You Say You Want a Revolution? Slash Number 18!

I was in the check-out line at the grocery store when I asked a women if she could scunch forward just a bit so I could grab a copy of Life magazine.  The issue was dedicated to John Lennon.

"He was my favorite one," she said.
"George was my favorite," I replied.  "But it would have been interesting to see what John would have done with the rest of his life."

We then nodded and I glanced through the magazine while she bought her vegetables and whatever and left.  Just so we're clear:  I don't buy stuff like that, but I do read it in check-out lines.

Fast forward to last weekend.  Daughter #2 had popped up for a visit.  We were sitting in my living room.  She was grading papers (she's a teacher) and I was sort of reading, sort of watching her grade the papers feeling that I'd done my societal duty and raised a child who is making a difference in the world.

One never stops trying to make one's children better, however.  So when she wasn't looking I slid over to the stereo and put on a Miles Davis album.  Kind of Blue, specifically.  Which is widely hailed as one of the most important albums of, well, ever.

So it's playing for a while.  Three songs in (half way through Blue in Green), she says to me, "Can we stop listening to this stuff?  Let's go upstairs and watch the Katy Perry documentary."

This, it should be said, is just one of the many ways our children punish us for the sins we've committed in the name of parenting.

Brief aside:  Whenever D#2 comes to visit, one of us rents a movie to watch.  I knew she liked Ms. Perry, so I rented the recent documentary about her world tour; the one in which her husband (of like twenty minutes) Russell Brand breaks up with her near the end.  I wasn't sure how to weave the movie's existence into the early part of the narrative, so I'm just telling it to you now.

So we watch the documentary.  And I'm seething with rage at that shit Brand for dumping our girl, Miss Katy, thereby making her cry.  Via email, no less!

Then a friend of mine sends me this video ...



And now I'm thinking Russell Brand and I should be best mates.  This dude totally wants a revolution.

Quick note:

At about the 8:30 mark he makes reference to the Occupy Wall Street movement.  This, titled The American Worker, was extensively annotated (everything in red) at Zuccotti Park ...

All of which by way of saying that I'm pleased to announce that The American Worker is Number 18 on my list of all-time favorite paintings.

Check this out ...

As near as I can tell, this is what he was writing ...

Which isn't technically correct but speaks to the general anger of the moment.