In Babylon

It is so fucking weird to find Planet P's music on YouTube. Weird and awesome.

I grew up on his stuff... hell, I still play the Pink World album through from start to finish a couple of times a year, and it never disappoints. Pink World was my only friend when I lived in Missouri. I had a walkman and I'd play the album every single morning on the two-hour backwoods bus ride. There was also Floyd and Kraftwerk, Men Without Hats and Hawkwind, but this was not their standout era.

When I listen to that album, I remember one-lane mountain roads that crept past layers of flat morning mist that buried the Ozark mountains for miles. I remember the horrible cornhusker's lotion the driver used to bathe in before work each day, the rotten smell of the seat covers, diesel fuel. Sitting alone in the back of the bus, so every bump in the road gave my brains a stir. Somehow, the memories are never bleak and miserable. That era in my life was pretty black. The worst things that ever happened to me all took place in Missouri, but Planet P only brings back the good stuff.

I also remember deciding to be a comic artist because I wanted to tell stories. Planet P did it all solo for Pink World, and while the music itself didn't age well (turns out synthesizers taste better in moderation), for me it was always all about the story. And wanting to tell my own.

It's really cool to know he's still making music, telling epic album-length stories, mostly solo. I'm rooting for him. The Go Out Dancing project reminds me (favorably) of Roger Waters in one of his apocalyptic moods. I haven't gotten to know Levittown yet, but so far I'm digging the hell out of it. Waiting for the right time to play it to death with my full attention so I can digest the lyrics.