We had a great time last night watching people set fires and blow things up. The bonfires were all in place when we arrived. Some guys in a Tiki Hut on the beach were serving drinks to people in pirate costumes while a steel band played. Rockets were already stuck in the sand and pointing out to sea (Canada). It was barely dark when the bonfires were lit. Most were soaked with fuel so they went up with a loud thud.
Fireworks packages were rigged to go off with the touch of a remote control. I photographed one such package with George Bush on it. I wish it was really him in there. Guys were running around with blow torches. They lit the Tiki Hut on fire. Debris was falling out of the air and you hardly see the stars with all the smoke. There was a boat out on the water playing disco music. People on the boat were dancing under a strobe light. The fireworks which were all made in China are illegal in New York State so they were probably bought in Pennsylvania. I was wearing goggles and earplugs and wondering exactly why this whole ritual was considered patriotic. I started asking people what they thought but realized I sounded like a real party pooper so I shut up.
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Shut up, Paul.
That looks a little harsh in print. What I MEANT to say is holidays are MEANT to be without meaning. Remember these tests in school?:
“BONFIRES” are to the FOURTH OF JULY” as CHRISTMAS is to:
A) Penguin balls
B) Baby Jesus’s Birthday
C)’Yo Mama’ jokes. Or…
D) Who the fuck knows?
The correct answer, of course, is P) Don’t think – just play drums – and shut the fuck up.
And that’s GOGGLES, not GOOGLES!
Thank you Paolo. I need the advice and the spellcheck.
Obviously.
After some research, well really not research, just drinking and talking to people, I’ve come up with what I think is a pretty straightforward answer to your probably rhetorical question, “Why do we do this?”
Blowing shit up on the Fourth for fun, is mimicking how we blow shit up for real, when people (armies, other countries) screw with us. So the Fourth thing is cool for “those kinds” of patriots, of which I am one. So if the answer’s deeper or further than this, I don’t want to know
it’s nice to have a day off and all but holidays are primarily for jerks and suckers. even the religious ones. think about it.
Traffic has a great song called “Low Spark of High-heeled Boys,” and after watching the display during the Ring of Fire one year, put on mostly, as you said by guys who spend gross amounts of money on the stuff, I dubbed it the “High Spark of Well-heeled Boys. “
You missed the guy pouring gas on a lit fire, dropping the can next to the fire and running away with his hair on fire- I’m not kidding. I was waiting for the gas can to blow up but his friend shoveled sand onto it. He was burned, I don’t know how bad.
Booze+gas+fire+fireworks=crazy
Martin,
That’s called ‘Natural Selection’ – a culling of the human herd. Sorry he made it. Undoubtedly, he’s contributing to the weakening of the gene pool.
paolo.