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2005.09.11

[Dear_Trent_#_19]

Dear Trent,

If you've been reading my letters here at WTC (and sometimes, frankly, I kinda hope you aren't), I know you know how much pride I take in the turgidity of my purple prose, and that I make a special effort to be as randy as possible.

There are times, baby, plenty of times, when I really just want you to know how much I do carry a big, flaming torch for you, and how much I just can't help it. But, you know what? Sometimes, I just need to tell you something that isn't randy, turgid, or purple. Today is one of those days. I'm not even going to call you "Sparklepants" today.

Trent, your new song, the one you played on MTV for ReAct Now is so beautiful, and you sing it so soulfully, that I am completely slain. I don't know how you do it, but you keep writing your most beautiful song ever. I love it so much.

Thank you again.

Love,
Dierdre

Posted by Dierdre ~ in dear_trent | Permalink

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I was up late last night watching the ReAct thing, because they started broadcasting it in Canada at 11:40 PM, and it ran through til 2AM. I just wanted to reiterate something that Kim and I were talking about last night. Trent looks so sad, so heartbroken, like someone who's been up for days in the ICU waiting room at a hospital, hoping for the good news that their loved one has pulled through. It's incredible that he could perform last night, and such powerful performances at that.

"Non-Entity" is a gorgeous song indeed and seems to fully express the feelings he had at the moment he saw and heard about NOLA.

I was completely moved to tears. And now I think I should probably go to bed since I've been up for about 25 hours straight.

Posted by: Buttercup_J | Sep 11, 2005 6:23:28 AM

all i can say is that we better get this song on this tour. definately!

Posted by: Kate | Sep 11, 2005 11:22:20 AM

Yes, like Butter and I discussed, he did look extremely sad. It was his sadness, together with his respectful manner and wonderful performance that nearly brought me to tears. It takes a lot to make me cry, and I did have to dab at my eyes last night. Especially during his introduction for Allen Toussaint. The way he had to keep pausing to take deep breaths - that's something I only do when I'm nervous or upset and ready to cry. So, seeing him have to keep taking calming breaths... agh. Like I told Butter, I wanted to jump into the TV and hug him so badly.

As for "Non-Entity"... it's my new favorite song. His performance of it was beautiful. I had to stop myself from giggling when I saw the boombox, though.

And do you know how disturbing it is to watch Trent sing with what looks like a mixture of anger and sadness while a TAMPAX ad is right next to him?

Posted by: Kim | Sep 11, 2005 12:32:31 PM

I have a quick question..I only saw Hurt performed..his other appearance..did it come prior to the final hour of the show? I didn't get the 4th hour on tape..I guess I best go grab my tape and check it out to see if I have. Hurt tore me up..I didn't know there was more.

:(
Yes, he looked devastated. Like how my husband looked after his adopted home of NYC for 23 years was attacked 4 years go.

hugs,
bex

Posted by: bex | Sep 11, 2005 1:38:05 PM

It was only online, Bex. You can go to the Nine Inch Nails page on MTV to see it. If you can't get it, I can link you to where someone uploaded it.

Posted by: Kim | Sep 11, 2005 3:28:49 PM

I had to work most of last night, so I tuned in around 11 Eastern time. That, of course, meant that I missed his performance, but I still caught his intro bit. My thought processes did a complete 180, from "Damn, the man looks good in a suit" (yes, rather superficial, I know) to "My Gods, he's so sad. It's obvious he's trying to keep himself together." It was all I could think about this morning at work. I wanted to jump into the TV and give him a hug, too.

Gods love him. I just watched the performance of "Non Entity" and I can't take it. My heart is simultaneously bursting and breaking. I'll have to wait until later, when I've pulled myself together, to watch "Hurt."

Posted by: emerald527 | Sep 11, 2005 4:43:46 PM

If this shows up more than once, I apologize...computer acting stupid while I'm downloading stuff:
thanx Kim, I found out what the deal was and have found some links. Unfortunately, I have dial up (I know, I know) and can't really watch streaming. Downloading takes forever, but is worth it.

I watched Non-Entity, and I got goosebumps. I'm paralyzed when he performs his stuff in a stripped down manner. Still kills me. His performance of Hurt & Non-Entity did even more than that.

Wow.........not sure what else to say. I wanna give Trent a big hug (and not in the fan girl kind of way...geniunely, I want to hug him because of his sorrow).

hugs,
bex

Posted by: | Sep 11, 2005 5:34:49 PM

Probably the worst song title I've ever heard. Sounds like a Stabbing Westward album.

That said, there's some really beautiful stuff in the song. The notion of Herr Reznor at a piano, just him and his music, is so much more interesting -- to my thinking -- then retreading the NIN faves for the kids; it seems to be much more honest, and absolutely more representative of where the guy is at artistically, emotionally, and spiritiually now. And I thought his ability to voice the fury and frustration of our entire fucking nation -- and the world's, our lovely global readers -- whilst just tapping at a baby grand was more effective than any thing in the three shows I've seen this year.

Once again, I've always loved seeing the guy's stripped down honesty. That's always been the allure to NIN for me, and this is the most honest we've seen him in years. Not that he's been dishonest before per se, but this... for very obvious personal reasons, he was feeling this one. He has a very real power in this type of forum, and it's thrilling. It makes you want to know where it could go.

But since it's what I do, I've also got to be honest, and say that once the New Song Chills wear off, that "Nonentity" the song itself is a little boring. It's rather one note emotionally, repeated several times with scant variation, over and over -- it doesn't evolve, there's no arc to it. Pretty stuff, and nice to hear, but not his best. But love the performance.

Posted by: Gabriel | Sep 11, 2005 6:55:00 PM

Gabriel, you are fucking cracking me. A song doesn't NEED an arc, bitch, it's not a narrative. There are fuckloads of songs that are "one-note" emotionally that fucking rule. I mean, fucking hell, let's talk about your favorite, "Terrible Lie". That's one note, and that note is "meh!"

This new song was a small one, but an especially nice effort, and I really liked the writing. Simple, as always, but I think deceptively so, and really straight and strong. He repeats himself, but I like that about him; there's always a new shade in it. Hearing the metaphor of being blinded by the sun from this different angle is particularly satisfying to me, and I love, (for a change, because usually this kind of thing bugs the shit out of me, even in Trent's writing)the mixed metaphor of "echoes in my eyes" with it.

But you know what? You said something interesting up there -- "I've always loved the guy's stripped-down honesty" -- and it gets to the heart of the matter on the difference between you and me, and the different way we've always consumed our vitamin T: I have always had faith in Trent's honesty, but I've also always thought his thoroughly un-stripped-down ACT had it's own kind of honesty.

Trent's artifice, to me, has always been the most fascinating thing about his work - an expression of more than just his literal pain or whatever, but for me, even more interestingly, of his intentions - and also, as a kind of a barrier between him and the consummation of his emotion in our hearing.

If that makes sense.

I look for his intentions and the artifice that always accompanies them when I see him, and you look for his stripped-down honesty. I have to tell you, I think we are basically looking for the same thing, but I would argue that his honesty has never been of the "stripped-down" variety.

Whatevs.

I loved this song and nearly died of that performance. I think there is a very strong argument to be made that Trent's never been more stripped-down in his honesty, or said more about his true self with less over-arching intention that he is doing now, with every aspect of his current work... which is, to me, one of it's biggest differences from what went before, and one of the areas in which a weakening of his aesthetic power is most possible.

Personally, I'm looking forward to a the return of his artifice. I hope that when he get's "more experimental" he'll also be packing the intentions in hardcore, because I've always thought Walter Benjamin was dead wrong when he said "truth is an intentionless state of being."

Not that I won't gladly take more episodes of Trent, in a freaking SUIT for chrissakes, tickling the ivories with his boom box. Adorable!

Do you know how wierd it is to have JUST NOW revisted the mudstock performance, and then seen THAT? Jesus.

Ok, and finally, anyone who can help me see the video of this performance will be my hero forever. I cannot get ANY version of the video of non-entity to play on my Mac, and I am seriously going to fucking cry pretty soon.

Thanks.

Posted by: Dierdre | Sep 11, 2005 10:26:04 PM

Oh, and Gabriel? I think it's your own fucking problem that you have any fucking clue what a Stabbing Westward album might be titled.

Posted by: Dierdre | Sep 11, 2005 10:32:33 PM

I'm not talking about a literal narrative arc, Dierdre -- I'm talking about the fact that the song is flat. It's just two verses, two sorta-choruses, and a pseudo-bridge that's pretty much the exact same piano riff as the verse. That's a flat song; they're no build -- no dynamics within the structure of the song. That's what I'm talking about. Duh.

(And for the record, "Terrible Lie" is brilliant structured, both with the "don't take it away from me" whispery part that leads up into the last verse, as well as the awesome synth line outro. This song is more akin to something like "Hurt", however -- but in that case it is they lyrics that provide the dynamicism, as "hurt" is much more in the narrative mold).

As far as his honesty, I think you tend to see it where you want it to be. As for me, when I first saw him in TDS days, he was out of fucking control; an utter madman. I have no doubt that was indicative of the 28 year old he was. Was he literally feeling that every night? Course not. But the artifice of that performance was about conveying something honest about who he was at that time.

I've been saying the same thing since day one -- it strikes me as somewhat false to see him running around these days, in the healthy and fit state he is, doing the Little Angry Midget Greatest Hits tour, and pretending to still vibe like that Downward Spiral guy did. I know you don't feel this is the case; I do. That's why watching him perform "nonentity" -- regardless of whether I think the song is his best or not -- is so gratifying. (By the way, here is a link to where a mac friendly version exists).

For the first time, watching this video, I felt like I was really seeing something representative of the guy who wrote the "With Teeth" record. Just a guy who likes to play piano and sing. Not trying to put on any role that's haunting him from 10 years back.

"Stripped-down honesty" is a concept just like any other, and it is most definitely part of the performance. But what always set Trent apart from somebody like Marilyn Manson is that you always knew Manson was just trying to be as wierd and shocking and pseudo-taboo as he could -- there was no real heart and soul behind it. I truly do believe that the Reznor of old was presenting his honest self, in the best theatrical way he knew how. It was a crazy loud rock show, but it was about connecting with something very honest and pure in and of himself.

I think the club tours started as they did, with familiar roles in play, so he could get his feet wet. Nobody can give a one handed fist fuck thrust like MT, and of course we all love it. But it's not really in sync with his headspace like the earlier live personae were (and once again, I realize you disagree with me on this, but I think we'll both have to wait and see how things evolve and gutcheck the whole experience a few years down the line to really know for sure).

But I think everybody here can agree that the performance of "nonentity" is singular, and uniquely powerful. It's something he's hinted at before, but we've never seen him embrace fully. And I think everybody's reaction is indicative of just how organic, natural... just how right it seemed with the man he is today.

I remember after Coachella you and I had this conversation, D; how my dream would be to just have MT do a concert without NIN, just him on stage with a piano. For some reason, it just seemed on a gut level like that was the fiitting evolution. I think the performance on Saturday night backs this up, and I can't wait to see what he'll do next.

p.s. "Ungod" RULES

Posted by: Gabriel | Sep 11, 2005 11:09:40 PM

Gabriel,

I hear you. I get what you're saying. To some extent, I do agree that the greatest hits tour was not about some kind of literal honesty, as much as it was about finding the rock star, and just seeing what it would feel like to be him again.

I don't agree that I see his honesty where I want to see it, though; I think it's more that I believe he is essentially and almost unavoidably honest, so I start by giving him the benefit of the doubt, and if I don't see his authenticity at the most obvious level, I try to be attentive until I do sense it, wherever it is.

I've said to you before that I think Trent is, for all his evolution and difference these days, very much what he's always been, and I think you're right - the honesty in his performance back in the day was of a different variety, and it was clearer. I know you disagree with me, but I still think the same quality is there - it just isn't right up at the literal surface, now.

The other thing I want to say is that I think that, in saying the song is flat, you are looking to rob it of that thing which is exactly it's strength. That song is about standing amongst wreckage and saying "now what?" It's about uncertainty, and being in a place where you don't know what the arc is. It's just my sense of Trent as a human being, but I think it's a lot easier for him to rage against all that shouldn't be, than it is for him to just be uncertain. The strength he has now, as an artist and a man, I think, is that he is able to do that in a way he never has before, and I think it's especially moving how reserved his performance is.

That's the big strength, to me, of With Teeth in general. It's the fact that Trent, instead of voicing his usual totally clear sense of what the fuck is up (or down), is expressing ambivalence that for me, makes this, in a way, his most courageous moment. This song is beautiful BECAUSE it has no conclusion, no perfectly executed arc. It's about being overwhelmed.

Now, you can go ahead and tell me that I am just making a case for it because it's Trent, and you are partially correct: I have, after all of these years, paid enough attention to Trent to know how to place a thing like this in his aesthetic arc, and that's another part of what makes this song, and this performance, so achingly gorgeous to me. I think it would have siezed me even if I didn't love the fucking hell out of the guy, but being able to see the relative certainty of his wilder days juxtaposed against the general sense of feeling his way that he's working nowadays gives it an emotional thrust for me that it might not have if he weren't so close to my heart, but I would argue that love makes us better critics, not worse.

I think everything he's doing now, including the greatest hits tour, is about expressing something honest about who he is. I just don't think it's in the same thing in the same way it was in 1994. I also share your impatience for the next chapter, but this one, which is, I think, transitional, has it's own honesty and it's own beauty. I think it's because of what kind of creature Trent is. I don't think the artist he is can tell a lie. He might be able to lie his ass off in his everyday life, I don't know; but I think he works from a very elemental place, and in his work, I think he is clean.

This performance? I like what I see. Trent's been on tour for months, and he hasn't lost his bearings. He looks well, and he's writing beautiful songs.

All I can think of to say to that is "Thank God."

That, and "Yes! Yes!! YES!! DON'T STOP!"

Posted by: Dierdre | Sep 12, 2005 7:38:20 AM

Once again, I think you and I find ourselves saying the same things with just slightly different vocabulary. Ain't it grand? :-)

Somebody on the ETS boards (yes, I lurk there still when needing things like links to videos) and somebody had said "nonentity" felt like it wasn't finished yet. While they were being obvious and somewhat stupid -- they're an ETS poster, duh -- and meaning the boombox factor of it all, I think there was something true in that notion, in that non-entity doesn't feel like a completed thought to me. It doesn't even feel like an unintentionally truncated thought, like "bmwag" or even "byit" to a degree does. It just felt like it peters out instead of going somewhere, which is why -- once again, for me -- it didn't hae the power of a "right where it belongs", "day the world went away" or "hurt".

beautiful, but needs some structuring work. nothing wrong with pointing out that, methinks.

Posted by: Gabriel | Sep 12, 2005 10:07:29 AM

Gabriel,

There's nothing wrong in your wanting emotional honesty from TR...it's what you've come to expect after 15+ years of hearing some of the most emotionally naked work in rock.

However, I think you're being a bit too literal, though, in expecting Trent to be "into" a certain song or group of songs whenever he plays it. A certain amount of "performance" does come into play, and you do acknowledge that by admitting that he probably wasn't feeling TDS every night of that tour. I think he isn't feeling TDS in a very literal sense at all these days (which is personally very GOOD for him), but that doesn't mean that he can't look back and try to recapture some of those feelings in a three- or four-minute song.

He might not be battering his bandmates and having sex with his keyboards onstage and ripping himself apart at the seams offstage anymore, but that doesn't mean that he can't play Downward Spiral songs or Broken songs, what have you. In fact, my understanding of TDS (based on interviews) is that it was more of a concept album about a "character" who was more of the Ghost of Christmas Future for Trent than the Ghost of Christmas Present. The fact that he did eventually become that person was a mistake that almost led to the grave, and now he's back with a new album telling you all about the struggle to regain who he REALLY is. So "With Teeth" is actually a *more* honest album than TDS.

(Note, I'm not feeling at all well today, so I'm not sure if my train of thought even makes sense)

If I've read your previous posts correctly, I think your major beef with the last tour was that it was mostly composed of "greatest hits," and not so much new stuff, and you thought that he was not being honest in doing so and was playing to the fans who weren't as intimately connected to his work.

Trent has recently explained (in that radio interview he just did) that he structured the show that way so that he could get back into rock star mode and could warm up with the band and that the upcoming arena tour would have a lot newer/experimental material.

Are you uncomfortable with him thinking on that level and not just the level of "this is me expressing who I am to you"?

I'm looking at it all from the perspective of a fiction writer, so none of this seems foreign or untrue to me. I write, and what I write is emotionally true, if some of the names and dates and details have changed. I can look at events or people with different perspectives on purpose or maybe my own perspective has changed or maybe I'm addressing something from the past that I couldn't before. The act of writing reflects who I am now, but if I were to do a reading or "perform" my work, I wouldn't see an inherent problem of reading something that I had written much earlier, even if a lot about my beliefs and thought processes and writing style have dramatically changed in the meantime. I think it's perfectly legit for an author to relive the past as well as focus on the present and future.

I suspect that your frustration with Trent has a lot more to do with the fact that maybe you've listened to his old work so much that you've burned it out for yourself, so you're hankering for something new and different. I think he's finally ready to be giving us the new and different again, but you should probably have some patience because not everyone has memorized every word to every song like probably most of us have. I don't think there's anything wrong with Trent throwing a bone to newer fans.

As for "Non-Entity," the title does trouble me, but only in a punctuation sense.

I think this song is begging you to pay more attention to the lyrics than anything else. It's very much like "Right Where it Belongs" where it's stripped down...you have a piano playing softly, and the tune doesn't change much throughout, and if there were no lyrics, you would think, "Uhhhh...okay," BUT because you don't have to pay as much attention to this and that sound effect, you can focus more on the words and the message, and it makes one say "holy shit."

That's how I feel about it anyway...

Posted by: maise | Sep 12, 2005 11:10:03 AM

You miss the point, Maise -- I think the current live performance incarnation (even with the muscles and Iraqi Combat Hair) is basically attempting to recapture the TDS live persona. It's the same type of show, and there is my problem with the Greatest Hits Tour. It's not like he's reimagining them, or presenting them to us in a different way, recontextualizing them in a new light.

It's actually the opposite -- he's basically doing the same thing as he did before, but it's not nearly as effective as it was before because that mode of performance and persona suited his madness at that time, a madness that doesn't exist any longer, at least not like it did. I think he needs to step out of those old roles, otherwise he comes off in the big picture like somebody trying to capitalize off his former self, instead of fully embracing who he is on all levels -- including that of live performance. You don't want to be Def Leppard, doing the exact same kind of stage show at 50 as you did at 25, save for shorter hair and more wrinkles. That's what Trent's doing now.

And you've actually got it 180-degrees incorrect on your read of what I'm in and not into -- the older stuff has never lost its allure for me. The new material, however, has burned itself out for me in a matter of months. Now there are only 5 songs from "With Teeth" i listen to, and them only once a week at best. Once again, this to me speaks to the quality and depth of the craft and art therein. I know all you fangirls disagree, and will posit that if I listen to it 1000 more tims and listen harder I will understand it's brilliant and then want to touch myself, but I think after the first 1000 listens I should still like it if it's brilliant. Lots of stuff on "With Teeth" got old after listen 250.

And with regards to "RWIB", that song is vastly superior to "n/e". What really breaks my heart in "rwib" is the extended "seeeeee" that trails off on the last chorus, followed by those gorgeous "hoo hoos" and the final, quivering piano note. It's gorgeous, and gives that song a sense of completeness; as a fiction writer, Maise, you'll understand what I mean when I say it's a reversal, and it's what makes the song feel whole. "n/e" doesn't have that; it just sorta ends. But it's okay -- he'll get there.

Posted by: Gabriel | Sep 12, 2005 11:47:23 AM

Oh, and I forget to mention that the lyrics for "n/e" are pretty damn weak -- we're talking Bad Fragile Songs weak.

Personally, I thought when he'd repeated or referenced his other lyrical work once or twice it was intentional and interesting; at this point it seems like every other song has at least one or two lifted lines -- and that's just being lazy.

Posted by: Gabriel | Sep 12, 2005 11:53:32 AM

Trent does recycle lines quite a bit, esp. "nothing can stop me now," which is starting to drive me nuts. I'll give you that.

I guess I'm kind of confused as to what you want from him onstage...is he not allowed to rock out anymore?

As for "With Teeth" not really resonating with you, you have every right to that opinion. I wonder if it's because you're younger and all fired up, and Trent is getting older and mellowing out a bit. You just might not be where he's at. I'm pushing 30, and I can feel the mellowing process beginning. It's very disconcerting...it's why "Getting Smaller" is one of my favorite songs on the album. And I've never done the whole rehab adventure, but "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" can also be a pretty good description of how a cubicled existence just eats one's soul.

n-e has beautiful lyrics, I think, but that's purely subjective, and there's no point in maintaining, "Missing in a maze of monochrome/How did I get here? How can I go home?" are good lines and having you counter, "No, they're not!"

I think what made it such a knockout was the really emotional way in which it was sung and how it reflects really well all the recent death and destruction and confusion and betrayal in NO.

Btw, Gabe, these discussions are MUCH more enjoyable than "Trent is Hitler reborn!" or "Mwa ha ha, his dog is dead!"

Posted by: maise | Sep 12, 2005 12:31:17 PM

it's funny you mention that, Maise, because I personally think that "n/e" is about the sadness Trent felt after he killed his dog with that game of frisbee oh so long ago.

the original chorus was "non-entity/maise, sorry!"

Posted by: Gabriel | Sep 12, 2005 12:54:22 PM

lol...you're such a dick, and I love you.

Posted by: maise | Sep 12, 2005 1:16:12 PM

Gabriel, I disagree with you 1000% that he is not actively recontextualizing and reimagining the back catalogue, and I couldn't possibly disagree more that there is even the smallest intention in him to recreate any part of his former persona.

Also, I think you over valorize the "honesty" of those days. Why do you think he used to hurt himself like he did on stage? Why was he pounding himself in the head and whatnot? I think it was to work up the sense of pain and outrage that was necessary to really make that show happen with the un-fucking-believable level of emotional verity it did have; but he did have to drag it out of himself.

If I had gone to those shows thinking that we were just getting a slice of this crazy motherfucker's everyday life, I wouldn't have loved it like I did. I loved it because I could see that he was doing it willfilly, on purpose, with gigantic intention, and with artifice. His show was a show, and as much as he acted like he was fucking out of control, he was still competent to program his own lights if the peons weren't getting it right after the two guys in charge, him and him, weren't told things were fucked.

Emotional verity from the fucked up has never been of much interest to me, which is why I've always thought Jim Morrison was a pathetic, drunken loser, and his stupid so-called "poetry" sucked my ass. The one exception to that rule is Kurt Cobain, whose writing was often unspeakably gorgeous, and who gave so much of himself up that I had to love him, and watching him sing was just painful.

Trent has never been that kind of artist, no matter how mad he has appeared, which is because Trent has always worked from his strength, rather than his weakness, and you know what? I even see that (with a few notable exceptions) in The Fragile, now that I've really allowed it some real estate in my heart.

Those old songs are still his, and he SHOULD sing them, and own them; and he feels so incredibly different to me these days while he's singing them. I think, before, he used to give himself up to the emotion of them, and abandon himself to it. To achieve that, he had to hurt himself every single night, as scary as that was, it was downright magnificent how completely he committed to the emotion of everything he ever said, and it wasn't painful to watch, it was thrilling.

He's not doing that same thing; you're right. He is committing to being TRENT REZNOR. I think we agree 100% that he is in process at the moment, and that he will "get there" but here's the thing: I think his moment where things he is doing seem transitional, or ambivalent -- this moment of process, and not, maybe, full consummation -- is easily as compelling as anything he has ever done.

Plus, I think you are saying loads of purely subjective things, like, "I don't listen to it every day, so it's not as resonant," which is just bullshit, when presented as some kind of aesthetic judgement. I do listen to With Teeth nearly every day, and without skipping anything, and it has only gotten more and more resonant to me. It is actually proving itself to have a rather incredible half life, for me. I love it, and as much as I do carry on about how much I'd like to ride Trent hard and put him away wet, I think you know damned well that I don't love his record because I'm a fangirl.

Finally, and this is where I am going to substitute something TOTALLY subjective for aesthetic assessment, "non-entity" has had the SHIT played out of it in my ninpod, and I have to tell you, very seriously, that of all the songs Trent has ever written, it's the one that I think has most felt like he was inside my brain when he wrote it. I so feel him on that song, and even though the drama of my life isn't larger than life "Behind the Music" rockstar shit, I totally know what he is getting at with that, and I am amazed that he has the courage to just say that and not need to have an answer.

Gabriel, I too, love the masterful and fearful symmetry of songs like "Hurt" and the gorgeous perfection that is "Right Where It Belongs" with it's pretty "hoo hooo hoo hoo" ending, but I love the courage to not be perfect, too. I love that he rigged up his boom box and broke out something new with that level of emotional committment because dude, he was feeling it.

That is a new Trent, and I love him.

Posted by: Dierdre | Sep 12, 2005 1:43:22 PM

Amen, Deirdre. What you said.

Posted by: maise | Sep 12, 2005 2:15:30 PM

PS. All you who thought he looked like he was on the verge of cracking - I didn't see that. he looked serious, and committed to his performance, and to his mission there, but he looked pretty together to me.

And Gabriel, I just wanted to add something - and it's related to this - he doesn't look overly emotional to me lately, but he does look like he is very consciously holding his songs in his mind, very much like his performance of both "Hurt" and "Non-Entity", which did not look to me like he was on the verge of tears because his emotion was out of controll; it looked like he was pouring his emotion into them.

When I saw him in London, that's what I noticed - he did not abandon himself to them, he committed himself to them, and his willingness to do that brought them to life for me, even the ones I had long since given up for dead.

It was a HUGE difference.

Posted by: Dierdre | Sep 12, 2005 2:25:11 PM

I didn't think he was on the verge of cracking, but he did look pretty upset to me. I didn't think he'd just keel over and start bawling or anything like that, though. That's not something Trent would do... and I'm pretty sure he's quite skilled at hiding and keeping control over his true emotions.

Posted by: Kim | Sep 12, 2005 4:29:52 PM

Kim, I know you're no fan of mine, so I don't feel I'm being that rude when I say that's the most fucking retarded thing I've ever heard anyone say -- and I've read the rest of your posts, too.

He didn't look upset at all. He was at a somber event, performing a pair of somber songs, and was acting somber. Jesus Christ -- do you guys really think that everything anybody does on screen/in books/on the internet/radio/etc. is totally for real?

Retards.

Posted by: Gabriel | Sep 12, 2005 4:35:39 PM

I disagree, Kim. Trent is, no doubt, as upset as any American and then some, about the situation, and he certainly broke out the emotion for his performance, but it was a performance.

I hate to be agreeing with Gabriel The Rude, but Trent is a professional performer. He looked serious and dedicated to his work, but he certainly didn't look like he was holding back the tears. I mean, dude, he's at Universal in a fake dark room in a movie backlot, or some shit, with a crowd of paid extras.

Posted by: Dierdre | Sep 12, 2005 4:46:05 PM

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