So I caught the Disco Biscuits last night. Which is not to say that I went to see them. (Although the latter certainly is a true statement). They happened to be passing through with their wave of cosmic sound for the new millennium. The helicopter was taking off and I managed to grab onto the landing gear and climb aboard. Practically everyone knows real music can cut through and outlast time. A few of the lucky ones get to have that experience with music and space. Namely, they experience live music spanning distance as they travel the country catching one band's brand of sound in different venues and towns. I have had limited experience with this as my longest run of shows consisted of 8 shows in 11 days in 6 states. However, to get back on track, the relationship between music, time, and space is a slippery one that doesn't seem to adhere to conventional rules or functions. It varies greatly from band to band, place to place, and year to year. And it's that odd relationship that I got to thinking about last night and thought was worth looking into.

The first time I saw the Disco Biscuits was at least two years ago. It was a tiny 'locals' bar at school. I remember dancing and having a decent time but attributed most of it to beer and friends. I thought of them than as just one of the many new groove bands starting out. One year later, still in school, I was at my usual Tuesday night hangout with my friends. We usually have dinner, a few beers, and wait around to see what band shows up. Well, on this particular night it happened to be the Disco Biscuits. "Oh, I think I've seen them before. I hear they've gotten pretty good. Let's stay and check them out." Famous last words if I've ever heard them. It was actually my third time seeing them live and the improvement was remarkable. I remember walking home that night with a sensation, some kind of vibration in my body. I had just witnessed something very special but couldn't quite grasp it.

Let's skip ahead to last night. Almost one year to the day. It's been two years since my first Bisco encounter. One year since I had that strange sensation/premonition. I have since graduated from college and find myself now living in Boulder, CO. So when I heard that this young upstart band that I used to see back in Delaware was going to be headlining the popular Fox Theatre in Boulder for the first time, I had only one choice: climb aboard the helicopter.

As I watched, listened, and danced hard to the steady onslaught of energy, I seemed to be vibrating at that higher frequency again. And it was very apparent that I was not the only one. Nearly everyone in the room was conscious of something unique taking place. The reaction to the music was exactly the same as it was in the other venues I've seen them in, just as it's sure to happen in a different city during subsequent performances. I was caught in the music, feeling it swirling around the room, changing forms, and carrying every soul that was aware off to another realm - one devoid of both time and space.

Then, suddenly and simple enough, it began with a thought. "I haven't felt like this since 11/22/97 Set II". It was just a crazy little flash in my mind but it got the ball rolling.

Did I just compare The Disco Biscuits to you know who? This question stems from the fact that I used to hate the numerous comparisons between those other two bands and never thought I'd be a part of this practice. But the more I thought the more I realized it wasn't musical comparisons I was making. I wasn't thinking about specific bands' musical content. This had more to do with the ability of music in general to grow, take on a life of its own and carry the participants off to an alternate universe. It had to do with the manner and rate at which certain musical groups and their followings grow, and timelines. Namely, it had to do with music, time and space.

I am now living two-thirds of the way across the country from my previous home a year ago. It's only been a matter of months and about 1500 miles in normal time. But the growth I had witnessed cannot be placed on the same scale. Not being able to quantify the musical maturation demonstrated by the Disco Biscuits through conventional means, I searched for alternate means of putting it into perspective.

I had just seen this band on a three-night-run in Colorado on the western portion of their fall tour. It reminded me of a similar three-night-run by another band back in November of 1990. Then I thought about seeing The Disco Biscuits at a bar near their "home base" two years ago and remembered where that other band was playing a majority of their gigs before their well documented three-night stand in Colorado. It was hard not to see a pattern developing. It seems like the trend I was witnessing in one band's musical progression and maturation had taken place before. If this pattern were to continue, the possibilities are mind-boggling.

"Suppose time is a circle, bending back on itself, precisely, endlessly."[1]

The above line is from the book titled Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. It is a book that consists of numerous short chapters. Each chapter defines time in a different manner. It examines what Einstein's dreams concerning the nature of time might have been like in the days leading up to his Theory of Relativity. Consider it essential reading for anyone that enjoys looking at the world in various ways. It is very easy to see how this statement applies to the musical discussion at hand. It is exactly the premise behind the growth of bands like the Disco Biscuits. Precise, endless repetition can be observed everywhere. From the changes of the season to the phases of the moon, repetition is a part of our world. Why should music be excluded? The growth of one band is guaranteed to be repeated by others that are just as able and in the right mindset to tap into the repetitive cycle of the world.

"...the passage of time brings increasing order. Order is the law of nature, the universal trend, the cosmic direction. If time is an arrow, that arrow points toward order. The future is pattern, organization, union, intensification: the past, randomness, confusion, disintegration, dissipation."[1]

Another quote from "Einstein's Dreams", this chapter states that all things in nature naturally flow toward increasing order instead of increasing chaos (the reverse of what we all learned in science class). This too makes sense in looking at the timelines of a few bands. The months and years of touring that bands like The Disco Biscuits spend on the road exist in the world described above. These bands set up in different cities every night for months on end and with the passing of months and each tour their sound gets more and more refined at record speed. It's as if the world they exist in moves faster than the normal world and in the opposite direction.

I am a firm believer that real music is real music regardless who creates it. If the intention is pure enough, it all comes from the same source. By this reasoning, there is no difference between the experience of a 1972 Dark Star, a '93 or '94 Harry Hood, or of the 12/29/98 Basis For a Day. Each experience is accompanied by an unbreakable connection with a world in which time and space have no formal definition. And music is the link that can bring us there.

Which brings me back to that relationship between music, time, and space. I'm not the only one to realize that the growth of one band's music can not be defined by a linear function of time. It's clearly evident that the music of one band has the ability to cut through time as well as bridge the miles and miles of space that make up this land. I just wanted to point out what I've noticed during the past two years.

IT's happening again. Embrace IT. Go catch IT. Hear IT for yourself. Just be sure to dance.

[1] Lightman, Alan. Einstein's Dreams. Warner Books, New York: 1993