Sunday, November 06, 2011

Mark on Lead Guitar

Mark Lede played lead guitar for Sever, Leduc Composite High School's premier heavy metal garage band. While Keith Gylander and I lived in Leduc proper, Bev, Russell and Mark all lived on farms just outside town; they were the bus kids in our little group, though later on they all started driving their own vehicles to school. Mark and I - and Bev, for that matter - were all in the so-called "gifted" program in junior high. During a roleplaying exercise in which each of us had control of a nation, Mark noted that his country and Bev's neighbouring nation shared a river.

"Aha," Mark said, "Give in to my demands or I'll poison your water supply."

Our teacher pointed at the map and noted that Mark's country was downstream from Bev's; Mark's plan would have poisoned his own people. "Rivers don't run that way, Mark," was our teacher's wry comment.

If I remember correctly, Mark was also the group's chief songwriter, penning "Altered Logic." I still remember most of the words:

Ministries of truth
Ministries of love
Ministries of peace
Without a dove!


There is no turning back
Nowhere to hide the fact
Truth reveals to me 
Altered logic! 


There is no privacy no freedom no love...

Well, some of the words, anyway. I haven't seen Mark since the early 90s; sometime in the mid-90s, I spotted a newspaper clipping noting that he'd married and was pursuing a post-graduate degree in philosophy at, I think, McMaster University.
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousMonday, November 07, 2011 11:54:00 am

    What is the point being made here?

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  2. Earl J. WoodsMonday, November 07, 2011 12:34:00 pm

    Well, if you read back a few posts, you'll see an entry called "85 Billion Stories" about population growth and the sheer numer of human beings that exist and have existed since recorded history began. In that post, I considered the sheer number of untold human stories; most of us are born, live and die unremembered. Shortly after writing that post, I stumbled across some pictures of the high school band I once belonged to and thought that each member had a short story worth telling. Writing about Bev, Russell, Keith and Mark reminded me of some stories that I'd almost forgotten, to the point, for me at least, is to recapture some of my own personal history.

    Of course there's often a huge difference between author intent and audience understanding; the point may vary considerably depending on your background, your present circumstances, point of view, etc.

    I suppose the meta-point is that I write about stuff that interests me. Sometimes that stuff will also interest the folks who stumble across this blog; sometimes it won't.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LiamTuesday, November 08, 2011 12:59:00 pm

    I'm lucky enough to have nobody ever think I have a point I'm trying to make with my writing, so on the odd (very odd) occasion that I do have a point, it totally slips under the radar.

    I think the point that Earl is trying to make is that he is a heavy-metal god and those fools in Kashmir ruined their chances at musical immortality when they short-sightedly dumped Earl for what they thought were greener pastures. You know, Earl, these sour grapes are not becoming at all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Earl J. WoodsTuesday, November 08, 2011 1:28:00 pm

    Finally somebody gets it! Thanks, Liam. ;-)

    ReplyDelete