Happiness leads the way for all - apart for somebody in the middle.

Yesterday evening watching "Kitchen Nightmares", I saw a sweet, 70-year-old man come back from retirement, seemingly on his restless wife's behest. He trodded along the floors of the horribly decorated Flamango - which is what the place was called - cutting badly cooked filet mignon tsunami - their actual word on the menu for it - table-side for guests, pouring some kind of tincture of garlic and butter over it all and letting it run from the carcass into a bowl. Yes, in front of the guests.

He walked around with his trolley/abattoir, his body constantly threatening to stop working and start dying. I just wanted him to get out of there, to retire, which seemed like what he wanted to do all along. He seemed so nice to his wife, trying to make her happy by giving her what she wanted. She was 100% sure of herself, that despite their quickly moving toward foreclosure and bankruptcy in the golden years, she was right; the decor was good, the menu was excellent, nothing needed changing - it was her staff and the customers that were idiots, obviously. Not her.

Of course she made a fool of herself, without realising it. And in the background, always, was her husband. And at the same time, by being humble and sweet, he was always in the foreground.

[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2010-02-04-rightstart.mp3]

I've had this song in my head for the better part of today; it's a demo version of Talking Heads' "Once In A Lifetime". So funky, yet a missing link between the Talking Heads I love and David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. Maybe, one day, I'll like it. As with jazz. But I still loathe some types of jazz, like fusion. I can't stand it. At the same time, the mere thought of nearly every single noise Einstürzende Neubauten's made sends shivers down my spine. Or Johnny Rotten screaming into a mic while Steve Jones literally bangs his guitar with the only thing that resembles music is a drum-beat somewhere in the background. I don't think I'll ever come to terms with fusion. Seemingly _dis_organised noise I can love, but not fusion; it's like Swedish band Kent's latest music video: complete shite.

On the flipside there is great music, made with few pretensions of trying to attain great artistic merit, that just rocks.

[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2010-02-04-girl.mp3]

That voice, his way of singing just creeps inside of me, beyond anything bad. Shit, I'm the pretentious one in describing what it sounds like. Just listen. Buddy truly rules, still.