RIP Alan Vega

[Gob]

Alan Vega, who passed away July 16 at age 78, was deeply in touch with the darkness at the heart of our most euphoric music.

Alan Vega was not a rock star, he was the shadow behind every rock star, a brutal, bone-cutting burlesque of the rock star’s desire, the entire animal reduced to stuttering incoherence and a few words about lust, love and violence.

The man born Boruch Alan Bermowitz refused to be blinded by the happy light of the frontman’s sexdream; his cold, caged stare, prisoner flails, and bubbling, hissing, pleading voice, were kindling for the eternal flame he guarded of rock’s dark roots, its stories of despair, even as he fronted one of the more progressive and adventurous bands of our time.

Alan Vega wasn’t just one of our greatest rock singers; a century of rock and its brutal and beautiful antecedents lived inside of him.

For the last 45 years, he reminded us that behind the happy distraction of rock ’n’ roll was the howl of the frightened, the hungry, the desperate. Rock ’n’ roll was their sound, their voice—even before it was called rock ’n’ roll, rock ’n’ roll was the ecstatic messenger of the politically, economically and emotionally disenfranchised. Alan Vega understood this.

Alan Vega’s rock ’n’ roll was not a route to Pink Cadillacs; it was a path to survival.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Who he? (Don't answer. Looked at Wiki). Who he?

[Bicycle Bill]

Who he? (Don't answer. Looked at Wiki). Who he?

Agreeing with Meade.  Unless you were very deep into music, or a fan of a single specific band (duo, actually) in a very specific niche of music, one would have never heard of him.

-"BB"-

[RayThom]

The unmistakable musical stylings of Alan Vega.

[rubato]

I can see why he was such a big star. Plays the same musical phrase over and over again for 4 1/2 minutes, calls the people who came there to see him "fuckfaces" and then flips them off.



yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Plays the same musical phrase over and over again for 4 1/2 minutes, calls the people who came there to see him "fuckfaces" and then flips them off.

So sort of a musical version of Donald Trump then...

[MajGenl.Meade]

...or Gob for that matter

[Gob]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Vega

[Bicycle Bill]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Vega

Don't forget that because anybody can edit a Wikipedia article — in fact, the last edit to Vega's entry was made just yesterday — Wikipedia itself is not generally considered to be an unbiased and authoritative reference.

I could go in right now and create an entire article out of 100% fairy dust, moonbeams, gossamer, and a few bogus footnotes, or add enough slanted 'facts' and statements to an obscure but existing entry to make that person into whatever I desired.  I could turn Hillary Clinton into Mother Teresa (or vice versa) or make Trump look worse than Russia's Josef Stalin.  And who knows how long it would be before someone caught wise and eliminated the inaccurate/slanted information?

It makes for a good starting point, but that's about it.

-"BB"-

[MajGenl.Meade]

I could turn Hillary Clinton into Mother Teresa (or vice versa)

Mother Teresa was an appalling person. I don't think Hillary would thank you for the transformation. Even she....

[Sue U]

I could turn Hillary Clinton into Mother Teresa (or vice versa)

Mother Teresa was an appalling person. I don't think Hillary would thank you for the transformation. Even she....

Chris Hitchens, is that you?

[MajGenl.Meade]

No way... he was an atheist. Mother Teresa was a terrible woman - she believed that suffering was good for the soul and accordingly withheld useful medication from the dying. She advised them to pray to "their gods". She did nothing to alleviate suffering and was a piss-poor "Christian" (her theology was crap, in common with others of her ilk). For the Romans to believe her a "saint" is to mock the term.

[Guinevere]

No way... he was an atheist. Mother Teresa was a terrible woman - she believed that suffering was good for the soul and accordingly withheld useful medication from the dying. She advised them to pray to "their gods". She did nothing to alleviate suffering and was a piss-poor "Christian" (her theology was crap, in common with others of her ilk). For the Romans to believe her a "saint" is to mock the term.

Agreed that she was a horrible human being. I have a law school classmate who volunteered at one of her homes in India. She treated her patients and refugees with contempt, she withheld meds (as Meade says above), she refused to teach women how to help themselves by educating them about birth control or even abstinence. She didn't have a compassionate bone in her body. Her "work" was nothing more than a huge ego trip.

[RayThom]

Yeah, right. Go fuck yourself, you dried up, old crone. Oh, and may God have mercy on your soul.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Interesting confirmation, Guin. I alluded to MT's awfulness in an Adult Bible study series on Missions that I lead recently. There was some shock/surprise in the room but someone stood up and related a story in a similar vein to the one you relayed. I was glad of that confirmation too!

[rubato]

"...
Agreed that she was a horrible human being. I have a law school classmate who volunteered at one of her homes in India. She treated her patients and refugees with contempt, she withheld meds (as Meade says above), she refused to teach women how to help themselves by educating them about birth control or even abstinence. She didn't have a compassionate bone in her body. Her "work" was nothing more than a huge ego trip.

Yeah but she had a great PR department:






If they can canonize Serra after a career or enslaving and practicing genocide against the California Indians they can canonize Himmler without blinking, would have too, the the war had gone the other way..


yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

I must admit I'm consternated by this revelation about Mother Theresa, who was just canonized. The stories I heard the past few days on NPR quoted her fellow nuns as very admiring. Is this just a clash of traditional religious v secular perspectives?

[Joe Guy]

After his announcement, Pope Francis spontaneously started singing the chorus of an old Ray Price song. The crowd joined in...

"She's got to be a saint
Lord knows that I ain't
I finally realize right before my eyes
here is a saint"

There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd.

Click here if you would like to sing along too...