Confessions

My friend Ann-Katrin sent me the new Eels DVD, "Eels with Strings." Firstly it's really good. E's fundamentally sad songs set to simple nursery rhyme like music are profound and disturbing.

I remember seeing E on his first tour. He seemed like a "goofy" young guy singing simple poppy tunes about... Well I guess I wasn't listening to the lyrics.

And on the literary front I recently finished reading Spaulding Grey's second to last book, "It's a Slippery Slope." Like E I always thought Grey was just a "goofy" guy who happened to recant his silly, funny East Coast life. But like with E I guess I wasn't really paying attention. "It's a Slippery Slope" is a "goofy" light romp describing a middle aged guy spinning out of control and spiraling downward to oblivion. Forget the uplifting ending, Grey eventually chose to jumped off the Staten Island Ferry.

The job of being a "Poetic Craftsman" can be dangerous and in the case of Spaulding Grey there can be industrial accidents. Confessions can on occasion not be good for the soul and the truth does not always set one free. I applaud the bravery of people like Grey and E but for some people for sanity's sake the phrase "Don't go there" could be the right path to take.