Few people can claim to have changed hardcore culture with the same level of volume and frequency as Ray Cappo. Were it not for one man's fixation on Ratt, he says, none of this would have happened.
You have no idea how psyched I was to have this to read on my prep when my school went on a lockdown. I was literally hiding in a closet reading this and enjoyed this conversation so much…maybe being in the closet too, it’s impossible for me to have uninterrupted reads otherwise. Considering Ray has had both conscious as well as subconscious influences on my belief systems, I have always thought of him as a caricature and I mean that in the most neutral way possible. This conversation was so humanizing, insightful and inspiring. Thanks for always doing the work.
"when all you know is a type of stability, and that carpet gets pulled out from under your feet, it makes you rethink safety in the material world"
There was something about Ray for me where, when he went from straight-edge to Krishna, I wasn't really surprised. He really seemed like he was searching for something, and being a kid and having that experience, losing that sense of safety and stability...it all makes sense. I think he's got more insight into himself than he realizes.
And yeah, like Kate said upthread, he did seem like sort of a caricature to me as well, though it probably doesn't help that a whole lot of people took his thing and ran with it all the way into full-blown caricature, "Straight Edge Means I'm Better Than You" t-shirts and all. But this conversation definitely made him more three-dimensional to me. It's not his fault, or Ian Mackaye's or Jesus of Nazareth's, that people took some basically sensible ideas and turned them into dogma.
I never personally met Ray Cappo I have been a fan of his since I was sixteen . what I mostly respect about him is that he is approachable (virtually that is) I once e-mailed him about the lyrics to “here we go” and I was pleasantly surprised he wrote back, very promptly I might add. The lyrics in particular were “iron and gold appear the same.” That lyric always confused me. So I once asked a mechanical engineer or was it a material scientist I forget, “does iron and gold appear the same” and this person’s response was “no” so I e-mailed ray and he actually took the time out to respond to a complete stranger’s question. And his response was very enlightening:
“They’re both metals. One has value. The other has little value. It’s an analogy between love and lust. “
Shelter played a show with my band in a basement in Memphis circa 2003. We were called My Surrender, literally after "saranagati", but we were not Krishnacore. When my friend who booked it confirmed we got added to the bill, I sat on the floor in my bedroom and wept. It was full circle just to know we would play the same room, and share our art/ideas on the same stage. Ray has always been the beginning of my journey, so this was very sweet to read. Thank you always Norm!
You have no idea how psyched I was to have this to read on my prep when my school went on a lockdown. I was literally hiding in a closet reading this and enjoyed this conversation so much…maybe being in the closet too, it’s impossible for me to have uninterrupted reads otherwise. Considering Ray has had both conscious as well as subconscious influences on my belief systems, I have always thought of him as a caricature and I mean that in the most neutral way possible. This conversation was so humanizing, insightful and inspiring. Thanks for always doing the work.
"when all you know is a type of stability, and that carpet gets pulled out from under your feet, it makes you rethink safety in the material world"
There was something about Ray for me where, when he went from straight-edge to Krishna, I wasn't really surprised. He really seemed like he was searching for something, and being a kid and having that experience, losing that sense of safety and stability...it all makes sense. I think he's got more insight into himself than he realizes.
And yeah, like Kate said upthread, he did seem like sort of a caricature to me as well, though it probably doesn't help that a whole lot of people took his thing and ran with it all the way into full-blown caricature, "Straight Edge Means I'm Better Than You" t-shirts and all. But this conversation definitely made him more three-dimensional to me. It's not his fault, or Ian Mackaye's or Jesus of Nazareth's, that people took some basically sensible ideas and turned them into dogma.
A true inspiration for me over the years, both the "Ray" and the "Raghunath Das". Jai.
I never personally met Ray Cappo I have been a fan of his since I was sixteen . what I mostly respect about him is that he is approachable (virtually that is) I once e-mailed him about the lyrics to “here we go” and I was pleasantly surprised he wrote back, very promptly I might add. The lyrics in particular were “iron and gold appear the same.” That lyric always confused me. So I once asked a mechanical engineer or was it a material scientist I forget, “does iron and gold appear the same” and this person’s response was “no” so I e-mailed ray and he actually took the time out to respond to a complete stranger’s question. And his response was very enlightening:
“They’re both metals. One has value. The other has little value. It’s an analogy between love and lust. “
Very well put.
Shelter played a show with my band in a basement in Memphis circa 2003. We were called My Surrender, literally after "saranagati", but we were not Krishnacore. When my friend who booked it confirmed we got added to the bill, I sat on the floor in my bedroom and wept. It was full circle just to know we would play the same room, and share our art/ideas on the same stage. Ray has always been the beginning of my journey, so this was very sweet to read. Thank you always Norm!