25 Comments

Pffft!

Yet when I drive MY ox-cart into cities, it's "Animal cruelty!" this and "Where'd you even get an oxcart, dude?" that and "Sir, please stop it! It's not sanitary to be driving that inside the hospital." blah blah.

Expand full comment

Yes, and the Gordian Knot is also a criticism of those who say we have to “do something!” In response to every challenge. Sometimes the best thing to do is watch and wait, and sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all.

Expand full comment

One of my favorite sayings: "don't just do something! Sit there!"

Expand full comment

Wow! I hadn't heard that phrase in, literally, 50 years! In 1974, I was in my first year at N. Texas State U. (one of two colleges I've attended who's changed their names since I was there...they're gonna have to do better than that to erase the memory of my attendance! They're now U. of N. Texas) in Denton, TX (just north of D-FW area). I had just finished about 3 years as lead singer of Brimstone, a 6-pc rock band based at my Houston high school, Bellaire. Your readers can search for "I Was a Teenage Lead Singer" (or "Brimstone") on my site, if interested in reading my account of those amazing years!

I got a call in my dorm room one day from a friend who, himself, had just started a new band back home. He asked me if I could come up with a suitable name for his new group. After a day or two (and some research into I can't recall where....maybe Andrew's article from 2024!!!), I came up with the unimpressive-for-a-rock-band name of Gordian Knot. He hated it, understandably, and I haven't heard from him (or them) since! I love how patient you are with me, Andrew!😉

Expand full comment

I knew you'd come around eventually, Brad! I told you it was a good name back then :)

Longshot here, but do you happen to have any of your old music recorded?

Expand full comment

Great question, Andrew, and how I wish I did! Keep in mind, we're talking 1971-'73 or so. Somebody (I guess it was one of my fellow band members) recorded at least one of our shows, I remember. What's happened to that tape is anyone's guess!

My favorite show was our gig at Galveston Moody Civic Center (which I think still stands), but it was a proper music venue that had hard rock trio, Trapeze (which featured future Deep Purple vocalist Glenn Hughes...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapeze_(band), play just before we got there! A local high school (Ball High School.....kids then: "Do you go to Ball?" "No, to study!") had rented it out for a party of some kind, and hired us (we played rock covers) to play.

I'd better have included this in my Brimstone article, but we drove back to our motel post-gig to find a couple dozen teenagers in one of our rooms, with no idea how they got in! But, that's rock'n'roll!

Expand full comment

Do me a favor, Brad- go ahead and dig that article up for me and paste it here? I want to make sure folks can find it quickly if they're curious!

Expand full comment

OK, thanks for that, Andrew! I must say, though, it's behind a paywall, and to be fair to my paid subscribers, it has to remain there....it was originally only an exclusive bonus for my paid subscribers a few months ago, and I usually don't have those exclusive e-mail articles "live" on the website, but I decided to have it live there, but behind a paywall. Ordinarily, I'd otherwise be happy to remove it for easy access: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/1i-was-a-teenage-lead-singer-the

Expand full comment

Perfect, thanks!

Expand full comment

It may have a preview/page break, I don't know. As you know, it wouldn't show up on my end, as I'm the one who (may have) put it there! I hope there's a preview, though!

Expand full comment

While the gordian knot has not claimed a jot of my thinking time, it seems that all of the acclamations about Alexander's boldness are a bit off track. After alll, we could just drop one of our 5,244 nuclear bombs on each of those pesky, troublesome spots on the planet and go forth and conquer the world. Hmmmm ... there might be an issue with that particular solution. You always provide thinking fodder.

Expand full comment

Well, doing that would certainly “cut through” a lot of current “knotty” problems but doing so would, as with Alexander, significantly shorten our collective lives.

Expand full comment

There is that.

Expand full comment

Yeah, and I think it's fair to say that this is an excellent example of the cautionary aspect I was attempting to weave.

Expand full comment

I see the story as a fable about how complex problems often do require innovative solutions. Unfortunately, it is also a cautionary tale of the dangers in rushing forward? But if Alexander hadn't rushed forward to cut the knot, he wouldn't be the legend he is today.

Expand full comment

Was Alexander a force for good? It's a really interesting question to ponder for the rest of the day.

Expand full comment

In the words of Wally from Dilbert, "Mesure once, cut twice."

Expand full comment

All I know is that I gave up learning music theory after being introduced to the Phrygian scale. I am triggered!

Expand full comment

The Phyrgians knew two things: complicated knots and impossible scales.

Expand full comment

Maybe the lesson is a combination of think outside the box and think carefully before taking any destructive action.

Expand full comment

I like it!

Expand full comment

Strangely, cutting the knot was the solution that I thought of first, too. I may have heard the story before a long time ago and sort of forgotten it?

Also, maybe a possibility is that the tale was created to describe Alexander? I don't know the history, but it seems possible.

Expand full comment

Yes, this is certainly a strong possibility. "Apocryphal" is a decent way to describe this event, I'd wager.

Expand full comment

There is a second account of the knot, described by Arian, in which alexander pulls the linchpin out, reveals the two rope ends, and is able to untie it. Not quite as dramatic... easy to see why hacking at it with a sword has proved the more enduring tale.

Expand full comment