Friday, May 15, 2009

Voices, Derek Trucks, etc.

Something that find quite fascinating is schizophrenia. By definition it means something along the lines of, "a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression or reality". I always find the textbook meanings humorous because while they are true in their description, it doesn't seem to do justice to people who actually suffer from it. We run into a lot of people who are schizophrenic in our end of town, one whom we're quite close with. It can be dangerous thing though, someone with schizophrenia can turn on you pretty quickly for no reason at all, and that's something we've had to be mindful of when we interact with the people we know. At the same time I don't want to stigmatize this disorder anymore than it has been, I mean, how could I? I'm not really any different than someone who suffers from schizophrenia, I am just as capable of taking something and twisting it around in my head until it's something altogether different aren't I? (Not that at all defines schizophrenia entirely...)

I know it's a bit strange to be talking about people who hear voices, but it makes me wonder about voices in general. I like how people who have found a form of expression that is truly theirs it's called "finding their voice". You know, those musicians, artists, writers, who can create in a style that is all theirs; it is unmistakably them. But what about those people who are so distracted by other voices that they could never find their own?

Anyway, I think it's time for a non-related musical tangent...

Derek Trucks could easily be the best guitar player around these days. He started playing when he was 9, and first started playing with The Allman Brothers Band when he was 12. He then began his own group, The Derek Trucks Band, who just released their most recent album Already Free, in January. I've seen Derek twice thus far, once with the ABB, and second playing guitar in Eric Clapton's band during his 06/07 tour. I could never describe his playing well enough so I'm just going to show this...it's pretty darn good...







posted by Matt McKechnie @ 6:33 AM Comments: 0

website statistics