This ya gotta hear

I caught a short segment on NPR (yes, I'm one of those people) yesterday of this guy, Glenn Weyant, who is a self proclaimed sound sculptor - mind you, not a musician. His new medium involves using a contact microphone to amplify the sounds made by bowing objects. In the segment, he PLAYS the wall in Arizona which separates Mexico and the US. You've got to hear this.

What I love about this, other than that he thought to play a wall, the results of which are a soul-chilling sound, is that at the end of the segment, he talks about wanting Mexicans and Americans to join on either side of the wall to play it, thereby changing the very definition of the wall - by playing it, it ceases to be a boarder and instead becomes a musical instrument.

Now, I'm cynical enough to recognize highfalutin idealistic artist speak when I hear it but the fact remains that power is gained, and lost, through definition. Karl Rove is a master of manipulating definitions. He is a big part of why "liberal" has become a dirty word (I don't even say it in the bedroom) and that redefining is a big part of why we're stuck in the midst of a second term of shameful presidency.