,,Look, I like you, and I respect you, and I’m interested in what you have to say. No, this isn’t the entrance to some grand rejection that’s been brewing in the back of my mind.
It’s just that, well, you’ve crossed a boundary that should never be crossed with me, and I think we’re beyond that realm of superficial and placid correspondence where there would be any discomfort in me telling you this.
You see, just now when you asked me the name of the church we visited last weekend, or where the olive oil is, or how to pronounce the word ‘quixotic’, I may have appeared unoccupied, dangling my knee over the chair with the headphones on, but in fact I was quite busy. You’re right, I didn’t even catch what you asked me, but that’s irrelevant. The point is that I was doing something and you interrupted. I know this whole phenomenon is unfamiliar to you, that music is just the underlying rhythm to your drinking and shouting and partying, or whatever else you do when you’re letting go and cutting loose…but to me it’s something far more intimate and personal.
I don’t know that I can explain it in terms that you’ll understand. Either you listen to Jimi or you hear Jimi, and if you don’t hear it then all the listening in the world won’t do justice to what I’m telling you. When I’m with my music, it’s the pinnacle of all experiences, the best I can express every way I’ve ever felt, the innate means of communication with all that is vital and beautiful in life. Don’t take it personally, but somehow the episode becomes opaque and meaningless when it’s mired in so much other noise.
So please, the next time I’m watching the flaps retract over SeaTac airport while I listen to New Way Home, or hurling towards Durham on I-85 at 4 a.m. in a thunderstorm with Petey Pablo blowing out the speakers, or prostrate and empty on my bed with Patty Griffin singing me to sleep…come in and have a seat. Anywhere is fine. Put your hand out the window and feel the drag forces change as you turn it in the wind. Watch Mount Rainier evaporate in the distance. Smile a little and nod your head if the sound pleases your ear. Remember that I like you, and I respect you, and I’m interested in what you have to say. Just please, don’t say it right now.”
Peter Rothbart is a visiting American researcher at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
,,Look, I like you, and I respect you, and I’m interested in what you have to say. No, this isn’t the entrance to some grand rejection that’s been brewing in the back of my mind. It’s just that, well, you’ve crossed a boundary that should never be crossed with me, and I think we’re beyond that realm of superficial and placid correspondence where there would be any discomfort in me telling you this.
You see, just now when you asked me the name of the church we visited last weekend, or where the olive oil is, or how to pronounce the word ‘quixotic’, I may have appeared unoccupied, dangling my knee over the chair with the headphones on, but in fact I was quite busy. You’re right, I didn’t even catch what you asked me, but that’s irrelevant. The point is that I was doing something and you interrupted. I know this whole phenomenon is unfamiliar to you, that music is just the underlying rhythm to your drinking and shouting and partying, or whatever else you do when you’re letting go and cutting loose…but to me it’s something far more intimate and personal.
I don’t know that I can explain it in terms that you’ll understand. Either you listen to Jimi or you hear Jimi, and if you don’t hear it then all the listening in the world won’t do justice to what I’m telling you. When I’m with my music, it’s the pinnacle of all experiences, the best I can express every way I’ve ever felt, the innate means of communication with all that is vital and beautiful in life. Don’t take it personally, but somehow the episode becomes opaque and meaningless when it’s mired in so much other noise.
So please, the next time I’m watching the flaps retract over SeaTac airport while I listen to New Way Home, or hurling towards Durham on I-85 at 4 a.m. in a thunderstorm with Petey Pablo blowing out the speakers, or prostrate and empty on my bed with Patty Griffin singing me to sleep…come in and have a seat. Anywhere is fine. Put your hand out the window and feel the drag forces change as you turn it in the wind. Watch Mount Rainier evaporate in the distance. Smile a little and nod your head if the sound pleases your ear. Remember that I like you, and I respect you, and I’m interested in what you have to say. Just please, don’t say it right now.”
Peter Rothbart is a visiting American researcher at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering
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