They have a particular tea making ritual here in Mali which we filmed today. This allowed me to use the Sound Devices 788 for the first time. The tea is strong green tea and sugar and is prepared a special way which we had the fellow making it explain. Americans call this Gunpowder tea but it's just simply tea to the Africans. It's made with a small silver tea pot on a small charcoal burner in the outer courtyard on the ground. I used a Rode mono shotgun mic on a boom stand for the close mic and set-up the Neumann stereo shotgun mic for ambience.
The 788 is even smaller than I described it yesterday - about a foot wide only about _ inches long and slightlt more than one rack space deep. Had it set for a 96k sample rate, 24 bit resolution with the time code at 29.97 non drop frame.
Our talent, the tea maker, took the opportunity to expound upon his philosophy of making tea which seemed broad enough to cover all areas of life. He spoke in Bamana and it was encapsulated and translated to me as:
¨If you're going to do something you should do it right, with consciousness, and by paying attention to what you're doing. To do something carelessly or improperly is to tell a lie. To do it right with good intention is the truth.¨
He went on to tell a common local parable: ¨One finger can not pick up a rock, you need help from all the fingers on the hand to pick up a rock.¨ Not sure how he connected that with making tea, maybe he was referring to the interdependence of everything? I thought he might be talking about working with groups.
Speaking of picking up rocks, another example of the local economy: an older woman was observed sifting dirt and sand. Asked what she was doing, she replied ¨Harvesting rocks.¨ She went on to explain that in about 5 or 6 months she will have enough rocks to make a truckload. They use them for construction. She'll get paid 1500 to 1700 CFAs ( about 30 - 35 dollars) per truckload.
News came through that our driver's wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy yesterday. His name is Mohammed after the prophet.
Other work included scouting a location for some music recording tomorrow. They found a nice, semi-secluded spot down on the banks of the Niger river.
Fired up our Pro Tools rig and powered it from our generator. A good thing we did, our voltage convertor which steps down the voltage from 220 to 110 wasn't working. Acquired a new one and we're now good to go.
Our herbologist showed me a good trick for dealing with mosquito bites. Immediately apply lavender essential oil to the bite and it won't itch. Worked well for me last night. Staying healthy is both a challenge and a key to sucessfully working in foreign climes.
I fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia the day after tomorrow to mix a concert for Bill Laswell's Material featuring Gigi.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Waiting...
Not much, as in nothing at all, has happened yet with the filming or recording.
We are slowly establishing our household base; we had a table built to set-up an editing station, and we did a partial equipment inventory. My assistant, Lee, went over the brand new multi-track digital audio recorder which is a Sound Devices 788T. This 8 track recorder goes for about $6,000 and has everything you need to record in one box roughly a foot square and 2 rack spaces deep. It has 8 mic/line pres with all the standard features ie phantom power, phase reverse etc. programmable in the menu. I don't know what kind of clock it has, but it's extremely accurate. We just have to plug in time code as generated by one of the cameras and do what's called "jam synch" which means the 788's time code reader reads the cameras code and becomes synched to it all day long, as long as it's powered. The reader only needs to read one burst of code to synch the recorder meaning it can run without any external connections and still stay synched with the video footage. It has a 250 + gig hard drive, and the battery pack can keep it powered all day, or all night long.
We have a few great mics to go along with it: a stereo Neumann shotgun, and some Audio Technica wireless lavaliers for those scenes where they don't want to see the mics. The lavs also work well as contact mics for quieter stringed instruments like koras.
Our set-up for straight audio recording which we plan to pull out tonight, consists of a Pro Tools 03, a MacBook Pro, and Presonus mic pres. We have some good mics for this also, a Neumann U87, and a pair of km 184s, my cheap AT 3010 which gives good results, along with an assortment of dynamic mics - 57's and a couple of AKG D112's for drums.
Our house has been dubbed Chez Shelly after Shelly Salvatore, a designated field producer, mother of the two main producers, and chief naturopath health services and home hygiene caretaker. The rest of our gang consists of Dave who is the DP, Camen - an intern and camera operator, myself on sound, Lee who is the assistant sound engineer, Aja and Eo Salvatore who are Executive Producers, Producers, and Production co-ordinaters, 3 cooks/cleaning people one of whom has a 2 year old who has the strongest set of lungs that I've ever heard, and Adama, the house guardian. Our driver, Baba, also one of our translators, isn't part of the household and hasn't been around that much so far, partly because he isn't needed, but also due to his wife giving birth to their first baby. She's having a long labor, about 30 hours, so far.
Our house is on the outskirts of town. It feels closer to the Sahara than where we've stayed in the past, a feeling reinforced by seeing what looked like a Bedouin driving a camel in the neighborhood. Much grassroots type construction is going on, you see a lot of half built homes with their raw stone grey color, just the shells waiting to be finished. This gives the impression of being in a futuristic ancient ruins. Our house is salmon colored on the outside while all the completely bare walls on the inside are a fairly bright shade of light yellow making it a bright interior atmosphere when the sunlight shines through. Apart from the color, it's externally identifiable by the crimson bougainvillea flowers growing on it.
All our food is bought fresh locally from a market on the day we eat it. Vegetables, eggs, bread, yogurt, and lamb. We don't have a fridge but plan to pick up a small one.
The local economy, local meaning this neighborhood called Golf, is such that it's hard to break the equivalent of a $20 bill (10,000 CFAs pronounced Sefas) without spending at least $10. Merchants don't carry that much change.
It seems that tomorrow will be our first session, finishing an album by Mache, a djembe player. Today we might scout locations. It will be a field recording of some sort.
Friday, January 28, 2011
African Adventure
Second day here in Mali. Here to finish shooting a documentary on West African music for KSK (Kanega System Krush). The trip, so far, struggles to organize itself. First things first, find a house for the crew to reside while they live here for the next 5 to 8 weeks. Aja, our fearless leader has been here a week already trying to set something up, along with Eo his brother and a co-producer, and Shelly, his mother who naturally assumes the role of attempting to keep everyone healthy. She's well-stocked with all kinds of natural, herbal, and homeopathic remedies.
They've already been burned on one house and plan to file a police report to recover the 800 dollars ( French keyboard, no dollar sign) they gave to Lord of that particular land. They did find another house which we moved into last night. It's very palatial situated on a ridge near the edge of Bamako, what I would call the suburbs. This is a great location because it's slightly outside the devastingly intense air pollution that grips the city every afternoon. Bamako has, by far, the worst air pollution I've ever encountered as experienced by my 3 previous sojourns here. Now, they say it's much worse, but so far, it feels no worse to me than it has ever been.
Sibiri Samake, one of the KSK artists dropped by yesterday to hear his cd for the first time. He loved it. It's always very satisfying when the artist is pleased with the work that goes into getting their work recorded and mixed well. Anyone who read my Tape Op interview last year will recognize Sibiri as the musician we recorded at a studio here in Bamako when the electricity went haywire and destructively zapped two AKG 414 mics and brought down our Pro Tools LE rig.
So we moved into our new house last night. I was exhausted, so crashed out at 9:30 pm. Got up at 12:30 am, started the water for a cup of tea in an electric kettle I brought and it brought down the electricity for the whole house. It didn't just pop a breaker for one circuit, it took out everything. Found the master breaker box but it had a thick lock on it which resisted all efforts to snap it open. No electricity meant that our ceiling fans weren't working which meant that the mosquitos had nothing to prevent them from feasting on our flesh. I spent a sleepless night trying to convince my brother and sister mosquitos to find sustenance elsewhere. They just laughed, in their mosquito-like way, at the natural insect repellant I brought and applied. In the morning, Dave ( our head camera operator) popped the hinges off of the master circuit box and pressed the reset switch to restore our electricity. Powering down a few of the fans enabled us to boil water in the kettle. That was all the food we had. It tasted incredibly good. Today we set up the house with cooking utensils, kitchen supplies and whatever else we need to establish our home base.
Hopefully, we'll get to recording some music or filming before too long. The plan is also to record 6 or 7 albums while we're here. I have a post about my trip over all written up but it's at the new house several miles away. Stay tuned...
They've already been burned on one house and plan to file a police report to recover the 800 dollars ( French keyboard, no dollar sign) they gave to Lord of that particular land. They did find another house which we moved into last night. It's very palatial situated on a ridge near the edge of Bamako, what I would call the suburbs. This is a great location because it's slightly outside the devastingly intense air pollution that grips the city every afternoon. Bamako has, by far, the worst air pollution I've ever encountered as experienced by my 3 previous sojourns here. Now, they say it's much worse, but so far, it feels no worse to me than it has ever been.
Sibiri Samake, one of the KSK artists dropped by yesterday to hear his cd for the first time. He loved it. It's always very satisfying when the artist is pleased with the work that goes into getting their work recorded and mixed well. Anyone who read my Tape Op interview last year will recognize Sibiri as the musician we recorded at a studio here in Bamako when the electricity went haywire and destructively zapped two AKG 414 mics and brought down our Pro Tools LE rig.
So we moved into our new house last night. I was exhausted, so crashed out at 9:30 pm. Got up at 12:30 am, started the water for a cup of tea in an electric kettle I brought and it brought down the electricity for the whole house. It didn't just pop a breaker for one circuit, it took out everything. Found the master breaker box but it had a thick lock on it which resisted all efforts to snap it open. No electricity meant that our ceiling fans weren't working which meant that the mosquitos had nothing to prevent them from feasting on our flesh. I spent a sleepless night trying to convince my brother and sister mosquitos to find sustenance elsewhere. They just laughed, in their mosquito-like way, at the natural insect repellant I brought and applied. In the morning, Dave ( our head camera operator) popped the hinges off of the master circuit box and pressed the reset switch to restore our electricity. Powering down a few of the fans enabled us to boil water in the kettle. That was all the food we had. It tasted incredibly good. Today we set up the house with cooking utensils, kitchen supplies and whatever else we need to establish our home base.
Hopefully, we'll get to recording some music or filming before too long. The plan is also to record 6 or 7 albums while we're here. I have a post about my trip over all written up but it's at the new house several miles away. Stay tuned...
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Who Will Shall Attain
Just back from LA where I was working on a new EP for the up and coming American chanteuse, Winifred Adams. She is self producing the release with some help from an old compatriot, John Wooler. John assembled a top notch band for backing tracks which including Sergio Gonzalez on drums - his credits include Bob Hope and Red Skelton, David Immerglock from the Counting Crows on acooustic, pedal steel, slide guitar and mandolin, ( here's where my journalism note-taking skills need brushing up on) a bass player named Johnny who has played with Ryan Adams ( no relation to Winifred), and Randy, a seasoned LA session electric guitarist.
Only one song was cut from scratch, the other 3 were adding a live rhythm section to songs that had been produced and assembled by George Leger III. The first stop in LA was to get the old audio files from George. Sitting there chatting while the files transferred, I was amazed to discover how much George and I had in common. Both of us are bald, we're both George the 3rds ( my middle name) and we began our audio legacies in Canada at around the same time, late 70's, early '80s - he in Vancouver, and I in Calgary. I discovered our directions diverged when George mentioned getting into the disco scene in the '70s. I got into punk rock.
The tracks were cut at the Steakhouse, one of my favorite LA tracking rooms located in North Hollywood off of Magnolia near Cahuenga, with the stellar assistance of John Cranfield, an extremely competent engineer and editor in his own right. The Steakhouse has a vintage EMI modified Neve desk that sounds golden along with a vintage Teletronic LA2A that also sounds incredible on vocals.
The Steakhouse has a long association with guitarist Steve Lukather, an LA studio session perennial ( he played on Michael Jackson's Thriller among much else) and member of the band Toto. The studio also has a strong Rolling Stones vibe about it partially due to the two large Ron Wood paintings of the Stones that adorn the lobby. One of them is personally signed to Bernard Fowler, a Steakhouse regular, and a singer with the Stones since the late '80s which is about the time I first met him through Bill Laswell.
Randy picked up the space and got a rocking mood going by playing old Led Zeppelin riffs on the guitar. The next day Immerglock commented how Randy played with the energy and enthusiasm of a teenager. He's never lost sight of those early days when it seemed like the right guitar riff could change everything. One of them in particular, the one from Dancing Days, took me back to my High School days of blasting Zeppelin in the school parking lot while studying the aerodynamics of frisbee throwing.
Dancing days are here again as the summer evening grows
You are my flower, you are my power
You are my woman who knows.
Though the summer evenings are still a bit away for us Northern Hemispherers, this seems like a good message to start the New Year. Or maybe Randy played it as a subconscious connection or bridge between Winifred and an archetype? I stated earlier in this Mix my opinion that Madonna became as big as she did partially through connecting to an archetype and marketing it.
Only one song was cut from scratch, the other 3 were adding a live rhythm section to songs that had been produced and assembled by George Leger III. The first stop in LA was to get the old audio files from George. Sitting there chatting while the files transferred, I was amazed to discover how much George and I had in common. Both of us are bald, we're both George the 3rds ( my middle name) and we began our audio legacies in Canada at around the same time, late 70's, early '80s - he in Vancouver, and I in Calgary. I discovered our directions diverged when George mentioned getting into the disco scene in the '70s. I got into punk rock.
The tracks were cut at the Steakhouse, one of my favorite LA tracking rooms located in North Hollywood off of Magnolia near Cahuenga, with the stellar assistance of John Cranfield, an extremely competent engineer and editor in his own right. The Steakhouse has a vintage EMI modified Neve desk that sounds golden along with a vintage Teletronic LA2A that also sounds incredible on vocals.
The Steakhouse has a long association with guitarist Steve Lukather, an LA studio session perennial ( he played on Michael Jackson's Thriller among much else) and member of the band Toto. The studio also has a strong Rolling Stones vibe about it partially due to the two large Ron Wood paintings of the Stones that adorn the lobby. One of them is personally signed to Bernard Fowler, a Steakhouse regular, and a singer with the Stones since the late '80s which is about the time I first met him through Bill Laswell.
Randy picked up the space and got a rocking mood going by playing old Led Zeppelin riffs on the guitar. The next day Immerglock commented how Randy played with the energy and enthusiasm of a teenager. He's never lost sight of those early days when it seemed like the right guitar riff could change everything. One of them in particular, the one from Dancing Days, took me back to my High School days of blasting Zeppelin in the school parking lot while studying the aerodynamics of frisbee throwing.
Dancing days are here again as the summer evening grows
You are my flower, you are my power
You are my woman who knows.
Though the summer evenings are still a bit away for us Northern Hemispherers, this seems like a good message to start the New Year. Or maybe Randy played it as a subconscious connection or bridge between Winifred and an archetype? I stated earlier in this Mix my opinion that Madonna became as big as she did partially through connecting to an archetype and marketing it.
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Methods of Defiance are multiplying as we speak. Musician, composer and oblique strategist, Dashmesh Khalsa, has started a new blog, Music of the Ancients, outlining his methods:
The universe is governed by the law of vibration and the collective tune of society is a result of the combination of all individual wavelengths. An individual's frequency, or tune, is being constantly adjusted in relation to both conscious and unconscious use of internal and external symbols. Therefore, it is paramount that we feel symbols from the perspective of harmonic resonance. From this perspective our reality consists of a soup of various harmonious and inharmonious vibrations (symbols), to varying degrees.
The universe is governed by the law of vibration and the collective tune of society is a result of the combination of all individual wavelengths. An individual's frequency, or tune, is being constantly adjusted in relation to both conscious and unconscious use of internal and external symbols. Therefore, it is paramount that we feel symbols from the perspective of harmonic resonance. From this perspective our reality consists of a soup of various harmonious and inharmonious vibrations (symbols), to varying degrees.
..........................
Anyone interested in Robert Anton Wilson's methods of defiance needs to regularly check out Tom Jackson's blog, RAW Illumination, a daily dose of all things Wilsonian. He calls it, " A window into the writings of Robert Anton Wilson."
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My New Year's greeting to the world is from The Vision and the Voice, 2nd Aethyr by Aleister Crowley:
Silence! the moon ceaseth (her motion),
That also was sweet
In the air, in the air, in the air!
Who Will shall attain!
Who Will shall attain
By the Moon, and by Myself, and by the Angel of the Lord!
That also was sweet
In the air, in the air, in the air!
Who Will shall attain!
Who Will shall attain
By the Moon, and by Myself, and by the Angel of the Lord!
II
Now Silence ceaseth
And the moon waxeth sweet;
(It is the hour of) Initiation, Initiation, Initiation.
The kiss of Isis is honeyed;
My own Will is ended,
For Will hath attained.
And the moon waxeth sweet;
(It is the hour of) Initiation, Initiation, Initiation.
The kiss of Isis is honeyed;
My own Will is ended,
For Will hath attained.
III
Behold the lion-child swimmeth (in the heaven)
And the moon reeleth: --
(It is) Thou! (It is) Thou! (It is) Thou!
Triumph; the Will stealeth away (like a thief),
The Strong Will that staggered
Before Ra Hoor Khuit! -- Hadit! -- Nuit!
And the moon reeleth: --
(It is) Thou! (It is) Thou! (It is) Thou!
Triumph; the Will stealeth away (like a thief),
The Strong Will that staggered
Before Ra Hoor Khuit! -- Hadit! -- Nuit!
IV
To the God OAI
Be praise
In the end and the beginning!
And may none fall
Who Will attain
The Sword, the Balances, the Crown!
Be praise
In the end and the beginning!
And may none fall
Who Will attain
The Sword, the Balances, the Crown!
May everyone attain their deepest wishes and desires in this New Year!!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
International Flavors
Work has been going on a global scale much more so these days than ever before here. Yesterday I mastered the soundtrack for a giant video installation going in the lobby of a massive building opening and dedication in Tokyo. The track was produced by Dustone Cinema, Richard Fisher's music and production collective that he's recruited me into. Parts of it remind me of the soundtrack that Ry Cooder did for Paris, Texas.
Just finished mixing and still have to master a Qawali music record from Dildar Hussein and his son Abrar. Dildar played tablas with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for 30 years. The punjabi style of tabla plays smooth and melodius to my ear. I had the great honor and pleasure of recording Dildar at KSK studio out in North San Juan before we went in to Prairie Sun to mix. His playing is extremely funky... fluidly playing around the beat, shifting and sculpting grooves in the 4th Dimension, that of Time.
"Hurry up, please... it's time" - Burroughs at the end of his bardo epic, "The Western Lands."
Dildar's album was recorded in Islamabad, Pakistan. One place he played in Pakistan around the time he was recording got attacked by a suicide bomber 3 hours after he finished playing there and left.
The album was recorded fairly well, all things considered, though there were some technical issues to deal with. It was a completely live Punjabi style party recording. The tones on the tablas were quite good with lots of rich low end providing the only low end on the album. I applied the Kosmos Sub Harmonizer appropriately. The harmonium sounded ok even though it got recorded at about -24 for some reason. The voices were mostly good, sometimes a bit harsh when belting out in a high register. Sometimes the group vocals distorted when peaking out, but after compression and eq they sounded good to me.
The Qawwali are Sufis. I've been told that they sing songs that praise the work of Sufi saints. As I mixed one track, I began to literally feel a sensation that I associate with baraka pouring out of the speakers. Definitely an uplifting music for these ears.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qawwali
One morning before mixing the Qawwali I had to take a phone meeting with someone in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to arrange the backline for an upcoming Bill Laswell/Gigi/Material concert there in February.
Another current client, Ardalan Payvar, is also Persian. He composes and records his lyrics in Persian.
Phoebe Killdeer, another current client, is originally from Australia but now lives in Berlin. When I sent out mixes to be checked they went to Berlin where she was, Barcelona where her manager lives, and Russia where her Producer was on tour.
And in the midst of this international matrix, I had the great good fortune of recording a local Grass Valley artist, Jeff Clark at Jhon Renoir's excellent sounding all analog studio in town. Jhon is either the Grandson or Great Grandson of the painter.
Just finished mixing and still have to master a Qawali music record from Dildar Hussein and his son Abrar. Dildar played tablas with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for 30 years. The punjabi style of tabla plays smooth and melodius to my ear. I had the great honor and pleasure of recording Dildar at KSK studio out in North San Juan before we went in to Prairie Sun to mix. His playing is extremely funky... fluidly playing around the beat, shifting and sculpting grooves in the 4th Dimension, that of Time.
"Hurry up, please... it's time" - Burroughs at the end of his bardo epic, "The Western Lands."
Dildar's album was recorded in Islamabad, Pakistan. One place he played in Pakistan around the time he was recording got attacked by a suicide bomber 3 hours after he finished playing there and left.
The album was recorded fairly well, all things considered, though there were some technical issues to deal with. It was a completely live Punjabi style party recording. The tones on the tablas were quite good with lots of rich low end providing the only low end on the album. I applied the Kosmos Sub Harmonizer appropriately. The harmonium sounded ok even though it got recorded at about -24 for some reason. The voices were mostly good, sometimes a bit harsh when belting out in a high register. Sometimes the group vocals distorted when peaking out, but after compression and eq they sounded good to me.
The Qawwali are Sufis. I've been told that they sing songs that praise the work of Sufi saints. As I mixed one track, I began to literally feel a sensation that I associate with baraka pouring out of the speakers. Definitely an uplifting music for these ears.
The roots of Qawwali can be traced back to 8th century Persia (today's Iran and Afghanistan). During the first major migration from Persia, in the 11th century, the musical tradition of Sema migrated to South Asia, Turkey and Uzbekistan. Amir Khusro Dehelvi of the Chisti order of Sufis is credited with fusing the Persian and Indian musical traditions to create Qawwali as we know it today in the late 13th century in India (Hindustani classical music is also attributed to him). The word Sama is often still used in Central Asia and Turkey to refer to forms very similar to Qawwali, and in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the formal name used for a session of Qawwali is Mehfil-e-Sama.
Qaul (Arabic: قَوْل) is an "utterance (of the prophet)", Qawwāl is someone who often repeats (sings) a Qaul, Qawwāli is what a Qawwāl sings.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qawwali
One morning before mixing the Qawwali I had to take a phone meeting with someone in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to arrange the backline for an upcoming Bill Laswell/Gigi/Material concert there in February.
Another current client, Ardalan Payvar, is also Persian. He composes and records his lyrics in Persian.
Phoebe Killdeer, another current client, is originally from Australia but now lives in Berlin. When I sent out mixes to be checked they went to Berlin where she was, Barcelona where her manager lives, and Russia where her Producer was on tour.
And in the midst of this international matrix, I had the great good fortune of recording a local Grass Valley artist, Jeff Clark at Jhon Renoir's excellent sounding all analog studio in town. Jhon is either the Grandson or Great Grandson of the painter.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Rage Against the Dying of the Light
Methods of Defiance are about to go up a notch around here. Both my desktop and laptop computers were taken out by a serious virus yesterday and the day before. The first time it happened was exactly when I sat down and turned on the computer to catch up on this neglected blog. Our phone lines were down for a week. Telecommunications at High Velocity World Headquarters dipped to an all time low. Methods of defiance and the resolve to use the obstacles as a pushing force to break on through, keep me going.
It felt personal the second time when my laptop went down. We were bussed in to the World Wide Web, the laptop and I, doing business in the cybersphere, checking out a potential client's music video when the deadly, "your computer has been infected" message showed up. The instruction from my Computer Advisor had been: turn it off immediately and disconnect it from the internet which is what I did. It felt like I'd been peacefully walking down a street when, out of the blue, the friend I was with suddenly died. Hadn't realized how much sentient life I had granted the laptop.
Feeling angry at Evil Hacker Robots who launch destructive viruses against innocent silicon based matrixes I turned on the radio to hear Rock the Casbah by The Clash playing. It fit and amplified my mood exponentially. Some meta-programming circuit kicked in somewhere that decided to search for an alternate interpretation of the song title . I came up with Rock the Casbah = Crystallize the Holy Place which put a bit of an alchemical spin on my mood.
Then I flashed on something Dub Gabriel had posted on Facebook about Richard Holbrooke's last words to his Pakistani doctor before being sedated - "we've got to end this war." It's amazing what a deathbed perspective can do for one's sanity. How much differently would the political world run if politicians were able to gain that perspective?
Voluntarily gaining and maintaining a perspective of death before one's imminent corporal demise, meaning having the sense that one's death is always there right around the corner, gets recommended in both the Fourth Way teachings of Gurdjieff and in the shamanic tales of Carlos Castaneda. If I recall correctly, Castenada called Death an ally. Death does serve as an ally for accessing more rarefied circuits of consciousness.
"Die before you die" is an instruction found in the most ancient of Mystery Schools. Aleister Crowley gives an excellent exercise to simulate the feeling of one's death and rebirth into the light in the form of Osiris, the Egyptian analog of Christ.
The fader that adjusted my anger level which had been turned down, finally died as I stepped through the Library door. It got replaced with a firm resolve to transmit these communications more frequently and regularly. Communicating methods of defiance defines a method of defiance, for me.
As Richard Holbrooke found out too late, a deathbed perspective can serve as a method of defiance against the violent mechanicality of unconscious human life. Having this perspective also allows one to enjoy one of my favorite poems by Dylan Thomas with gnostic gusto. Dedicated to Don Van Vliet, ie Captain Beefheart who just crossed over.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Painting by Don Van Vliet.
It felt personal the second time when my laptop went down. We were bussed in to the World Wide Web, the laptop and I, doing business in the cybersphere, checking out a potential client's music video when the deadly, "your computer has been infected" message showed up. The instruction from my Computer Advisor had been: turn it off immediately and disconnect it from the internet which is what I did. It felt like I'd been peacefully walking down a street when, out of the blue, the friend I was with suddenly died. Hadn't realized how much sentient life I had granted the laptop.
Feeling angry at Evil Hacker Robots who launch destructive viruses against innocent silicon based matrixes I turned on the radio to hear Rock the Casbah by The Clash playing. It fit and amplified my mood exponentially. Some meta-programming circuit kicked in somewhere that decided to search for an alternate interpretation of the song title . I came up with Rock the Casbah = Crystallize the Holy Place which put a bit of an alchemical spin on my mood.
Then I flashed on something Dub Gabriel had posted on Facebook about Richard Holbrooke's last words to his Pakistani doctor before being sedated - "we've got to end this war." It's amazing what a deathbed perspective can do for one's sanity. How much differently would the political world run if politicians were able to gain that perspective?
Voluntarily gaining and maintaining a perspective of death before one's imminent corporal demise, meaning having the sense that one's death is always there right around the corner, gets recommended in both the Fourth Way teachings of Gurdjieff and in the shamanic tales of Carlos Castaneda. If I recall correctly, Castenada called Death an ally. Death does serve as an ally for accessing more rarefied circuits of consciousness.
"Die before you die" is an instruction found in the most ancient of Mystery Schools. Aleister Crowley gives an excellent exercise to simulate the feeling of one's death and rebirth into the light in the form of Osiris, the Egyptian analog of Christ.
The fader that adjusted my anger level which had been turned down, finally died as I stepped through the Library door. It got replaced with a firm resolve to transmit these communications more frequently and regularly. Communicating methods of defiance defines a method of defiance, for me.
As Richard Holbrooke found out too late, a deathbed perspective can serve as a method of defiance against the violent mechanicality of unconscious human life. Having this perspective also allows one to enjoy one of my favorite poems by Dylan Thomas with gnostic gusto. Dedicated to Don Van Vliet, ie Captain Beefheart who just crossed over.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Painting by Don Van Vliet.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Death of a Beatle
Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon.
Driving to work today, 6am, listening to LA based talk radio when they play Howard Cosell's original announcement of Lennon's death during a Monday Night Football broadcast. I hadn't heard it before. Cosell's last words from the statement, "He was dead on arrival," are very chilling. I start to feel an incredibly huge amount of grief, seems like it could be an enveloping, overwhelming black cloud of grief if I allowed my emotional attention to go there, which I don't. It doesn't feel like mine. Maybe an energy field, like one of Sheldrake's Morphogenetic Fields of collective sadness?
Grief is something I have very little use for. I haven't ever seen it actually help anything. Perhaps it serves as a temporary coping mechanism when the shock is too great. To me, the best way to honor our beloved friends, family and inspirational leaders who have died is to live life as fully and as creatively as possible. Lennon was an artist and family man dedicated to spreading a message of peace and love. Continuing his work in some way is the highest form of respect I can imagine.
I do remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. I was 21 and on a break from working as a soundman for a touring rock bar band. I was downstairs cleaning the heads on an expensive cassette deck recently acquired. One of my roomates, Phil French was watching the football game when I heard him loudly say something. Went upstairs to see what was up and he told me the news. At the time I didn't know who John Lennon was apart from being one of the Beatles so I didn't feel sad or upset but it did feel very unreal to me. The next few days I learned who he was from all the media reports on his life that came out. It was a few days before the full impact of his death personally hit me though I was very aware that our society and culture was in deep mourning.
A couple of years ago a psychic friend, very competent in G.'.D.'. magic, told me they were standing outside the Dakota the night before Lennon was shot when they received a strong premonition that someone well known who lived there would die very soon. The nature of the premonition lead me to speculate and wonder if his death might have been serving or connected to a greater purpose of some kind. In Cosmic Trigger I Robert Anton Wilson wonders if John F. Kennedy's assassination might have fulfilled and played out the role of the 'Sacrifice of the Divine King' archetype as described in J.G. Frazer's classic study of folklore, The Golden Bough.
"There was a commotion of primitive terrors loosed upon the national psyche by the Dealy Plaza bullets; Camelot died; the Divine King had been sacrificed; we were caught suddenly in the midst of a Frazer-Freud re-enactment of archetypal anthropological ritual." The national psyche veered dizzily toward Chapel Perilous.
- Cosmic Trigger I p. 32
It did feel very much like Chapel Perilous or the Bardo in the days and weeks after Lennon's passing. It usually does when someone close has died. With his own music and the music of the Beatles, Lennon was close to the hearts of many people.
I haven't a clue as to what ultimate purpose the sacrifice of the Divine King serves except to point out that people like Lennon and Kennedy and the other monumental figures who have been killed for being who they are, need better protection. How ironic that the asshole who shot Lennon, Mark Chapman has a name that indicates a traditional nemesis of the Divine King.
Chapman also fits into conspiracy theories according to a video I saw which said that his brother was having dinner with Jeb Bush on that fateful night.
Yoko Ono seems to have worked through his death in a positive way. Her message today is:
"On this tragic anniversary please join me in remembering John with deep love and respect," Ono said. "In his short lived life of 40 years, he has given so much to the world. The world was lucky to have known him. We still learn so much from him today. John, I love you!"
Driving to work today, 6am, listening to LA based talk radio when they play Howard Cosell's original announcement of Lennon's death during a Monday Night Football broadcast. I hadn't heard it before. Cosell's last words from the statement, "He was dead on arrival," are very chilling. I start to feel an incredibly huge amount of grief, seems like it could be an enveloping, overwhelming black cloud of grief if I allowed my emotional attention to go there, which I don't. It doesn't feel like mine. Maybe an energy field, like one of Sheldrake's Morphogenetic Fields of collective sadness?
Grief is something I have very little use for. I haven't ever seen it actually help anything. Perhaps it serves as a temporary coping mechanism when the shock is too great. To me, the best way to honor our beloved friends, family and inspirational leaders who have died is to live life as fully and as creatively as possible. Lennon was an artist and family man dedicated to spreading a message of peace and love. Continuing his work in some way is the highest form of respect I can imagine.
I do remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news. I was 21 and on a break from working as a soundman for a touring rock bar band. I was downstairs cleaning the heads on an expensive cassette deck recently acquired. One of my roomates, Phil French was watching the football game when I heard him loudly say something. Went upstairs to see what was up and he told me the news. At the time I didn't know who John Lennon was apart from being one of the Beatles so I didn't feel sad or upset but it did feel very unreal to me. The next few days I learned who he was from all the media reports on his life that came out. It was a few days before the full impact of his death personally hit me though I was very aware that our society and culture was in deep mourning.
A couple of years ago a psychic friend, very competent in G.'.D.'. magic, told me they were standing outside the Dakota the night before Lennon was shot when they received a strong premonition that someone well known who lived there would die very soon. The nature of the premonition lead me to speculate and wonder if his death might have been serving or connected to a greater purpose of some kind. In Cosmic Trigger I Robert Anton Wilson wonders if John F. Kennedy's assassination might have fulfilled and played out the role of the 'Sacrifice of the Divine King' archetype as described in J.G. Frazer's classic study of folklore, The Golden Bough.
"There was a commotion of primitive terrors loosed upon the national psyche by the Dealy Plaza bullets; Camelot died; the Divine King had been sacrificed; we were caught suddenly in the midst of a Frazer-Freud re-enactment of archetypal anthropological ritual." The national psyche veered dizzily toward Chapel Perilous.
- Cosmic Trigger I p. 32
It did feel very much like Chapel Perilous or the Bardo in the days and weeks after Lennon's passing. It usually does when someone close has died. With his own music and the music of the Beatles, Lennon was close to the hearts of many people.
I haven't a clue as to what ultimate purpose the sacrifice of the Divine King serves except to point out that people like Lennon and Kennedy and the other monumental figures who have been killed for being who they are, need better protection. How ironic that the asshole who shot Lennon, Mark Chapman has a name that indicates a traditional nemesis of the Divine King.
Chapman also fits into conspiracy theories according to a video I saw which said that his brother was having dinner with Jeb Bush on that fateful night.
Yoko Ono seems to have worked through his death in a positive way. Her message today is:
"On this tragic anniversary please join me in remembering John with deep love and respect," Ono said. "In his short lived life of 40 years, he has given so much to the world. The world was lucky to have known him. We still learn so much from him today. John, I love you!"
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