Since everyone and their kin are sharing their thoughts on the anniversary of 9-11,I figured I'd throw my two cents in for what its worth.
In short,9-11 led to one of my greatest adventures as well as one of my messier breakups,but let me share the details..
I was working at Linden Hills Coop in Minneapolis when word of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers hit. My first thought was "Chickens had come home to Roost" It was just a matter of time before America got a taste of its terroristic foreign policy and the time was now. I was working in the Deli Department and instead of the usual music being played in the kitchen,the radio was turned to MPR.
At one point,it sounded like planes were headed to the Capitol,instead something hit the Pentagon.
When I got a break, I called my girlfriend at the time. We were living together in the Nokomis Neighborhood. She described herself as a "Revolutionary Feminist Marxist" Needless to say,she had been glued to the TV and was fired up over the events. She was surprised Linden Hills wasn't closing down and was hoping I'd make it home before the bombs started flying.. I did notice during my break that while normally planes would be flying over the Coop regularly that it was eerily quiet.
The rest of the day at work was business as usual,I was surprised as how few customers commented on the event. A co worker of mine, a Native American man and I were convinced war was imminent and he assured me in case hostilities broke out,I would be welcomed to join him on tribal land where dissidents such as myself would be welcomed in case the US Government wanted me to join in actions I disapproved of.
I was scheduled to perform with a group of musicians at Sursumcorda, later on in the week. Sursumcorda was a Downtown Minneapolis club that booked poetry and spoken word performers and I had a rehearsal scheduled for that evening. With everyone being on various schedules,previous rehearsals had been cancelled. This was going to be the only chance to get together before the show,and as much as I wanted to cancel the rehearsal to watch the news,the rehearsal had to go on.
I was already worried about the show as the plan was for me to perform the poetry of Eugene McCarthy under a reggae rhythm. I had no idea how this was going to work,but I saw similarities in the themes of McCarthy's work and themes heard in reggae music and I was determined to pull it off.
The rehearsal went smoothly and after a couple hours,I was able to catch up on the events of the day.
We all know what the days and weeks following 9-11 were like..hyper patriotism,wars and rumors of wars. Downtown clubs were closed for a few days,including Sursumcorda. As it turned out,my show was going to be the first after 9-11. Social media was in its infancy then,word about various events got passed on mostly on message boards. Quite a bit had been written about my work in various reggae publications globally. This despite the fact that I had only performed in Minneapolis and Denver at the time. Sursumcorda webcasted its shows,so given the attention the work had garnered,I posted the info about the show on various reggae message boards.
The show went well,and from that show,I learned a little about the power of the internet as within a week after that performance,I received an email from a reggae promoter in Germany inviting me to perform there. The shows were set for the spring of 2002. How was I to know the peace oriented poetry of McCarthy was going to be performed so soon after 9-11??
My girlfriend had always been the more militant sort and though we both were passionately interested in politics and world events,she was by far more focused on them than me. 9-11 served as an explosion in her mind,it seemed and to communicate with her,the subject had to be around revolution or the downfall of the United States,otherwise a fight was going to be on our hands.
In October,the New York Yankees played the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series. In the media's eyes this was fitting,and despite the Yankees with their Nixon loving greedy owner and representing everything wrong with America,they were the sentimental favorites. I hate the Yankees and no post 9-11 empathy was going to extend to the Yankees with me. I watched all seven games of the Series. This drove my girlfriend crazy and at one point she asked me "How could you be watching this when America and the world is preparing to burn?" I replied "Because I like Baseball"
I had a performance that month at Intermedia Arts. There I was was to perform with an avant garde jazz saxophonist and a number of noted spoken word artists. The performance was politically charged as the saxophonist described himself as a "Revolutionary Marxist" The work I contributed to the show was less militant than the others but seeing as most of the other spoken word artists had never worked with musicians before,it served as a bridge and kept the flow of the show going. My girlfriend loved the show and liked the saxophonist too. An ongoing correspondence began with those two and once an open computer with an email addressed to him informed me that there was more than art and revolutionary politics going on between them. I knew what was going on but played dumb when she began to talk with me about the possibility of my moving out shortly after I returned from Europe. Did the fact she told me I was free to have any encounter I wished in Europe have anything to do with the knowledge she was going to have a certain house guest while I was there?
During this relationship,I was still friends with an old girlfriend of mine.We had maintained an on and off relationship through the years. Her interest in me seemed greatest when I was involved with someone else and she had this seemingly psychic knowledge about contacting me when she sensed things were running its course with another. I generally kept a certain distance from her when I was dating someone else,but this time when she invited me over for dinner,I took her up on it. I did not come home that night.
Needless to say,things got very explosive when I did come home. I did openly what was being done discreetly,not the wisest thing to do when I look back,but that's what happened.
I ended up moving out before I went to Europe,and I do have notes on a play linking the destruction of the Twin Towers with the destruction of a relationship..
