tuesdaynight

Kurt Vonnegut has died.

I worry that the stock of American masters is dwindling. Warren Zevon is gone. Kurt Vonnegut is now gone. Hunter S. Thompson is gone. Someday Lou Reed will be gone.

I worry that Saul Williams words in his piece, Bloodletting, are too true:

the greatest americans
have not been born yet

Who will take up the mantle? Who is our next Twain? Who will be the new Vonnegut? Who will take up where Warren left off? Who will be the new Richard Feynman?

What if these greats cannot be replaced? What does it say about our society if we cannot replenish our artistic stock?

I hope that artists like Saul Williams, David Eggers, DJ Spooky,and Kev Russell, Jimmy Smith and the rest of The Gourds are those next American Masters.

I hope we as a society have the foresight to invest in our culture as a form of national security.