Marilyn Manson & all the Beautiful People
Two weeks ago, I took the Amtrak Bus from Safeway here in Ashland to Sacramento, ran across the platform to catch the train, then managed to get a quick smoke in at Emeryville before an Amtrak Bus left there for San Francisco. Buses have their own special lane over the Bay Bridge, so it was great to happily spectate & avoid all that commuter traffic on a Friday evening!
The bus let me off at 5th and Market Streets - right near the Powell Street BART station. It was an unusually warm evening in San Francisco! Probably about 80 degrees! Kids running around in shorts, none of the usual cold clammy fog. There was a line of chess players at little tables, playing chess and slapping timers to my left - and to my right were the most awesome street drummers! I think I might wish to become a bum and just go there and play chess and listen to drums the rest of my life! Seriously!!
I had to see the drummers and put a dollar in their hat, then walked back toward the chess players, everybody asking me for a match, matches not nearly as common as the old days, and one sly old guy giving me a quarter for a cigarette - boy, he got a deal! I briefly wistfully observed the chess players before hurrying toward the Warfield Theater to see if there was a line. A very nice young man crossing the street next to me happened to be one of the Warfield's Security Team - he escorted me to the theater, and yes there was a line, with an hour and a half before the show, and I hadn't eaten anything but breath mints at all the whole day! Running from bus to train to bus, there in my ordinary conservative clothes, with a "cool" outfit in my backpack, but lo - lots of people in the line were dressed like me, so it was okay! We talked and watched the line grow.
We were waiting to see Marilyn Manson! By the time the Warfield's doors finally opened, the line had grown around the block! I had a ticket for a seat in the upper balcony (my son wanted me to be safe. He wanted to go too, but had a trip to California the next week and didn't relish the idea of standing in line for a Marilyn Manson concert with his aged mother! But he completely understood it's an intellectual thing and I've learned to appreciate the music, and as a once in a lifetime event, and what a stress reliever too, baby!) - gosh, you have to go see a show at the Warfield, it is absolutely phenomenal!! It's a stately old opera house, a la Classical Revival, with red velvet seats - yes! - and cream and gold medallions sculpted into the walls and ceiling, and those nobility opera boxes at either side of the stage - the place is absolutely completely and totally beautiful! Plus, every seat in the house is a "great seat" But I was glad I'd brought my binoculars. I could see Marilyn Manson perfectly!
There was a pretty cool warm up band, I really liked their clothes & style, they played for about half an hour, then Marilyn Manson came on. Now, I wish to say that while raising my son, and our home being the one where there was a Mom at home, so all his dozens of young friends over all the time, and they'd be watching MTV sometimes, so I became familiar with, and gradually learned to appreciate the genius of, such otherwise freaky contemporary bands as Slipknot, Korn, Nirvana, Godsmack, Kid Rock, Rob Zombie, White Zombie and yes - Marilyn Manson. Though I used to kind of shudder, everyone must admit that the song, "Beautiful People" is absolutely one of the very finest musical compositions of all time! From start to finish, it rocks. After you hear your kids play a song a zillion times, you know, you just have to eventually willingly decide to discover its virtue, and thus stay in tune with the times. You have to learn what it is that makes that music rock for the youth.
Marilyn Manson started his band in a way to challenge our First Amendment Rights of Freedom of Speech. That interested me greatly, especially as I'd taken a Freedom of Speech course with Communications Professor Tom Pyle at SOU. Also, Marilyn Manson is responsible for a whole entire subculture, of the Goths, and frankly they look kind of cool! Admit it! Marilyn Manson's done a lot of interviews, they're on Youtube, very enlightening. Watch those interviews and then we can talk! He said that when he was in high school, he didn't fit in. So, for his band, he just went with that "not fitting in" and yes, he has taken it to the extreme. For example, the infamous 1997 MTV Music Awards performance of Beautiful People - but after the interviews, watch it again and see the very real & honest vulnerable human being. Very gorgeous human being too, by the way!
Okay, if you have the opportunity, run see Marilyn Manson while you can - he puts everything into his show! Brilliant & dazzling backscreen light show, strobes, colored lights, paper floaties. He's an American, and as he says, he simply wishes to put some excitement back into music. BTW: many times during the show, he knelt close to touch the hands of people in the audience, just so kind and humble! Also, a roadie guy ran out with an oxygen mask after especially vigorous songs, and Marilyn Manson'd take a quick inhale, slap a handful of vitamins into his mouth, then sprew out half his mouthful of water. There with a live show, music full blast, I fell in love with some of his other songs too, namely: the Dope Show, and AntiChrist Superstar - that one rocks, the rhythms are all fantastic, and there are a few others I'm not sure what their names are. The bass rhythms are soooo good!
Marilyn Manson's position in our culture is reminiscent of Igor Stravinsky's with the debut of the Rite of Spring, you know, many people altogether freaking out, but ultimately hailing him as a genius.
Go see Marilyn Manson while you can, a once in a lifetime event, an opportunity to participate in one of our culture's extraordinary phenomena! For sure, go see a show sometime at the Warfield Theater! And, if you want to take the Amtrak therre from Ashland, please please contact Amtrak on their webpage & beg them to keep their Ashland Oregon bus running! They are planning to discontinue the service!
I'm thankful to have enjoyed such an extraordinary experience. You know, Marilyn Manson hasn't gotten homogenized or pablumized into our culture, but people have become somewhat accustomed to seeing the Goths, so it's not so terrifying, and please don't reiterate tired old tirades, just go see the show, watch the interviews, and count it as one of life's many wonders. And, keep up with the music!
The bus let me off at 5th and Market Streets - right near the Powell Street BART station. It was an unusually warm evening in San Francisco! Probably about 80 degrees! Kids running around in shorts, none of the usual cold clammy fog. There was a line of chess players at little tables, playing chess and slapping timers to my left - and to my right were the most awesome street drummers! I think I might wish to become a bum and just go there and play chess and listen to drums the rest of my life! Seriously!!
I had to see the drummers and put a dollar in their hat, then walked back toward the chess players, everybody asking me for a match, matches not nearly as common as the old days, and one sly old guy giving me a quarter for a cigarette - boy, he got a deal! I briefly wistfully observed the chess players before hurrying toward the Warfield Theater to see if there was a line. A very nice young man crossing the street next to me happened to be one of the Warfield's Security Team - he escorted me to the theater, and yes there was a line, with an hour and a half before the show, and I hadn't eaten anything but breath mints at all the whole day! Running from bus to train to bus, there in my ordinary conservative clothes, with a "cool" outfit in my backpack, but lo - lots of people in the line were dressed like me, so it was okay! We talked and watched the line grow.
We were waiting to see Marilyn Manson! By the time the Warfield's doors finally opened, the line had grown around the block! I had a ticket for a seat in the upper balcony (my son wanted me to be safe. He wanted to go too, but had a trip to California the next week and didn't relish the idea of standing in line for a Marilyn Manson concert with his aged mother! But he completely understood it's an intellectual thing and I've learned to appreciate the music, and as a once in a lifetime event, and what a stress reliever too, baby!) - gosh, you have to go see a show at the Warfield, it is absolutely phenomenal!! It's a stately old opera house, a la Classical Revival, with red velvet seats - yes! - and cream and gold medallions sculpted into the walls and ceiling, and those nobility opera boxes at either side of the stage - the place is absolutely completely and totally beautiful! Plus, every seat in the house is a "great seat" But I was glad I'd brought my binoculars. I could see Marilyn Manson perfectly!
There was a pretty cool warm up band, I really liked their clothes & style, they played for about half an hour, then Marilyn Manson came on. Now, I wish to say that while raising my son, and our home being the one where there was a Mom at home, so all his dozens of young friends over all the time, and they'd be watching MTV sometimes, so I became familiar with, and gradually learned to appreciate the genius of, such otherwise freaky contemporary bands as Slipknot, Korn, Nirvana, Godsmack, Kid Rock, Rob Zombie, White Zombie and yes - Marilyn Manson. Though I used to kind of shudder, everyone must admit that the song, "Beautiful People" is absolutely one of the very finest musical compositions of all time! From start to finish, it rocks. After you hear your kids play a song a zillion times, you know, you just have to eventually willingly decide to discover its virtue, and thus stay in tune with the times. You have to learn what it is that makes that music rock for the youth.
Marilyn Manson started his band in a way to challenge our First Amendment Rights of Freedom of Speech. That interested me greatly, especially as I'd taken a Freedom of Speech course with Communications Professor Tom Pyle at SOU. Also, Marilyn Manson is responsible for a whole entire subculture, of the Goths, and frankly they look kind of cool! Admit it! Marilyn Manson's done a lot of interviews, they're on Youtube, very enlightening. Watch those interviews and then we can talk! He said that when he was in high school, he didn't fit in. So, for his band, he just went with that "not fitting in" and yes, he has taken it to the extreme. For example, the infamous 1997 MTV Music Awards performance of Beautiful People - but after the interviews, watch it again and see the very real & honest vulnerable human being. Very gorgeous human being too, by the way!
Okay, if you have the opportunity, run see Marilyn Manson while you can - he puts everything into his show! Brilliant & dazzling backscreen light show, strobes, colored lights, paper floaties. He's an American, and as he says, he simply wishes to put some excitement back into music. BTW: many times during the show, he knelt close to touch the hands of people in the audience, just so kind and humble! Also, a roadie guy ran out with an oxygen mask after especially vigorous songs, and Marilyn Manson'd take a quick inhale, slap a handful of vitamins into his mouth, then sprew out half his mouthful of water. There with a live show, music full blast, I fell in love with some of his other songs too, namely: the Dope Show, and AntiChrist Superstar - that one rocks, the rhythms are all fantastic, and there are a few others I'm not sure what their names are. The bass rhythms are soooo good!
Marilyn Manson's position in our culture is reminiscent of Igor Stravinsky's with the debut of the Rite of Spring, you know, many people altogether freaking out, but ultimately hailing him as a genius.
Go see Marilyn Manson while you can, a once in a lifetime event, an opportunity to participate in one of our culture's extraordinary phenomena! For sure, go see a show sometime at the Warfield Theater! And, if you want to take the Amtrak therre from Ashland, please please contact Amtrak on their webpage & beg them to keep their Ashland Oregon bus running! They are planning to discontinue the service!
I'm thankful to have enjoyed such an extraordinary experience. You know, Marilyn Manson hasn't gotten homogenized or pablumized into our culture, but people have become somewhat accustomed to seeing the Goths, so it's not so terrifying, and please don't reiterate tired old tirades, just go see the show, watch the interviews, and count it as one of life's many wonders. And, keep up with the music!
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