Life on a String In hindsight the title of Laurie Anderson's new album which was recorded before 911 sounds like a premonition of things to come. Mankind's life hangs by a thread now. At the same time "Life on a String" offers a way out of our current dilemma: music. Music is a means used in psychotherapy. Aggressiveness can be reduced by music in two ways. The patient can listen to soothing music like baroque or he can make music himself. Drumming for example can channel an abundance of energy.

Looking at the recent events unfortunately reveals that the two parties involved have replaced music by lethal unlistenable loud noise. Music is a way of communication. There is a perfomer and an audience. The audience listens to the performing artist. The communication between the two parties fighting each other is however interrupted. The terrible noise of the collapsing WTC towers was not a sound anyone could have listened to. It killed the people who did not seal their ears. It disconnected the line of communication. The only possible answer to this could only be a counter-attack in deadly noise production. There was no target on the other side which would have generated a similar deafening noise if it would have been destroyed. Therefore the answer was clear. The response to the apocalyptic blast could only be a long-term noise inflicted to the aggressor or who is thought of as the aggressor. Bombing a country without targets does only produce much less impressive noises than the tumbling down of the WTC. In order to stay on par with the attackers the bombing has to go on for a long while so that the accumulated continuous tone of aircrafts dropping bombs can come closer to the original crash noise. It can never reach it though. Just imagine George W. Bush, bin Laden, Tony Blair and the Taliban leader playing together in a band. It may sound naive but I think it would be a more promising way out of our current dilemma than killing each other with eyes and ears closed.

There are two lyric excerpts from Laurie's album which make me wonder if she is a reincarnation of Nostradamus (metafilter thread).

In the song Statue of Liberty she sings "Freedom is a scary thing. Not many people really want it." This line has become so frighteningly true by now that she changed it in her last concerts to: "Freedom is a scary thing. So precious, so easy to lose." Which is true as well but somehow less poignant and more general.

The second foreboding less known excerpt which really gives me the chills is from One Beautiful Evening: "Oh beauty in all its forms. Funny how hatred can also be a beautiful thing. When it's as sharp as a knife. As hard as a diamond. Perfect."

Though "Funny" does not fit as adjective here. But I see the sharp knife / hard diamond (a metamorphosis of hatred) when the (first) airplane hit the WTC. And somehow the picture was beautiful and perfect in its incredible horror.