closed eyes concert

last friday night with my dear friend richard, i attended the bright eyes concert here in town. and even though i don't think conner oberst sings great or his melodies are all that interesting, i always enjoy listening to his lyrics, whether i agree with them or not. they are the kind of lyrics that make you think. they're smart, if you will. but as i watched as the good looking but tiny young man entered the stage, i was blinded. not by his boyish good looks, no definitely not, but by the thousands of camera flashes going off. i couldn't look at the stage it was so bright. and as he began to sing, girls screamed, "i love you, conner" and whooped and hollered. i realized standing in the sold out crowd with forty carcinogen smoke darkening my lungs that not one of them got it. they watched this guy sing. no, not sing. he poured out his misery. he let this tightly pressed audience into his deepest feelings, regrets, hopes, failures. and they just cheered. cheered! the lyrics speak of heartache and fear and the way he deals with such heartache and fear. and these girls just screamed in that dumb-girly-oh-my-god kind of way, as he sang, "this is one way to live, but i wouldn't recommend it." but they didn't hear that, they just watched this young guy, holding a beer, pretty plastered and thought, "now that is cool." no, people. that is sad. it is not cool. i don't know how he does it. night after night. i couldn't stand on a stage singing honestly and the majority of people not hearing a word, because they are blinded by closed eyes.