An entry in which I talk about concert tragedies, Jesus, and stupid lead singers
Wednesday, Mar. 03, 2004 - 09:14

Last year, a day before the end of my three-week tour of Australia, during which I went to a great many concerts, at which I had a great deal of fun every night, I saw something in the news about a fire at a nightclub in Rhode Island at which many people died. It made me sick, because those people had been doing exactly what I'd been doing, going to see a show, and they'd died. 100 people died. And at all the shows I went to I hadn't even thought twice about my own safety. I always felt completely safe, perfectly safe. And those people probably didn't think twice about their safety either, until suddenly they didn't have time to think twice.

Now when I go to shows I look for the emergency exits before the show starts, just so I know.

At the Modest Mouse show, we were sardines for the first half hour, and if there had been more people there, if it had been a bigger venue, it would have been really dangerous. We were really getting squished. (This was because we were standing right in front of stupid Isaac Brock, and everyone else in the joint wanted to be standing right where we were.)

I was surprised by all the pushing and I was surprised that there wasn't any security to stop it. I'm used to Pearl Jam shows, I guess, where crowd safety is taken very seriously. And that stems from a tragedy too, because nine people died while they were playing at a festival in Denmark, and they haven't been the same since.

It's lame that something terrible has to happen in order for us to learn anything.

Which brings up something I've been thinking about lately: everyone has to learn their own lessons. You can't learn anyone else's lessons. You have to go through the process yourself.

Which is why my generation learned nothing from World War I.

Also, I've been thinking about the whole Jesus thing, and why, WHY, if Jesus and God were in it together, why Jesus would "have to" come to earth and then die, what sort of logical purpose that would serve, and I think I've decided that, if that was the case, the reason would be for people to see the process of it. He couldn't just come here and snap his fingers and say, "Hey, be good".

Well, this made more sense in my head.

I haven't entirely made up my mind about the Jesus thing. I guess I always just thought I was a Christian because, I don't know, that's the culture I was raised in, but then when I stayed on that farm in Australia, the lady who owned it was very very religious, and I realized that I'm not a Christian. I believe in God, I believe in the Great Spirit in the Sky, I believe in the Fates, I believe that things happen for a reason, I believe there's something bigger than all of us, but that's about it. The God/Jesus/Holy Spirit thing, and the Bible, I just don't believe it. Mainly because I don't think it's that complicated. I might change my mind at a later date, and if I do, fine.

And if I offended you when I called him "stupid Isaac Brock", I didn't mean that Isaac Brock is stupid at all. I just hate how everyone, at every show, idolizes the stupid singer, and they don't give a shit about anyone else in the band. It's just the stupid singer. It's annoying.

I would have liked to have been able to see his guitar playing. That would have been nice to see.