"Let Sleeping Dogs Lie!"

Let sleeping dogs lie...  words to live by...

You know the dogs out there and in here. Think dogs and metaphorical dogs.

So there is the thought you don't verbalize. The email or text you don't send. The phone call you don't make. The emotion that you let subside. The feeling you stifle. The action that just doesn't happen.

Dogs sleeping. Everywhere. Tread lightly. Stealth is wealth.

Good Friday 2018! - Not as Bad as Jesus!

Good Friday 2018.

I don't go to Church anymore. But I do remember being a young lad in Catholic school. This would be the day that the Priest would go through the "stations of the cross." I can conjure up images. There were actually pictures of key scenes in the scenario hanging on the walls in the church. The Priest would make the rounds and pause before each picture.  The Romans whipping Jesus. The woman wiping his face. Nails driven into hands and feet. It was a gruesome, indelible spectacle. 

I was never really sure what it all had to do with me. I was told that I was guilty too. My sins, added to the misery of Jesus. That never quite made sense to me. I felt bad for Jesus. He seemed like a nice enough guy. Never really understood why he had to endure such  difficult pain and suffering.

I remember the smell of the incense. The ringing bells, the prayers, the hymns. The kneeling and standing in unison. Seems so far away. But of course these events are buried deep in my being, my consciousness. I can easily bring it all up again.

Maybe not the greatest story ever told. I mean it's a good yarn, right up there with the story of Liverpool's The Beatles, or Tupelo's King Elvis, or the stories of Mohammad, Krishna, Buddha, or Melville's Moby Dick or Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. All memorable and worthy sagas for sure. 

Jesus. I wish you well. I see you and your story mythically, poetically, now. We all have a cross to bear. For us, every slight, every snub, every failure, every fuckup, we can think to ourselves, "Well it isn't as bad as what happened to Jesus!" We must try our best to live lightly and rightly. And damn the torpedoes. Bless.

The Birthday Party - Pretentious Poofters...

As a former bored, white, male, low-rent, suburban teenager with a lot of un-channeled energy & time on my hands myself, I think it's safe to say that there is nothing worse than a bored, white, male, low-rent, suburban teenager with a lot of un-channeled energy & time on their hands. Doesn't matter, America, Great Britain, Australia, name the predominately white country of your choice.

There was a certain demographic, in a certain time in history, where all the elements came together and you get something like The Birthday Party. Nihilistic. Absurd. Provocative. Stupid. Debauched. Ridiculous. 

These white boys are not dumb. But they are wallowing in a certain, stupid, calculated, heavy-handed, debauchery. They might think it's funny, and maybe even "art." One of their former classmates described the members of The Birthday Party as "Pretentious Poofters." That sounds like a fairly accurate description. 

We know this was just "a phase," that lasted for a short time 1976-1983. It's actually amazing these boys kept it up that long. So glad, Nick Cave survived it all, and moved into a different, more fruitful and compelling mode. Yikes!

BLOOD, SEX, VIOLENCE, JESUS & HEROIN!

The Birthday Party

Nick Cave channels Elvis...

I've been reading "Bad Seed," a biography of Nick Cave written by Ian Johnson, published in 1995. It's funny, brutal, illuminating. It covers the years of which I had no knowledge or interest. To say that now I am truly, madly, deeply obsessed with Nick Cave in all his various incarnations would be an understatement.

If I were to sum up early Nick Cave and his early bands The Boys Next Store & The Birthday Party - BLOOD, SEX, VIOLENCE, JESUS AND HEROIN! 

It's amazing Nick and his bandmates made it out of their 20's alive.  I am glad I wasn't in a band in my 20's, not sure if I would have made it either. All that mad unchained energy, swimming in hormones, full-on raging & risk-taking.

To contradict Wm. Blake in his Proverbs from Hell - "The Road of Excess leads to a Certain Oblivion." Then again, by hook or by crook, or just pure luck, some of us do make it through...

Looking for other things I came across a wonderful Nick Cave cover of the Beatles "Let it Be," so good...

Expand Your Vocabulary!

Time for some new definitions to some handy words floating around at the moment...

Salacious - arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination

Titillating - pleasantly stimulating or exciting 

Defamation - Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person's reputation; decreases the respect,regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person.

Intimidation - to frighten or threaten someone, usually in order to persuade theperson to do something he or she does not wish to do

Hush Money - money that is given to someone to make them keep something secret

Adult Film Star - An adult film star is a porn star, that acts in pornographic films with other adults

Fraud - a person who is not what he or she pretends to be : impostor

Live Mythically, Poetically...

Live mythically, poetically...

I have seen a red burning bush on a desolate beach.
I have seen a tv antenna turn into a little bird on the wing.
I have seen great beasts submit to a gentle hand.
I have walked miles and miles in a grand circle.
I have seen my fellow humans become fat & depressed.
I have seen great, overwhelming, blue skies blinking.
I have seen great crashing waves, silent looming stones, blades of grass like sharpened stilettos.
I have filled my days with thunder and my nights with silent peace.
The world in my head, in a nutshell, in the hand of an absent god.

"One of my best friends was killed from gun violence not too far from here. So it's important to me." - Paul McCartney

The Porn Star and the Coffee Boy Bring Down a President!

Maybe if you are, as Stormy Daniels puts it, a "Goofy Reality TV Star" President, it is appropriate that an Adult Film Actress, (Porn Star), and a Coffee Boy would be the ones that bring you down?

And isn't it sort of funny that the Porn Star and Coffee Boy seem to outclass our Little Baby Man President too? Everywhere you turn, there is more scandal, more humiliation, more shame for Little Baby Man. He may be shameless, but for the rest of us, it's all getting a bit uncomfortable. 

A string of bankruptcies, divorces, frauds, failures, lies, lies, & lies;  a sham, a con, an overstuffed file filled with Russian Kompromat! 

You begin to wonder... How low can this go?!?

March for Our Lives - March 24, 2018

Yes. I think this is pretty damn important... March for Our Lives...

"On March 24, the kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today.

Rally with us in Washington DC or march in your own community. On March 24, the collective voices of the March For Our Lives movement will be heard."

And just where are the marches happening?

Wisdom in the Myths...

I have buried my head in mythology. Via Joseph Campbell. I see it as an antidote to all the current events on my radar. So now I am reading Campbell's "Romance of the Grail, The Magic and Mystery of Arthurian Myth."

Campbell wants to bring myth alive in our hearts and heads during our day to day existence. The myths are containers of the wisdom of the ages. They embody the tested knowledge earned over many lifetimes in many cultures. 

I'm game. And what are some of the lessons that Campbell has culled from the myths, and wants to get thru our thick heads?

There are many:

Live simply. 
Choose the Middle Way: Reconcile Opposites.
Resist desire. 
Don't fear the Reaper. 
Don't listen to the opinions of the mob, or the demands of society. 
Cultivate compassion.
Don't be afraid to fail.
Don't Hate. Hate attracts Hate.
Follow Love.
Love. Love attracts Love.
Be brave.
Be up for the battle.
Look inside.
See the Beauty all around you.
God, Heaven, Hell & Devil are inside us.
Be Humble, Gracious & Kind.

Little Baby Man Kisses his Murderous, Kleptocratic Mentor...

For those of you who still don't believe our Little Baby Man President is a "dupe," a "puppet," a "client," a "protege," an obsequious toady of his murderous, kleptocratic, mentor Vladimir Putin, I present a couple new pieces of evidence: 

According to the Washington Post this morning: 

"Trump ignored warnings from his national security advisers when he congratulated Putin, including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating "DO NOT CONGRATULATE."

Also he did not condemn the London chemical attack now attributed to Putin's thugs.

That little kiss to Putin from Little Baby Man didn't go over well with our Senator from Arizona:

Need an Over-Sized Scorecard!

There are so many bad actors in this Russian Dupe in the White House investigation. Of course, there is the big, fat, bad actor at the center of it all... drooling Little Baby Man, the little baby who just can't refrain from telling a lie every time he opens his slobbery mouth.

But you need an over-sized scorecard to keep track of all the bad actors who figure in this epic saga. Dominoes are falling, shoes are dropping, bad acts are being exposed every single day. Sometimes every single hour of every single day.

I suppose the upside, there is a major "cleansing" going on. Hopefully our country and our politics will be a better place when all is exposed, and the bad actors meet their day of reckoning. 

Now Facebook and Cambridge Analytica are being exposed... quite the interesting story... some folks think there is a "smoking gun," buried in the data... we shall see... 

Truth. Justice. The American Way.

Yes. There are plenty of people on Twitter who toss around words quite lightly. I don't think John O.Brennan (see previous post) is one of them. I do believe that there are some hard realities that are gathering and coming to a crescendo. I think that Little Baby Man has committed serious crimes. And forces are gathering to bring this to the light of day. Justice, the American Way. 

John O. Brennan Knows Something We Don't... Yet...

"When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history.... you will not destroy America... America will triumph over you." - John O. Brennan

I think Brennan is giving us some hints of what's to come...

1. Venality - the quality of being open to bribery or overly motivated by money. A government worker's venality might lead him to exchange state secrets for cash. Criminals are known for their venality, being willing to break the law for a financial reward.

2. Moral Turpitude - A phrase used in Criminal Law to describe conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty, or good morals. Crimes involving moral turpitude have an inherent quality of baseness, vileness, or depravity with respect to a person's duty to another or to society in general.

3. Political Corruption - the use of powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties, is done under color of law or involves trading in influence.

John Owen Brennan is a tough dude. A true-blue American. Who is John O. Brennan?  WikiPedia:

"John Owen Brennan (born September 22, 1955)[2][3] was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from March 2013 to January 2017. He served as chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama; his title was Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and Assistant to the President.[2][4][5] His responsibilities included overseeing plans to protect the country from terrorism and respond to natural disasters, and he met with the President daily.[6][7] Previously, he advised President Obama on foreign policy and intelligence issues during the 2008 presidential campaign and transition.[8] Brennan withdrew his name from consideration for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the first Obama administration over concerns about his support for transferring terror suspects to countries where they may be tortured while serving under President George W. Bush.[4][6] Instead, Brennan was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor, a position which did not require Senate confirmation.[4][6][9]

Brennan's 25 years with the CIA included work as a Near East and South Asia analyst, as station chief in Saudi Arabia, and as director of the National Counterterrorism Center.[4][6][10] After leaving government service in 2005, Brennan became CEO of The Analysis Corporation, a security consulting business, and served as chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, an association of intelligence professionals.[11]

Brennan served in the White House as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security between 2009 and 2013. President Obama nominated Brennan as his next director of the CIA on January 7, 2013.[12][13] The ACLU called for the Senate not to proceed with the appointment until it confirms that "all of his conduct was within the law" at the CIA and White House.[14] John Brennan was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 5, 2013, to succeed David Petraeus as the Director of the CIA by a vote of 12 to 3.[15]

Brennan serves as a senior national security and intelligence analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, with his inaugural appearance being on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd on Sunday, February 4, 2018.[16]"

John Owen Brennan knows something about Little Baby Man that we don't. He has seen the "intelligence." He may not know all that Bobby Three Sticks knows, but he knows an awful lot. Awful is the operative word.

I don't think the former CIA Director would be calling out the current sitting President unless he knew something, something deeply disturbing, deeply profound, something appalling. Oh Little Baby Man, what did you do? 

Oh Little Baby Man - Cluster-Fucked!

Oh Little Baby Man. You are cluster-fucked! It's not that you are in the middle of a cluster-fuck, you are a cluster, and you are fucked! Not in the good way.

If Mueller's Investigation doesn't get you, the Adult Film Actress will. One of the better headlines I've read lately: In Bid To SLAPP Stormy Daniels, Trump Admits He Fucked Her!

To Live the Myths We Are!

This is Joseph Campbell in "The Hero With a Thousand Faces:" "The mighty hero of extraordinary powers - able to lift Mount Govardhan on a finger, and to fill himself with the terrible glory of the universe - is each of us: not the physical self visible in the mirror, but the King within."

That reminded me of this from Jimi Hendrix: "Well I stand up next to a mountain, chop it down with the edge of my hand... I'm a Voodoo Child..."

And this:

 

The Gods, All of Them!

"Do you believe in God?"

"No... well... I mean... of course... I mean... I believe in The Gods! All of them, animal, mineral, vegetable, ethereal!"

Krishna: "I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings."

Little Baby Man Has Lost His Mojo!

Little Baby Man, he's not sleeping well, he hasn't slept well in a long time. He never exercises, he eats fast-food, processed crap, his body is big, bloated, unwieldy, unhealthy, a seething, ugly gas-bag. He wakes up with a start, an uneasy nap interrupted by a deep, unholy snore, snoring like a diseased, asthmatic pig. He stumbles over to the mirror. He has transformed. He squints and sees Harvey Weinstein. No, that can't be right. He looks closer. No. Not Weinstein, still just Little Baby Man. But something is different. Little Baby Man has entered a new phase of life. He is a toxic plague, a noxious-cloud of poison, he is radioactive, human paraquat, a bulbous bag of jet-trash. All his hate, vulgarity, ignorance, racism, grandiosity, all his lies have backed up and turned inward. Little Baby Man has lost his Mojo. He is having a bad hair decade. His hair is a live, ugly animal. His hair is viscious, always angry too. Little Baby Man is actually bald on top, just like his father, but his hideous comb-over owns his fat-boy ass, he is a slave to his comb-over. What of today? Little Baby Man has to get ready for another day. Days of hate. He knows, deep in his fat, bulging, diseased heart that everyone really hates him, just as he hates them. It is a love-fest of hate. Tillerson. The son of Tiller. What did he say, "Fucking Moron?" You couldn't actually have that carved on a headstone, could you?

"They said our gods, would outlive us, they said our dreams would outlive us, they said our gods would outlive us, but they lied..." - Nick Cave

I am entralled, captivated, mesmerized, by Nick Cave's 2016 album "Skeleton Tree." It is an album recorded in the wake of Cave's young son Arthur's untimely, tragic death. Unspeakable, unbearable trauma hovers over, around, and through these songs. Stark, naked, raw, strangely cathartic, gorgeous, mysterious, haunting, extremely sad, deeply profound. Hypnotic.

I actually saw the film, "One More Time With Feeling," filmed during the making of the record, before I listened to the album. The film is gorgeous and absolutely devastating. Rich, vivid, otherworldly, black & white. Filmed with a special black and white 3D camera. Even viewing the film in 2D is an extraordinarily overwhelming experience. So personal. Raw. Suffused with power, mystery, unbearable emotion.

At the center of it all, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, two fantastic creators, locked in an amazing collaboration, two artists working at the highest level imaginable in the shadow of the incomprehensible.

The Clown Role: Mistaking Shadow for Substance.

Our Little Baby Man President is a monstrous, vulgar, ignorant 71 year old infant. Think: Freud's pure id unbound. He is also a would-be, reality-TV, tyrant.

I came across these sentences from Joseph Campbell's "The Hero With A Thousand Faces," published in 1949. Rang a bell. Today's update of the saga, Robert Mueller III is cast in the role of "Hero," Little Baby Man, the would-be "Tyrant/Clown."

"The tyrant is proud, and therein resides his doom. He is proud because he thinks of his strength as his own; thus he is in the clown role, as a mistaker of shadow for substance; it is his destiny to be tricked. The mythological hero, reappearing from the darkness that is the source of the shapes of the day, brings a knowledge of the secret of the tyrant's doom."

A Simple Existence!

I think I have "discovered" a little secret. The secret to everything. We live in a complex, interconnected, environment. We are flooded with information, images, events. We are suspended in a complex web of phenomena that is difficult to navigate and process. Life can sometimes seem totally daunting.

What is the secret? Simplify. Sounds simple, right? Simple-minded. Maybe it is. I find that I am always looking for ways to simplify my life. How to live with less? How to streamline? To have less choices. Less stuff. Fewer connections. Fewer inputs. Sounds counter to the cultural drift. We live in the culture of more, and more, always more.

There is something elegant about a simple directness. A clean line. An honest day. A few tried and true possessions: these boots, these jeans, these sunglasses, this guitar, this coffee, these guitar strings, this bicycle. Simple, clean, organic food.

Less decisons, less choice, less confusion, less uncertainty. I mean, there is the greater uncertainty of our certain life, but there is a sort of grace and elegance in making a movement to simplicity. I am not preaching. You are, of course, free to live however you'd prefer, why listen to me, but for me, simple is a sort of revelatory idea. I have gravitated to a state of simplicity. It seems so natural and right.

"A Ubiquitous Power Out of Which They Arise..."

"The world of human life is now the problem." 

Ain't it the truth? That's a sentence, robust, full-bodied, resonant & powerful. Of course, it's taken out context too. But it just sits there at the beginning of a chapter entitled " The Womb of Redemption," in Joseph Campbell's masterful book, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." 

I am rereading this great book. It is so wise, quite profound, very enlightening, with illuminating insights on nearly every page. If you've already read it, you might think about reading it again; you may, like me, find new insights, surprises, things that light you up now, that didn't light you up then. If you've never read it, you are missing out on one of wisest, most entertaining, thought-provoking books in the human library.

One of my favorite passages: 

"And so, to grasp the full value of the mythological figures that have come down to us, we must understand that they are not only symptoms of the unconscious (as indeed are all human thoughts and acts), but also controlled and intended statements of certain spiritual principles which have remained as constant throughout the course of human history as the form and nervous structure of the human physique itself. Briefly formulated, the universal doctrine teaches that all the visible structures of the world - all things and beings - are the effects of a ubiquitous power out of which they rise, which supports and fills them during the period of their manifestation, and back into which they must ultimately dissolve." - Joseph Campbell

Stormy's Storm of Truth!

Maybe it's not so surprising that I would be rooting for Adult Film Actress, Stormy Daniels, in her lawsuit against Little Baby Man and his buffoonish, henchman lawyer. In this battle, all the class, all the sympathy, is on Stormy's side. Yes, it's obvious Little Baby Man paid her "hush money," ($130,000), and had her sign a coercive NDA, to buy her silence, to keep her from talking about their sexual relationship before the 2016 election. Was the $130,000 a secret, unreported, illegal campaign contribution/expenditure? 

Funny, he never signed the document, and he disguised his identity by using a fake name. It is all so characteristic of Little Baby Man. What a lame-ass scoundrel. And the charade is all coming apart. It is the coverup, the blatant lies that constitute this scandal. Little Baby Man just cannot tell the truth. He is incapable of being honest & forthcoming.

It must be a great burden to always have to spin new lies. A full-time job. As I've written before, his ability to lie shamelessly is his one true superpower. What is his "Kryptonite?" Truth. Facts. Stormy is the storm of truth coming down on his sorry ass. Free Stormy. Let her tell her truth!

Lady Luck, Be a Lady Tonight!

I am writing from a remote location. Everything is different. Living with dogs. The internet connection is a bit flakey, or maybe it's the computer, it works briefly, then freezes. Add it to the list of little frustrations in my life. Lately lots of little, petty, frustrations - "The feeling of being upset or annoyed as a result of being unable to change or achieve something."

Yeah. Roger that. No major traumas, just lots of little niggling fuckups and disappointments. Makes me think I'm not with the program, sort of out of sorts, out of whack with the general drift of things.

Are the gods conspiring against me? I'm swimming against the stream so to speak. How to cope? Plow ahead. Damn the torpedoes. Both feet in, sweat and blood flying. Why not?! Maybe my luck will change?

"At some point, the sheer numbers of the dead become unmissable..." - A. Sullivan

I've been thinking about writing about the "Opioid Epidemic," but never around got to it, and then I came across Andrew Sullivan's article in NY Magazine. Definitive. Beautifully written. Masterful. You should read it. 

I guess, you can distill my thoughts on the subject down to Nancy Reagan's (no, really, not kidding!), quite ridiculous and pithy  slogan from the 80's: "Just Say No!"

Just like Oscar Wilde, I can "resist anything but temptation." I have learned that sometimes, (usually), the best policy when it comes to many, or probably, most intoxicants, is to just say NO! Nancy wasn't cool, but probably wasn't wrong either. When you pick your poison your poison also picks you!

Here's Sullivan: 

"To see this epidemic as simply a pharmaceutical or chemically addictive problem is to miss something: the despair that currently makes so many want to fly away. Opioids are just one of the ways Americans are trying to cope with an inhuman new world where everything is flat, where communication is virtual, and where those core elements of human happiness — faith, family, community — seem to elude so many. Until we resolve these deeper social, cultural, and psychological problems, until we discover a new meaning or reimagine our old religion or reinvent our way of life, the poppy will flourish.

We have seen this story before — in America and elsewhere.
The allure of opiates’ joys are filling a hole in the human heart and soul today as they have since the dawn of civilization. But this time, the drugs are not merely laced with danger and addiction. In a way never experienced by humanity before, the pharmaceutically sophisticated and ever more intense bastard children of the sturdy little flower bring mass death in their wake. This time, they are agents of an eternal and enveloping darkness. And there is a long, long path ahead, and many more bodies to count, before we will see any light."

Love This One! Surprise!

I must say, I am floored by this 2016 record by the Rolling Stones, "Blue and Lonesome." I had my doubts. The last Stones record that really impressed me was released in 1978. It was my friend who coaxed me into buying this record. I was prepared to be disappointed. Nope. Not disappointed at all. It is a fantastic record. Who knew we needed a new great, hard-hitting, sterling blues album in our record collection?

This one was recorded in 3 days. No overdubs. Classic, Urban, Chicago Blues. It just seems so right. So natural. This band of musicians stand up well to the classic Muddy Water's lineup featuring Little Walter. Or think of those classic sides from Howlin Wolf and Hubert Sumlin.

No blues cliches. These songs are illuminating. Thrilling. Surprising. The Stones aren't trying too hard. They are just embodying the blues. It's in their DNA. Plug in and let it fly. Jagger is one of the great blues vocalists and also a superb harmonica player. And of course Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood bring tremendous tone and feel to the party.

These old-timers found it on this record. Conjured that old Mojo. 
Love this one. Surprise!

Poor Little Baby Man!

From Axios... here is Mueller's "Hit List!" This is not a Witch Hunt. And it's not going away. The heat and pressure  on Little Baby Man is gonna go to "11." Oh poor Little Baby Man... what you gonna do?!*

*UPDATE: It is now obvious (and acknowledged), that this info and subpoena was leaked by Sam Nunberg, who was melting down yesterday on all the cable shows. So it's actually a misnomer to call it Mueller's Hit List. Let's just say it's a list of folks that Nunberg may have communicated with that Mueller is interested in. Why Nunberg would want to leak this to the press, and create such a fuss on cable TV is anyone's guess.  Doesn't look like a smart move. At all.

Sometimes a Feeling Doesn't Translate!

Our band whitewolfsonicprincess is a 6 piece ensemble. We can create a tsunami of sound. Last night, three of us performed at "pop-up art show." A voice, two guitars. We did a mix of originals and covers.  

It was a challenging show. Sort of unsatisfying. The crowd created a much bigger noise than we could conjure. We were underpowered, overmatched. It felt like we were totally swamped by the chatter, and hubbub, of the crowd. Still, like troopers, we powered thru, feeling sort of tiny and invisible in the corner of the room.

We were glad to get through our set in one piece. What's funny, post-show, we got more compliments than a typical full-band show. Lots of folks came up to us and told how much they enjoyed what we were doing. We earned some new fans. Passed out some cds. So odd. 

The audience thought we were "wonderful," and the three of us felt pretty unsatisfied. We are always shooting for a transcendent experience. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But really the show isn't so much for us, as it is for them. And I guess it worked out better than we realized. Sometimes a feeling doesn't translate. Seems just our energy, our presence was enough to make an impression on some folks. Surprising.

We like to say, and we believe, that we learn something from every performance. What did we learn last night? Our feelings of our performance has little to do with what an audience perceives. A small sound in the corner can reach across the room over the tumult of voices. Sometimes our presence makes a bigger statement than our voices or songs. There is no perfection. No matter what is happening, it's best to push through as if everyone is listening and everyone cares. Surprising.

The Unbearable Lightness of Coolness!

Since I've been on the planet, (I've been on the planet since TV was black & white, and transistor radios were "the thing"), I've always wanted to be "cool:"  The best way to say something is neat-o, awesome, or swell. The phrase "cool" is very relaxed, never goes out of style, and people will never laugh at you for using it, very convenient for people like me who don't care about what's "in."

Being cool is essential. A vocation. A mission.  Since I've been on the planet, the Liberals/Progressives have been winning the "Culture War," even as the Conservatives, the Retrograde Forces of Backwardness, have a stranglehold on our Politics.

It makes for a whiplash kind of existence. The constant pull from cool to not cool. 

What is Cool has stayed pretty consistent over time...

Whatz Kool?

Diversity.
Shades.

Science.

Freedom.

Open Minds.
Guitars.

Open Arms.
Facts.
Truth.
Dictionaries.

Music.

Poetry.
Love.
Buddhism.

Art.

Human Rights.

Multi-Culturalism.

Civil Rights.
Vinyl Records.

Free Speech.
Not Smoking.

Social Safety-Net.

Gun Control.
Environmentalism.

Gay Marriage.

Pot. Medicinal and Otherwise.

Jazz. Rock. Country. Blues. Folk. Classical. Polka.

Vegetarianism.

Clarity.

Meditation.

John Lennon.

Dalai Lama.

MLK.
Sobriety.

Nelson Mandela.
Patti Smith.

Feminism.

Humanism.
Reading books.

Being Cool.

Not Only, Or Not Always, Pissed Off!

Someone near and dear to me sent me a note, worried about my health. Seems one of my recent posts sounded intensely angry to her, and she was worried that I was a seething ball of anger ready to boil over and explode at any moment.

No worries. I am fine. I believe that I am still level-headed, cool, calm. I still have my wits and sense of humor about me.

I love to write. I love to write with deep emotion, or deep thought. I love to engage with the world around me. Writing is a "cathartic exercise:"  Providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions; causing catharsis.

Often I write about my worst fears. It's a way of working through them. You know maybe a sort of magic alchemy. Write about the worst things, get them out into the light of day, and in that way,  render them powerless. Doesn't always work. But I do enjoy writing and I think we should try to fill our lives up with things we enjoy.

Unfortunately, the last year or two, I have been consumed with our political life. I write about Little Baby Man often. He is appalling, disgusting, it's takes discipline not to be totally, madly, deeply outraged every hour of every day.

I want to be engaged and aware, awake, but not consumed. It's a delicate balance. Not sure if I have managed it. But no worries, I am fine. Pissed off, yes, but not only, or not always pissed off!

The Fuck-Up!

I am blogging from an undisclosed location. It's super-quiet here. Sort of monastic. Living with dogs. I fill my time up with music, books, and following the news of the day.  I am expert at being alone, without feeling lonely. I think it's a good skill to possess. 

I get the sense that our President is melting down. That the Ship of State is sinking, taking on water, the rats are jumping off, and the whole thing is about to capsize. Interesting times. I watch an interview with Woodward and Bernstein and I think of Nietzsche's idea of the Eternal Return.

Bad shit. Bad juju. When the Powerful turn out to be so corrupt it seeps into the land. The corruption is in the water, the air, the vibe of the land. We are all swept up in it. We swim in corruption too. It infects us. Shadows us. We spend way too much time thinking about people who don't deserve our attention.

Maybe it is instructive. Maybe it's necessary. We need an accounting. A cleansing. Let it come down. We are watching a catastrophe slowly unfolding. I am confident that we will survive this debacle. The story is astonishing, and appalling. 

A President is not a King. But the man in office sort of defines the era. This is The Fuck-Up. The time America really fucked up. Let's see if we can recover our senses, our purpose. I do think the Reckoning is coming. It will be stunning and awesome. Hopefully we can pick up the pieces and find a renewed purpose.