“R&R” in my books has never equated to not doing anything. It's always meant doing something - but differently; changing my activities, taking a pause from daily rhythms and trying out new ones. Listening to my body and heart and actually having permission to follow their needs and wants because I'm not on a set schedule. No alarm. No commitments. Except to just be and enjoy.
I spent this weekend on Salt Spring Island, in the Southern Gulf Islands in BC, with my partner Jason. We’re staying in a little cabin in the woods, showering outdoors, falling asleep to frog ribbets and waking up to birdsong.
And last night’s r&r involved two hours of rock n’roll at the local Legion just outside the town of Ganges.
I joined the local crowd and rocked out to “Altered Daley” and “Repeat Townsend,” known collectively as The British Invasion band. I refused to read into the double entendre, the militant speak. My soul was being saved.
I can't explain the kinship that I always find amongst “the oldies,” with the aging boomers and old rockers…. The sound of a familiar riff and I'm off, dancing and singing along… as if the music’s been running through my veins since my first breath.
I grew up to Blink 182, Matchbox 20, and Eminem on the radio. Yet there's just something about the 70s era. So familiar to my soul even if it was never my own time. Letting it all hang out after midnight, becoming part of the machine, my dreams emptier than my conscience seems to be… 🎶
Is it an immigrant kid thing?
What is so appealing about this particular variety of nostalgia?
The world was not better then, that’s for sure. Some like to claim it was better because it was a simpler time, a more abundant time, a safer time - but for whom? Even as our world buckles under the pressures of climate change, verges on the brink of economic collapse, world war three, what-have-you, I know the world is better now than it was then. It's better because we can see its moral failings and fissures. We see its imperfections in a way the mainstream of the boomer generation was not willing to face. It's why we are here now, dealing with this mess. But we can't look away like they did.
But I do enjoy closing my eyes and rocking out, feeling that blind ignorance, if only for a moment on some dancehall at a local Legion, forgetting that the world is a hard place… I don’t always have to look at the train crash, go running in to save people. It can be nice to board the train sometimes and just look out at the scenery…
We’ve always been revolting though. Neil Young was going on about the Thousand Points of Light that failed the homeless man. And 35 years later, we still having people sleeping in their shoes. And Joni Mitchell, I lament with her as I watch our paved affordability crisis paradise that is the city of Vancouver add another luxury condo to the skyline.
I feel a Breakdown coming, Petty.
But at least I can escape and break free, if only for a moment, take comfort in my helplessness… so that I can recharge. Then come Monday, I can show up to work and try to be a better human being, a better writer.
I know my memoir won't bring world peace. But maybe it will help someone out there find their moment of rest, too? An escape from the trappings of their own world that will replenish their own reserves and make them shine a bit brighter come Monday, too...
Who knows..
I don’t know…
I can drive down the road, my eyes don't see
Though my mind wants to cry out loud
Though my mind wants to cry out loudDance floor is like the sea
Ceiling is the sky
You're the sun and as you shine on me.“I Feel Free”, Cream (1966)
