Today in Pop Culture: Circuitbreakers

By Jeffery X Martin\

Today is the day that John Lennon was shot to death outside the Chelsea by some asshole who seriously misinterpreted The Catcher in the Rye. I’ve read that book. I missed the part about killing rock stars.

And I don’t want to say the name of Lennon’s assassin, because if you know anything about Lennon, if you’ve read even the briefest of biographies, you know what it is anyway and honestly, fuck that guy.

People who kill public figures are like people who thinks it’s funny to switch off all the lights in the middle of a party.

I feel the same way about the guy who shot Dimebag Darrell to death on stage. On stage! It still amazes me. That’s equivalent to a home invasion. That happened today, too. What a crappy day, huh?

Any performer, no matter how introverted they are, feels the need to perform. That endorphin rush of being on stage, hearing that applause, and having people like you, that’s addictive. The performer gets that rush, and the audience gets the joy of having a good show. On a real good night, there’s a give and take between the performer and the audience, and it’s like that old high school science experiment, where everyone stands in a circle, holding hands, and one person has an old crank generator. Everyone in that circle can feel that electrical pulse, that shock.

They feel it until someone breaks the circuit.

And that’s what these killers are. They are circuitbreakers. They want to destroy bright things. In some cases, like the shithead that shot Lennon, they want the light to move, ever so slightly, from their victim to them. Some people are starfuckers; some are starkillers. It’s a bit of a fine line.

Maybe you listen to John Lennon today. Maybe you rail about how he was a terrible person and deserved what he got. Maybe you say to hell with all that, and you listen to some Pantera or Damageplan. You pour a little out for Dimebag.

Maybe you take a little time to bask in the light that’s left from these two, and give a strong middle finger to those who are compelled to throw us into the dark.