As things align in my favor on a reliable basis, it would so be reasonable, possible, and necessary, for me to attend a portugal. the man concert, in celebration of my new status - fresh out and free from a long term relationship, shining for nobody but me!
It’s become a routine for me: I have an open schedule, and the right numbers to obtain a ticket and travel costs. Where will we be? I check the band’s online page, and find a rescheduled show, a sign of destiny for me since the new date and city were actually ideal timing, and a fine place to visit.
Cleveland, Ohio. Never have been, and curious about culture, I decided to drive the 7.5 hours over the course of two days, and planned on sleeping in the backseat of my car. Mapping out the route was easy - 2 and half hours to Harrisburg (a city I saw them in before :)), 2 and half hours to Pittsburgh (another city me and them were in :)) and 2 and half hours to my final destination. I folded down the backseats and covered the base with fluffy blankets and fuzzy pillows. Packed my cooler with fruit, trail mix, honey n almond butter w bread: the essentials. I got plenty, 2 ounces, of pot in the settlement of me and my ex splitting. The refund I received from one car insurance company (2 drivers on membership) when I switched to another (1 driver on membership) funded my concert ticket. I sold my Nintendo Switch and 3 video games for gas cash. Ready, set, let’s gooo!
Arriving in Cleveland, my running theme of opposing imperialism was obvious. Parking was impossible, for free. You could pay for a garage or a meter, but my refusal for most financial transactions is firm. These days, I don’t have a bank account. I closed it out just before this weekend trip, as I have no job and no intention of one, in my process of Social Security Disability approval for my fifteen years of recorded mental health. I’m aiming to strengthen my Trust In The Universe to sail me where I want, and deserve, to be. The more you let go, the more you can fly.
To my discovery, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was just blocks away from the theater I would be audience in. Paid parking was the only option, but I got there before 9am so there was no attendant in the open lot. Thus, I rolled in and posted up, with the hatchback of my car open, slowly sipping iced coffee courtesy of my ebt card, absorbing the flawless spring sunshine and fresh air, emulating swag. Around 11:30a, it was time for my exploration.
The rock n roll museum was craazyy. Outdoors out front, they had a high school marching band playing to quite a few tourists floating around. A crowd gathered around them, including me. I’m most impressed with the baton girl, and students waving and tossing flags, the color guard squad. I got in the spirit and began dancing. As a self-identified Interpretive Dancer, my role is to perform just about any chance I can. The art can either be planned or spontaneous; sometimes i direct myself to a setting of live music, and sometimes, such as this occasion, i stumble upon the music. I then listen to my bodily emotions to express myself rhythmically, for my own physical exercise and spirituality, and to entertain onlookers as well. To make experiences more collaborative with people’s respective talents, and make the world a prettier place, is the work of an interpretive dancer.
Getting into the foyer of the museum was free. They had a lunch place and a very interesting gift shop. Cost to go through the doors to the labyrinth of rock n roll history was like twenty five dollars, but I’m always most interested in taking mental notes and photographic memories during my outings so that I can remake the art/ideas in my own style later.
What you will find out is that Cleveland was founded because of the popular movement that came out of rock music being introduced to us all. So here is the story:
In the beginning, there was a man. His name escapes me but he was a radio personality in New York City in the mid 1950s. With a substantial number of listeners to his station. Now, in general, the music scene in NYC around this time is where the seeds and roots of pretty much all american music begins to take birth. The radio, before television, is responsible for shaping the minds of millions. The mainstream culture is based from the radio news and shows, and featured musicians. Music as a business is initiated. I would compare the smartphone boom in the modern day to what the radio was like back then, from my understanding of history.
NYC is of course, new york city! So many people out there are building this land up, creating lifestyles, making names for themselves, entitling professions, and producing the city as the pinnacle for the freedom to pursue a fantastic existence. The music scene is the core of the up and coming culture. To be honest, it is known that drugs around this time play a part in said scenes. It can be assumed that drugs were encouraged more than discouraged in the customs surrounding playing instruments, singing, dancing, and making friendships / lovers around the arts. The arts which really came to fruition as a function of the human mind socializing and expressing itself in such ways.
Ok so, it’s this one guy, like the most popular radio personality, he’s maybe like an unofficial president of his musical subscribers. One day he gets on his platform like, “Hey everybody! I know! Why don’t we take this show on the road!” It would be a notion to have some of the millions in the city to form a pact and travel to a foreign place. A place where the music culture could thrive. Like an metaphoric island of rock n rollers. Where they will colonize a designated area themed on this kind of music. People were about it! Numbers could be estimated in a couple thousand folks. Driving in your own car was also an aspect sweeping the culture. Guitars and groupies, percussionists and punks, bassists and bohemians, all headed out far, and landed in Cleveland.
It wasn’t a city yet. It was a place in Ohio. There were people, average 1950s american dream families, in normal houses, accompanied by societal structures such as groceries and schools, but nothing close to the gang’s original home in booming NYC. Pretty much, the newbies in town started doing exactly what they came out for - rockin n rollin.
The famous radio DJ and his followers wreaked havoc. There were no norms or rules about where music could be played, how loud it could be, how long it would go on for, or about the usage of drugs with any consideration how being under the influence could cause serious trouble. Riots broke out. Constantly. Riots that became absent of musical entertainment; upheavals as a terrible symptom of unmoderated creativity turned to destruction.
An uncountable number of people died. The radio DJ, admitting responsibility for the catastrophe which lasted about a week, directed those who came on this journey to return to new york. Most did. Some stayed. And the spot on the map soon became infamous for the worst of what music was, and even still represents the downfall of music nowadays - a message of violence; degrading humans; drug abuse; and a lack of artistic skill, or lack of using artistic ability constructively. Nonetheless, Native Ohioans, unexpectedly appalled by this calamity, wanted better for their homeland.
Because the DJ and radio show was so popular, people all over heard about all this. It became a mission, sort of like a profitable charity effort, to rebuild the area of Ohio, which would as a result become Cleveland. Architects built buildings. Businessmen inhabited the buildings. Colleges were created, hopeful for youth graduates to continue education. Restaurants ran. Movie theaters made. Local government established. People around Ohio moved into the city, and the neighborhoods around became flourishing suburbs. Over the course of approximately 20 years, Cleveland was as respectable a city as any. The marketing of the city was certainly a positive spin on what was once a tragedy. “Come to Cleveland - the birthplace of rock and roll!”
As i walked around, monuments and statues could be seen throughout Cleveland, landmarks where riots broke out. These tombstones of our fallen Elvis-ish ancestors were as eerie as the lake, Eerie, coastline.
I wonder about the word association in Cleveland related to the rock and roll propaganda, if any. Visualize the word - C, Level, And // C, le[a]ve, land. Now think about the name of the genre. Rock? Roll? Could these be drug allusions? My imagination classically goes too far, but the idea that these riots are sparked by lost minds from drugs. Smoke rock, leave the land. Roll with this substance, see a level. Ya know like get high. Iontkna, that was just a thot as I strolled around downtown.
Back at my car, I earned a parking ticket but was careless about it. The city was fun for a weekend night. There’s no skyscrapers or anything but a main street and its cross streets with plenty of lively activity. In my opinion, it’s kinda a bum city, not to be a mean critic at all, but I’m spoiled with my love of my home Philadelphia. Baltimore is definitely the sister-city of Philly. DC is not that fun imo because it feels like a metropolitan for maryland and virginia and neither of those states qualify for a cool culture. The big apple is very fun. Chicago takes a cake for a city I feel satisfied in. Cleveland has a sensible low income vibe which I like, but I don't like how it’s the only vibe. I like a city to have equal parts rough n tough, and the option to go bougie nearby. A little, take a 2 dollar trolley ride from ur friend’s graffiti-tagged row home to a fancy brunch place in the heart of the social environment. The best of America.
You may have seen on social media a month ago, there were breathtaking Aurora Lights in various regions. It was that morning, I woke up comfortably in my car parked hidden on a random but safe backstreet. Whether it was natural phenomena or an AI configuration, the energy on twitter was warm from sharing the images across the globe.
It just happened to be Mother’s Day on this fine day of the portugal. the man show. I was now parked around the corner of the theater I would see them in, anchored there until doors at 7pm. Midmorning, a huge bus rolled up… omg hiii yall. I was in my vehicle, smokin’ weed, streaming Spotify, dazing out day dreaming etc. Time flew, I got dressed in my favorite jeans (gurls u kno how powerful we are in our #1 hotpants) and P.TM brand hoodie.
It was of course an honor to be there. We opened with Reyna Tropical, a smooth lady with an electric guitar who sang in Spanish. Very sexy. Then our indigenous friends took the stage, in ritual leading to the onset of the Portuguese. While I know all the songs like the back of my hand, it’s always a new experience, me relating to myself and my journey, during these concerts. No man walks in the same river twice, as the flow is not the same river, and he is not the same man.
Due to the day, shout-out to mothers. In a pause between songs, the band made sure to recognize all the moms there, people with moms there, and women who would maybe become moms one day. I feel this as especially awesome, because the band has a daughter. Frances is their daughter. She plays an active role in the band’s identity; and I admire their position. My stance is to let children be seen. Kids are equal to adults. My revolution is to relate to people of all ages as themselves in all manner of support, and allow their personalities to excel for the overall makeup of a beautiful and balanced planet. Frances is about 12 in age, and has a rare degenerative disease. You can catch her featured in the band’s music videos and clips, photographs, and even singing on the recorded track Time’s A Fantasy.
The message of ptm is clear - everybody either knows someone with a rare disease, has been affected by rare diseases, or has a rare disease themself. It’s not that diseases are bad or unfortunate, it’s that they are a part of humanity, and it is our duty to take care of this definite reality. Really, I would draw out that the defining feature of being alive is having a relationship with health; everyone alive is in their personal mode of operation with respect to their well-being. So, it’s not that there’s anything “uneasy” about diseases; it’s a fact correlated with breathing that we all manage our bodily health, in various forms, across a lifespan. In the fundraisers for medical research and options pertaining to medical conditions, you can find my name, for my teams in advancing knowledge and promoting good health and wellness. You can find my karma bank rich in actions advocating the goodness of everyone alive, esp those in the field of health and wellness.
The concert was bomb! Honestly so good, unsurprisingly; you can count on the ocean being salty, and the band to deliver A+. This one actually had the most throwback songs to date. Everyone Is Golden, a hauntingly good tune, gave me chills. I always halt myself from quietly singing Grim Generation, because it’s so catchy to me but I wanna hear every tiny note alteration in it performed live compared to the studio recording. Haha does that make sense. Do You was powerful in its own rite for me. The highlight was by far Mornings. It’s that spellbinding, “wow-wuw-wah-wowww” guitar intro that injects me with pure bliss. He strummed the guitar nice and slow, and I, intentionally, let out the most lovely “woooo” in harmonious join. My woo was appropriate, pleasing, and evident that in my brain, it takes .2 seconds to recognize a song. And I responded as if it were on cue. We are in service of the art’s purpose- soul activation. Sleep Forever as the grand finale is the most objectively best ending, considering the content.
A sea of us poured out the door. Was a smaller crowd for sure. My car battery was drained, because i’d been charging my phone all afternoon from it. Unworried, I have jumper cables in my car. A security dude in a security vehicle got me going. It was about 11pm, and I drove back towards Jersey. I made it the majority of the way, got sleepy around 4am, and slept in a parking lot of a random Comfort Inn along the way. Nice nap, then I landed home. The venture was a suburb success.
Ticketmaster sent an email.
“What did you think of the Portugal. the man concert?”
Honestly bro?
Get Kyle from hiding behind the ‘LANDBACK’ banner tacked over the keyboard. Move him to where I can gaze at him better. Lol, that’s all.
Today, my portugal TM concert expeditions are without question my favorite activity I engage in. 13 shows and counting! Currently, they have gigs out West. Like beyond Nebraska, and northern around there. For the next month or so, it’s possible to catch them… but my specific path is unclear. I may be benching this next round. I just got a lot of logistical transitions going on. Tryna set myself with income and housing blah blah. I’m impressed that I haven't missed a chapter with the band; in every frame from Fall of 2021 to May of 2024, I attend shows from the series of all shows available. My plan is to keep on keeping on. Until they play Keep On! That’s my damn jam. They all are. I don’t plan on unfollowing them, or losing touch with my anecdotes about experiencing them. I wanna be myself in the revolution living within the music.
That’s it, chiefs! That’s my memoir on music for now. The Imaginationship will continue to blog on, the material is just going to change from this era of blogging my relationship(s) with this band and those with me during. I feel healed a lot from my creation of this experience. it’s rewarding And I value life highly because of the contents of my artwork. Stay wild stay weird stay with me, because what is to come shall be the fruits of this labor, promising anotha summa of luuuuuvv, forevermore.
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