for those about to rock

lazy, hazy daze

picked up an album of bob marley and the wailers stuff from the early sixties, which struts an early reggae sound but grounds things lyric-wise in an r+b vein (no protorevolutionary content whatsoever; lots about love lost and love found and i guess just generally looking for love and whatnot). bought it not because it's my usual cup of tea, nor for the reason that it's not my usual cup and i was looking to indulge my touch-and-go like for reggae and expand my collection, nor really for any one of the songs on it in particular, but for the lo-fi vibe (stick with me) and for how it brings me back instantly to a night from nearly three years ago. it was on a friday, and my good friend koning (jason, who i haven't hear from much lately and hope doesn't completely drop off the face of the earth) and i had just gotten back to our homestead -- big six bedroom house in amherst -- from a pizza feast at apollo's over in belchertown. anyways, this was the time when we were both on the cusp of graduation and still in that phase of not really knowing or caring what was to come next, just sort of instinctively shutting things down after the final harried rush of our academic lives, and it was that time of year when spring is almost finished peeling away into the summer, and that time of early almost-summer evening when day fades nice and slow into the night, and we sat around on our front lawn for probably about 2 hours, not saying much at all, smoking cigars/cigarettes and sharing a 12 pack of miller lite (not bragging when i say that was a modest amount for us at the time, and nor by saying i'm not bragging am i cagily trumpeting my tolerance. these were different times!) and i think it was this album that we had on first. and man, for how perfectly that lo-fi feel suited and probably enhanced our mood during what was a twilight moment in every sense, i listen to these songs now and am able to go back to that night almost three years ago and recover some of that deep, well-earned contentment for myself today.

posted by jomilkman @ 2:21 PM