---------------------- [excerpt, "Some Notes On Attunement," by Zadie Smith. The New Yorker.] ---------------- I wandered through that shop, as I always do in record shops, depressed by my ignorance and drawn toward the familiar.
After fifteen shiftless minutes, I picked up a hip-hop magazine and considered a Billie Holiday album that could not possibly contain any track I did not already own.
I was preparing to leave when I spotted an album with a wonderful title: "More Songs About Buildings and Food." You will probably already know who it was by -- I didn't. Talking Heads.
As I stopped to admire it, I was gripped by melancholy....Is it too late to get into Talking Heads? Do I have the time? What kind of person would I be if I knew this album at all, or well?
If I'd been shaped not by Al Green and Stevie Wonder but by David Byrne and Kraftwerk?
What if I'd been the type of person who had somehow found the time to love and know everything about Al Green, Stevie Wonder, David Byrne, and Kraftwerk?
What a delight it would be to have so many "parents"! How long and fruitful life would seem!
I will admit that in the past, when I have met connoisseurs, I've found it a bit hard to entirely believe in them. Philistinism often comes with a side order of distrust. ... ------------- [end excerpt]
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Take me to the river,
drop me in the water...
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