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Normal History Vol. 290: The Art Of David Lester

Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 30-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.

In this week’s column, I continue to compare songs on Calico Kills The Cat with songs on our new album, Empathy For The Evil, from start to finish. See notes from Sept. 6, 2014.

6. “Don’t Shoot” (Calico Kills The Cat, 1989) I wrote this song when I disappointed with a general level of apathy. If there was going to be a political confrontation—or an occasion that warranted being prepared for—would anyone actually be ready and able to step up and deal with it? It seemed like work and partying were the priorities.

6. “One Man’s Anger” (Empathy For The Evil, 2014) The lyrics are directly out of my novel Obliterating History—a guitar-making mystery, domination & submission in a small town garage, in which the parents and siblings of various characters come into focus from time to time to indicate how behaviors may shape personalities while they are forming. In the novel, this is from a section where a mother talks to her son about the anger that his father seems unable to control. She explains that anger is often the manifestation of pain. I suppose she understands that boys are socialized not to show pain or fear, but she stops short of passing along that information to her son.

The connection between the two songs is the willingness to abdicate responsibility in difficult situations. To me, this is a form of cowardice. The characters in “Don’t Shoot” are perhaps intentionally ill-prepared and pre-occupied—in avoidance mode. In “One Man’s Anger,” the man experiencing pain and fear lashes out in anger, blaming others for what he is unwilling to deal with in himself. In the novel, this cowardice extends to the mother herself, who does not explain more about the expression of emotions to her son.

“Don’t Shoot” from Calico Kills The Cat (K, 1989; Matador, 1991; Smarten Up!, 2003) (download):