Art As Memorandum

So we're in the 21st Century. As a species, depending on who you listen to, we stand behind either 3000 years of evolution or 2 million. And shit like this still happens, albeit at a much rarer frequency than it did in the past (say, the gay-bashing bonanza of the 60s and 70s, or the lynchings of 100 years ago), but when they do, they seem more violent than ever.

A few days ago, I was in a ten-person conversation about Led Zeppelin when my friend came with the killer quote:

I don't know, man, maybe I just don't like Zeppelin because it just so happens that it's always guys wearing LZ t-shirts who beat me up at a bar 'cause I look like a fag.

His words, not mine - I would never just call them ''Zeppelin''.

I didn't think it was too frequent, first because we've evolved as a species, but also because I haven't seen Led Zep t-shirts since the early 1990s. Oh, and we live in the most open-minded City in the world.

But others don't, and this is a reminder of it: in 2007, a 20-year old girl was beaten to death (kicks to the head) for ''looking like a goth'' in London, England. Not being one, looking like one. And earlier this week, her then-boyfriend opened an art exhibit in her honour. Kudos.

This, in a town famous for slashers (Sweeney Todd, Jack The Ripper) and cab drivers who either sexually assault drunk girls or kill people at random or kill their wives or run over the homeless or cut their own heads off.

Like Dennis Farina says in Snatch, answering the customs question ''do you have anything to declare?'':

Yeah: don't go to England.