Today is a Good Day to Repent… By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

March 9, 2011 Whitney Farmer 12 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A. She has an M.B.A, but would probably make a better oceanographer.

We made the news all over the world yesterday. Even the elegant Brits were fascinated to report that over a million fish swam into our harbor last night and died. Oxygen deprivation appears to be the cause. California Department of Fish and Game Spokesman Andrew Hughan stated, “There is no oil sheen, nor is there a chemical sheen.” There isn’t even a Charlie Sheen to explain the rapid destruction of life. Sorry…

The script of the CSI: Redondo Beach story appears to be a page-turner and a tear-jerker. Gale force winds came into our city which caused the seas to be too wild for the little silvery creatures. Or they were trapped by a gauntlet of predators or a red tide event. Untold hundreds of thousands came into the harbor north of the club late last night. But the waters weren’t able to support all of those small lives. They all suffocated to death.

The word ‘Redondo’ has carried a great deal of weight in my thoughts about this strange time that I have spent working under the earth but trying to walk in the light. ‘Redondo’ means to turn around, or perhaps more soberly, to do again. Everyone who has come in the heavy wooden doors and walked down the endless stairs to come finally to The Show is in one of two seasons: They have changed their mind about how they want to live, or they are in the midst of making the same mistakes all over again.

When the bands arrive, their faces are roadmaps of where they have been. The unmarked still with dumb dangerous conceit, the ones with lines so deep it looks like they have been cut up by fear or anger, or the ones with eyes that are smart and smiles that are wide enough to hide that they are on their guard. Images of what they love or who they have loved are tattooed somewhere on their bodies, often not in public view. They arrive prepared to hear questions from the fans about bandmates who died from living the life.

To be one of the rare ones who can learn from watching the mistakes of others rather than walking through the fire must be one of the most sacred and rare gifts. Most have to taste, hear, and see disaster to shift our course. To repent doesn’t mean that the party is over. It means simply to change your mind, to change the direction you are traveling. It’s not gossiping to write that many who work at the club have come out of bad circumstances of their own making. There is no better bartender than a former world-class alcoholic. There is no better security guard than a former gang-banger. There is no better all-around pinch hitter than a former meth addict. These smart ones watch the unwise ones walk in and out of the heavy wooden door and do what they can to help them make this a place of turning around instead of doing all the mess again. How to help them change course to be able to weather the storm or defeat the predators is the math problem that is constantly running through my mind and heart.

In this place that could be a safe harbor or a mass kill zone depending on what choices are made, there are lessons to be learned from the anchovies and mackerels and dead musicians and dead gangsters and dead addicts:

It’s not always a good idea to do what everyone else is doing, because everyone may be swimming in the wrong direction.

It’s not always a good idea to run away from something, because sometimes safety comes only with confronting and overcoming demons that have tried to drive you out of your destined territory.

Fonzi was right: Sometimes you need to jump the shark to survive.

Quote of the Blog, from Ed, Dude of Light and Fog: “I don’t understand why he gets so upset. He should be happy. He still has all his teeth.”