I saw the band OK GO perform “This Too Shall Pass” on The Colbert Report then saw their videos for the song and am overjoyed by their brilliance. They made two versions, one featuring a giant Rube Goldberg contraption and one performed live with a marching band and choir. Absolutely Amazing. And if you have never seen their first video, dancing on the 8 treadmills, then you should probably watch that as well.

Thank Good there are still great music videos despite the fact that MTV has turned into a wasteland of our culture’s worst. Interestingly, State Farm Insurance paid to make the first of their videos, which demonstrates how inverted the system has become: while record companies used to make videos as advertisements to sell the record and MTV would use videos to sell advertising, now the advertisers directly pay the self-distributing artists to make the video. That is cutting out a few middlemen! And because the band was allowed complete creative freedom (unlike under the old feudal system of labels), selling-out refers more to the advertiser than the band! This is the Internet induced transfer of power from corporation to creation and it is beautiful to watch!

Freedom is the most important concept for artistic creation and inspiration. I also believe that artists should be supported and compensated for their contributions, but we are still figuring out how to do that efficiently, as opposed to the master/slave relationship between labels and artists. Eric has been insisting that I join Rhapsody Music for months and I had been reluctant for a few reasons, but their recent price drop, to $10/month and their upgraded iphone app that allows downloading made it irresistible. It is pretty awesome. Instant access to an enormous catalog of music from around the world is an enormous increase in my freedom to listen to music; I no longer have to consider which albums or tracks I want to purchase with my limited budget and thus eliminate an unnecessarily competitive music market. In the past hour, I have discovered great music from Owl City, Talvin Singh, Segun Bucknor and Ke$ha. While it is not free, it is a step closer to freedom.

I got a new camera, Sanyo Xacti HD2000 and have been shooting my first HD footage! Here a music video I put together over the break. It features a cardinal from Newton, Snappy from Brooklyn, a Sunday in Foxboro (back when it still felt good with Wes Welker working-check out his nice route!), John and Evans’ wedding in Buffalo and a sunset from the sky. It was a good week.

Old Year/New Year from Supergood on Vimeo.

I’m a simple man who likes simple things, but life is infinitely complex. And then there’s The Wire. It is simply the most intricately detailed and beautifully crafted story I’ve ever watched. Good guys and bad guys blend into moral ambiguity, while one man’s solution is another man’s problem. I fundamentally believe that killing anybody is bad, but there were characters and situations that made me question that belief. Some people do what they consider the right thing for the right reasons and still end up making everything worse. The law is constantly being reinterpreted and bent to fit the facts and facts are being manipulated to fit the story or the law. It presents our society as inherently flawed and gives us a new perspective on our problems. I am grateful to everyone who contributed to creating this masterpiece of American media.

Last night, I saw two movies I have wanted to see for a long time and both completely lived up to my highest hopes. “Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars” and “Little Dieter Needs To Fly” are both about triumph of the human spirit over the very worst that humanity has to offer. I suppose they both show how war can produce positivity, but the full-scale horror they experienced can never be justified. In search of some advice before I travelled to West Africa, I called a family friend, Banker White, who had spent some time there making a movie. A few years later his footage was assembled as the fantastic documentary SLRAS. In Sierra Leone, psychopathic monsters marauded the countryside and destroyed people and villages, forcing innocent civilians to flee to neighboring Guinea where they overwhelmed refugee camps. Music is such an important part of African life, and having witnessed the senseless brutality, it became an even more important means of expression. The All Stars play and sing about the conflict bringing awareness and escape, and in a world devoid of rationality they offer meaning, hope and purpose. Music brings eternal joy.

Warner Herzog captures the capture of Dieter Dengler direct from Dengler’s mouth. A US pilot flying in Vietnam, he is shot down, imprisoned and tortured for six months before he organizes an escape with his fellow POWs. How he managed to live through it and survive the jungle is still beyond my comprehension, but he did and he recounts it beautifully, without an ounce of resentment, returning to the site of his endurance and reliving it. Years later, Herzog made “Rescue Dawn”, the hollywood version of the story with Christian Bale playing Dengler, but the direct monologue in “Little Dieter” is even more effective at communicating the hellish experience firsthand.

War makes good movies, but only because the contrast between good and bad is so great. Making music is great, but do I need to see my family slaughtered for it to truly have meaning? Survival is inspiring, but do I need to eat rotting and maggot infested meat while having bamboo shoots slid under my finger nails to give life a purpose? I know that every day is a gift and I hope I never have to experience anything nearly as traumatic to appreciate each breath.

Here is a video of the video from last night’s show. Thanks to everyone who came and enjoyed themselves.

Hank’s Saloon 3.7.09

I teach Adam and Michael Patterson (ages six and nine) and they rock! Here is a video we made this week. Look out, Brotnick!

Patterson