"... these Beantown players have the makings of a success story ..." (Andy Kaufmann, Music Connection, July 2009)
"Dirigibles" were Early-20th-Century aircraft, distinct from airplanes by virtue of being lighter than air, distinct from blimps owing to a rigid inner skeleton. "Dirigible" simply means "something that can be steered." Dirigibles were superior to the airplanes of the day because of their greater size and lifting ability. There were drawbacks: more than one dirigible went down when the inner frame broke. And they were lighter than air because they were filled with hydrogen. The most famous dirigible in history was called The Hindenburg. It caught fire while trying to make a landing in New Jersey.
A dirigible ego is what you get when you've learned how to take stock of your own life and your own shit and steer that sucker, but you may still be in peril of the occasional breakdown or explosion. Like the dirigibles of one hundred years ago, a dirigible ego is steerable, but sometimes ungainly. It could fly you anywhere in the world in luxury, soaring way above the ordinary, but it might just blow up in your face. Whether it flies or perishes, though, it's a sight to remember.
