"What Duvet Said..." Renewed Statement Of Purpose...Or, DIY Or Die...Better Or, Bob Duvet Abandons Schilling, Paying Homage, And Catering....NEW AND IMPROVED OR!! Honesty, Artistic Expression, And Self-Gratification Are Duvet's Latest Memes, In Service Of Clogging Up The Digital Space With That Kind Of Stuff!!

Painting of Henry Rollins by Glen E. Friedman & Shepard Fairey

I recently have found myself going through my old punk rock records and wondering if the boy that purchased these records, in service of blindly following his youthful idealism, would want to sit down and listen to these same records with the man I am now. While that is a far more complicated conversation, one that would probably not yield a simple yes or no answer, it has forced me into a corner where self-examination butts up against the value generating paradox of having this blog. In the past, when governed by the purely selfish goal of realizing personal dreams, I found I could keep the angst at bay by having the freedom to engage in unfiltered creative tantrums and outbursts. Over the years these became more refined statements of intent with subtle nods to the necessity of compromise in an effort to achieve one's imagined purpose. Soon you can become convinced that the world can be broken into a series of games that need to be played, and simply being aware that you are playing them becomes a kind of achievement in itself. But the message contained in the music of the Minutemen, Black Flag, and The Descendents was largely one of refusal. Does the world need more unsolicited takes on art, music, politics, culture, etc.? I want this blog to be representative of the person hosting it and less a representation of the events and artists it covers. A shift is in order, away from singing the praises of others, and toward singing more specifically the thoughts that inspired the youthful idealism. An idealism that is still lurking below the pessimism and cynicism that has bottled up a dormant creativity. Going forward, I want this blog to be a forum for the self and less a depot of others. There will still be music content and podcasts but there will also be more writing of a more confessional nature, starting with this post. "Bob Duvet" has no choice but to "do-it-himself" because that is who is behind this blog anyway. I realize this may alienate some who like to visit for "Make It Or Break It" recaps or for an up and coming band they are curious about. My hope is that others may find more "original content" interesting, unique, and unlike other blogs they visit. The fact is describing something someone else does has become less interesting to me and my enthusiasm is waning to be one in a choir of blogs that already fulfill this role. I want to more closely resemble the kid who bought the punk rock records and then went on to make some of his own, less the man who dissects them. I hope this renewed sense of purpose will inform myself and the readers of this blog in the way that my punk rock heroes did when I dropped the needle on records that crackled with life and sparked an awareness of the endless possibilities in me.