Life out of balance
Got to see Philip Glass perform Koyaanisqatsi this weekend at the Fox. How to describe? Ah. I’m finally at peace. Been waiting to see this for so long. Beginning with dark primordial notes, in fact I’ll call them “creation notes”, because like creation myths, they seem to give birth to a universe of melody that follows a certain lifespan, the parallel of a human lifespan or the lifespan of all of humanity, the tone of Koyaanisqatsi is a somber one. It is also an exciting one, and one that changes and evolves and persistently pulses like the world it seeks to capture in its time elapsed images of nature, cities and the cultural products and predicaments of mankind. After the final frenetic urban assault of “The Grid”, one can’t help but feel drained, depleted and somewhat time elapsed. I actually had a headache, unlike any other trivial headache experience though, it seemed to be a function of information saturation, or the budding of too many tangents pursuing investigations, analogies, memories, other tangents, etc. Ironically the result is not loss, it’s pure and total catharsis, ascending to a new level of perspective, a wider, grander and simpler one, something more elegant that ultimately leads to more definition and understanding. Glass’s heavenly bizarre arpeggios hypnotize you into an evolved state of consciousness. A holy order of disorder.
Such an event could only be followed up by a stiff drink to allow re-assimilation into normal identity-ego bound society. Halo Lounge is ok, yeah, ok, pretty cool. I’d heard the hype for months but never usually venture out of my East ATL world. Nice open interior with translucent marble bar that changes colors. The steps in the back create a Bronx in the summertime, or high school pep rally kind of street scene and are practical to boot. They should put in more. Cool and more cool. Brown leather and orange tinted shades. Baby blues. New millennium fashions harking back to striped down best of samplers of previous decades. Some Buckheads. A mix of people that doesn’t entirely work but makes it interesting enough. You get the feeling that the place is still seeking identity. Or maybe that’s Atlanta….hmmmm….