Two for Tuesday

It's crazy to note when the idols of our youth are getting older. Today is the birthday of Ian McKaye of Dischord Records, Minor Threat, Fugazi and Evens fame, among others (which of course you knew). It's not a landmark, 'cos he turned 50 last year. This stuns me because it seems like just yesterday he had only served 19 years of his time for being white. Heck, when I was listening to those tunes on a regular basis (with at least two others of you reading this), they'd already been out a good decade, or close to it.

I've had my ups and downs with Ian over the years. In my youth he was, of course, the patron saint of disaffected youth, our model and spokesperson. Later on in my twenties I felt he was a bit of a ball-buster, as my well-jaded sensibilities just figured he was either relentlessly preaching to the choir or screaming at the wall of indifference that was most of the rest of the world. But about 10 years ago I was lucky enough to see him (with JT) give a lecture at one of the local colleges in the Nashville area, and even met him, and it was a truly enlightening experience. Long story short, Ian is a good guy, highly observant to the state of things, and able to deduce the good, bad and ugly from those observations to determine (and share) the positives from all of it. At the end of the day, he's the idyllic artist/celebrity who has been able to uncompromisingly produce what he wants to, how he wants to and still make a living out of it - with the end result being a bunch of music that, even if you don't care for all of it, is nothing short of sincere. And there's a real lack of that these days.

Here's are a couple pretty solid moments from his career - a show stopping version of Fugazi's Waiting Room and Cache is Empty from the Evens.

Man, Amy can play those drums! She about stole your candles, birthday boy!