Alex, NYC, and Eleanor
There's a conversation on s_t about Alex buying a house in NYC. Lots of debate is going on over whether this means he's moving from Glasgow, whether this means he's moving in with Eleanor, whether this means that him and Eleanor are going to have a baby/get married, etc.
First, it's amazing to me that we can all be so bored waiting for the new album that this becomes discussion worthy. Why is it that when Paul supposedly bought a house in London last year there wasn't nearly this much angst? Or did I just miss it?
Second, I still haven't figured out how some people can get from a pretty reliable rumor of "Alex may be buying a house in NYC" to "squee, Alex and Eleanor are going to be having a baby in the near future". Maybe it's just too many years of training in logic for me, but there is no way outside of some very fevered imaginings to get from the first statement to the last.
Third, the only thing that worries me about him moving to NYC is the effect on his music. It's not that I don't want him to be happy, or that I think he deserves to be depressed just to make us, the fans, happy, but the reality is that most of the music I like from them is very angsty and dark. I like the version of "come on home" on the dvd where he changes the last word to 'stay' exactly because it's the unexpected. If the record version said 'stay' instead of 'leave', it would be just another weak romance song. Something The Feeling would sing, not Franz Ferdinand.
I went through this with Bruce Springsteen. I still listen to his early dark albums, but after he got married the second time and became a dad, and basically grew up, his music just wasn't the same. People keep telling me that I'll grow up and like the more settled life and appreciate the more 'home'-ly music, but I'm a year short of 40 and I don't see it even starting yet. For some people it never does.
I have mixed emotions about this in regards to Alex. I really want him to be happy because I don't think people should be unhappy. I want to be happy in my life, why shouldn't I want that for him? But I know that art changes when the artist changes. I don't want happy music from him. I would like to think that he will still write the same music no matter what, but I have yet to find an artist that can do it. I know my art changes when I'm happy from the stuff I do when I'm sad or lonely, why should I expect miracles from him?
First, it's amazing to me that we can all be so bored waiting for the new album that this becomes discussion worthy. Why is it that when Paul supposedly bought a house in London last year there wasn't nearly this much angst? Or did I just miss it?
Second, I still haven't figured out how some people can get from a pretty reliable rumor of "Alex may be buying a house in NYC" to "squee, Alex and Eleanor are going to be having a baby in the near future". Maybe it's just too many years of training in logic for me, but there is no way outside of some very fevered imaginings to get from the first statement to the last.
Third, the only thing that worries me about him moving to NYC is the effect on his music. It's not that I don't want him to be happy, or that I think he deserves to be depressed just to make us, the fans, happy, but the reality is that most of the music I like from them is very angsty and dark. I like the version of "come on home" on the dvd where he changes the last word to 'stay' exactly because it's the unexpected. If the record version said 'stay' instead of 'leave', it would be just another weak romance song. Something The Feeling would sing, not Franz Ferdinand.
I went through this with Bruce Springsteen. I still listen to his early dark albums, but after he got married the second time and became a dad, and basically grew up, his music just wasn't the same. People keep telling me that I'll grow up and like the more settled life and appreciate the more 'home'-ly music, but I'm a year short of 40 and I don't see it even starting yet. For some people it never does.
I have mixed emotions about this in regards to Alex. I really want him to be happy because I don't think people should be unhappy. I want to be happy in my life, why shouldn't I want that for him? But I know that art changes when the artist changes. I don't want happy music from him. I would like to think that he will still write the same music no matter what, but I have yet to find an artist that can do it. I know my art changes when I'm happy from the stuff I do when I'm sad or lonely, why should I expect miracles from him?