This is a continuation of my contribution to Straight, Inc.
Veterans/
Hello from the back of group.
I decided not to take a chance on House of the Rising Sun; too risque for the potentially angry mob. So I picked Amazing Grace.
So I was downstairs at the crack of noon, smoking a cigarette and sipping my coffee, when it occured to me that an outlander would never understand that w/o explanation. And it occured to me that some of ya'll would, some wouldn't.
So here's the rest of that. Why would House of the Rising Sun be offensive to Group or Staff? It is, after all, a mournful, soulful song of regret and condemnation of the entire druggie lifestyle, isn't it? A cautionary tale to the young from an old veteran of the life of a Norlans gambler. Yeah, it is. At least that's how I always heard it. But that doesn't mean
this group would hear it the same way. See, I think I probably came by that song, somehow, by way of the Seed. No tellin', really. But I don't think it was in the pop top 100 at any time relavent. And I do remember a much more authentic, enjoyable kind of singing and skits at the Seed. Remember the georgia kids singing about "one ton a maters"? I can easily imagine a Seedling performing HRS at Open Meeting to sincere applause.
But not
this crowd, no! It was too risky. See, someone might understand it differently; like maybe a sly attempt to indulge in druggie ties. They might raise their hand then begin to flap, and that would set off a wave of frenetic activity. It would start in the minds and faces of Group. All members would be panic stations trying to figure out what the first sheep might have picked up on. Couldn't allow one's awareness to be outdone, not if you didn't want to get confronted for clicking or not paying attention or some such. Nope. You had to come up with something to say. It was risky business all the way around.
And, if so confronted, couldn't I just explain the meaning of the song? No, that would be intellectualizing and justifying; 3rd and 2nd degree misdemenours, often stacked onto the charged list for more serious offenses (or used as pretext for a fishing expedition)
Nope, too risky. But Amazing Grace was already in the permanent play list. Safe enough and a pretty tune.
I remember from Seed daze certain restrictions on entertainment. First it was no WSHE, the local Rock station. Then, I think, there were certain bands. I would imagine Ozzie was none too highly esteemed by Art. So this, the way it all played out, in Straight was familiar and not unexpected. I knew how to deal. But it was different in
intensity. As little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, so Straight was made up of the very same ingredients as the Seed, just in different preportions.
All of the singing, except on the rare occasion when Staff might ask Group for a new song, was stilted. I've heard from Seedlings that some of ya'll had the same sort of anxiety about performing at the Seed. But it wasn't
that tense.
Remember one legged Tom Mc's rendition of
It's raining it's pouring? "Jack left the bar without a drink in his haaaaaaaaaand, he was a lonly man...."
Pretty song. I sing it still sometimes.
There were differences, to be sure. But only in a matter of degrees.
A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows.
http://smack.accesscard.org/index/misc/atheist/' target='_new'>Samuel Clemens "Mark Twain", American author and humorist
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Drug war POW
Straight, Sarasota
`80 - `82
