Just music 2 .... only a "channel" away ....

Just a couple more songs, for now .... a British band and a French band; how is that for being ecumenical ?? As long as I am stretching boundaries, next on the list: Happy birthday, former wife No. 1. I do not mention her often. This is because I rarely encounter her. Our lives went separate directions several years ago. She married real money the second time around, and has lived happily ever after .... at least, so I assume .... although, for sure, with not nearly so exciting and enrapturing a man as am I .... ok, teasing again, but I eventually have come to accept the fact that most women will opt for dinner parties, gold watches and security before rock 'n' roll concerts, a gun collection and a companion with a wandering spirit. (Baby, the rain must fall.)

Another last minute thought which might not seem to fit here, but is here anyway, so, maybe, the right person will recognize it as a carryover from another discussion -- and, it will not harm anyone else who might read it: Fiction, poetry, mythology are no less important than history, philosophy, psychology .... and, personal experience has the potential to trump the beliefs of anyone else. Novelists Jack Kerouac and Ernest Hemingway are as relevant as philosophers Bertrand Russell and Arthur Schopenhauer. Poets Allen Ginsberg (who I interviewed once) and John Donne (I guess I have read a theologian) are as mind-altering as psychiatrist Carl Jung and the "father of psychoanalysis" himself, Sigmund Freud. There are many fish in the sea and many influences from which to form a persona without becoming a disciple or a devotee of any one of them or of any few of them. All an individual has to do is to get out of the house and onto the highway while not worrying about what is behind or fearing what is ahead.

Just music 1 .... the "eyes" have it ....

 

A number of my posts in recent weeks have been nothing more than me thinking out loud or, as I sometimes say, thinking with my fingers = I start typing without thought or direction, and my fingers reveal what my consciousness often will not. I have been taking the components of my body, mind and spirit, separating them, rearranging them and reassembling them, in a manner of speaking, then looking over the proposed, revised product (or, potential new persona, if you prefer) -- then repeating the process over and over again. One of these times, I suppose, I will be satisfied and begin walking the walk in a new "incarnation." In the meanwhile, this is the first of a few silly, idle-time posts which I will publish here while the process goes on .... hmmmm .... I have done this before, post two performances of the same song by the same band/singer, but the performances were three or four or so decades apart in chronological time. I hope you enjoy this rendition of this song as much as I do .... so, listen, while I go back to separating/rearranging/reassembling myself in search of some form of rebirth.

March madness .... No. 3 .... just words

Woodlands and water at sundown, Friday the 13th, March 2015

There once was a ....

Religion and war seem to keep circling back into my mind.

I suppose this is the result of news and more news about Islamic fundamentalists killing everything and everyone they see who is something other than an Islamic fundamentalist. If that statement were not politically correct, do you think I care?

Men and women and societies are changing. I am not, and there are others like me.

Former wife No. 2 has told me I am a dinosaur. I have no doubt she is right/correct/accurate in her analysis. Some individuals believe they have an old soul; I am not so sure about that, but I think I am the same man as was one of my ancestors generations ago. I am more in tune to his times than I am to my own, if that makes sense.

I have a cousin who traced our paternal lineage back to the mid-1500s in Norway. We are proud of this, for whatever reason, and, probably, for no reason. Still, it is somehow reassuring to see the names of the people from whom you eventually emerged -- real people who actually lived and died five hundred years ago.

I have followed my lineage back to arrival in the United States, paternal and maternal, and have found at least one ancestor -- more often more -- who have fought in every war which involved the U.S. since our Civil War. This also makes me proud. I even have an ancestor who was killed by Sioux in 1866 during the Plains Indian Wars. He was an officer in the Second U.S. Cavalry, before that had seen action in the Civil War and had been among the Minnesota militia troopers who had pursued and pushed the Sioux into the Dakotas after the 1862 uprising.

(Most people probably do not associate Minnesota with the American Indian Wars, but more civilians were killed in the 1862 Minnesota conflict than in any other such hostilities.)

I have been around the block a couple of times myself, and I have a couple of scars to show off after enough drinks and when among members of the right crowd. Fraternities are fraternities, you know, and I learned from experience the meaning of the expression: To feel one's blood boil.

In terms of religion, I often have written I am an agnostic. But, for whatever reason, I have worn Thor's Hammer on a chain around my neck for a few decades. If you are not familiar with Thor's Hammer, I am certain you own a computer and have access to the internet and can learn about him and his hammer, if you are curious.

Why do I wear it? Why am I certain others wear it? Because it is in my genes, in my blood, in my psyche -- so, I know it is the same for at least a few others and, occasionally, I have encountered some of them.

Had I been alive a thousand years ago, I think I would have been an agnostic even then. But, I still believe I would have worn armor and a Christian cross on my chest and rode off to battle with the followers of Islam. I would have done so because while the question of god might be uncertain to me, I have no doubt about the answers to questions measuring good and evil on this earth.

There is nothing in this post I have not written on this blog before, although, possibly, in different ways. As I noted a few weeks ago, I have made a few decisions. As I wrote more recently, I have yet to make a few other decisions, but as the weather turns from winter to summer, from ice to fire, my vision lightens and brightens. I think some of you know where I am going with this .... tell me, so I know, too .... I am teasing you now ....

March madness .... No. 2 .... just words

Thoughts about women & other things

Hemingway (as in Ernest Miller Hemingway) once wrote somewhere, sometime that the most perfect and exquisite curve is that from a woman's waist over her hip and onto her thigh.

I tend to agree.

But, just to ensure you do not think I am becoming too risqué, I might note that while the curve of a rifle stock might not be quite so sensual, it is magical in its own way. It can be utilitarian, art/beauty and death -- and, actually, sensual, all in the same touch. And, I have known men who feel the same about the sweep of the hood or a fender of an automobile -- a 1969 Shelby GT 500 Mustang, for instance. I had one (not new) once upon a time, and damn-near killed myself in it (and, in a couple of other cars, he says with a laugh on his lips .... it even was sort of funny at the time). Some of you might recall that Mustang GTs were "my thing" for a while.

Well, enough about sexual imagery, cussing and cars-to-end-all cars.

Now, why did I write those words?

As frequently is the case, I really have no clue. I am thinking. Just thinking, simply thinking, trying to fall off the fence regarding a few overdue decisions. Rambling thoughts. Searching -- I am always searching -- to paraphrase the words from an old rock melody. Actually, cars, guns and Rolex watches are on my mind. Ridiculous, hah?

Other than concern about the health of former wife No. 2, women are not on my mind. Rather, I am reverting to thoughts about how (in a sense) to waste money: Trinkets .... the world revolves around trinkets .... and, of course, around the whims of religious nut-cases and political power-mongers .... grrrr ....

Actually, they pretty much are the same thing, are they not ?? .... trinkets, trifles, insignificant people looking for a cause in life rather than a purpose in life .... having to live in the midst of religious zealots and political fanatics, I mean. It is enough to turn a man into a nihilist or an anarchist .... hmmmm, that pretty much is saying the same thing twice, is it not ??

Well, there always is time to make a second run for Sanctuary/Refuge.

Summer is coming, and by autumn I hope to have disappeared .... in a manner of spending .... whoops .... I mean in a manner of speaking.

Then, there is March & (actual) art & music

March is the month of birthdays for me. Several among family and friends, and my own. I will not mention them in detail this year, but I will say I hope by the time my own birthday comes around in a few days, long absent weather-luck will have returned to me and I will be working on a tan under the March sun.

For an illustration, I have used "Venus and Adonis," by Paolo Veronese. It is an oil on canvas, completed in 1580 and may be found in the Prado Museum in Madrid -- should you care to venture there and see the real thing. I was relatively near to the painting once, but never actually saw it. Veronese did an earlier, but distinctly different, rendition of the scene in 1562. Anyway, its likeness is here today with this post. Make of that what you will, and do a bit of research if you are curious about the legends beyond the painting and about Venus and Adonis. Absolutely fascinating .... legends usually are ....

Since someone here mentioned legends, Buddy Holly is long gone, but his legend and his music linger on and will far beyond any of us. My son, who often seems to know me better than I know myself, gave me a copy of the "Rave On Buddy Holly" tribute album for my birthday, and I decided to pull a pair of songs on the album from YouTube to include with this post.

March madness .... No. 1 .... just words

 

Fairy tales vs. reality

She had a magic mirror. Every morning she stood before it, looked at herself, and said:

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,"

"Who in this land is fairest of all?"

To this the mirror answered:

"You, my queen, are fairest of all."

Then she was satisfied, for she knew that the mirror spoke the truth.

So, you think this is a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, do you? Where do you think the story "Snow White" came from; why do you think it was written?

The answer is obvious, should you look for it and think about it. It is based in a fundamental truth: There are such people.

We all feel that way to a degree, but some people really, actually, truly do more than merely think it .... some absolutely believe it .... and, there even are some who look in the mirror and see not just beauty, but a self beyond ordinary mankind. They see someone who is greater than special, someone who is uniquely unique, someone who surpasses a mere mortal. In reality, they are not special; they simply are pathological .... often dangerously so ....

Vladimir Putin is one.

Barack Obama is one.

Saddam Hussein of Iraq was one until the hangman ended his life. Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya was one until he received a bullet in the head. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was one until natural causes ended his life. The "Castro boys" of Cuba -- Fidel and Raul -- continue to be. Bashar al Assad of Syria continues to be one. I could name any number of others, including some in living memory much more notorious, such as one an Austrian/German and one a Georgian/Soviet, but I suppose a few people would object to identifying true heavy-weights with light-weights. These are men who would be dictators, tyrants and are, in fact, lawless psychopaths to one degree or another.

The bottom line is that these are (and there are many) individuals whose entire lives revolve around their narcissism. Some people are paranoid; some people are schizophrenic. This is true. But, less recognized (or, at least, less acknowledged) are people who are so absolutely and profoundly wrapped up in their own "mirror, mirror on the wall" mentality that they are incessantly obsessed with a "grand illusion" of themselves. And, if they have a certain amount of charisma and ambition, they have the ability to lead people like lemmings over the abysses into some sort of destructive oblivion.

The next time, for instance, you are being led down a path following someone proclaiming "global warming" as the "greatest threat" civilization faces today (Obama's words), pinch yourself, look in your own mirror, quit being a hero worshipper and examine the motives/psyche of the piped piper who is leading you in that direction. Frankly, I think it goes beyond that level, but enough for now.

Some people wonder why civilization advances so slowly. It really is fortunate it advances at all, given the fanatics who rise to power on occasion and interrupt order and stability with their grandiose self-indulgences -- and, by that means, disrupt (and sometimes end) the lives of ordinary people. Beyond that, there are times when civilization is at a standstill or, such as now, when it even retreats a bit simply because there are too many mirrors in the world.

To conclude with this thought from Lewis Carroll in "Alice in Wonderland:"

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
 

"I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
 

"You mean you can't take less," said the Mad Hatter: "It's very easy to take more than nothing."
 

 "Nobody asked your opinion," said Alice.

The moment is gone, but not the memory

As for the music, listen to it. It explains in itself why music from the 1970s and a few years on either side, give or take, surpasses more before it in a contemporary sense and absolutely anything since then. Actual art actually is not present for every generation that comes and goes on this Earth. Just about everything in life is hit or miss, which most of us figure out somewhere along the line.

Finally and most importantly .... happy birthday, kid .... the day you were born -- March 5 -- is locked into my memory .... in my mind, I am there once again in the blink of an eye .... happy shooting ....