Year: 2019

Outside the Octagon

@addetrick 2019

The history of octagon houses have a confusing history. Originating in the 1850’s, the North American versions were either designed as an homage to the pseudoscience of phrenology, or they were an unique approach to load-bearing walls. Others claim they were homes designed for the unitarian pious (all walls and rooms are of equal size and equidistant from each other), or for security from the rancor of the Civil War (frequent windows and vista porches made it easy to scout for approaching marauders).

Whatever the reason, the Gregg-Crites Octagon House in Circleville, Ohio was built in 1855 and sat on the main road between Columbus and Chillicothe, the original capitol city of Ohio. The original farm was sold in the early 2000s to Wal-Mart, and the house was slated for demolition to make way for a Wal-Mart Super Center. (Or, what we call “progress”.)

Fortunately, the Circleville residents were able to form a commission that moved the entire house to a safe location a few miles from its original home. They hope to renovate the house and turn it into a museum someday.

Fear and Loathing in Kentucky

@addetrick 2019

Kentucky is a mystery to me. It’s a place of total unpredictability. It was the first state west of the Appalachians. It was difficult to get to, and it’s rocky soil made agriculture difficult. It has a hardscrabble history atop some of the richest natural resources in the country. Possibly more than any other state, Kentucky has a lineage of tough-as-nails motherfuckers making due with very little.

It’s a state of fierce independents who make their living doing deadly work for low pay in industries that openly exploit them. It’s the third-most Federally-dependent state, but regularly and overwhelmingly votes candidates into office who support cutting Federal benefits.

Contradiction is Kentucky’s nature, and that tension of opposites creates both hopeless poverty in some, and a creative and indomitable will in others. It’s unsurprising that it has a legendary musical history. And less surprising that it was the birthplace of two of America’s most polarizing and intriguing figures: Muhammad Ali and Hunter S. Thompson.

I think I’ve read everything Thompson ever published. And like many Thompson fans, I wandered the murky, Blakean artist’s path between madness and wisdom. But Thompson was like an elite athlete of both. And like all elite athletes, he understood the nature – and the benefits – of sacrifice. His massive appetite for knowledge, experience, and intoxication led to insights into the human experience that few have been able to communicate. His was a life of madness and wisdom, of irresponsibility and wisdom, a walking contradiction. Like a true son of Kentucky.

“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride…and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well…maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”

This mural is on the side of a vegan restaurant in the Germantown neighborhood of Louisville.

On the 50th Anniversary of Duane Allman's 1969 New Year's Resolution

On the 50th Anniversary of Duane Allman's 1969 New Year's Resolution

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Duane “Skydog” Allman’s legendary New Year’s Resolutions for 1969.  In a pristine journal, Duane resolved in the first entry to “be more thoughtful of my fellow man, exert more effort in each of my endeavors professionally as well as personally, take love wherever I find it, and offer it to everyone who will take it. I will seek knowledge from those wiser than me and try to teach those who wish to learn from me.” He closed with “I love being alive and I will be the best man I possibly can.”

In the 364 days after Duane Allman wrote the resolution, he:

  • recorded and released the first Allman Brothers Band album
  • had a daughter
  • mastered slide guitar
  • recorded some of the greatest studio guitar work in the history of Muscle Shoals’ FAME Studio
  • began working on albums with Delaney & Bonnie and Derek & The Dominoes.

2-1/2 years later, he was dead.

Chase your passions.
Accept love wherever you find it.
Don’t waste time; there’s far less of it then any of us would like to believe.

Welcome to 2019. Go kick its ass.