Last Friday I obtained a press launch from Grace from a music and PR firm known as 23 and Grace needed to know if I’d be thinking about utilizing a function with a spread of codes.

Almost instinctively I replied, “I am not because I am really exhausted reading this hype about the half-baked efforts of small celebrities to get a daily paycheck for all sorts of things.” Rich cryptocurrency with extra ether (ETH) than feeling “And then I used to scold and scold and so on. Aside from the fact that I’m not really rude to well-meaning PR folks who don’t know I’m getting 50 of these a day.

And yes, it was a pitch about young celebrities.

But I didn’t go on because this time it was them Mine young celebrities, and all I can think of all of a sudden is go to California next week to auction their NFTs and maybe have a drink or two with the band, maybe get some clever way of their music to prove that I was really there, and I’m not a false speculator – I’m one of you.

The band in question is Love and Rockets, which is a lie – it’s actually Bauhaus. But even though I feel like The Oldest in Crypto, I’m still not old enough to really appreciate Bauhaus as they developed Gothic Rock because they split when I was 12. And so Pete Murphy – I’m sorry, but you are not one of them, even though you are a genius.

But you really can’t have Bauhaus without Love and Rockets, because Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins and David J are in both bands. Ergo, everything Bauhaus produces has to be produced by Love and Rockets, and because Love and Rockets is the band that got me into my teenage years, I am now completely NFT – even if NFT is from Bauhaus. You’re watching, right?

And now I’m getting NFT on a really visceral level – acquired at the level of FOMO, acquired that took the price crazy when people bought Tony Hawk and Snoop Dogg and Grimes and Paris bought the Hilton and Ronaldinho and Gianluigi Buffon and Robbie Fowler bought and Gianluigi Buffon and Robbie Fowler Every other retired player you want to name and Soulja Boy and William Shatner … you get the picture.

When I was putting together a series of articles on crypto-art for Cointelegraph Magazine in March 2020, I almost bought one.

It was a Josie Bellini. And when I say I almost bought an item, I mean in my head, I’m almost out. I am offering around 25 ETH on what I established both as an investment and as an expression of solidarity with the artists, all as I immediately saw that the Cryptocurrency art community is by far the best, most caring and supportive community in the entire industry . By the way, nothing happened that could prevent me from doing it.

Anyway, 25 ETH was about $ 3,000 back then, and that’s crazy money for anything. But the reality is, I probably never got the chance. I was bidding against MetaKovan who spent $ 69 million on a Beeple this year, and I suspect it doesn’t matter where I bid.

But even though I love the piece, it’s still on a slightly different level. I was looking for a piece of art to buy and Josie spoke louder than anything in the store. It didn’t find me; I found it. And I’m not one hundred percent sure how to buy art.

So back to Love and Rockets, or Bauhaus if you have to, and especially to this teenage student who lives in a single room on the top floor of a guesthouse in The Mumbles outside Swansea and tries to learn Russian for nonsensical reasons. , and that doesn’t make sense now. He’d listened to Love and Rockets on cassette over the years and decided that his life motto would be: Live the life you love / Use a God you trust / And don’t take it too seriouslyand his copy of Saturday dream of teenage heaven was chewed up in a fight with Talbot Horizon (American, pronounced: Dodge Omni) and was essentially penniless. I mean, really poor – hitchhiking everywhere, living off the winnings the college quiz machine gives away. And with (without exaggerating) the last £ 50 in his account, he goes out and buys all four Love and Rockets albums in a depraved way, knowing that the food – maybe even drinks – won’t be enough. help him, but A private future can only.

This is how art finds you.

It finds you where you really are. Or maybe where you really are beingbut where you can be transported in a heartbeat of a few tones and the memory of a really terrible choice with your hair, a spray bottle and a girl named Caroline.

And just as I imagined having a moment in history that I shared with the members of Love and Rockets, the art found me and instilled a strong, dramatic urge to connect. It brought me closer to my past.

I now realize that NFTs – and I’m talking about the expensive, limited ones here – have been split into two camps: material and experience. There are CryptoPunks that are like baseball cards and are essentially a speculator because, let’s face it, Aesthetics doesn’t sell these for $ 10 million or more.

And in another camp there are memorabilia ars gratia Arti, Unique Moments from NBA Top Shot. Experience-based NFTs sell well because they trigger feedback, memories, and emotions … people who don’t spend $ 5,000 on art can spend it on music, people who don’t spend $ 5,000 on music can afford it. People who don’t spend $ 5,000 on sports can spend it on land with a friend, and people who don’t spend $ 5,000 on virtual land can donate it to the organization.

Critics may not get it because they focus on NFT materials – $ 69 million is a lot to pay for any piece of art, let alone one with mixed critical reception – but MetaKovan’s reason for receiving this award is that it helped him has to become a part of art history and publicly celebrate the fact that an art world is dominated by rich collectors, yes, know the west is changing to become more inclusive. MetaKovan has bought an inheritance.

People with experience buy NFTs because they crave connection, not just because they want to get rich. We are having an increasingly disjointed experience of our world and the things that bring us closer to our community and our heroes are valuable. (I have no doubt that social tokens will boom by 2022, if not sooner.)

Art, music, sport … everything can make sense. A sense of where you are and what you are doing at a time when you are a different person. Maybe happier, maybe sadder, maybe less developed or maybe more carefree. Experiential NFT is a way to connect more deeply with the experiences and emotions that shape us – to literally own the moment.

I probably won’t be going to California to see the show – I doubt I have enough ether to buy a Bauhaus NFT. I wanted to meet Coldie, who is working with the Bauhaus on this project (he’s a great artist and a mainstay of the crypto art community that I wrote about the Art Week feature with), but I didn’t want to get him in Embarrassing to have to tell me to pee and pay.

And what will I do there? You should never meet your heroes, especially not as a fan journalist.

As I write this, I’ve started looking for ways to get rid of my emotional reaction to the press release Grace sent out last week. It’s Bauhaus, not Love and Rockets, no matter how hard I try to convince myself. Bela Lugosis dead never really talked to me. Gothic rock is no longer my thing. I’ll probably try to get Daniel Ash through against Pete Murphy. I never really lived by that motto anyway.

But hey. Thank you, Grace. Thanks Pete, Kevin, David and Daniel. Thanks, Coldie. Thank you for giving me a moment to be alone with my teenage self.

I will listen Saudade now because that seems appropriate.

Bauhaus and Coldie are additionally internet hosting an IRL artwork public sale celebration on August 10 on the Bright Moments NFT Gallery in Venice Beach. All guests to the IRL present will obtain 3D glasses to see the work.