the idle and the wild
yesterday alaine and i became absurd caricatures of ourselves in one swarming moment, and all we could do was embrace it. riding down 52nd street ghetto bumpy-streeted philly, our eyes still wide from consuming every sight we could, we stopped short to do an excited doubletake to see what we thought we saw…a run down building that had been freshly postered with big blue posters for the new Outkast album in stores, 8.22.06, ‘Idlewild’. the car screeched to a halt, pulled along the side, and before i knew it i was yelling, ‘go, go, go!’ yes. the only two crackers for a 5-block radius, conspicuously stopped and tearing down Outkast posters for their home, and i could see the bewildered sneering amused whispering from the porches, not exactly sure what to do with the total irony of the situation. what could this even mean? could it be time to abandon the saviors of hip-hip once they’ve become this much bigger than life?? i’m trying to realize what could have been going through the heads of those onlooking lots. but the whole time we were laughing hysterically at ourselves, so i guess it’s all good.
i understand now.
i for the longest time NEVER understood that wedding part in young m.c.'s "bust a move" so much that it pissed me off. i mean here you have a best friend harry who has a brother larry who is inviting you to his freakin wedding day, but he's hopin you can make it there if you can, cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man..
!!??!!
now first of all why couldn't he choose his brother over you, and then what kind of guy casually says he's hoping you can make it, because if so, you'll happen to be the best man? i'm not sure how out of the norm this sounds to everybody else, but it always plagued me and sounded like something a guy with a 40 in his hand would say.
well. finally i can now say i understand this song. my bestest friend a la junior high formative musician bike-riding era is getting married in the field right next to his apartment, and he lives in baton rouge and knows i'm all the way up here. they decided not to wait any more because they have long been planning this whole wedding and too many details lined up and it is just TIME. and so they decided to do it in a couple weeks. and so i get an e-mail saying look, i know it would be really hard to get down here but it is going to be real small and informal and just intensely packed into this one immediate space, but he's hoping maybe there'd be some way i could be down there, because if so i would be the best man.
RIGHT. i understand you now, young m.c.
also, i was drinking gatorade today and really started to with devout attention pay mind to the taste.. has anyone ever paid close attention to this classic taste and in one fine moment tasted overtones of SALT? i thought, no, this is supposed to quench every need i could have in an athletic fit of manhood, how could it have salt like some anti-agent built to collapse unwanted weak ancient pyramid brick stackers.. but i turned the bottle around and discovered right in the middle of all the horrific ingredients, there it was. SALT. does this surprise anyone?
mmmmmmmmmmm
'you don't got to know too much to know what brings you joy, and everything else you just leave behind...'
eh. i wrote that a loong time ago. but i wanna embrace that old sweet feeling. and i think all you good peoples should finish out this sweet 06 summer with somethin like that in mind.
holy shite i can feel my soul beginning to swell again up here. i can feel my desire, my want, my musical body, just wanting to swell and push and give to this world again.
i will be releasing a new album very soon. i am finishing it up and trimming it up nice and good. i had wanted to release a verrry long thing with half cuts from end-o-d.c.-era and half from philly, but that will not be the case. i'd like to give each collection of feeling its proper weight. if that makes any sense.
thanks for all the letters and good wishes during this move. i wish i could have that feeling like i've properly gotten back with the same energy. but soon.
sip you somethin cold...
diel
movin on up...
movin on up..
to all who may be thinking in some fashion that DL may have dropped off the face of planetary reality because if inability to reach him with supposed normal means of communication~
well, pretend to imagine that you had to get everything that you own together in one compact movable place and then bring all of that to sit in safe changing circumstances out of the heat and in the shade of trees while you maneuver yourself throughout a city whose geography you aren't entirely familiar with yet, while you go through the days calling renters and looking at ads and mapquesting your way from place to place to try and match up dwellings you would want to give all your information for and owners who actually would envision you paying them money monthly to occupy the rectangular areas of time space continuum they own.
and then the whole process of signing a lease and moving all of that stuff in singlehandedly like one of those mules with tongue hanging out of mouth that brings tourists down and up the grand canyon all day. and every day for two weeks being exhausting enough to make you feel as though you have not a mind but a muscle that merely is only trying to keep conscious.
well there you have it. after a really long time coming, i now live in philly. i live in a row house fairly close to center city and downtown and drexel u and everything cool, with my friend alaine from baton rouge who will be going to art school up here and also fulfilling a long time fascination with a city with such heart and soul.
i have now moved from the upper class part of baton rouge to the humble hood of atlanta to the upper class part of d.c. to the humble hood of philly. i feel so full circle and ready to rekindle lost spirits from this world and before.
i've squeezed in a kickass ray lamontagne and guster show, a sailing excursion, a trip out to seattle, and a couple other breaks from the details of ::stuff:: but i haven't had a steady internet connection or a loving bondage type relationship to cellphone for a good bit of time, so i do hope to get back in the loop soon when i am able to set up here and get some time for normalcy. i hope you all will understand and forgive. it's all the au neccesaire way that moves can go.
there are a few videos up now ('videos' under the main pic) that show random snippets of this timeframe, and also i'll be adding dlmusic pics as i am able. i hope to keep all the words and semblances alive and well with all of you who are in touch and on the move. it is a changing strange time for almost everyone i closely know, and i wish anyone reading this vision, humbleness, and tranquility.
always feeding the barddom,
diel