Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Music & mystical thoughts pass this way


The going & coming of Fram Actual

Fram Actual has returned from Kansas, the land of Dorothy, to Minnesota, the land of ex-wives, without much to say other than the sky is blue.

It gave me an eerie feeling to stand on Kansas soil on Memorial Day morning since I had an ancestor killed there in 1867 by a war party of Sioux and Cheyenne, led by a fellow named Pawnee Killer. My ancestor was in the 2nd Cavalry, out of Fort Sedgewick, with a patrol of 11 troopers and a Sioux scout. Possibly, the twilight zone does exist, but that would be too long a story for this evening. We shall leave it at that for now.

In other late-breaking news, Fram the First presented Freyja with a 24-karat gold Thor's Hammer on Sunday as a token for his proposal of marriage. She accepted it, commenting that any guy who has been following her around for 30,000 years or thereabouts has earned his way into Folkvangr, and to sit by her side in her hall.

I ran across a version of the Guns N' Roses song, "November Rain," that is spectacular as a video, but no longer can be considered unique since nearly 32 million have viewed it.

Perhaps it was the "rain song" combined with speaking a few days ago to a friend about a canoe trip, and later recalling being storm-bound for a day but, in any event, I awoke from a dream last night in which I was crossing an endless lake in a thunderstorm. I could feel the sting of the wind and the spray from the waves on my face. Black and gray clouds passed over me, fleeing from the storm as I went toward it. I was happy in my dream until my sleep was interrupted.

At the time of the actual trip, our group was storm-bound from travel on Lake Superior, but the weather was not so violent as to prevent me from battling out, onto the lake, and surfing the waves back in, shouting into the wind, then running with it. Thunderstorms are heaven-sent for the right person in the right place at the right time. I was happy on my lake until I was exhausted.

Back to the music: "November Rain" -- great song; great band; great voice, great guitarist; great video. I have listened to it/watched it ever so many times since I arrived home Monday evening. It was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep early this morning, and the first sound I initiated a couple of hours later after a ringing telephone had jarred me from sleep. There is enough time for reality tomorrow ....

In case you are in the mood for musical fantasy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siBoLc9vxac&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siBoLc9vxac

6 comments:

TheChicGeek said...

Hi Fram :) Sounds like Kansas is a bit of the Land of Oz with mystical feelings. Neat to be where your ancestors stood.
I wonder how your dream would have ended if you hadn't been interrupted? I bet something very exciting. I listened to your video and it is a beautiful song. I do love Guns and Roses...I like Sweet Child O' Mine a lot too :)
Sounds like Fram the First and Freyja are on the road to great happiness...30,000 years, that's a lifetime in itself...LOL
It's so nice you had a nice trip and even nicer to have you back!
Maybe tonight you can finish your dream in a very magical way :D

A Cuban In London said...

Oh, bugger! I can't watch the video because it's not available in the UK. Sometimes youtube drives me up the wall. Loved the song when I was younger, especially because it was linked to a special 'she' in my uni years. Your dream was pleasant to read about, I can imagine how nice it must have felt to dream it.

Nice to have you back.

In regards to the link between the Soviet labour camps and their replicas in Cuba, we did have them, Fram. They were called ironically Military Units in Support of Production (UMAPs) and they appeared in the mid 60s. To say that they were terrible would be the understatement of the century. Anyone with long hair, religious beliefs, effeminate gestures or just out of the template that that stalwart of Latin American machismo, Che Guevara, called 'the new man', ended up in these camps. I did not want to include this type of experience in my review for two reasons. Number one is that 'A Day...' is harsh enough as it is, it doesn't need adding up. And secondly, it would have made the review a bit too long for my liking and repetitive, too. I included my own life experiences in the Marilyn French one last week. Thanks for popping by.

Greetings from London.

Katy said...

Great to have you back, Fram.

I suspect you may be another exponent of what I think of as a sort of time slip - a phenomenon I've often experienced whereby one is infused with the strongest feeling that, if you could just glance around quickly enough, you'd catch a glimpse of who and what was there before. This happens to me particularly in places where I have strong emotional connections. Maybe your own Kansas heel-clicking moment was one of those...

But being outside in thunder, yes, not much beats that for a truly elemental pleasure.

"Sweet Child O' Mine" is a G'n'R song I associate with Roo being a baby for far more personal reasons than just her being a baby. Enjoy your music, Fram as you continue on with your dreams of the storm :-)

Fram Actual said...

I think I still might be dreaming yet, in my canoe, had not the telephone forced me to awaken, Kelly, for certain at least until I reached the "second star to the right, and straight on till morning."

It is the wildness of this ancestral event that makes it seem unique, much more so than stories that still exist about "settled" relatives from the past, who died of old age at home in their beds.

Thank you, for the welcome back. You should interpret my dream for me.

Fram Actual said...

I do not dream of being in a canoe often, CiL, and when I do, it is usually of drifting along in a lazy current on a sunny day. The storm made this one unusual and thrilling.

I understand your reasons for omitting personal references in this review. My only point is that I really do enjoy learning about your experiences as a child and a young man in a land so close to me, yet so foreign in a political and economic sense.

Glad you came by this morning.

Fram Actual said...

Yes, I believe in your "sort of time slip," Katy.

I also like to "experiment" by sleeping in particular locations, an entire night or more if possible, a nap, at least, if the occasion is right. I have slept on a few battle grounds, including at this location in Kansas. It is on private land, not open to the public (last I was aware, anyway), therefore, very isolated.

I think maybe the only thing missing from my canoe/thunderstorm dream was the sound of "Ride of the Valkyries" ringing in my ears.

Something special ....