what is it about rock music.

Last night I managed to sneak my way into the last half of the Mars Volta concert at The Legendary Roy Wilkins auditorium. The last time I was at that venue was nearly three years ago at a Mars Volta concert. As I watched the band I couldn't help but think about how much my life has been shaped by my "rock" experiences. I can remember a sunny mid-summer day many years ago when we played at the Mankato VFW hall with a scrappy bunch of wide-eyed twenty somethings from El Paso, TX named At The Drive-In. As Todd, Judd, Sally and I watched as they pounded out their set, I think we both were amazed at the skill, and heart the band played with. The kind of reckless abandon that one rarely witnesses. As I watched the Mars Volta tear through their set last night with all the skill of any 70's prog band, or for that matter any classically trained studio musician, I wanted to be back in our attic at 2024 Dupont talking to Cedric and Omar. The people I saw on the stage last night were only figments of what once was. I can't help but wonder what experiences had brought them to the place that they are now. The music has pretty much escaped all genre boundaries at this point. I kept thinking I was watching a rock opera written by a secret society of punk rock kids. Are they self-aware of how ridiculous they are? How did they get so tight and so proficient? What drugs did they do that I didn't or wouldn't? Amanda kept saying that it felt like we were on an acid trip and couldn't decide it was good or bad. I felt the same. I couldn't watch the whole thing. It was sensory overload. I loved every second of it, but hated it at the same time.

Is this for real?