Just sit there and stare

When I think of Punk Rock I think of rebellion. I think of going against the grain. I think of people not giving a rats ass what anyone else thinks. Punk rock sees the world and life and doesn’t so much hate it as some would think, but rather loves it so much that they want it to be better. So they challenge it and try to kick it into shape.  A punk embraces his or her ideals of how great life can be and follows those ideals despite the often painful consequences. Usually a feeling of isolation and being “different” than everyone else. And the easiest way to deal with those feelings is to put on a rough exterior and crazy haircut and mean visage and scare people away from you and pretend like you don’t care. The consequences of rejecting the bullcrap status quo offered by processed packaged boring minds who are asleep in fear and boredom. Rejecting what the TV says is news. Rejecting the desire to give in and accept a benign safe reality and living a life of challenge, and excitement, and wonder. But a true punk finds their way out of the darkness and sees beauty regardless. Punk rock sees sunsets and sunrises. Punk rock believes what it wants despite the so called facts. It is not concerned with the odds and actually feels a little more comfortable with it’s back against the wall and being a 100-1 underdog. The stereotypes of eccentric clothing and hairstyles and snarls and sneers and gritted teeth and loud overdriven music and violent  pushing and screaming are not ends in themselves. They are survival techniques. They are coping mechanisms. They are battle flags and war cries. They are screams of pleasure and freedom. They are wails of mourning and sorrow. Make no mistake. Beyond the trappings of non-conformity draped over the punk rock spirit is something quite simple and beautiful. It is a heart. A heart of ideals. A heart that is filled with youth and desire despite age or background. Punks transcend time. Woody Guthrie was just as punk as The Clash. Walt Whitman was just as punk as Black Flag. Jesus and Buddha were just as punk rock as Hunter S. Thompson and Allen Ginsberg. Emily Dickinson and Patti Smith will forever be on the same team in eternity. As will John Keats and Lou Reed. All these punks had at their core the ability to stand up to their society and environment and challenge it. They lived differently and ultimately provided steadying balance to an off kilter world on a unfair fulcrum.

So I have pontificated about punk rock for one reason. Because today I was moved by a very punk rock person. A person that takes our current way of life and flips it upside down. Pile drives it. And exposes it for the devil impostor it is. A person that teaches us to, of all things ..be vulnerable when society tells us to close off and and cover up. To be open. To be gentle when society says push your way to the front and take what’s yours. Be compassionate when society says lookout for those out to get you. Be creative when society says just build it quick and give the masses what they want. To share when the morning papers tell us to protect what’s ours. And to be loving and embrace others despite the awful risks of pain and heartbreak and loss that will possibly and eventually come to us. This person is the most punk rock person I know. He is dead now but his punk spirit lives on and my daughter and I watch him all the time. He wears a sweater like Kurt Cobain did in the unplugged special. Retro Chuck Taylor looking sneakers. Greasy hair. He has a a bunch of crazy friends. Works on all kinds of DIY projects. And everyday he goes around town and does whatever the hell he wants.
Ladies and gentlemen I post a video of the punkest most bad ass man I know.