Get Your Motor Runnin'

I'm invoking Steppenwolf's 1969 chestnut, of course, with that title line, but it's neither "Born to Be Wild" nor Easy Rider that's on my mind, but, rather, the music that rallies our burning muscles during workouts. I was reflecting that I probably pull off my best times on the elliptical machine when I listen to a playlist that looks something like the following: "Tower" (by Angel, an undervalued progressive rock band from the 70s!), "Unchained" (Van Halen), "Hallowed Be Thy Name" (Iron Maiden), "The Hellion & Electric Eye" (Judas Priest), "Don't Fear the Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult), "Magic Power" (Triumph), and maybe "Trains" (Porcupine Tree). Now, I know that's not the music of the spheres (and you may be thinking less of me already), but one can't argue with results! Anyway, all of this makes me wonder what music you call upon when you need a little extra adrenaline in your pedals, your running shoes, or when you're in the car on the way to your soccer game? Because, after all, in these instances Joni Mitchell just won't do! Macklemore's "Can't Hold Us" is seeming like a candidate lately, too -- what a great song!

OK, back to more serious matters: I hope you didn't leave class last time in a greater state of loss than when you entered. I'm reminded of the pedagogical challenges of The Waves -- part of me thinks the best approach would be a linear one, moving in some kind of modestly representative way through each "time pool," but, then again, I'm also inclined to go at it in a more random way, as we did last Wednesday, letting the particles fall where they may. Either, I suppose, is true to the formal spirit of the novel, which is linear in one sense (the interludes) and recursive in another (the soliloquies). Anyway, do use the posting below (i.e., "Waveriders") -- or start a new one -- to comment, share a passage, an observation, etc.; the more of these that we can get circulating the better off we'll be this week. Keep in mind, too, that as the posts pile up the older material will get pushed out of view -- but don't let that stop you from reviving an older thread. Don't be put off by some of those loooonngggg posts, either -- I guess this is material for my own multigenre essay, and my hope is (to quote Bernard) that you'll at least find a "fin in a waste of waters" in some of the lengthier posts, and be inclined to share even a modest observation or two of your own! Polyphonically yours, Eric.