No ID Pre-Save & A Stop At Willoughby
Willoughby, Next Stop!
I love the Twilight Zone.
Growing up in east county San Diego we had a unique airway path that allowed for Los Angeles’s KTLA to eek down earth’s crevices into my home. With it came much of television’s first generation. The Twilight Zone was the crown jewel. Given it was on weekdays at noon, it was reserved to brighten those days when the petri dish known as public school would conjure something new for the body to exorcise. Snuggled up, sipping soup in my parents bed Rod Serling would wax poetic about humanity - about what lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. TZ is a one stop shop for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the human species, and . . . art, and . . . story telling, and . . . self improvement, and . . .
Let’s talk A Stop At Willoughby (Season 1, Episode 30).
Let’s talk No ID.
Let’s talk the opening narration by Rod Serling:
“This is Gart Williams, age thirty-eight, a man protected by a suit of armor all held together by one bolt. Just a moment ago, someone removed the bolt, and Mr. Williams' protection fell away from him, and left him a naked target. He's been cannonaded this afternoon by all the enemies of his life. His insecurity has shelled him, his sensitivity has straddled him with humiliation, his deep-rooted disquiet about his own worth has zeroed in on him, landed on target, and blown him apart. Mr. Gart Williams, ad agency exec, who in just a moment, will move into the Twilight Zone—in a desperate search for survival.” -Rod Serling, A Stop At Willoughby, Season 1 Episode 30 of the Twilight Zone.
And so we begin the cathartic, existential re-examination of our own identity, the Second Act. This is the genesis and the point of No ID. I warned you. It’s right here in my bio - Big Songs with Big Ideas. You only thought I was half serious. No ID came from that big idea - Who are we?
Since I appear to have volunteered to be the collective guinea pig, here are my core takeaways. You know the ones revealed after the protections of the First Act have fallen away.
We Are Many Things -
This crap that we are identified by one thing is just silly and frankly offensive. We always love to use the example of McDonalds or Coke as the quintessential trademark. Let’s just say — if you can be boiled down to a breakfast sandwich or a sugary soft drink — you haven’t lived. Even those brands? They are many things, too, they’ve just worked hard to make sure the more “colorful” ones don’t pop up when you’re hungry or thirsty. Remember that ball pit incident on your 5th birthday? ‘Nuff said.
But, wait, there’s hope - the concept of authenticity is here to save us. I’ve found what that means in the music marketing world - be yourself unless it doesn’t attract fans, then be someone else. No thanks. Even in the real world, authenticity has a modulation problem. I mean, do we really want everyone flying their flag at full mast all the time? That’s called reality TV.
Be you - all of you - full stop. And, yeah, we all have those hangry parts - those don't count. Eat something, those, too, shall pass.
Without Ballast We Are Lost -
No ID is about taking the risk to be who you truly are. I didn’t say it explicitly but it is implied - do this within the bounds of your capacity and, since we do live in a society, others. This doesn’t mean hiding who you are your whole life, but rather actually taking into consideration OTHER things like core values, people’s feelings and, perhaps, the concept of truth. I know this one might get some people’s hackles up, but c’mon, really? You have to have core principles - I mean, this idea that you can go through life without some sort of ballast? Just watch a few TZ’s and I’m sure you’ll get on board.
You’ll Get Your Shot -
Everybody gets a Second Act. No ID is about reflection and self correction, not guilt, shame or regret. Identities can change - you are watching it happen before your very eyes. It can be subtle, it can be grand - you know you. But, you CAN change or, if your clothes fit, you CAN stay the same. Gart decided to get off the train at Willoughby. The episode had a most decidedly specific ending. Yours won’t because life is malleable with a full on feedback loop that allows for adjustment and even ‘do overs.’ No ID is a statement, but also a breadcrumb for the Gart Williams out there. It helps answer What’s Next? and catches up to We Run in full sprint. It’s certainly my most ambitious song to date - it feels like my real skin. I was lucky. I loved my First Act. To the extent I was ever cannonaded it was brief —and ultimately painless. But, I was also done when I was done. No ID is personal and true, but the timing is right . . . now.
Welcome to the mid-way point of Reduction in Force’s first EP. I humbly ask that you sock it to the algorithm and support one of your own by giving No ID a pre-save. Instructions above.
We Are Many Things (I’ve got a tagline)!
