Thanks to fellow classmate James for influencing my decision for the first stop of my trip, Ruston, Louisiana!
Rolling into Ruston, I'll be jamming my favorite Neutral Milk Hotel song: "Two Headed Boy pt. 2":
Reasons for going
To be frank, the only reason I want to stop in Ruston is due to the roots of Jeff Mangum, frontman of the band "Neutral Milk Hotel", being planted there. This by no means makes this stop a shallow one, however. Sure,in high school I read every interview and article out there on the mysterious front man. Sure, I still regard Jeff as one of the greatest songwriters ever and "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" as one of the best written albums ever. But all this fan-fodder aside, the band holds serious weight in looking at what I want to look at in the South.
"In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" is widely acclaimed one of the best indie records of all time (or of any genre, for that matter), receiving the ever-elusive rating of 10/10 on the hub of all things indie and modern in music: pitchforkmusic.com, as well as numerous other review sites.To clarify, Neutral Milk Hotel was by no means the first 'indie' band. Many great, experimental bands came before them that have shaped modern music today. Not many have done it with the mastery of "In The Aeroplane Over the Sea" though.
There is no better place to start my excursion through Faulkner and southern modernity than one of the most influential indie bands out there, especially one so dear to my adolescence. Here in the town we see a new way of thinking and expressing onesleves artistically that remains resilient despite the surroundings.
How it links
When looking at serious hotspots for creative, new, and modern art in the country, we look to cities such as New York, San Francisco, Austin (woo!), Portland, and a host of other trendy cities for the greatest buzz and culture surrounding the recent wave of independent art. We don't look to towns such as Ruston, Louisiana. It does not look like a town that would produce a songwriter that some of the most current, 'modern' bands would consider an inspiration.The town has implemented recent developments to restore the old, traditional building of the South it houses in it's downtown district, not embrace a new design.
Ruston's downtown district
It is because of this fact that Ruston is not a place where we would normally find the Jeff Mangum's of the world that is precisely why fits in my journey. The town celebrates its old roots, yet there in its' borders lay kids interested in a new wave of art, music, and creative expression. The town is living proof that, although not depicting it on the outside, modernity has roots in cities across the south
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