I was treated this afternoon with a nonstop airing of Paul McCartney’s new live CD. When I say treated, I mean physically abused in the ears. Since when does this washed up old man get along by playing sad semi-modernized covers of Beatles tunes? It seems that the Baby Boomers are so nostalgic for their lost youth that they will listen to any old vomit just to regain that sense that their lives still have meaning. While Paul caterwauls away on a funkified Sgt. Pepper, dried up SUV tank commanders scream like porn stars in the audience.

It was almost depressing hearing an audience sing-a-long of Hey Jude that went on 6 minutes too long. McCartney’s ability to entertain died along with the last animal he ate. The maharishi magic has been soaked back up by the Cosmos and handed over to someone a little less…British.

So, what does this have to do with world events? Why is this on the front page?

Simply put, music like this can help us win the pending war in Iraq. If we play this pig excrement at full volume as our helicopters fly into Baghdad a la Apocalypse Now, the people of Iraq will overthrow Saddam just to get Sir Paul lanced. If I was already shivering in my boots, up to my elbows in camel shit behind some sanddune, that screaming “blackbird” would be the end of me. I’d put down my rusty AK-47 and cry for Allah to send the 1.37 virgins to take me to Valhalla, or whatever.

I’m serious. You remember Panama. Take that level of psychological torture and kick it up a notch Emeril-style. We could load the guns with blanks and just make a lot of noise. Those mustachioed sumbitches would be paying us to surrender.

OR

We just subject Bush to it and take over the country while he stews in a Navy-run crazyhouse. That might be the better idea.

I find myself really digging Eminem’s music these days. Frankly, that frightens me. To think that I have something in common with this sociopath is sobering and probably realistic. What he’s done is pure genius.

He has said everything that all of us bury inside. He has given his Id free reign to unleash itself. With his latest single “Lose Yourself,” he illustrates that the Id is not all bad. The song deals with the idea of Carpe Diem and seizing that moment in your life that works like a hinge. Grab it and swing and the hinge might be connected to a door that opens onto a new world. Let it hang there waiting and the weight of the door slams itself shut.

This shows considerable growth and control from some of Eminem’s earlier efforts. I don’t think that this maturing is to be unexpected. He is getting older. He does have a family. He runs a large business with people who work for him counting on him. Add to that the fact that his anger has been so easily vented over the past few years and the boy just had to become a man.

Having said that, he hasn’t dulled his sword at all. He still throws barbs at every conceivable object. Only this time, the effect is less revulsion and almost becomes comedy. He is wavering on that fine line of becoming a parody of himself. If he plays it correctly, he has the talent to pull that off.

None of that makes me as interested in Eminem as does the fact that he has acheived full expression of himself. Like all artists, he strives to express the emotions that dwell inside him. It impresses me that he has been able to do so with such success. Many artists languish through painful existences without ever having that release of life that expression can give you. They fight and wallow and become impotent with the lost possibilities of a wasted gift.

Eminem has found his gift and his release and in that I see inspiration and comfort.