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Why the hell I was gone. As a matter of fact two blocks from here. We get out of high school and. It's a pretty. Traditional town so I went to service like a lot of people around it it. Was a thing to do. I still think it's a thing to do without effect. And I went in the Navy. Oh. I think at the time a lot of it seems lately that there's been a lot more Marines running over the rows a lot of people in the Navy. And in fact most of people are either in the Navy or in the Marine Corps but they all mostly volunteer. And went along with them. Well. It. It sounds like is all I get because a tradition at everybody when the service and was there was
no thought behind it would be just like blindly when in the service which I don't think we did it was just just something with tradition that people do things. And people it. Is. A feeling behind it that it's a continuous feeling tied to how to put into words. But people that. Just try to obeyed things for no reason whatsoever except for their own benefit lose something in that. And. Even though in the beginning. They might not. Think that eventually later on they don't. I think right now those people a lot of those people are second guessing themselves and I think they way they have a hard road ahead of them yet. I think in the next 10 years they're going to. Really have problems. It was basically four guys that were in there that I knew personally and.
In this pack up here we're in now it's always been like a. Central location for a lot of people I'm out here. Even though I might be blocks away from here they're used to all meet up here on a Friday night before I decide but they were going to do it they go to a dance or whatever they want to do. They come up here and they meet and people like I used to meet them up here and it's funny come up an hour not knowing right well that you're not going to see them you're just going to see their name inscribed on a stone. Really. Yeah. You have to be. I don't know if you have to be around here but it. Will if you are from around here it it's more poignant I think it really hits home the people that are. That are they're gone. It's just. It's. Just. We just try to. You know. I was. 18 years old when I was you know when the service I didn't really have. An opinion on the walk or already anything else about the war except that.
My whole concern was that we went into the service. I went into the service and then it was I think wasn't afterwards that I did this side of. The war. When I was going into the service I never really gave it all that much thought. Point to me was that it was. A walk. The thing to do was to go into the service. That's what I did. I feel about this country that it's a great. Place. I feel about this country that it's a great place to live. I firmly believe that if anybody thinks otherwise I don't think they've been anywhere else. Just the freedom to do whatever you want to do. It's an incredible feeling I can sit here and say exactly what I think right now. And without any repercussions about. Whether or not I like this government or anything like that. I feel that anybody. That can. That doesn't
feel what that's worth. Are is naive enough to believe that. People want to stop that. Way of Life. It's definitely worth fighting clawing with going to the surface but. I think everyone should do at least two years. I don't think it's that much out of. Just knowing. Like. I joined the service because. Everyone around here basically trying to service it was a traditional. For everyone right. Away. Please. Check in here. Like. I joined the service because. Basically around here it was a thing to do. This. Area is.
Steeped in tradition. As far as father and son. To grandfather my father and grandfather. Of all gone in the service. My great grandfather came from Ireland I don't know if you want this overnight but. In this country that was a thing to tell you traditionally went into the service. Whether you won in the Marine Corps the Navy the Air Force the Army or why you went into the service it was. It sounds like there was no thought involved but it was that's what you did. It was everyone likes it around here I like it around here and that's what you did you didn't really. Bother to get into the political part of whether you should go into a war and as a trans all this and some was in the past. 50 ideas. And that's why we went into the service and everyone around here wanted it sounds like it's a blind thing that we did but it's more. Tradition in this things with tradition that. Speak for itself. You are.
Collection
Harvard Book Store
Series
WGBH Forum Network
Program
Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life
Contributing Organization
WGBH (Boston, Massachusetts)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/15-1n7xk84n82
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Description
Description
Steve Almond, best-selling author presents , a musical extravaganza in celebration of his new book about obsessive fandom. The evening will include literary explorations of classic hits by Styx, Toto, and other bands you are now ashamed to admit you once loved, along with other selections from the book, which calls "a hilarious riff on the power of music." The show closes with a live set by the utterly rocking Boris McCutcheon & The Salt Licks.With a life thats spanned the phonographic era and the digital age, Steve Almond lives to Rawk. Like you, hes secretly longed to live the life of a rock star, complete with insane talent, famous friends, and hotel rooms to be trashed. Also like you, hes had to settle for the life of a rabid fan, one who has converted his unrequited desires into a (sort of) noble obsession.traces Almonds passion from his earliest (and most wretched) rock criticism to his eventual discovery of a music-crazed soul mate and their subsequent production of two little superfans. Along the way, Almond reflects on the delusional power of songs, the awkward mating habits of drooling fanatics, and why Depression Songs actually make us feel so much better.
Date
2010-04-16
Topics
Music
Subjects
Culture & Identity; Literature & Philosophy
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:06:20
Embed Code
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Credits
Distributor: WGBH
Speaker2: Almond, Steve
AAPB Contributor Holdings
WGBH
Identifier: f77b1046103fb62f8bba6b9d419904550f678a68 (ArtesiaDAM UOI_ID)
Format: video/quicktime
Duration: 00:00:00
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Citations
Chicago: “Harvard Book Store; WGBH Forum Network; Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life,” 2010-04-16, WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed September 16, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-1n7xk84n82.
MLA: “Harvard Book Store; WGBH Forum Network; Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life.” 2010-04-16. WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. September 16, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-1n7xk84n82>.
APA: Harvard Book Store; WGBH Forum Network; Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life. Boston, MA: WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-1n7xk84n82