1 can be anything; 1 person... 1 moment... 1 event... 1 feeling... 1 epiphany... 1 song... 1 album...
1 album... it's called "i'm new here" by the late GREAT Gil Scot-Heron.
just 1... just 1 man... and just 1 album... just 1 listen brought forth the 1 deepest moment, event, feeling, epiphany in me. let me explain...
1 night i was over at 1 of my dearest friends' place and he shut the blinds... i plopped with a beer in my usual manner and usual spot; he hurried to his record player and handed me an album cover that demanded to be read before he even demanded me to do so... it read...
"There is a proper procedure for taking advantage of any investment.
Music, for example, Buying music is an investment.
To get the maximum you must
LISTEN TO IT FOR THE FIRST TIME UNDER OPTIMAL CONDITIONS.
Not in your car or on a portable player through your headset.
Take it home.
Get rid of all the distractions. (even her or him).
Turn off your cell phone.
Turn off everything that rings or beeps or rattles or whistles.
Make yourself comfortable.
Play your LP.
LISTEN all the way through.
Think about what you got.
Think about who would appreciate this investment.
Decide if there is someone to share this with.
Turn it on again.
Enjoy yourself.
Gil Scott-Heron
my friend knew i was the 1 that would appreciate this investment... he knew i was the someone to share this with...i knew of gil but had no idea what i was in store for... just 1 album... just 1 listen... just 1 friend... i was taken aback INSTANTLY because the 1st thing gil said was;
"I want to make this a special tribute to a family that contradicts the concepts
heard the rules but wouldn't accept
and women-folk raised me
and i was full grown before i knew
I came from a broken home.
i put the insert down... no time to read.... time to listen...
neither of us spoke a word the entire album through...
k, that might be a lie... i'm sure i was "oohhh" n "ahhh" ing as i listened as i usually do... but for the most part we both stared at the ceiling and hung on to EVERY SINGLE WORD AND NOTE that floated out of those speakers!
as soon as it was over we WHOLE HEARTED LY AGREED to start it right over; and manic praises of it from me and a "knowing... mission accomplished... i touched his soul through playing a record" smile from him in between the flip of the record ensued...
"i'm new here" has impacted my being to its very core! radiohead and outkast had already made albums that i FUCKING LOVE and have such a deep connection to that i never thought anyone or group of men could ever surpass... just 1 man... with just 1 album... changed just 1 me...
so late in his life this album was made, so late in his career i considered him my personal favorite, my 1! my friend and i revelled in "i'm new here" CONSTANTLY after that 1st and second listen... it became a staple and still is among us... we understand gil more so... i think... there must be others that love him like we do... but at the same time... THERE'S NO OTHERS THAT LOVE HIM LIKE WE DO...
upon listening and listening and listening and listening to him over and over and over and over again, I MADE UP MY MIND THAT I WOULD MEET THIS MAN IF IT WAS THE LAST THING I DID!!!
on may 27, 2011 i was at Sasquatch (music festival) sitting alone on tired grass, watching aloe blac perform "i need a dolla" when i received a text from my friend that GIL SCOTT-HERON died... i had just played gil for another dear friend on the drive up to sasquatch...
that's not a word of a lie! if you know the song and singer mentioned performing and for gil to have died then... or at least for that news to have reached me, through my friend, while observing him (aloe)... then...
i'm just 1.
to my friend, i quote our adopted father, gil scott-heron...
"if i hadn't been as eccentric; as obnoxious; as arrogant; as aggressive; as introspective; as selfish; i wouldn't be me; i wouldn't be who i am"
