Do you like shiny metals? Do you like Larry David's bald head? If you answered yes to both of those deep questions then you will LOVE Silver Jews. If you answered no but know good music when you hear it you will LOVE Silver Jews. As mentioned before I used to listen to Biggie Smalls and stuff like that in my teens, then I got a girlfriend and she had a tape with Silver Jews on one side and Belle and Sebastian on the other. She'd put it on every night and for a long long time all I knew of either band was 'Smith and Jones' and 'Stars of Track and Field' cause I'd be out like a light as I would have been doing radical stunts on my skateboard all day (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K52c8BjU200 [I'm up first]). So I bought If You're Feeling Sinister and copied The Natural Bridge and American Water off her brother. As I'm sure you are aware Belle and Sebastian became SHITTY POO whereas Silver Jews are still kicking ass and will continue to kick ass, I am sure of that.
I just searched for something and came across something else, I have a Silver Jews tattoo, I met Berman and had him to write the lyrics I wanted on paper...
...then some dude saw that photo on t'internet and emailed me with this, frankly, long string of words...
"One of these days these days will end?
Hey, great photography. I know a bit about photography; I would say I know enough to deem your photos, which appear on your your profile and your website, as great works. On your profile, I love that picture of the guy with the wild hair and what looks like an application of the burning and dodging technique. Cool stuff. So, I came across a comment or rather, a picture, that you posted on the Silver Jews' profile: it was a picture of a man's arm with what looked like a tattoo of a phrase, which read, one of these days these days will end. I am confused; perhaps, a poet no longer resides within me, but I want to understand this. I always try to subjectively or objectively reason with things, but it is usually the former type of reasoning that leads me astray. So, I ask,what does that mean to you? Why were you compelled to post that? It looks like a photograph that you have taken; if so, did the person who had it branded into his skin give you a reason? Is that like a carpe diem phrase? What are "these days"? Is that statement referring to all of the war strife and all of the dismal, bleak, and suspicious ways of stopping terrorism? "One of these days these days will end." Of course, it is going to be the last of "these days" that "these days" will end and the phrase expresses a certainty or hope that, indeed, "these days" will end. Does the first "these days" imply a different meaning? So, we know that four things are uncertain: WHEN "these days" are going to end; HOW "these days" are going to end; WHY "these days" are going to end; and WHERE "these days" are going to end. What doesn't make sense to me the most is this: Say you have 7 days and either by instinct or by given, bestowed knowledge you know that one of these seven days, "these days" will end; let's say that on the fifth day, "these days" end; what happens to the remaining two days? Are they not "these days" anymore? Are they just days that a person can decide what he/she wants them to be, which is just an existential sort of idea. So, really, I think this quote means that any person can hope for something to come to an end and maybe the interval of time that this "end" takes place is uncertain, but . . . (?) Now, I think that is a great photograph. This person has branded himself with a permanent marking; it is almost like he/she has mock-hope that anything, good or bad, will end; he/she is going to take this tattoo to the grave. So, I guess, in a poetic point of view, he/she is just trying to say that there will always be "these days"(great/horrible times) and really there is no escaping these things and one must always be conscious of this fact because that's what imposes moderation . . . GAH!!!!!!!! I don't get it. Well, nonetheless, I would love to read your interpretation of this very general, enigmatic, phrase. Sorry, to bother you. I think that this is a very interesting thing about myspace. We live in a very vast, ever growing world and the more people there are, the more general things become and the more confounded things become; thus, we are all be coming detached. What a scary thought. Peace."
