ZACHARY OBERZAN: Athletes of Romance

Zachary Oberzan

Athletes of Romance

© 2006 Zachary Oberzan (634479290312)

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Who are the Athletes of Romance? What do they want? They are a different breed of cat. Watch for their signs in your moment of grace and hour of panic. Listen for their manifestos in your love-making. For what is it that they want? You, of course.

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"Who are the athletes of romance? What do they want? They are a different breed of cat, dressed in eveningwear over elbow pads, the children of Sisyphus who live to struggle and struggle to live. Highly celebrated in their cells and press conferences and converted basements, they own everything you can see, but still drink. Seemingly fleet of foot and hard of heart, the viciousness of these glass-jawed warriors belies their love for the opponent, the referee, the ring itself, and most of all, the bell. For their punctured lungs are flooding with love, and it is because they are drowning that they are often hard-pressed to give a good Goddamn. They know they will never be as good or brave as their heroes, who are also athletes of romance. Informed by their golden enemies that they are silver--no, in fact, bronze--they foolishly rise nonetheless from the sticky bathroom floor (stay down! stay down!) and go the last round. Certainly glad to be used, lest they feel useless. Surely tickled by their own consciousness, yet often found unconscious. Watch for their signs in your moment of grace and hour of panic. Listen for their manifestos in your love-making. For what is it that these hot-blooded reptiles, these freaks of passion, lost and lost again, want? You, of course."

What will satisfy? The soul of the human being, self-aware and possessing an intellect, gets bored with itself. To exist is not enough. It is truly astounding to consider all the hoops humanity has put itself through in order to spice things up a little. A large percentage of humanity, praise be to them, has been able to fundamentally satisfy itself, by finding meaning in the course of life that society has come to build, replete with institutions that seemingly provide this meaning.
But what of the individual who, for whatever reason, is truly unsatisfied with these activities and explanations? Such a person has difficulty in living. For this rare type of individual appears to be the inheritor of Faust's soul, Hell-bent on satisfying this longing, because the alternative, the prospect of an unsatisfied life, is tantamount to imprisonment. Indeed, life itself my seem like an unending jail-break, a constant digging through the psyche in order to tunnel under its walls and resurface in a new, unbound and unimagined world. This monumental and often fatal struggle manifests itself in different activities and pursuits, but the common denominator of its practitioners is the exhaustive mental and physical rigor it requires. So, these individuals are athletes in sense, training and competing, primarily with themselves, in order to win the ultimate prize: satisfaction. Or in another word, happiness.
What is it exactly that is lacking in the lives of the athlete? A seemingly unattainable state of grace? Or simply a state of Not-Wanting? I do not know, but I believe it has something to do with Love. One might say it is Love itself that the athlete seeks. It is true that the athlete may have forms of love in her life, for she has not necessarily forsaken all human institutions (indeed, he may revel in them on his quest). However, there is an intangible incompleteness in these loves, and hence her struggle. It is also this crucial aspect and very fine line that separates the athletes from other individuals equally possessed, but unconnected to Love. Like Hitler.
A dictionary definition of the word romance is "a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love" or "a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life." It is this inscrutable mix of mystery, sexuality, pleasure, pain, absurdity, immediacy, and detachment that best describes the world of the athlete. So I coin the phrase "athlete of romance" to name that most peculiar of individuals.
The album Athletes of Romance attempts to sort through this world. It is, in a sense, one day in the life, or perhaps the whole course of that life, whichever seems to come first, of such a human. It is not so much a "concept" album, but rather, the threads of this world run through all of the songs, and bind them together. I discovered this after compiling all the work. I did not create the album to express this idea. Rather, I expressed many ideas, and discovered an underlying current which came to unify the pieces. It is the distilled essence of my experience that is this current. I do not know if I am an athlete of romance. But I feel as though I have spent a long time immersed in this world, as Thoreau was immersed in a world that called to him. Was he a true woodsman? Am I an athlete of romance? I do not know, but I suppose the main difference is, Thoreau wanted to be a woodsman. I don't want to be an athlete. I hope I am not one.
And while certainly greater minds, far more learned and articulate than mine, have wrestled with these metaphysical and existential quandaries, few have wrapped their conclusions in the poetic simplicity and sonorous mysticism of "People Like To Fuck." Give Athletes of Romance a listen. If nothing else, you can dance to it, and that counts for a lot.

reviews

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  • Manages to be profoundly funny and profoundly, profound...
    author: Laurie Eckhout

    The writing is brilliant. A couple examples of lines that make me stop and ponder: "Like seeing her topless from behind, it's what I don't see that ignites my mind" and "Where is the love I've never found? Maybe that kind of love isn't made on the ground." Rarely do liner notes read so much like a book of poems as this one does. And it is not all serious. Like "Peculiar Wedding" is a total hoot. The vocals and music are stand outs too. Everything works beautifully well together. It is all finely crafted and a pleasure to listen to.

  • Haunting and Beautiful Music
    author: Phoebe

    Oberzan's music will stay with you long after you listen to it. The lyrics are finely wrought and powerful.

  • "I love these songs because they break my heart."
    author: CHARLES L. MEE

    Dear Zack, I love your songs. What should I do? I know how to say something quotable about a play or a novel, but I don't know nothing about how to say something nice about songs except I love them. Yours, Chuck

  • "Desirably idiosyncratic and quirky--give it a listen."
    author: RICHARD FOREMAN

    "Desirably idiosyncratic and quirky--give it a listen."

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