Dear Friends,
Down to Rumford we go today. The visitation is here. Time to see a flow of people who want to pay respects. Time to tell stories. Time to begin the draining of emotion.
If you’ve ever been to Rumford or a town like it, you would understand why there is a reluctance to spend an afternoon at a funeral parlor there. The town itself is dying. It’s not a place where you really want to spend a whole lot of time.
Part of me would like to be part of bringing it back to life somehow, but I don’t know how I would do that. I don’t get the idea there are a lot of people who are rooting for Rumford and that is sad.
It’s a mill town. The mill might not be around too much longer from what I’ve heard over the years. That’s sad, too. Lots of history in that place, I’m sure. Probably some amazing stories.
The river alone has stories to tell. The Androscoggin is quite beautiful as it cuts through Rumford and there are even some pretty nice little waterfalls. The mill has made it a river you don’t want to hang out by, though, because of the smell.
Rumford is a town where something new would look completely out of place. There is a small downtown area, for example, that seemed like it wanted to be kind of neat when I first came up here almost 20 years ago, but now is just dead. It doesn’t seem like anything down there is ever open except for Walgreens and Dunkin’ Donuts.
I’m curious if there would be a way to revive Rumford? The people that you see there do not usually look like happiness or joy is a big part of their lives. That just sucks. It’s still a really beautiful area of the world.
*****
We bought burial plots yesterday. That’s an odd thing to do. I now know, though, where at least some of my ashes will eventually be buried. Rhondi can plant me there next to her dad and part of me will remain near Rangeley Lake forever.
Maybe it isn’t so strange after all, though. Everybody wants to be somewhere forever, I suppose, and why not there. On a clear day, it’s a decent vantage point of the edge of town and the lake. If it brings the kids some peace to visit us there at some point, how cool will that be? Maybe I will do something to make others want to come visit my grave, too.
*****
Today’s record kind of had to be a blunt instrument. Sometimes you need them.
*****
Some years ago, I wrote a big piece for the New Times about the best thrash metal records. During the process, I interviewed a fair number of people from the thrash and metal worlds about what they thought were the best thrash records of all-time. It was pretty eye opening.
During these discussions, somebody turned me on to Demolition Hammer. For the life of me, I can’t remember who it was, but for some reason, the band has always stuck with me. I listened to their Epidemic of Violence record a lot during that time.
Now, Epidemic of Violence is here on this list of albums I love. I put it there back in January when I was deciding what records I wanted to write about and it now occurs to me that I really don’t know anything about this record except that I like it a lot. It’s a mystery to me, though, in a way that most of the other records are not.
At the time that I was turned onto this record, I tried to tell everyone who would listen about this one. I can also remember being disappointed that more people I shared it with were not blown away by it. Even as I listen to it right now, I can’t understand how people I know who love thrash metal are not stoked on it.
I think I reached out to the guys in the band to interview them when I was working on the New Times list. It’s weird how my brain, which is usually really good at recalling things, is murky on this. Did I dream it? I am beginning to wonder.
A bunch of these dudes made lists of songs for me, too, of their favorites and I just looked through them and did not find Demolition Hammer on any of them. Who told me about this band? It’s killing me. As I listen to Epidemic of Violence, I am reminded of how it was in heavy rotation for a good long while when I was working on this piece and for a while afterwards.
These dudes fucking rip. It’s that simple, really. There is serious power on this record, especially from their drummer. I’m not going to pretend that I know his name, either. I don’t. I’m purposely not looking it up because for some reason, that feels disingenuous.
I just really like the record a lot. Check it out.
*****
See you tomorrow.
AI made my thoughts about our burial plot into a cheesy Stephen King cover.
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