everybody knows that songs are on their way out.†And how could I forget my boys Jenoah, “It’s all turning to fashion what happened to passionâ€.
Chapter III: The Origins Of My Love For Musical Entertainment & Motion Pictures
Everyone and their mother likes music and film. Music and film is at the top of every motherfucker on MySpace's interest section. Together they stand as two of the most fruitful forms of media on planet earth. It is in my humble opinion and others that both forms of media are actually art, and those that create either form of media are undoubtedly artists. When viewed as art, both music & film have the power to alter human emotion, evoke passion, they can make us think, and most of all they make us feel. It is no different from the softness and subtleties conveyed in Monet's "Water Lilies" that educe feelings of warmth, serenity, and beauty or the way Picasso's "Guernica" elicits feelings of sadness, frustration, suffer, and pain. "Water Lilies" is as timeless as the earth is and "Guernica" will remain relevant as long as there is suffering and war. This goes for films and music as well. I believe that as long as it is passionate, comes from the heart, is expressed in a tangible form, and touches at least one person other than yourself, then it can be classified as art. That is just my opinion and you are entitled to your own. So yeah, as much as I hate "Nickelback" & "Good Charlotte" or "Miss Congeniality 2" & "The Fast and the Furious", I still recognize it as art, just art that I don't care for at all. The way we as individuals understand, relate to, and appreciate art is completely different and unto itself. The above bands and films I mentioned seem to possess very little of what makes art, art, enough to be considered such, but not enough for certain people, myself included, to connect with. When talking about music, you have two types of extremes as far as listeners are concerned. First, you have the casual listener. The casual listener is one that listens to top 40 radio, one that prefers holler-along-hooks and pogo friendly strong structure rather than a singer/songwriter that wears his heart on his sleeve or a musically challenging jazz-fusion progressive rock act. These people very rarely step outside the box and almost never seek out new artists or music. Albums are purchased or downloaded generally for the one or two hit singles and consequently the rest of album usually ends up ignored. They fail to ever recognize the album as a cohesive whole or experience the record the way the artist intended on them experiencing it. Lyrics are almost never reflected upon and/or digested and if the instrumentation doesn’t remain stringently repetitious the song will cease to hold their attention. These folks will never be able to relate to the sense of alienation, frustration, and socio-political contravention present in most punk, grunge and metal. Sadly, this type of listener will never be able to sit back and appreciate Miles Davis’s “Bitches Brew†or bask in the ambient soundscapes Godspeed You! Black Emperor creates. They remain ignorant, yet blissfully content listening to mainstream marketed and radio spun music. They love familiarity; the redundancy in the tightly packaged, corporate influenced, three-minute ditties. Then you have the other breed of music listeners. These guys eat, breathe, bleed, piss, and shit music. Music courses through their veins, it perspirates through every sweat gland, and in turn radiates through the very fibers of their being. They are constantly seeking out new and innovative bands to satisfy their bohemothic appetites. They get off on bands that bring something new to the table, that color outside the lines, ones that shatter the walls of conformity, bands that swiftly kick modern conventionalities to the curb. They have a deep-rooted emotional connection with bands/artists they choose to listen to and generally know every ineffable detail about them and the albums they craft. Music is more than a hobby or a way to pass the time. It acts as a way of life, the fuel for the fire that burns inside of them, and it aids in undeniable spiritual and/or emotional experiences. Without it, their lives certainly would be a sullen uninspired one, reeking of emptiness, lonely, dour, and grim. Most people that create music fall into this category, as do I, however, I enjoy all music including the three-minute ditties. I probably come off as some sort of cocky, cynical, asshole plagued by musical elitism, but in all honesty, I love everything from jazz to pop, classical to metal, from hip-hop to instrumental indie rock, and everything in between. The passion I have for music in general is what sets me in the latter of these two polar opposites. Most people, however, fall somewhere in the middle of these two categories. Film works exactly the same way, operating between two extremes and two types of viewers. So, for your benefit and mine I’ll refrain from going on and on about movies, just know that I fervently adore film as well. This chapter, however, was not intended to focus on the type of music I listen to and/or the films I watch. A comprehensive list of bands and artists I love is located to your left in my “Music†section as well as a scrolling movie poster marquee representing some of my favorite films.
To Be Continued...
The next three segments of this nine part saga will follow shortly. Expect, Chapter IV: Theological Ideologies, Chapter V: Ancient & Modern Conspiracy Theories - Contemporary Polotics and Me, and Chapter VI: Sex & Drugs.
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