David Michael Newstead's Blog, page 4

The Concert Chronicle

David Michael Newstead | The Philosophy of Shaving

It started after the pandemic. Everything had stopped. Everything. Everything. Everything. Movie theaters, museums, McDonalds, the public library, and on down the list. All of it was closed for a year or two years depending where you lived. Suddenly, all the things you wanted to do or even just considered to be options weren’t available anymore. In that moment, it was also very unclear when they would ever be available again. When things eventually reopened, I decided to re-evaluate my outlook in a dozen different ways. This was one of them. Some social activities that had never really been top priorities for me became important, because during lockdown you really felt their absence. That’s how the concert chronicle began. A list basically. By year or sometimes by phase of my life.

Performer(s)VenueDate

I became interested in not only keeping track of the new concerts I’d be going to, but also figuring out ones I’d attended years or decades earlier. Some were obvious. Others were a unique research challenge. No concert was too small or insignificant. It took a while to fill in all the gaps, but steadily the list got longer. Then, gradually, a very specific snapshot of my life came into view: music I liked, where I was living at the time, and what I could even afford. Between the lines of all that were the memories of great bands and the friends you went with. In a way I hadn’t thought about before, concerts became an extension of my education and another opportunity to branch out: personally, socially, and culturally. Before this, I’d go to a concert once in a blue moon, but I didn’t particularly care. But after long periods of quarantined reflection I wondered, if everything was taken away, what in the grand scheme of things did I value? Now, flipping through my list of concerts, I knew. I got to see Ringo Starr sing “Yellow Submarine.” I saw bands I was listening to when I was in high school perform like no time had passed in between. And lastly, I realized all the totally new and different things going on around town that I was just blind to. Famous singers will sometimes have a biography written about their lives and their music. The same can’t be said for listeners and audience members though. But if there were a music biography capturing this one sliver of my life, the concert chronicle would be it.

Lost Garden

David Michael Newstead | The Philosophy of Shaving

Does the land have any memory of what came before now? Does the positive leave an imprint as deep or as lasting as the negative, the toxic, and destructive? If a garden thrived for 50 or 100 or even 1,000 years, will the parking lot that replaces it erase that legacy in a second? Either the world is a frightening blank slate or something else ties us together across time: gardens, homes, towns, and people.

Curious Inscriptions

The Typewriter Inheritance

The Quotable Ben Franklin #18

Thus, if you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. The money may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors; he shaves when most convenient to him, and enjoys daily the pleasure of its being done with a good instrument.

The Ways It Is

The Engagement and the Painting

David Michael Newstead | The Philosophy of Shaving

I opened up an old, hardcover art book to flip through it. The pages were water damaged, but otherwise fine. This was a Time-Life book from 1969 entitled The World of Van Gogh, 1853-1890 by Robert Wallace. Right at the beginning of the book, there were two distinct things inserted between the pages. First, there was a small newspaper clipping of a wedding engagement announcement. “New Year Betrothal” declared the headline. At the top was a smiling, black-and-white portrait of a young woman. The article was undated, but looked to be from the late 1950s or early 1960s. Second, behind that article, there was a rough painting of a trail in the forest. This was on a sheet of canvass the size of an entire page in the art book. It was unsigned and undated. Presumably, the newspaper clipping, the painting, and the book had all belonged to the woman in the photograph. But what happened to this couple in the ensuing years?

With the names and locations provided in the announcement, I gradually pieced together the ebb and flow of their lives together, which I will share an anonymized version of. The groom (who I’ll call Robert) came to America as a boy after his family fled post-war Europe. He arrived in the early 1950s, went through the naturalization process, and excelled in school. His hard work paid off and Robert was awarded a scholarship to a small picturesque college in Pennsylvania. There, he met his future wife (who I’ll call Janet.) Janet was from the Midwest and was majoring in elementary education. It’s still not clear when exactly they got married, but, after cross-referencing some information, I would guess that this article was from 1959. Regardless, the pair soon began successful careers as teachers and started a family, which continues to thrive to this day.

After figuring out a few details, I reached out to the couple’s children to see if they wanted either the newspaper clipping or the painting. No response yet.

The Typewriter Inheritance

Children of Men

David Michael Newstead | The Philosophy of Shaving

If there’s one movie that matters in the 21st century, it’s Children of Men. This 2006 science fiction film starring Clive Owen depicts the far off year 2027. I saw it in theaters when it first came out and, while it’s incredibly powerful, the true value of the story has only become more evident with time. No children are being born and British society has become a fractured mix of escapism and militarized xenophobia. Human life is seemingly treated as both priceless and worthless by authorities as the film’s characters race to safeguard the first pregnancy in the world in 18 years: a pregnant refugee. Back in 2006, this masterpiece came and went from theaters. It was acclaimed, but not that successful financially. Years went by. Before long though, 2027 didn’t seem so distant anymore and neither did a story about maintaining our humanity in chaotic and inhumane circumstances. Was Children of Men a mirror for the moment it was made, a prediction of our arrogance, or a warning about the future? Somehow could it be all three?

Danger is My Business

The Typewriter Inheritance

The News in Pictures

New Year, New Moleskine

David Michael Newstead | The Philosophy of Shaving

The exciting part about getting a new calendar is the feeling of a blank slate. A new year has started and now you get to try again, plan better, or maybe do things differently. At this point, the whole year is just on the horizon. It won’t feel that way for long though. How I organize myself is one thing, but what I actually do with my year is something else. Should I just repeat or build on what worked the year before? Or make changes big or small? When I bought my Moleskine for 2025, I immediately flipped through it and began writing in upcoming concerts and holidays and things like that. Soon enough, there was some structure to the year and the rest was wide open spaces still waiting to be filled with fun plans, passion projects, and the routine life admin that it’s best to stay on top of. Not everything can or should be scheduled, but time seems to slip away very quickly and 2025 is finally here.