Wonderful Catastrophe
I came across this quote today from an interview with Dieter Rams, legit design dude, who was quoting Corbusier. "We don’t register the chaos; sometimes, yes, when we are in the middle of traffic or running late, we discover that everything is chaotic around us... —it’s what Corbusier used to say about New York in the ’30s: It’s a "wonderful catastrophe" When I was in high school.. my friend Chad and I were riding in the back seat of a very large Cadillac-like monster car from the 70's. The back window was MASSIVE, and if you leaned back and looked up, you could see the the full night sky (with stars!) and the highway lights wooshing by. It was beautifully nauseating. We had been drinking this fine summer evening and were pretty toasted as I recall, and a Depeche Mode song came on. Up to this point, I was not a Depeche Mode fan. I used to pejoratively call them 'Depressed Toad' because that's how I felt their music made everyone feel. I'm reformed now, but anyhow.. this song comes on, and the stereo in this massive beast was so awful that it sounded simply like thumping static, which was super-frustrating. But in my wooshy state, with wooshy highway lights .. I remember having the feeling that it really didn't matter what music it was, but I wanted it to be LOUDER. My brain, with the alcohol, and the sky, and the stars, and the good times.. I just wanted more. So I yelled at my friend in the front seat 'TURN THAT HORRIBLE MUSIC UP' which nobody understood but made everyone laugh. The horrible sounds were cranked up to super static mode ... and Chad and I were in chaotic heaven. Not sure why I'm sharing it, but it's a good memory from when i was a kid. -BJ