The inimitable Edward J. Cooper III is constantly pressuring me for submissions to the M.U.M. website. I encouraged this as a sort of forced regular writing exercise but, between band practice, a wife and daughter, and a work schedule that constantly fucks with my circadian rhythms, it can be a bit difficult. But that's bullshit, isn't it? Excuses. Sit down and do the work. This is America; suing and bitching are as exalted and thoughtless as mechanically separated chicken parts. Here in Hickory, everyone bitches about how there's nothing to do but drink and drug. Lord knows I like to drink and have my moments of apathy, but I know it's on me. Boredom is in yr head.
Sure, Hickory, North Carolina isn't exactly the cultural mecca of the east coast. It has its musicians and writers, its potters and painters, but avant-garde is not a word heard outside of cable television. Bands that don't play sets full of top forty and classic rock covers are (outside of the tiny “underground” scene) given the same sort of praise as kindergarten finger paintings hanging from a relative's refrigerator. Anyone who dreams bigger than Catawba County must be an egotist or an imbecile. Sit down, shut up. Even in the scene, such as it is, people generally turn out only for the out of town bands that already have a recognized name.
Yeah, hipster, strike a pose.
But every area of every civilization has a culture and every culture has its share of the discontented, the dreamers, the rock ‘n' rollers, the people who ask why, who say no. Even Cuba and Russia. Even Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China. Even Hickory, North Carolina. So Multiultramedia, one man's attempt to kick others in the ass or take them by the hand, to throw up the Jolly Roger and see who comes calling, to connect this place with other wandering ships and pirate utopias (see: the Third Mind Collective, the Psychic Revolution, etc.). But with only one man it will be little more than a clearing house and information center. These are worthwhile reasons in themselves but only with other people can it be more.
Perry Farell once said there would always be something to rebel against in music until he could have sex, drugs, and rock ‘n' roll for at least six hours a day. Why not? And before you go preaching the evils of drug use, you'd damn well better put down that glass of wine and stop your kid from spinning in circles in the middle of the living room floor. I'm a husband and a father and I take care of my responsibilities, but if being a good adult citizen means acting proper and soaking up reality tv and putting a dispassionate job before all else, well shit, just castrate me now and lock me in the cellar.
We can have it both ways. We can have it all. Notice the open call for submissions on the home page. Take a picture or paint one. Start a band. Side yr house with dismembered Barbie dolls. Call it art or just a good laugh. Skill is good, but all that's NECESSARY is a voice and the desire to use it.
Boil it down. Say fuck you. Who says beggars can't be choosers?
The author, Reverend Butch Lee, can be reached at .