Weekend Soundtrack
"Get Ready for Love"
John Moe
Michael Raphael
OCTOBER 11, 2008
- Kevin Bunten
- (Courtesy Kevin Bunten)
- View the Slideshow
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It's time to listen to your weekend soundtrack: The songs that bridge the gap from Friday to Monday. Our latest story comes from Kevin Bunten, an addiction counselor in St. Louis, Mo. On the weekend, he likes to listen to a track by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds called "Get Ready for Love."
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John Moe: Kevin, what makes this your weekend soundtrack?
Kevin Bunten: Just the energy of those opening chords and the aggressive release of Nick Cave's delivery there, and those soul singers singing in the background. When you walk out of your job with a bit of a knot in your stomach and a lot of psychic energy that you carry with you and need to get rid of, it's a great way to release it.
Moe: "Get ready for love." Do you need love?
Bunten: Well, who doesn't? As a counselor, a lot of times - it's an incredibly intuitive craft. It's not something that requires manual labor, but it's a lot of thinking, a lot of feeling, a lot of stuff that comes from the gut. Sometimes you just need to scream or let the energy out.
Moe: "The mighty wave their hankies from their high-windowed palace/ Sending grief and joy down in supportable doses/ And we search high and low without mercy or malice/ While the gate to the kingdom swings shut and closes." What does that mean to you?
Bunten: You know, in my profession, we are constantly trying to understand meaning in small bits of information that we get. We're constantly making connections. One of the things that I like about Nick Cave is that he doesn't make it obvious to you. We're walking around in a world where there are wealthy people who may be condescending. Or there may be poor people who are ignoring their blessings. There may be kind of a false sense of sympathy. You know, "wav[ing] a hanky from their high-windowed palace." And yet, at the same time, there's still this higher power, this God with a wealth of grace that we swim in.
Moe: What have you learned about people from your experience in your work?
Bunten: Oh, God, the power of addiction. I've learned about redemption. I've learned about forgiveness. I've learned about how fragile love and life are. And yet how powerful and strong the divine energy is. And if you want to call that love, that's fine with me, too.
Moe: Kevin Bunten of St. Louis, Mo., thanks for sharing your weekend soundtrack with us.
Bunten: Thanks for asking.
More stories from our Weekend Soundtrack series
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