The Art of Remembrance

I needed some good tunes in order to dance while cleaning the condo. I went on a CD buying splurge a few weeks ago and hadn't gotten to 'Beastie Boys: To The 5 Boroughs' yet. As I unwrapped the cellophane I noticed the album artwork for the first time. It's a penciled cityscape of Manhattan. Rather predominant on the right side of the cover are the Twin Towers.
Old photos and movies don't have an effect on me anymore. I realize those images are from the time before. I simply remember the buildings fondly and don't give it a second thought. Yet here was this new piece of artwork defiantly proclaiming what was lost. The Beastie Boys had their vision of New York and it includes the Twin Towers. It's why I like them; they're cocky.

Yet the album art made me unsettled for a bit. I feel it was mainly due to the contemporaneousness of it. The fact it promoted a dream that will never be again. Did you notice that for about 2 years there were very few reshowings of videos and pictures of that day? Yet with the 9/11 Commission, the political conventions that will make national security a conerstone of the platforms, and the fact that the anniversary will appear in a month the photos and videos slowly get dusted off and shown again. Luckily there is little video of the first impact. It becomes hard to restrain a righteous fury when I see in living color the instant my friend Katie was ...vaporized is the only word to describe it. I only hope that it was instantaneous and that she had no idea what happened.

I like the Beastie Boy's act of defiant remembrance. I would expect that out of them. Somehow I suspect others will remember in ways more exploitive than honorable. What a shame.