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Posted by Sam Kinison on 3/1/2007, 11:28 pm Let me recall a memory, if I may. It was a beautiful May afternoon in the late nineties, and I was enjoing an afternoon with friends at One World Coffee and Cargo, once a haven for the creative spirit which has sadly become somewhat of a self parody of its former existence. My friends and I had varied musical tastes, one of us favored the Sex Pistols, one Black Sabbath, one the Pixies, one the Greatful Dead, and one of us wasn't as partial to music as other forms of art like film, but that didn't matter to us. We sat there, drinking coffee, basking in the vibe of it all, the art, creativity and excitement, discussing philosophy, drugs, film, sex, religon, and anything else that came to mind. Some of us created art, others admired from a distance and just enjoyed being a part of something, and that was ok. After our time of friendship and discussion ended, we went to another gathering of sorts, a "show" as it was called, generally held at Tiamat Records or Peoria Pizza Works, and watched an exposition of musical tastes and styles into the late hours of the night. There was a certain energy at these "shows," a life force you could feel. People had smiles on their faces. After the show, we would go to a late night restaurant for more discussion or someone's apartment to watch an underground movie, drink beer, and get high, except for the guy with the X on his hand who preferred to stay sober, and that was ok, because that was his choice and we respected each other's choices. It was such an exciting time to be young. Unfortunately, my friends, those days are gone. And what's missing is not a certain musical style, oh no, but the exitement, the creativity, and the celebration of life that existed back then. Today, a few people still go to shows, but I don't know why they bother. Most of the depressing music: metal, death metal, grindwhore, emo, screamo, black metal, prog metal, etc etc, doesn't celebrate life, but spits in its face. The few patrons in attendance aren't artists, but mere cynics, people who think being depressing, mean, and repulsive somehow equates to "cool", and when the show ends they go home and blog about the lives they aren't even living, writing diary entries that no one will read. I'm trying not to criticize anyone here. We have enough of that going on already. But what is really missing in Peoria is the artistic celebration of life we once had. If we want the "scene" to return to the days of old, we need to get it back.
74.136.119.123
I was reading some of the posts on here and noticed a eulogy, of sorts, to punk rawk down the page a little ways. Although punk is surely dead and will be missed, is it really punk rock we are missing, ladies and gentlemen? Or is that just one part of the equation? I, for one, believe it is the bohemian spirit that is missing, a spirit once alive and well that is now but a memory in our town.
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