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| (Jason's chat photo was of a cute, fuzzy panda bear, which I would've used here but apparently I wasn't licensed to do so.) |
Jason: any second now, yeah, as soon as she figures out how to use computers
oh crap wrong window
me: niiiiice
Jason: hi!
me: i can see i'll have my work cut out for me
hi! how are you?
Jason: I'm OK. Surprisingly awake for a weekday.
me: well done.
are we on a tight schedule?
Jason: define "tight".
me: that's what she said.
who are you?
Jason: I can't believe you just snatched the first off-color joke in the convo out from under my fingertips
I'm Jason Horatio Halogen Dunn
me: wah ah ah ah
really?
Jason: This from the girl who was offended by my harmless Juicy Waterfall rap.
No, not really.
My middle two names are really Michael. And there is only one of them.
me: i wasn't offended, i was just warning my relatives that they might be.
Jason: pfft.
Relatives.
me: twss
so
Jason: OH MAN
you've even shortened it t an acronym to get the jump on me
this seems planned.
are you typing really slowly, or thinking?
me: that's classified.
Jason: (TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP)
me: so. jason michael dunn. do you consider yourself an impatient man?
Jason: I don't have time for that.
me: to...consider yourself?
Jason: Oh man, if I took the time to consider myself I wouldn't ddo half the sh*t I do
feel free to edit this for typos
me: shan't.
Jason: sh*t.
me: so, for example.
Jason: An impatient man?
yes, examples please
me: what might you not do
Jason: well, I DO front a rock band
this is not usually considered to be a straightforward path to any kind of security or lasting... anything, really
I suppose if I'd stopped to consider myself I might not be doing most of the things I do
But instead...
me: interesting. what's your stance on regret?
Jason: Instead I've grown to be the sort of person who can't stand people who take too long considering themselves.
Regret is a natural consequence of acting in character, unless you're a saint.
Better to have a handful of things that you'll regret and live a life as the person you are than to muzzle yourself, appproach everything uber-cautiously and then spend your old age wondering what might have happened if you leapt without scrutinizing the wind velocity at every point.
Regret happens when you make mistakes, and a life without mistakes leaves you with no good stories to tell.
me: do you believe in saints?
Jason: As much as I believe in anything otherworldly - it's probably there to an extent, but trying to define it, let alone explain it to others, is pure foolishness.
I get fed up with whole contingents of people claiming to be an authority on something they can't possibly understand within the confines of being a human being.
I also like cats!
me: like sainthood.
Jason: exactly.
me: do you know what you don't/can't know?
Jason: Absolutely. The immaterial, the spiritual, anything that we can't sense with one of the common five senses. In no way does it mean they don't exist, or they're not worth believing in, but it definitely means it's a very silly person who claims to know what they can't know.
me: anything in that category of things beyond the known world that you wish you could know, in particular?
Jason: Absolutely - the nature of the connection between living beings.
one second
I'll explain, just have to forward a database link :)
me: oh, i'm allergic to databases.
Jason: hold your nose for a second...
OK back.
me: welcome back!
Jason: Right, so the connection between living beings. Unless you're completely imperceptive I think, you notice energies between people, animals, etc. Animals pick up strong vibes from people, especially, and approach them based on that. I know a lot of it is heightened senses that we don't posess, but there's something else there as well. I'd like to understand that.
Also, I'd like to learn pyrokinesis.
damn, no editing for typos? Really?
me: none. but if it makes you happy i will have to * out the vowels in all your dirty words.
Jason: well, that's something.
wa*t can I do it as well with other wo*ds to confuse peo*le?
me: it's your world
Jason: OH MY GOD REALLY?
in that case things are getting better RIGHT THE F NOW
me: yup.
so what's pyrokinesis?
Jason: you know what, I'm not sure it worked.
Pyrokinesis? The ability to control and somtimes generate fire
You see X-Men?
me: nope.
Jason: You really should.
me: okay, thanks!
Jason: 2 great flicks and then one pretty OK one.
me: what would you do with this power?
Jason: probably just amuse myself. I don't want to actually hurt anyone. I just really really like ire.
FIRE
ire, not so much
me: that's less fun, for sure.
Jason: definitely
me: do you like campfires?
Jason: Love campfires
some of the most fun I've ever had was in North Carolina on a tour
aroudn a campfire, drikning moonshine and playing Ween songs for a bunch of down-home North Carolinans
me: ohh awesome.
Jason: moonshine is CRAZY
me: do you think people sang before they learned to make fire?
Jason: I do.
I can't prove it but I do.
Singing is instinctual. Animals do it.
Fire took a lot of thinking and eventual planning.
me: do you think people sang together before fire?
Jason: there's an interesting question.
Again, I think they did. I think singing invites singing.
me: maybe to keep warm before fire they all slept in heaps and sang to pass the time. in heaps.
Jason: that sounds rad.
I woudl do that now.
me: totally.
Jason: Especially since we're not all so hairy anymore.
me: and have soap.
Jason: I mean, those people were HAIRY.
Yeah, and dirty
me: that'd be a sweet dial commercial.
people singing in a heap. "aren't you glad you use dial?"
aaaanyway.
Jason: Oh, I know what you meant
the pause was while I called a patent office and my friend in advertising
me: nice.
what are your earliest singing memories?
Jason: We Will Rock You.
no wait, that's my first instrument mamory
MEMORY
jesus
me: ...
Jason: I need to watch this more closely
this typing thing
me: don't worry too much about it, really. but mamory. that's funny.
Jason: You know the opening drum beat to We Will Rock You?
me: yup
Jason: (not really drums)
me: wait.
no.
Jason: (stomp stomp clap)
me: can you type it for me?
Jason: just did actually
me: oh. that was easier than i thought it'd be.
next.
Jason: anyway, my first instrument memory is banging that out on a piano.
Actually, my dad has a recording of me playing piano at 6 months old.
me: audio or video?
Jason: Audio.
I listened to it.
It actually sounds like I'm thinking it out for a while
he said I was looking at the keys like I was figuring out their relationships. I mean, it wasn't GOOD, but he says it looked like I was understanding what was happening
which is basically how I play piano now as well :)
me: :)
was your relationship with music shaped by your dad? - do you think you'd still be frontman for the Luxury if your dad hadn't been so musical?
Jason: My parents are both musicians.
they met at 7 years old when playing the same piano.
me: oh nice.
waiaaaaiaiait.
Jason: So, short answer no, probably not.
me: your parents met at a piano at 7?
Jason: yeah
me: that beats the aloud story and the fleetwood mac story.
and possibly even the o'boogie story.
from now on i think i'll always ask how folks' parents met.
Jason: I suppose it does? It would be more impressive if I was rich and famous :)
oh, you always should.
me: richness and fame are impressive in and of themselves.
Jason: I mean it may be stupid, but at least give it a shot.
me: magic meetings like that are impressive because, well.
look what it led to?
Jason: I know - one weird kid :)
me: :)
do you think of yourself as weird, really?
Jason: They actually never married... I like to think I was the grand purpose behind that whole thing.
me: exactly!
Jason: THAT, Ms. Outlund, would take weeks to tell and countless interviews to document.
Let's just take it as read that I'm weird.
me: sorry, i don't mean to impose some crazy mythology on your birth. i'm just fascinated by stories like that.
Jason: You kidding? Impose away.
me: it's the kind of thing if you wrote it and submitted it to a fiction workshop they'd say it wasn't believable.
Jason: Maybe someone lied to me...
me: but stuff like that happens all the time.
so eff that.
Jason: Yeah, the official story I was told is that he was playing it and she sat next to him and started playing the upper register
Jesus, everything's a damn metaphor isn't it?
me: e.g. (and i promise the attention will only be off of you for one more moment) stu's mother played the guitar for one brief period of her life only: when she was pregnant with him.
Jason: That's AWESOME.
me: right??
and then eventually he picked up that same guitar that had been sitting around the house.
Jason: Man, I have to marry a guitarist now.
me: ha
Jason: No friggin' way. Same one?
me: that's the way i heard it.
Jason: That's just gorgeous. I don't mind the attention being taken off me.
me: :)
what do you believe in?
Jason: I relentlessly believe in love, no matter how many times I get hurt or let someone else down because of it.
me: how?
Jason: How what? How do I keep believing in it?
me: right
Jason: Becuase having felt it, I know it's there.
me: ah, i see - so you believe it exists?
Jason: I suppose you could say the same thing of a converted religious person - they know the object of their faith is there because they've felt it. There's no proof, but the feeling is enough for them.
The difference is you won't organize millions of people behind the concept of love and then very easily get them to go chop the heads off everyone who disagrees with them :)
kind of counterintuitive.
me: okay but! but
Jason: !
I can't wait :)
me: doesn't every major world religion stress the importance and even centrality of love?
Jason: Yes and no.
Some do. Unitarian Universalim is one.
Most stress the importance and centrality of love within their concept of how love is important and appropriate
And the same religions that go on about loving thy neighbor are oftentimes those most deeply embedded in a history of violence, bigotry, and at the very least divisiveness, even now.
Sort of like, "love thy neighbor as long as they believe the same crap we tell you to believe" or whatever.
me: right,
Jason: This is all just my opinion, of course. People should believe whatever they need to.
Rough world out there
me: but the idea is love your neighbor as yourself.
and yet...
so
how do you go on believing in love?
Jason: ....
I'm trying to figure out if you're trying to get me to say that I love myself :)
me: i'm not trying to get you to say anything
i just think it's a question for those of us who see the world with open eyes and still go on believing in love with all this passion.
and tenacity.
how in the world can we?
Jason: I go on believing in love in the face of loss, disdain and general nastiness for the same reason I go on playing music in the face of socioeconomic reality - I HAVE to. It's who I am.
me: ahhh.
Jason: Is there a point to either? I like to think so. Can I prove there is? Nope.
But I've used both to bring some good things into some good people's lives from time to time. And something has to balance out the ax-murdering side of my personality.
me: that sums up the human condition quite nicely i'd say.
what do you know for certain?
Jason: Humans are a mess, but occasionally quite lovely. That and I have the best cat in history.
me: history.
Jason: All of it.
me: time machine.
would you go back or forward?
Jason: Back.
me: where to?
er
when
oh
Jason: haha
me: and this time machine is also a spaceship.
Jason: oh man.
me: so you have the whole universe.
Jason: Well... this gets tough. Do I think within the confines of my life or the limitless, seemingly infinite vastness of space and time itself?
me: that kind of sums up human existence.
man. you're on a roll.
Jason: And if I go beyond one planet, do I have to know where I'm going or can I tell the machine to search for certain criteria and drop me down in the place in the infinite universe where that doubtless exists?
me: oh well
i forgot to mention this is a TARDIS, flown by the Doctor, who's been to a lot of times and planets and could probably make some recommendations.
Jason: Oh, good. I'm in excellent hands then. My first answer is to go back to when I first got my cat and move out of town earlier so I can spend more of my young adult life seeking my fortune. Then, since I'm with the Doctor, if fortune and I don't cross paths the three of us will embark upon countless and limitless adventures. Our destination shall be the journey.
In fact, perhaps I'll cross space and time righting wrongs where necessary and possible.
me: good. answer. although i think there's some issue with crossing one's own time stream, but it doesn't seem to consistently cause too many problems.
Jason: And eventually wind up on the planet of infinite youth, excellent swimming holes and soft pillows.
me: ha. pick up mark on your way there. unless when he dreams he's actually traveling there.
Jason: As long as he's not allergic to cats.
me: you know, weirdly - this is going back to the love thing - i feel like people who've been through some real suffering are actually more likely to believe in love.
like...is there love like that in swimming pool land?
Jason: I think you're absolutely right.
Of course there is.
How could htere not be?
me: i dunno, soft pillows render it unnecessary? :)
so where there are living beings there is love?
Jason: I think we're approaching a heaven concept here.
So I'll say yes.
me: we are? was it the pillows?
Jason: And the swimming holes.
me: nice.
Jason: I think so.
me: what's the best advice you've ever been given?
Jason: "Don't quit, you're not done yet."
I relate that to others all the time.
me: that is really excellent advice.
Jason: Everyone I've ever known who's given up on something they wanted to be doing has regretted it, and the time between their quitting and picking it back up was completely wasted.
Well, perhaps not completely. Some had families. :)
me: perhaps!
yeah i don't really believe in completely wasted time.
i think we're built to grow.
Jason: Man, I keep forgetting this is going into print - I probably got way too far off the beaten path somewhere up there.
me: are you feeling self-conscious?
Jason: I agree, we're built to grow.
me: don't worry, only 5 people read my blog anyway.
Jason: HA!
I do feel self-conscious from time to time, yes.
me: one of them is my mom.
ah, seriously.
self-conscious.
Jason: Of course.
Anyone who doesn't isn't putting themselves out there enough.
me: i read a definitely of innocence that characterized it as a lack of self-consciousness.
er
*definition
Jason: It goes back to the beginning of our conversation about risks and regret.
interesting - I think that's accurate.
Acting from pure self without reflection.
me: :)
no time to stop and consider yourself.
Jason: Kind of what I was talking about, but as you become an adult the reflection is inevitable
me: except when it kicks in
Jason: exactly.
me: right
Jason: but if you consider yourself too much, you're blocking the purity of your character
whatever that may be
wow, way to pull it full circle there, Mack.
me: hey thanks!
did i do that?
Jason: totally. You'll notice later.
me: super. i guess that means it's time for the last 2 question?
Jason: OK, sounds good. I got 10 minutes anyway :)
me: okay, so the deal is you get to make up both questions. one of the questions you ask me. the other is one you want to answer.
Jason: oh yeah.... OK. Give me a minute to word this.
me: no one will ever know - i delete all the time stamps.
Jason: OK, here goes.
Mackenzie:
You're known for your smile, which is infectious, but I think there's more behind it. Tell me: Do you smile defiantly in the face of sadness and times of hardship gone by as you press forward, or is the smile the only logical manifestation of a zen acceptance of all things good and bad?
And for me, what is your favorite number and why?
me: I smile because I love people.
and I love connecting with people.
at whatever level we can.
man, can you hear that construction from where you are?
it's right outside my office.
Jason: Is that what that was?
oh, I thought you meant the construction of your answer :)
me: ha
not a metaphor!
anyway.
um, does that answer your question?
Jason: Well, not really :)
me: the world should be that way.
Jason: but it's OK!
For the record, I think it's the latter.
me: if those are the only two choices, i don't think it's because i'm zen, exactly.
i get extremely upset about the sh*t people pull with each other.
Jason: !! Mackenzie, you'll have to use an asterisk there
me: it's not how it should be. it should be a world where we smile in recognition of each other, in recognition of the fires and the music in each other. the simple ability to connect with each other should be reason enough. and yet i keep getting that question. so it must be weird.
and it is.
but i smile because that's how it ought to be.
and it's the most i can do to make it that way.
Jason: that's kind of zen, but also kkind of defiant.
me: there you go :)
hey!
Jason: which is great. congrats on flipping my lid.
?
me: i gotta know.
what's your favorite number?
Jason: 13.
me: why?
Jason: Because they can't have it.
It's mine.
And I think it's lucky.
Just misunderstood.
me: they?
Jason: The they.
me: who say it's unlucky?
Jason: You know what I mean.
Yes, those they
me: right on.
it used to be lucky.
before the christians.
Jason: I like that.
me: jason of the fire.
or halogen. whichever.
Jason: Halogen lamps caused a rash of fires in dorms after I named the band.
I named my publishing company "Firehazard Music".
I like twisting omens.
me: oh! i sang in a catholic wedding once and shortly thereafter the church burned down.
Jason: WOW.
me: guess what happened to the only other catholic churck i sang in for a wedding?
Jason: That's either a REALLY sacrosanct marriage or a pair of serious sinners
um... scandal?
me: tornado.
roof gone.
Jason: Mackenzie: Voice of Judgment
me: come to think of it, neither of the brides in those weddings were catholic.
Jason: I want you to sing at my wedding.
me: or they weren't real catholics or something.
can do.
so far both marriages have lasted though, so there's that.
Jason: especially if I somehow get married in an actual church
me: that would be something.
Jason: because warning them will be fun
"By the way, inherently superstitious person..."
me: rock. :D
thanks for chatting with me, jason.
Jason: It was a great time. Hope I haven't completely embarrassed myself, although that's par for the course :)
me: i think not.
Jason: excellent.
me: see you at lunch tomorrow!
Jason: absosmurfly!
me: wait.
is that a panda bear?
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