Entry 161, September 6th, 2011, 12:07am (GMT +2)
I played with our new lead trumpet player for the first time today. He's a nice guy from Poland named Bruno. We had a tech run and two production shows, so I had about three solid hours of playing to really start to lock into his sound. There's a lot of changes to get used to; after six months of playing with the same lead player six days a week it will take me a day or two to adjust. That's alright, though, everybody sounds different and that's one of the things that keeps the music interesting.
CNN has been running 9/11 tribute material for about two weeks now. "9/11: The Day That Changed Everything," or something like that. It got me to thinking . . . what exactly did 9/11 change in my life? The answer: not much. Sure, there are a couple big things. My best friend went on a tour in Iraq and another in Afghanistan. I missed him and worried for his safety, of course, but there was no emotional connection between 9/11 and that in my mind. Intellectually I could understand what happened, why, and know that he went through some serious shit, but there's no way I can actually understand what he went through. It remains an intellectual abstraction.
It's the same thing with the victims of the terrorist strike itself. I'm sad that people died, yes . . . but I didn't know any of them. It didn't hit me on a personal level -- it remains an abstraction, an intellectual exercise that has since been overshadowed by atrocities here and elsewhere around the world. Let's face it: 9/11 for us is business as usual for a lot of people.
It did give a corrupt administration the card it needed to stay in power and continue to muck up the economic and legal systems of the United States. If anything, that's where the biggest impact was to me -- economics. But to say that it was the day that changed everything is a bit too hyperbolic for me. It smacks of sensationalism and lazy reporting. This was no Pearl Harbor -- there's no draft, no rationing, no tax hikes, and . . . well, I guess we did build internment camps this time, too, but you get my point. 9/11 only has as much power over us as we let it.
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