Catch Me (Synacky)

Chapter Sixteen: Zacky

We went to visit Dad on January 29th. I sat in the front seat of Dr. Brooks’ car. Brian sat in the back. Dr. Brooks owned a 1979 gold Honda Accord. It was ugly. I told this to Dr. Brooks and he laughed and agreed with me. But the inside smelled like caramel and fresh sheets, and he had a wide collection of classical cassette tapes that we listened to on the way to my city. I held the map, but Dr. Brooks said he had poured over it before we left, so we wouldn’t need it.

He had agreed to stop by my house, so I could get my big coat and the little hat and scarf I had for my pet, along with some gloves and books and things.

We would be gone nearly all day. We would leave at 9:00 in the morning, arrive in Mountain Trail at noon, then we would have lunch in town, go home, visit Dad, then leave by 2:00 and arrive back at the institution at 5:00 which would be in time for supper. And I was not nervous because I liked Brian and I liked Dr. Brooks and I had my pet and the car was warm and we listened to Antonio Vivaldi.

Vivaldi is nice because he composed string music. In that way, he’s like much of the great gypsy jazz artists of the 1930’s. Although he used primarily violins, and gypsy jazz centers around guitar. But gypsy jazz artists commonly use violins as well.

The difference between music from the baroque era and music from today is this:

People talk about Bach and Beethoven and Mozart, and those are composers, not artists. They did not even play the music that they wrote, and they were popular for that. Today, lyricists and composers do not get as much credit as the singers and instrumentalists do. In this way, there is an imbalance.

The only exceptions are singer/songwriters, and those who write the music for their own band to play. Django did this. So did the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix and Rufus Wainwright and Metallica. Although I do not listen to Rufus Wainwright because he is under the genre called ‘folk,’ and I don’t like folk because the guitar riffs are basic.

Brian asked if we could listen to speed metal, and Dr. Brooks just laughed.

Speed metal is better than thrash metal because speed metal is more melodic. Lots of people believe that speed metal is like the umbrella that covers most forms of metal, thrash included, but this can be disproven. For example, Metallica is a very iconic speed metal band. If we were to compare them to a typical thrash metal band, Kreator, the differences are clear. Speed metal focuses on the building of complex licks and shredding where each individual note can be heard clearly. Thrash metal, however, focuses on aggressive riffs with a deep, abrasive sounds, and the riffs are not as complex but instead they are powerful.

Speed metal is more fun to play and listen to, and thrash metal is easier to play, but much more basic, and only sounds right if you can use the right distortions, which can be difficult and frustrating. Thrash can be upsetting because it’s hard to hear the complexity of the instruments coming together because the instruments tend to drown each other out.

There are exceptions to this, though. There are bad speed metal bands, and there are good thrash metal bands.

I spoke about this with Brian on our way to Mountain Trail.

Dr. Brooks listened to us, being thoughtful. Then he stopped off at a music store in a town we were passing through, and bought a couple Helloween and Metallica 8 tracks that we critiqued in the car. He did not like the style, but then again, he was a little old for it.

“Is this what kids are listening to, these days?” he asked as James Hetfield screamed around us.

“Only the well-cultured ones.” Brian replied.

And I pressed my pet up to the air conditioning vents which gave out hot air, then I pressed it to my cheek and it was soft and warm and I felt happy.