Hell, I Still Love This Song

I spent a good amount of this weekend ignoring the political posturing and the outrage about the anything but Christian preacher burning the Koran and the mosque debate and went back to the source for all of this. I watched the first full hour of coverage from that Tuesday morning on MSNBC. Then, I sat glued to the History Channel, feeling all sorts of helpless and depressed as I saw the videos from people who were watching this for the first time - those who are without a media filter - so their reactions, no matter how many times you've seen those burning towers, still tear through you.

Then, I switched to YouTube and went back to Ryan Adams video "New York New York." It was shot in one entire day in New York City. It was initially an unremarkable video - an entire day in New York. Flashes of traffic going by, people zooming through the sidewalks, and that view of Ryan Adams in front of the Twin Towers.

That Saturday, that footage probably went to a mixer. 72 hours later, the Twin Towers would be gone.

There are literally hundreds of videos that are better than "New York New York." There were probably a dozen superior videos in 2001. But in my opinion, this took "Video of the Year" honors - without question. Yes, there were other videos that were technically better, there were other videos that were far more original. But no video affected me like this one as it is one of the most gripping snapshots of a 9/10 world.