Thoughts on POV courtesy of NBA Finals

I got into the Lyft on my way to pick up my car, after a new fuel pump was installed. The driver was playing a Phoenix sports radio station where the gabbers were gushing over the Phoenix Suns' win in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Since the team had won the first two games on its home court, things looked good for the team that had never been an NBA champion. 

I figured this was an easy entry to a fun conversation with the driver. 

"Are they talking about the game last night?" I asked him. 

"Yeah, they are," he said. 

After some back and forth, I did one of those let's find a good omen that augurs a win for the home team observations: "You know, the Diamondbacks brought a World Series win to Phoenix right after 9/11. Maybe the Suns will bring a win after this COVID-19 hell." I wasn't expecting his response. 

"Well, if that's what it takes for them to win, then I hope Phoenix teams never win again," he said. 

That took me aback. After all, I wasn't serious. It was the kind of harmless, semi-superstitious speculation that sports fans make all the time, as though saying these things will have some effect on the outcome. His comment made me think about the death and destruction that the terrorist attack and the pandemic had brought. We, meaning the Phoenix fan base, could sure use a lift after these horrific events, but so could everybody else. A Phoenix win had no meaning in all the NBA cities that were't Phoenix, right?

Turns out the driver was from Los Angeles, so he wasn't invested in Phoenix sports. I'm glad he wasn't because I never would have thought outside that silly box without his challenge. You can't assume that someone you've just met shares your interests, and the significant patterns you think you see are most often just the product of your point of view Not wrong exactly, but not universal mostly. 

Now that the Suns have lost, the pattern I suggested never came to be. Win or lose, it's the drama of the contest that matters and gives us respite from the real troubles of the real, troubled world. 

Le Club Bon Bon

In "Shadow Kingdom," Bob Dylan and band rule the mythical Club Bon Bon in Marseilles. 

I have watched  Bob Dylan's streaming "Shadow Kingdom" performance a couple of times and plan to watch it at least a couple of more before the streaming "ticket" expires on July 25 (as Veeps.com, the provider, announced today). 

It's one of the better performances I've seen from Mr. D and he's in relatively good voice, with a lot of hand gestures and emotion showing in his face - something that either doesn't happen much on stage or we sit too distant to see that stuff in a live concert. Beyond the questions Rolling Stone's Andy Greene asks about the show, I want to point out that this film portrays an alternate reality where the music business isn't the way it is. A performing artist of Dylan's reputation really can't go out and play a little blues club with a postage stamp dance floor, but in this shadow kingdom, it happens, and people dance, smoke and drink to it, all in black and white as though this Dylan guy was just a working the clubs in a Steinbeck novel or a noir detective story or maybe on the outskirts of town before the giant gila monster attacks the teenagers in their hot rods. The visual representations of Dylan's music have been residents of Noirville for a long time, going back at least to "Time Out of Mind" and probably back to "Oh, Mercy!" 

The time warp involved here is interesting. This is subtitled "The Early Songs of Bob Dylan." Well, yes, this 2021 and so it's been 32 years since "Oh, Mercy!" was released. That album includes the most recent of the songs included in this video, "What Was It You Wanted?" However, to me, the EARLY songs of Bob Dylan might include anything from his first three albums or before. It's hard to think of "Queen Jane Approximately" (from "Highway 61 Revisited"), just for instance, as an early song of Dylan's, since it came after his electrification, when he actually charted singles such as "Like a Rolling Stone," the hit from that same album. That being said, I recognize that this is a personal perspective. To my children and granddaughter, anything before they were born was pretty early, I'm sure. 

On losing a soul

I have lost my soul. I don't know where it went.

Before I go on, it might be a good idea to define what I mean by soul. It's a word that comes from religion, but I personally am not talking about a dogma or set of canonized beliefs here. I like the Italian word "anima" because it pretty much wears its meaning in the open. It's the animating principle. Without it, you're a doorstop, a statue, a rock. Stock-still as the universe churns.

So there you have it.

I don't know when I lost my animating principle. I think it ebbed away, so I didn't notice it until it was gone. I keep hoping that when I call out, it will respond and come back.

How does it feel to lose my soul?

Not very good to tell the truth.

According to the timestamp, I wrote the words above back on Dec. 28, 2019. Little did I know what was coming. What had happened just a few weeks before was an attack of sciatica that made it almost impossible to get out of bed and walk. At this point looking back and not journaling about what's going on in my head, I can't tell you what was so soul-sucking. I'm glad it's over. 

One thing is for certain, the COVID-19 years have forced a focus on what's most real. Ambition, etc., all the usual markers of success are a poor substitute for living. That's not to deny the place of ambition and action in life, but reflection and connection with family, friends and people in general - something many of us have starved ourselves of over the past year or so - is top of the list of activities, and when you've lost your soul, you've forgotten that. That's my story, anyway.