As pr. tradition on the last night of the year I type a few words of reflection or nonsense - here's to hoping for the latter - while the rest of the world prepares for yet another year. It is past midnight here in Denmark now and all is quiet. Corona-restrictions have not ruled out fireworks but I hear none which is unusual. It is not even raining outside. So let's not beat around the bush - 2020 turned out to be a bit different. Those of us raised on cyberpunk science fiction, dystopian movies and post-apocalyptic comic books, roleplay and computer games finally got our pandemic, curfews, face masks and all, worried politicians and virologists on the news ever so often. And yet, as always, the future looks a lot more boring once degraded to the present.
Living in Denmark we were not hit as hard by the Corona circus as most places. We are, after all, a small country which seems to be an advantage when facing a challenge like this. Indeed, from around summer and until early December we were able to run our club and do CoronaGolem events, of course with limited number of tickets, safety restrictions and so on. But it meant we could do something meaningful, even a couple of concerts of our own when so many musicians were confined to stream jobs or nothing at all. We were fortunate enough to see all our CoronaGolems sell out, weeks before the actual dates which makes me truly grateful. As a musician I have always done concerts, performed in many different venues to a wide range of audiences. One of the questions I've been asked a number of times during this year - from other musicians too - is if it's really worth the trouble. Rehearsing, going through the material, setting up, packing, all that mundane stuff which is, let's face it, part of the show, the back side of the show, so to speak, when you can only address a restricted amount of people, even seated at that. Hell yes, it is. So what if people are sitting, so what if they are not as many as usually? We had a concert planned for December 17, limited audience, restrictions, so on, but it had to be called off due to new Corona restrictions here in Denmark, less than two weeks before the show. And the point of the matter is even if I wasn't completely surprised given the situation, I still felt just as frustrated. I always hated when you have to cancel. Still do, it seems. Which, I believe, is how it should be. I for one feel grateful we had the chance to do concert and club events and I want to thank my musicians, everybody involved around Klub Golem and of course the people supporting us by showing up. I hope restrictions will be lifted soon so we can go back to carrying on next year. The vaccine is here already and The Cure promised a new album next year. There is some hope.
We did get to do a couple of concerts, though, which we filmed, and I've been working on putting together some live videos which will hopefully go on YouTube during next year. I also spent some months working through my old material to finish the final mix and production, something I had been meaning to do for years, actually, but one concert took the next, Golem, various projects, never found the time. So in that respect Corona provided a break which enabled me to isolate myself in the studio. And let's not forget even if 2020 has been a bit of a downer in many ways it was much of a downer for Donald Trump. As someone recently said, there is some hope. So wear your party hat with a face mask this time round, skip the fireworks and go for the virtual reality Jean Michel Jarre concert instead - and if you made it through the year without dying or losing friends or family to the pandemic pat yourself on the back. Don't ask anyone else to do it. Distance, you know, distance and isolation. Glorious times for the goths. Happy crappy new year!
I would like, if I may, to take a moment on this day to remember Donald. He may not be in fashion anymore, certainly not as much as was once the case, but the more reason, say I, not to completely forget about him. The times they are a changin', as the song goes, and childish heroes fade. Thus is the way of the world and we must learn to live in it.
Let us remember Donald for what he was, his short temper, his fits of rage, the orange right in the middle of his face. Donald is as American as they get, an American icon, most certainly, known throughout the world for his childish behavior. He is someone you'd love to hate and someone you'd hate to love. Donald was a child of the atomic age, gifted with a rich uncle, and he would later rise to stardom and become one of the biggest and most recognized icons of entertainment in modern media history, a regular franchise of his own. His distrust of establishment is as much a trademark as his lazy attitude towards responsibility and life in general. Just as his status today is down to his trademark bad luck.
There is no denying facts, Donald may not be as popular today as he used to be but nevertheless, let us all take a moment and raise our glass to the original Donald. Donald Duck.
Copyright: Ras Bolding 2020