On the Other Side of the Line

by: Tom Rau

How do you define something that hasn’t yet developed? I would think maybe ask the parent of a newborn child. What is your child, other than an ultra-compact human tit-sucking shit machine? That’s where I’m at right now, trying to define this. I think maybe Mike, the co-founder, co-author, and co-editor of this website, and the owner of one of the above humans might have a better answer. Maybe he’d say it’s a shooting guard, #27, 56% from the field, mega-clutch; or maybe it’s a sicko musician with a habit and the world draped over his shoulders like he’s carrying the death of a friend. Maybe it’s a diva princess whom as a parent you could never refuse. Or maybe it’s just a wandering dude, lost with an empty head, walking across the margins of the world looking for something he’ll never remember; without a dime in his pocket or a single thing to eat; forever hungry, forever lost, but always on the hunt.

I don’t know what it is, or what it will become, but i know that when one of my best friends and favorite writers asked me if i wanted to get involved in a writing project it not only was something I couldn’t say no to it was something that I felt like should have happened along time ago. Ever since college when i first got serious about being a musician I’ve wanted to have that feeling of playing in a band with my best friends. One summer in college myself, Mike and our friend Peanuts [^1] used to burn the midnight oil and then play rock n roll. Truthfully Mike and Peanuts basically had no idea what they were doing from a technical standpoint but that shit was some of the rawest, realest, and most evil music I’ve ever been involved with; and it was all about the bond. Sadly Mike and Peanuts decided to pursue other things in life so my dreams of playing in a band with my best friends was put on hold. [^2] Anyway, a day after Mike approached me about this site, it hit me, we’re about to start a band, and that shit made me feel full in a way very little in this life does.

So in closing I don’t know what this is going to become exactly, and maybe Mike will have a better answer to this question, but I know in the end it’s going to be some of the rawest, realest, and most evil shit that you ever laid your eyes on. I know it’ll carry the weight of the world, have a mean jumpshot, and probably demand things of you/us that none of us understand. And i promise, it will always be hungry. And hopefully inside of that we can do something good and right with this world. But if not, we’ll sure as fuck at least do something.

[^1]: Names have been changed to protect the guilty and/or those who work in high places and might be harmed by references to previous carnage or substance abuse. It is however very “Peanuts” related.

[^2]: Until years later when the short lived musical juggernaut KUNT was born. KUNT died shortly thereafter of a drug overdose at a dirty basement party. Two things about KUNT you should know: little people porn and substance abuse; more on this at a later date. Also i feel like i was more insulting by calling it “little people porn.”

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