“How do I protect my children and teach them to protect themselves from this monstrousness at the heart of our national character, our political structure, the world on fire that we’re responsible for.”
Can we please get a monthly parenting advice column from the good doctor?
Dan’s answer of “How could you not?” to the question about bringing kids into the world is the elegant response that I’ve struggled so hard to find. We still need good kids. Better kids. Better than we ever hoped to be.
This great quote from the science fiction writer Annalee Newitz seems to help me out. Maybe you might find some solace in it as well. “I prefer not to admire problems. But it’s tempting. Especially when you’re dealing with huge systemic problems like climate change or racism, it’s very tempting to sit back and stare at all the multi- layered toxicity and give up. I mean there are a lot of science fiction like that, where there’s bleak nihilistic vibe and humanity lives in a trashcan. It’s a way of saying there will be no future.” Annalee Newitz
I only had the pleasure of meeting Dan once when I booked a lifetime show at Hampshire college in Amherst Massachusetts in 1995. He was a truly gracious person. I still have fond memories of that show because it was the biggest hardcore show I ever put on at a college that was known for putting on only indie-rock shows. Plus what was so awesome about lifetime is that they played a night show on a Sunday and their guarantee was so low especially for such a huge band and they drove back to New Jersey right ever the show. With shocked me because I had other bands in the past request hotel rooms. It is great to hear that Dan is doing great things. All the best.
"I didn’t have any of the standard building blocks of male self-esteem. I was loved and supported by my family, but I was the least athletic person ever. So I got fucked with a lot before I knew anything about politics and I got fucked with a lot once I knew about politics. It was lonely and alienating."
Absolutely my experience too, and it made me wary of certain spaces in the hardcore scene - a lot of the prototypical NYHC bands and youth crew bands looked a lot like the same people I got into hardcore to have some kind of refuge from.
I know this is way off topic but As fellow music fans I thought people might find this interesting:
- “In the late 19th century, the United States had more than 10,000 town bands providing a thriving market for musical instruments but as radio brought an alternative source of music most town bands disappeared. What saved the instrument business was the rise of the school band in the 1920s yet the cornet long a mainstay of any band almost went extinct when Louis Armstrong switched to a b-flat trumpet in the mid 1920s.
- The dinosaurs were replaced by mammals the cornet by the trumpet”
(Now just imagine the words” town band” was replaced by the words compact disc.)
When I read that Dan Yemin is releasing two new records in a two month span. It reminded me of an article I read in the Wall Street Journal today; called; “streaming is changing the sound of music; to succeed on Spotify and other services songs are getting shorter albums are getting longer and artists are collaborating across genres.”
Would you agree?
For example: the British indie band pocket of god took this trend to an extreme with their album “1,000 x 30: nobody makes money anymore. The title said it all: the band was protesting inadequate compensation by offering 1,000 tracks of just over 30 seconds in length. The first song is titled “0.002” referring to many cents the artists ended up receiving each time a song was played,”
“How do I protect my children and teach them to protect themselves from this monstrousness at the heart of our national character, our political structure, the world on fire that we’re responsible for.”
Can we please get a monthly parenting advice column from the good doctor?
Dan’s answer of “How could you not?” to the question about bringing kids into the world is the elegant response that I’ve struggled so hard to find. We still need good kids. Better kids. Better than we ever hoped to be.
This great quote from the science fiction writer Annalee Newitz seems to help me out. Maybe you might find some solace in it as well. “I prefer not to admire problems. But it’s tempting. Especially when you’re dealing with huge systemic problems like climate change or racism, it’s very tempting to sit back and stare at all the multi- layered toxicity and give up. I mean there are a lot of science fiction like that, where there’s bleak nihilistic vibe and humanity lives in a trashcan. It’s a way of saying there will be no future.” Annalee Newitz
I only had the pleasure of meeting Dan once when I booked a lifetime show at Hampshire college in Amherst Massachusetts in 1995. He was a truly gracious person. I still have fond memories of that show because it was the biggest hardcore show I ever put on at a college that was known for putting on only indie-rock shows. Plus what was so awesome about lifetime is that they played a night show on a Sunday and their guarantee was so low especially for such a huge band and they drove back to New Jersey right ever the show. With shocked me because I had other bands in the past request hotel rooms. It is great to hear that Dan is doing great things. All the best.
"I didn’t have any of the standard building blocks of male self-esteem. I was loved and supported by my family, but I was the least athletic person ever. So I got fucked with a lot before I knew anything about politics and I got fucked with a lot once I knew about politics. It was lonely and alienating."
Absolutely my experience too, and it made me wary of certain spaces in the hardcore scene - a lot of the prototypical NYHC bands and youth crew bands looked a lot like the same people I got into hardcore to have some kind of refuge from.
great stuff, yemin is the realest!
I know this is way off topic but As fellow music fans I thought people might find this interesting:
- “In the late 19th century, the United States had more than 10,000 town bands providing a thriving market for musical instruments but as radio brought an alternative source of music most town bands disappeared. What saved the instrument business was the rise of the school band in the 1920s yet the cornet long a mainstay of any band almost went extinct when Louis Armstrong switched to a b-flat trumpet in the mid 1920s.
- The dinosaurs were replaced by mammals the cornet by the trumpet”
(Now just imagine the words” town band” was replaced by the words compact disc.)
Loved this interview!!!
When I read that Dan Yemin is releasing two new records in a two month span. It reminded me of an article I read in the Wall Street Journal today; called; “streaming is changing the sound of music; to succeed on Spotify and other services songs are getting shorter albums are getting longer and artists are collaborating across genres.”
Would you agree?
For example: the British indie band pocket of god took this trend to an extreme with their album “1,000 x 30: nobody makes money anymore. The title said it all: the band was protesting inadequate compensation by offering 1,000 tracks of just over 30 seconds in length. The first song is titled “0.002” referring to many cents the artists ended up receiving each time a song was played,”