My Telecaster - Unique Mojo

I own a Fender Telecaster Thin-line Reissue guitar. It is a Mexican-made Fender. I bought it in 2003. It's not fancy. It's not a collectible. It's been lugged, beaten-up, dropped, and knocked around. I've opened it up so often the screws in the pick-guard are loose and rattle around. I put black tape over them to keep them from falling out. 

There is a nasty black scorch mark from a soldering iron on the side of the body. I am dangerous with a soldering iron in my hand. If you opened up this guitar you would see solder splattered all over the place. Sort of like a Jackson Pollock painting.

I replaced the original Fender Pickups with Telecaster Texas Specials, and then later I replaced those with 1 Seymour Duncan Hot Rail in the neck position, and one 1 Seymour Duncan Old '59 in the bridge. Surprisingly, this guitar is super-quiet. No hums, no crackles, no fizzes.

I am a little embarrassed about the condition of this guitar. It's a result of lots of experiments, lots of work on it, by a person who really didn't know what he was doing, when he was doing it, he just did it, and then lived with the results.

The wiring is all sloppy, and loopy and if you tried to trace the wires from one place to another, well, you'd need Google Maps to figure it out. Last night, I did a "truss-rod adjustment." I lately put on some super-heavy electric guitar strings, and I noticed the action up the fretboard was pretty bad. For a brief second I thought maybe I should bring the guitar into a shop and let a real guitar tech work on it. But then I figured I couldn't deal with the embarrassment of showing this guitar to anyone with any knowledge.

So instead, I watched a YouTube and then figured I was an expert. And all seemed to go well. I made the adjustment, and now the action is much better. I am very proud of myself. And I must say there is something amazing about this guitar. I have totally put my stamp on it. It's unlike any other guitar in the world. You would not want your guitar to be like this guitar. But that's ok. When I play it, I realize it has it's own unique mojo. And in it's own quirky way, it sounds and plays great. It is so much me.

Do guitars have soul? I believe so. Can an inanimate object radiate energy? Yes. Does this guitar uniquely contain, and offer up music to me? Yes, indeed. It is so.

Vinyl Record - The Ideal Artistic Form

I am one of those who think that an "LP," a long-playing vinyl record, represents the ideal form for a collection of songs, an "album," - "one or more recordings produced as a single unit."

Vinyl records are making a little bit of a comeback - up 260% since 2009. They are a tiny part of the market, but vinyl sales are a thriving sub-market. And that's not counting all the used vinyl stores and collectors.

What's cool about vinyl and so "defining" for the art form is that you could only get about 22 mins. of music per side.  All those records that made their mark in our consciousness had to conform to a pretty strict limit of music. The strict limit actually helped define the perfect, idealized form - a quirk of the limits of technology.

And since vinyl ruled for such a long time, when the CD was introduced, all those early CD's reflected those limits too.  I think of the "greatest" albums and I think of Sgt. Peppers, Highway 61, Revolver, Sticky Fingers, Let it Bleed, Beggars Banquet, Astral Weeks, Patti Smith's Horses. They were cohesive collections that did not overstay their welcome.

Of course, there were exceptions, double albums that totally captivated, these especially come to mind: Exile on Main Street, Electric Lady Land, The Beatles White Album, The Who's Tommy, the sprawling, three platter All Things Must Pass.

Today, there are albums being released that adhere to the "less is more" approach, probably with an eye to the upswing in the market for vinyl releases, and they tend to be my favorite records - Low's "Invisible Way," Luluc's "Passerby"  Sturgill Simpson's "Metamodern Sounds in Country Music." 

CD's allowed artists to put more music on a platter, but it didn't make the form richer or better. I own quite a few records made in the "more is more" era and they can be tiring and boring, and I don't play them often. There are some collections, that when I get finished listening to them, make me cry "Uncle!"

Now people are back to downloading individual songs, listening only to "singles," taking the music "out of context." I think this a way of dissipating the power of music. I want to hear an album, an LP of music. That is the art form, the cultural artifact, that I love. 

So the new interest in vinyl has imposed a new discipline, which I think is great for the form. An artist today, thinking of releasing new music, will take into account how many songs will fit on a vinyl LP, which dictates the length of the CD, and the digital downloadable "album."

Vinyl, CD, or digital download - I want to hear the collection of songs in context, one song flowing to another as the artist intended. One cohesive statement. To me that is the art form, the ideal way to experience music.

Skimming Or Delving In

Within the Context of No Context. George Trow's great essay. We are the culture of no context. You can live that way. Skimming over the surface of everything. That can become your "go-to" mode. Skimming. Streaming. Skipping. The eternal now. It's sort of Zen. Living on the surface. 

Or you can delve in, sink in, dip in.

Knowing the context, finding the context, exploring the connections between things, that's another mode. Takes time and thought. One thing leads to another. Looking for connections. How one thing comes out of another, how they are linked, what else was happening when something was created, when something happened.

Skimming or delving in. Two modes.

The Beach Boys were "The Straights"

Yes, I loved the Brian Wilson movie, (see previous post), but to be honest, I've never really been a fan of the Beach Boys. When I was a wee lad, the Beach Boys seemed to be on the wrong side of the culture. They were so "uncool." They seemed like a band of straight arrow, conservative kids, the kind of kids who liked to sing in the glee club, and voted for Nixon.

They were accepted by the "straights" along with Sinatra, Elvis, Lawrence Welk, The Carpenters, Pat Boone.

I mean, to me there were the countercultural heroes - the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Bob Dylan and the Band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and then all those great bands from West Coast - Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, The Doors, The Byrds, the bands who played the Monterey Pop Fest, and Woodstock.

My perception was that the Beach Boys were decidedly not part of the Woodstock Nation. What I didn't realize at the time was that much of their image was a marketing hook, a gimmick. When I found out that Brian Wilson wasn't a surfer, that all that myth making - cars, bikinis, surf boards, endless summer was pretty much a manufactured image, I began to separate the image from the music.

When Paul McCartney said that Wilson was a worthy rival, a pop-meister, a musical genius, I began to just listen to the sound they made. Certainly "Good Vibrations" with all those phenomenal sounds - a theremin, sleigh bells, was a knockout single. And Wilson's achievement is really amazing. Those multi-part harmonies were stunning.

So yes, the Beach Boys were an act of imagination. And Wilson was a complex character. But to me it's still true that the rest of the band really was pretty uncool.  Wilson was a solitary genius, surrounded by a band of brothers and cousins, haunted by his authoritarian, domineering, abusive father. And he was pretty much alone. And when he got weird, he really, really got weird. And maybe in fact, he was decidedly counter-cultural, but by the late sixties he was pretty much isolated in his own little world of madness. More myth than reality.

We All Need a Little Love & Mercy!

Tony Fitzpatrick writes beautifully and memorably about the new Brian Wilson "bio-pic" "Love & Mercy."

We saw it yesterday. It is a wonderful/powerful movie. Two actors play Wilson. The young "wunderkind" Wilson (Paul Dano), and the older "shell-shocked" Wilson (John Cusak). We thought both actors were phenomenal. Not so much portrayals, but "conjurings."

The movie just oozes with telling detail. Really catches the era of the Beach Boy's 60's. And the odd, disjointed, authoritarian aftermath.

I openly weeped. I felt so sorry for Brian Wilson - a gifted, talented sensitive boy bullied and hounded, and pushed around by just about everyone in his orbit. There is the Wilson myth - sensitive, misunderstood artist, ripped apart and destroyed by lesser minds - monstrous people - jealous of his talent, manipulating and feeding off him. 

There is a "second act." Wilson did find a measure of "love and mercy," and that's part of the story too. Highly recommended.

Embrace Guacamole!

Life. You think it's about accumulating things. Knowledge, experience, etc. It's also about losing things, letting things go.

I think food. I think about things I used to eat and drink, and have given up over the years: alcohol, sugar, fried food, processed food, meat, soft drinks, fast food, desserts, gluten...

I think about the things I have enthusiastically embraced: quinoa, nuts, guacamole! Can a person live on guacamole? I think I will try!

Let Them In...

Maybe it helps that I'm a "bird person." My partner and I have lived with birds for years. One male bird in particular has been a constant companion for nearly 20 years. So I do know how a cross-species relationship can be a unique, life-affirming, totally amazing & touching thing.

So when I read Dwight Garner's review of "H is for Hawk" in the NYTimes, I knew I'd have to read it. 

I just finished the book a few days ago. It is extraordinary. I can say I've never read a book quite like it. It's about falconry, grief, loss, losing one's self to find one's self, death and reality, and all the things we do to evade reality. It's also a totally engaging and maddening portrait of T. H. White. Makes me want to seek out T.H. White's work. 

That's how great books work on you. They engage you. Plunge you into another world, another mind, and then lead you to other connections, send you down new rabbit holes. There is an element of "magic" to it all. How do words on a page fire your imagination? How can a little bound book change your head? 

Of course, not all of them do. But when you come across a great book, you realize the world is bigger, and more engaging, and more transformative, than you imagined. There is magic in the world, in the wind, in the things right in front of our faces. We just need to open our eyes, open our heads, and let them in.

Perception of Time

The way we perceive time is weird. Maybe it's an "illusion?" An hour can drag, almost come to a stop. A month, a year can fly by. One day you look up and a decade has come and gone.

Maria Popova reminds us that Robert Graves and Maurice Sendak once collaborated on a children's book.

So yes, one day, a blinking, happy little boy, the next a grizzled old man. Think Merlin without the wisdom, without the magic, without the cool hat. 

The Pen is Still Mightier!

Terry Flamm from the great Power Pop Music blog, Broken Hearted Toy came out to see our show at the Red Line Tap last Sunday. Armed with notebook, pen and intelligent ears. Sometimes a tree falls in the forest, and someone does hear and see it! A mini Abbie Fest? Sounds good to me. And my life summed up as a Yardbird's song? What could be better?!

Find Yourself, Get Lost!

Yes, finding yourself, by getting lost, I've been doing this naturally all these years, never knew I was really onto something. Rebecca Solnit shows us the trick.

To lose yourself: a voluptuous surrender, lost in your arms, lost to the world, utterly immersed in what is present so that its surroundings fade away. 

A conscious "lostness" alive, aware, not a dark oblivion.

Ebb & Flow

There is a difference between being "empty," (vacant, unoccupied) and being "down," (lower, worse, defeated). Similar, they some times seem like the same thing. Especially if you were recently filled and animated with a project or idea. They are not. Being filled with enthusiasm, that is an enviable state. It's just the best. But you can't keep it up all the time. Ebb & flow.  That is inevitable. It's natural. Don't need to remedy or try to fix it. Some fall into a trap of trying to fill the emptiness with cheap thrills. That is just a sideshow. First flow, then ebb. Then wait to flow again.

A Collection of "Off-Kilterness"

Our band hosted an afternoon "variety show" yesterday. It was an odd collection of acts. Poetry, theater, comedy and music. It was sort of mini-circus, or a really oddly programmed set. Lots of things, pretty much unalike, presented together. 

It was my idea, and I put all those acts on the bill, so of course, I just thought it was brilliant. I really love all those acts, those odd souls. Lots of laughs. Lots of cool sounds and images.

There was stand-up from Elizabeth Gomez, garage rock from The Rut, mad poetry and story-telling from KC Chronis, surreal and hilarious theater from Citizen's Relief, dazzling exuberant go-go dancing from the Revelettes, and music from the always mind-bending Gunnelpumpers, and our band too.

Talking afterwards I realized that just like me, many of these folks always feel on the "outside looking in." Oddballs, misfits, weirdos. Every one of them has a little bit of an off-kilterness about them. And each of them has something unique to offer.

That's so inspiring to me. The audience was small. But that's ok. The folks that did show up seemed to really enjoy the variety. So yes, a Sunday afternoon variety show. What a great idea! Long live the odd jobs!

Work At It!

It dawns on a person. Or at least it dawned on this person, somewhere along the line, that you have to work at finding meaning and purpose in life. You have to work at being positive/optimistic. You have to choose to believe. Yes, you must make the leap, damn the torpedoes. 

It is actually much easier to choose not to play. To sit back, complain, refuse to participate, refuse to try, or to dream. Negativity comes so naturally. To be negative, to tear down, to knock, to belittle, to snark - makes you feel so superior, so smart.

Choosing optimism, choosing to be positive seems sort of naive, and the act of choosing somehow makes it seem less genuine. But it is just fear that holds us back. Once you start choosing to be optimistic, you can expand it into all areas of your life.

Choose to live with heart, hope, joy, cheer. Choose your Gods, choose your faith. Choose and work at choosing...

Cocaine & Prostitutes!

I think Martin Scorsese gave us a pretty definitive picture of Wall Street. "Wolf" is the story of our times. A classic for sure.

I have always been pretty baffled by "the market." Wall Street seems disconnected from the rest of the country, but their activity helps drive and define the broader economy. Day to day activity seems like some kind of controlled madness.

Paul Krugman reminds us what it's all about: "The market wants money for cocaine and prostitutes."

Oh yeah. Almost forgot! Makes sense!

U2 - Can You Say Gargantuan?!

U2 kicked off their "massive tour" in Vancouver. Grantland was there. Massive doesn't really capture the scope of what U2 is unleashing on the world. Gargantuan. Big. Really, really big. It is not just a rock show, it's like a mobile, big-budget, Broadway production. On steroids. No, it's even bigger than that, more ambitious, more overblown. It will be a stunning, beautiful thing. For sure.

Every U2 tour seems to be bigger than the last. You wonder if there is a "law of diminishing returns?" I was so happy to see U2 "busking" in the subway in New York, it was just a "stunt," but there was something really cool about seeing those 4 guys just playing music.

4 people in a room, playing music. That is a wonderful thing. That is what I love. That special communication between 4 musicians. All the flash, and show-biz razzmatazz seems sort of pointless. I mean, I know people will flock to the shows, they will marvel at the big screens, and dazzling lights, but really isn't it just about 4 people playing in a room?

That is what is extraordinary. The rest seems sort of superficial. I know that's silly. U2 is too big-time,  there is too much pride and money on the line to just do a stripped down tour. They don't just want to win over the audience, they have to steamroller over them. If they actually just got up on a stage, plugged in and played, wouldn't everyone be so disappointed?

Not I. That really would be the must-see show. Why do I like U2? It really is the music, the spirit that animates, that is coiled around their best songs. Blow up the production, add more lights and theatrical drama? That's just a show-bizzy sideshow. And not the point. Really. But then again, I'm sure it will be a dazzling production. For sure.

Waking State/Dreaming State

It's funny. In my waking state, I have kind of discovered another level of calm and peace. Not always. There is still the endless churn, life is a roiling stream, but there is a small space inside, a calm center that seems to be there, I can find it in moments of stillness.

At the same time, while I sleep, a sense of chaos, of illness, and paralysis overtakes me. It is almost like the inverse of the day time peace. I sleep with the certainty that I am damaged, seriously compromised.

Last night, I dreamed that I woke up fractured, and irreparably damaged. It was unsettling, disturbing. 

I was pleased to wake up this morning feeling fine. All my extremities in working order. Refreshed. Ready to jump into the day.

So the dichotomy. Day & Night. Peace & Turmoil. Health & Illness. Strange. Light & Darkness.

"Something Rather Than Nothing."

This is funny...  as in "curious, strange, peculiar, odd..."

Dani Shapiro's "Quest for a Connected Consciousness," hits the bullseye. It's "funny" to read a blog post this morning that totally resonates with my own inner dialogue. Almost makes me think that I've finally found the road and the language and practice that I have been looking for all my life...

"Something, rather than nothing." Exactly!

Dani Shapiro:

“I believe that there is something connecting us,” I said. “Something that was here before we got here and will still be here after we’re gone. I’ve begun to believe that all of our consciousnesses are bound up in that greater consciousness.” 

I looked at my friend for any sign of ridicule, but saw none. She was nodding. 

“An animating presence,” she said. 

That was as good a word as any: presence. As in the opposite of absence. By training my thoughts and daily actions in the direction of an open-minded inquiry, what had emerged was a powerful sense of presence. It couldn’t be touched, or apprehended, but nonetheless, when I released the hold of my mind and all its swirling stories, this was what I felt. Something — rather than nothing. While sitting in meditation or practicing yoga, the paradox was increasingly clear to me: emptiness led to fullness, nonthought to greater understanding.

Lit Up from the Inside!

I didn't realize that Mary Karr's three books - "The Liar's Club," "Cherry," and "Lit," were a trilogy. Memoirs all. That together they constitute a beautifully rendered interconnected exorcism. Anyone raised in a family, anyone with a difficult childhood, (basically anyone) with memories, demons, and unfinished business, will totally understand.

I didn't realize that Mary Karr would change my life with her carefully chosen, totally engaging, funny, robust and exhilarating words. I just didn't know. I originally bought "The Liar's Club," for a friend, many years ago. I thought she would love it, relate to it. It wasn't until after I read David Foster Wallace, that I thought I should check in myself.

I started with "Cherry," that's the one my friend thought I'd relate to. And I did. I recognized the world that Mary Karr lived in. Her life in the 70's resonated with my experience. I was there too, in a different locale, but I was there too.

Starting with "Cherry" is kind of like starting with "Sticky Fingers" from the Stones. If you liked that one you also have to check out "Let it Bleed," and "Exile on Main Street." No sense trying to decide which is best. They are all essential.

Same with this trilogy of memoirs. I shied away from "Lit" thinking it was about the literary world. Now I realize it's about being "on fire," lit up from the inside, via emotion, via alcohol, via madness. Oh yeah, it's that kind of "lit."

So yes, just read the books. That's all I can really say. Read the books. You will laugh, you might cry, you might get a little pissed off. The three books are a conjuring, an exorcism and a story of redemption. The story of our lives. If we just open our eyes.

To Live Wide, Rather than Long...

Yes, from Maria Popova about wisdom & Emerson - it is all about kindness, and "the small mercies."

It's Not a Method, It's My Life!

Am I a "method actor?"  Well, I do tend to totally identify with characters I am playing, and I do correlate my experience to the character I am playing. So I guess the answer would be "Yes!"

Yesterday, I played a character (see previous post), that looked "hungrily" at another character. How did I prepare? I didn't eat all day. So yes, I was hungry, really, really hungry. My character was supposed to be "deranged," and how did I embody derangement?

I stayed up late the night before playing a r&r show, and I got up really early, and I drank lots of coffee all day, and I jumped into a flurry of action all day before I arrived for the shoot. I spent the morning in the recording studio mixing tracks, so by the time I arrived at the little diner for the shoot late afternoon, I was tired, hungry, stoked up, jittery, and ready to do whatever the Director wanted me to do.

I was upgraded. I was given two lines that weren't in the script. I sat in a booth at a diner, before a plate of cold french fries. I don't eat French fries! I don't eat fried food! I always tell my friend that eating French fries is like "smoking a cigarette!" Still, I ate French fries. I did.  I sacrificed. I compromised. I plunged into the moment. I did it for the scene, for the Director, for "art!"

And just how did it all go over? I did my scene, I said my lines, I stared intently, wildly, madly at the camera and chomped on some fries. And when I finished my little scene the whole crew - Director, Lighting person, Cinematographer, Script person, Best Boy, and Grip all burst out in uproarious laughter. It was kind of stunning. We did another take, same thing. The second time I did it the camera guy was laughing so hard he could hardly keep the camera pointed at me.

Not sure if I will make the final cut or not! But it felt pretty good. I guess I can do deranged! Not sure if that's a good thing... or not... but there it is... my life.

Deranged as Possible!

I have an acquaintance who is a dynamo of creativity - an actor, writer, director. He's working on a web-based series. Today there is a shoot in the City. I have been cast in a very, very small role. Don't even have a line, although, I was told I could try to "improvise" something on the spot.

And what role have I snagged? Here's the description of the character I am to play, and well, in some ways, I have been totally typecast, and I wonder, how did he know?

"As deranged as possible, while somehow still fitting in society unnoticed."

Artist or Soup Can?

This little article from Vulture is fun & funny, and well, kind of interesting... and really,  it sort of gets one to wonder: Is Kim Kardashian's ass a work of Art?

Is Kim Warhol? A Warhol who is only interested in taking pictures of herself? Or is Kim the soup can? A soup can that can take pictures of itself?

Is she a huckster, a media whore, a fraud, or an artist presenting her own body as the ultimate art object? 

How to think about Kim? And why bother? And how to get to the bottom of the subject? I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder. And what to bother to behold?

Actively Surrender

Surrender. That's the message. I think I get it. Surrender. To yield power. To give up. Everything tells me I need to take this step. And then I look back over events the last few years, and more, and think everything has been leading to this moment. Actively, definitively, happily surrender. It's a kind of spiritual thing. I have been working towards it. Swimming. Spinning. I think I am finally there. I think.

Power and Depth!

Just as expected, Maria Popova has invaded my consciousness. Her voice, on the radio, her posts on her website Brain Pickings, have been kicking around in my head ever since I found her speaking on the radio waves Sunday morning.

She mentioned that she is always looking for writers who "lift us up," and I realized this is exactly what I have been doing most of my life, since I first discovered that I loved to read. I have piles of books, shelves and shelves of books, looking for that "lift." And this is not "happy talk," not just the "power of positive thinking," it's not a trick of the mind.

No. What I'm looking for, always, never-ending, are those books, those writers, those words that will open me, that will deepen my experience, that will enlighten and confound me, that will put me into a state of wonder, joy, and a sort of creative madness. Not easy books, easy words, but words and works of power and depth.

Works that can change and mold my consciousness.This has been a major feature of my life. The life of concentrated, determined reading. One of the great joys and missions of my life. Sitting alone with a book. Not a solitary experience. The world.

Iraq War - Entirely Negative or Even Terrible!

The GOP Hawks are gearing up for another Presidential run in 2016. You'd think they'd be too ashamed to even try, but of course, that's not how it works around here.

And they are all grappling with the recent past: The Iraq War. Bush's war of choice, or as some of us call it, Bush's debacle. There should be a reckoning, but the Right's powers of hard-headed denial are prodigious and reality-defying.

Here's Josh Marshall on Iraq today: "If the Iraq War was a mistake it was a mistake of gargantuan proportions. It went on for roughly a decade and in some ways continues. Thousands of Americans were killed. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died if you figure in the costs of the insurgency, the invasion and various collateral effects of both. And it is difficult to argue that its effects weren't largely or entirely negative or even terrible."

And that's putting it mildly!

Extraordinary Morning Read

Yes, something tells me that Maria Popova (see previous post), will be directing my intellectual wanderings from now on...

This morning an extraordinary post about Oliver Sach's autobiography "On the Move," from her website, Brain Pickings...

We make the world by what we pay attention to, by whom we spend time with, by what we choose to care about... that's what makes us too.

Thoughtful, Intelligent Souls

This morning I "discovered" Maria Popova and her website, Brain Pickings, via Krista Tippet's radio program On Being.

So pleased to find thoughtful, intelligent, inspiring souls out in the Universe. 

Better to "lift ourselves up," to imagine the world we hope to live in, as opposed to the one we fear we live in... and yes, to see and experience the Universe as we are!

A Bounty on A Head!

If Seymour Hersh's reporting can be believed, (see previous post), then all that money spent on our elaborate, all-knowing, all-seeing, and all hearing Surveillance State, AND all that money, time, and human treasure plowed into the Bush/Cheney Torture State - black sites, enhanced interrogation, Abu Graib, human degradation formalized as a policy - then well, it was all a waste of money, time and treasure. Wasted and worthless. Oh yeah, immoral and counter-productive too.

How did we find Bin Laden? It wasn't great intelligence gleaned from listening in to every cell phone conversation in the Universe, and it wasn't gleaned from torturing terrorist suspects, no, it was a "bounty," - a Pakistani intelligence officer, walked into the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan and betrayed Bin Laden for a $25 million reward.

A bounty. Cold hard cash. Maybe more bounties and less surveillance, less torture, would be the smarter strategy? Cheaper, and less degrading for all?

All An Elaborate Cover Story!

You may have thought you knew the story of the "Killing of Bin Laden." If you saw "Zero Dark Thirty,"  the Oscar nominated film written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, you may have thought you were watching "the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man." Many of the details of the movie were also highlighted in reporting from the New York Times. So, yes, like I said, you thought you knew the story…

According to Seymour Hersh, it was all just an elaborate cover story, concocted by the CIA and the U.S. Government. And the story is not the story you thought you knew. Yes, believe it, the CIA lied to cover sources, to cover their asses, to justify torture, to make them look good.  You wonder if Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow knew they were just carrying the cover story forward? Were they on the Spook Payroll too?

Once you enter the world of Spooks, of Secret Operations conducted by Special Forces, you enter a hall of mirrors. Who's telling the story? What is their motivation? Who are they covering for? What is their real motivation?

Hersh's article makes fascinating reading. He is one of our last great journalists. A dying breed for sure. He has sources deep in the Spook World, deep in the Military Industrial Complex. You wonder if his reporting is definitive, it reads like it, but of course, we've been fooled before, and once you are fooled, you then look at all accounts somewhat skeptically.

The big news according to Hersh…

1. The U.S. was tipped to Bin Laden's hideout by a high-level Pakistani looking to collect the $25 million dollar reward. He "dropped a dime" on Bin Laden. Torture had nothing to do with finding Bin Laden. The CIA did not track him down by following "Couriers." A guy "ratted" a guy out.

2. The Pakistanis were holding Bin Laden under "house arrest" and kept him as a bargaining chip.

3. Bin Laden was old, an invalid, pretty much isolated and unconnected to the terrorist network. An isolated, handicapped old man.

4. The raid happened with the Pakistani's knowledge. There was no resistance. 

5. Special Forces shot Bin Laden down without a fight. Bin Laden was not armed, did not shoot back.

6. There was no "burial at sea." Bin Laden was shot up so bad, basically his body was blasted into pieces, there was nothing to bury. His remains were scattered, some may be in a secret lab somewhere.

7. The original cover story was that a "drone strike" killed Bin Laden, but the Black Hawk down in Pakistan, called for a new cover story.

Read it. What 's a "fact," what "really happened?" I guess, it depends. Yes, Bin Laden is dead. But the how gets a little fungible. And supposedly the truth does matter. It all depends on who is telling the story, and what their interests are - that's the world of secrecy and Spooks.

Progressives and History!

Paul Krugman is right! Again. How often could I write that sentence? Over, and over, and over again.  He is so right, so often, I think people tend to tune him out. A smart Progressive who looks at the evidence and makes his call. He adjusts his economic models and re-thinks things if the evidence is in conflict with his opinions. How refreshing. Look at the world with open eyes. And adjust! How Progressive. How Liberal! How Smart! Yes, changing your mind in the face of overwhelming evidence is not a fault, or failure.

Progressives look to a better future, but they also should remember the past, no reason to let the backward-looking crowd own the past. Being consistently wrong, and clinging dearly to that wrongness is not an admirable quality.

Krugman: "To hear Republican contenders for President unveil their big ideas, which are to slash taxes on rich people, deregulate banks, and bomb or invade countries we don't like. What could go wrong?"

Yeah, right!

Practical Ethics - In Practice!

I discovered a blog from the University of Oxford this morning, via, Marginal Revolution. It's called Practical Ethics and the first post I've read is entitled: "If Your a Conservative, I'm Not Your Friend." Written by Rebecca Roache.

I can relate!

Seems they had an election in Britain, and the Conservatives won. And their policies will be promoted - their "Austerity" will make war on the poor and middle class. As Roache puts it: 

"to express one’s support for a political party that does these things is as objectionable as expressing racist, sexist, or homophobic views. Racism, sexism, and homophobia are not simply misguided views like any other; views that we can hope to change through reasoned debate (although we can try to do that). They are offensive views. They are views that lose you friends and respect—and the fact that they are socially unacceptable views helps discourage people from holding (or at least expressing) them, even where reasoned debate fails. Sometimes the stick is more effective than the carrot. For these reasons, I’m tired of reasoned debate about politics—at least for a day or two. I don’t want to be friends with racists, sexists, or homophobes. And I don’t want to be friends with Conservatives either."

Yes, Practical Ethics indeed!

U2 Busks Back Into our Good Graces!

This little video made me so happy. Put a big smile on my face. And reminded me how much I enjoy listening to these guys play music. 

Good to see Bono up and about, looks like he's recovered from his bicycle accident. Love the blond hair and goatee. Plus of course, there's something classic about an Irish soul singer in a cowboy hat.

And to see U2 playing an acoustic set in a NYC subway station is just the best. They sound great. Maybe as part of their penance for that spam record, on their next tour, they do a set in a train station in every town on the tour?

That would be cool...

You Say You Want to Shop!

In the consumerist paradise, the ever-expanding, all-consuming utopia of market capitalism, there are no revolutions, no revolutionaries; there are only new products - gizmos, gadgets, bright new, shiny things, AND new, multi-platform advertising campaigns - mobile, desktop, TV, print,  AND new demographics - micro-market segments which are identified and groomed,  AND smart, discerning shoppers!

To shop or be shopped. That is the question...

Science and the Market - More Powerful than Dirty Hippies!

The Beatles (see previous post), stopped being a band in 1970. Some think that was the true "end of the Sixities." But the music, and the legend, continued, and so did the seismic changes unleashed during that decade.

Think about it: Civil Rights, Gay Rights, Woman's Liberation, Eastern Religion, World Music, Yoga, Meditation, the Environmental Movement, Organic Food, Left-Wing Politics, LSD, Marijuana, the Drug Revolution all were on the ascendant in the Western world. And the Beatles were at the forefront of most of this social upheaval.

They were the most popular, most fully embraced Pop band in the world, but they were also quite experimental, avant garde and unconventional. They got "weird" around 1966 and they kept getting weirder and weirder until their breakup.

They actually did get more popular than Jesus. And Lennon, after taking massive quantities of LSD, briefly believed that he was Christ reincarnated. Freaky. In many ways, the Beatles do seem bound by their time. Some of their music is timeless, but at the same time, you can't really understand those songs without knowing what was going on in the 60's. World shattering events. The Revolution in the Head.

That decade was more than fashion, more than long hair and peace symbols. And then there was the counter-narrative, primarily promoted from the Right, Nixon, Reagan, Thatcher - that the 60's shook the foundations of the West - destroyed elitism, destroyed the shared values of our culture. We were told it was the "Dirty, Fucking Hippies" who ruined the West.

Ian MacDonald points out that this was only partly true, and not really true at all. The most revolutionary forces in our society, the overpowering forces that destroyed the old ways, that knocked tradition on it's ass, were actually Science and The Market! All that social upheaval actually arose out of the ashes of the triumph of these two overwhelming, devastating and tradition-crushing phenomena.

The Hippies were just looking for another way. But ultimately everything was consumed by market forces. Science upset the apple cart. Money flowed and everyone and everything became just another market segment, a demographic, and advertising target.

World Religions looked foolish and unimportant. Money and Consumerism became the new Religion. Money really the last thing bringing us all together.

Which is the world we live in today. The Left is irrelevant. Just another demographic to sell products to. And the Right is irrelevant too. A backward movement based on a world that no longer exists. But they do have their spending money. Buying luxury cars and Led Zeppelin remasters.

The Beatles music reflects a time when everything changed. That's why it still resonates. Even if we don't totally understand what it means. Those days are gone, gone, gone. Science and the Market rule the day. Music is just a branch of the entertainment complex. The Beatles were the first and last band that really did matter. And what made them important wasn't just about them. They were more than a band, they were a social/cultural phenomena, they were in the vanguard of the Counter-Culture. They were Avatars, Holy Fools, Bodhisattvas, Rich, Young, Silly, Crazed, Super-talented, a challenge to all the old ways.

You Think You Know the Story...

Ian MacDonald's "Revolution in the Head," is the best book about The Beatles music. No question, no doubt. It is definitive. He listens to every track they ever recorded. And he listens with intelligence. The intelligence of a musician, a producer, and someone who was there, when it all really, really mattered.

MacDonald almost does the impossible. He makes you go back and listen to the amazing catalog of songs with new ears. But maybe even more impressive is his ability to put the Beatles and their music in the context of the 60's. 

The essay about the 60's fronting the book is astonishingly great. Totally opens your eyes and head to the "revolution in the head," that resonates all these many years later. To hear the Beatles music, without understanding the times, the politics, the social upheaval, the rise of the counterculture, totally drains the Beatles songs of their power and resonance.

You can enjoy the music without the context, but so much is missing. The story of the times, the seismic changes of the culture are reflected and anticipated in the music. To really get it, you need to understand where the Beatles came from, and how they impacted everyone around them.

And MacDonald shows us that the 60's never died, that all that change and upheaval of that decade resonated through the 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's. The Beatles represented, reflected a time and place, they birthed Pop Culture as we know it. And nothing was ever the same again. They surfed the energy, and added to it, and strangely, almost impossibly helped mold it.

It's a story you think you know, but if you haven't read MacDonald's book, you don't really know the story. Really.

Keep the Game Going!

Some days it's all just about keeping the game going. Don't make any hard decisions. Don't make any final judgements. Just roll along. Keep moving. Keep your head up, or down, carry on.

It's just another phase, all part of the process. Something will turn up. The tide will change. Don't sit still. Don't brood. Don't think too hard. 

Active Segregation!

Racial segregation in big cities of America didn't just magically happen. It was a policy, a plan, that was thought up and enforced. It happened in cities all over our country.

Chicago, the city I live in, is one of the most segregated cities in the country. It didn't just happen. Local governments made sure it happened. Baltimore too had an active segregationist policy that was instituted and enforced starting in 1910.

So, when people ask, "Why," and "How," we must acknowledge that there is a clear history. People made it happen and worked to keep it that way. 

Lord Litter - Renegade Sonic Pioneer!

Our favorite DJ in the Universe is Lord Litter, broadcasting out of Berlin, Germany. He has 2 shows, one on Radio Marabu, and one on KWTF in California. His radio show is called Lord Litter's Magic Music Box.

It is a cool, unique show. You will hear music you don't hear anywhere else. Including whitewolfsonicprincess! Yes, Lord Litter has been playing songs from our album 10+1 for the last few months.

It is so gratifying to find a renegade sonic pioneer like Lord Litter. His shows always feature unique, challenging, out of the box music. So happy to be included in that club! Check it out! Our song "Sad-Eyed Prophet Reprise" is featured smack dab in the middle of the show.

Don't know German, but love how Lord Litter pronounces our band name!

Motto to Live By

My good friend advises: "Don't do anything ridiculous." Yes, good advice. When you are deciding what to do with yourself, you should make sure you don't do anything extremely silly or unreasonable. Sounds reasonable. But maybe not as easy as you think, I mean, we often find ourselves in situations of silliness, and our lives are bounded by unreason, but still it sounds like a good motto to live by.

We Can Solve the Problem!

Are there some problems that can't be fixed? Like racism? Is it so entrenched in our culture, our psyche, our DNA that it can't be overcome?

I don't think so. 

It may be one of those deep, entrenched problems, which is entwined with poverty and lack of education, and much of society may have stacked the deck between "winners" and "losers," but most of this is "cosmetic." It is not inevitable. 

A change of consciousness can happen in the blink of an eye. If we all admit there is a problem, that it can and should be fixed, that it's in all our interests, that it's best for society to ensure that people are treated equally, to have the same opportunities, to be educated, and to have the common comforts of a decent existence then we all have a common goal.  We can work together to create a better world.

That puts me in the idealistic camp. Still, we can't just wish it to happen. We all have to do our part, and be willing to sacrifice for each other. As the Dali Lama likes to say, we must admit "we are all human beings first!" We are the same. And our differences should be celebrated, they should inspire us, not divide us.

A Big Problem

Cops in Baltimore charged with homicide. The Union responded to this as if this was an outrage. Don't we all give the Cops the "benefit of the doubt?"

Nope. We shouldn't. A young man is shackled. His hands and feet bound by iron. He is in the back of a police van. No seatbelt. And mysteriously he ends up with a severe spinal injury. And dies.

What happened? No explanation. And the Cops act like we should all just move along. Never mind. Business as usual.

And of course, that is a problem. A big problem. And it's not just isolated in Baltimore. 

Here is the "tick-tock" of Freddie Gray's arrest and death. It all started with a look. A man looked in the eyes of a Cop. 

Human Being's Death Wish Realized: AI

You can read Sci-Fi as just forward-thinking entertainment. Or you can read it as a critique of the now, or maybe you can read it as "precognition." Future sight, second sight. Check out Philip K. Dick for a robust body of work that shows how Sci-Fi can be entertainment, critique and future sight.

Are we on the path of building AI, Super- Intelligent Robots, who will then come to the realization that what is best for the survival of the Planet, the Universe, and themselves is that they should exterminate all Human Beings?

Yes. How many Sci-Fi novels and movies show the machines taking over? Starting a war against Human Beings? Is this all just a dread fantasy? Or is there some kind of logical inevitability to the whole scenario? Is that actually Future sight, second sight?

And maybe that's our hidden wish, our secret desire. As we hurtle forward, consuming everything in our path, well past the point of sustainability for the little blue planet we have over-run, maybe we will intentionally build the machines, the AI geniuses that will come to understand that the best way forward for all life, is to eliminate human beings.

That leads us to this morning's burning topic: How Humans Can Keep Super-Intelligent Robots From Murdering Us All.

American Apartheid!

Riot or Rebellion? 

Riot: a large group of people act in a violent and uncontrolled way.

Rebellion: an effort by many people to change the government or leader of a country by the use of  protest or violence.

A riotous rebellion? Or a rebellious riot? Sparked by a young Black Man, being manhandled to death by Police, again! Maybe a little bit of both. We have a problem America. American Apartheid.

And where does lawlessness and violence originate? Science tells us lead, yes, lead, is one of the culprits. Maybe people aren't the free agents we think they are? And just who is the victim? A generation of young people poisoned by lead, their brain development stunted via lead paint and leaded gasoline. Youngsters, shaped and formed by their environment. Makes you wonder if all your preconceptions about violence and poverty, and young black males is totally, completely wrong. 

Blue Skies/Clouds of Doom

Yesterday, blue skies, and thick black clouds of doom swirled around me. Can't explain it. Deep sadness loomed up, an all-consuming feeling of hopelessness, a dark futility flooded through me.

I have no clue why. 

There weren't really any "thoughts" associated with the feeling. I have no real, tangible explanation. Doom? Why? Why not?

Could it be the "news of the day?" Riots, avalanche, Police Brutality, Climate Change, Political Stalemate, etc. Hell, that's just a normal day in the neighborhood. Sickness, death, pain, madness. Sure, but that's just standard operating procedure.

No explanation, no "aha" moment. So I carried the doom around with me. Lugged it up and down the street. It sat with me in my quiet moments, and ran with me in my moments of activity. It finally lifted or ebbed out late in the evening. All that was left was a dull ache in my head.

I wonder, was it all just a self-generated thing, or was it imposed on me from a greater force? That's the kind of question that hovers over all of us.

Let's Not Do What We've Always Done, if It's Stupid, and Discriminatory, and Oppressive

Tradition. All it means is "something that has been done by people for a long time." There's nothing magical there. We have done really smart things, and really stupid things, for a long time. We are human beings. What do you expect?

So those "traditionalists" who tell us we can't just trash 2000 years of the historical understanding of what constitutes "traditional marriage," we can't just redefine it on the spot, are basically saying, "We must do what we always have done, because that's what we've always done."

Kind of like a parent who answers their child's persistent question of "Why?" With, "Because I say so."

Sorry. Not good enough. Tradition is a lousy reason to keep a group of people down. It's a lousy reason to discriminate and oppress. And don't try to bring "God" into it. No one knows the mind of God. And those musty old religious books that everyone likes to bang on were written by men. Not Gods.

So, yes, let's make a new tradition, starting right now. Let's treat all people with Respect and Dignity. Equality and Freedom. For all.

Gay Marriage at the Court!

I am not a constitutional scholar. Most of us aren't. I'm not a legal eagle, most of us aren't, but these arguments against Same Sex Marriage seem to be very weak tea. Simple common sense seems like a useful tool to knock them down.

If society decides that marriage is good for society and individuals, then what rationale can you use to deny any group of individuals the right to marry? We have all agreed as per our constitution that people should be treated equally by the laws of the land.

So every individual should have the right to marry, no matter what persuasion, economic station, etc. Any argument against equal treatment seems to just be discrimination and prejudice, plain and simple.

It has been astonishing and gratifying to watch how quickly Gay Rights and Marriage Equality has been accepted by the majority of the population. It wasn't that long ago when Gay men and woman had to hide "in the closet." They were persecuted, criminalized, treated with electro-shock, ostracized, beaten, discriminated against.

I think of Allen Ginsburg, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin and can't really understand what prejudice and oppression they must have felt in their lives. Those early Gay Rights Advocates who came out of the closet and declared themselves "loud and proud" really did us all a great service.

I think most of us realized that being Gay was not some kind of choice, or moral failure, some people are different, and that's a beautiful thing. And we should all celebrate and embrace each other. And marriage, sure why not?

Without Effort

Meditation. It has taught me that there is an inside. A calm center. A still point inside my body. I get there through sitting still, and breathing. It's as simple as that. If you do it well, and often, it will change you. It does change you.

And what happens inside, changes how you see things outside. And what happens outside can be transformed by what happens inside. But it is a dance. The inside/outside dichotomy. It's not one thing. Meditation is not the answer, but it is an effective tool. 

You want to be alive, engaged in the world. You want to sit still and find the calm center. Both.

A long life of meditation changes everything. But it's simple, it's a little thing, and it's everything too. Sitting still, breathing deeply, without effort, and the world and everything in it opens up. Alive.

Being a Wing-Nut Can Be a Well-Paid Job!

Being a Right Wing Nut-job, or Wing-Nut, is a job. Paul Krugman reminds us that there is a whole ecosystem of think tanks, economists, pundits, scientists, consultants, lobbyists, cable networks, who make money promoting and clinging to ridiculous, right wing positions. There is a vast network of like-minded kooks pretending not to see what is happening in the world, and getting paid real cash money for spouting bullshit. 

So yes, there are the climate change deniers, the health care pretenders, the free market evangelists basically telling the powerful, rich people and what they want to hear. It's all just noise, muddying the waters of our political discourse. It's a major problem. Evidence doesn't matter. Facts don't matter. Better arguments don't matter. So yes, the crazies have their refuges. And they are fortified with money and ideology.  Sometimes you think, finally the other side will open their eyes and see the truth, but no, they are actually paid to not see what is so easy to see. It's maddening, crippling, and an entrenched problem.

American Democracy - Locked in a Closet with a Bunch of Crazies!

I was inspired to write a couple blogs posts about Alex Tabarrok's review of Joseph Heath's book. Well now, Joseph Heath has responded to the review and it's pretty interesting.

Tabarrok asked, "Is Capitalism Making Us Stupid?" I think the answer is a resounding "Yes!" But then after I read Joseph Heath's response, I'm thinking the question should actually be "Will Our Irrationality Destroy Democracy?" And I think the answer is a resounding "Yes!"

I should probably get the book and read the whole thing. But this little back and forth has been quite interesting and stimulating. I do think our politics has devolved into a pretty infantile state, and many of us are desperately clinging to a deep irrationality. The GOP is deeply in the grip of denial, a willful stupidity, a robust and unapologetic irrationality. And since we have a pretty divided country this means that our democracy has become a stilted, stuck and ugly thing. 

Our only hope out of this is an enlightened reason. But reason doesn't really help much when you are arguing with a crazy person. We are locked in a closet with a bunch of crazies! Welcome to your America!

The Remnant, The Ghost of Goats Head Soup!

Did you ever wonder what mp3 compression takes out of a musical track? This ubiquitous compression format is used and loved because it makes it easy to copy and carry and trade files. But if you listen to music closely, you may have noticed that something always seems to be missing.

Here is a track made of mp3 remnants.

What's funny, just yesterday I received in the mail, a 1994 CD remaster of the Rolling Stones album "Goats Head Soup." This is the famous Virgin remaster done by Bob Ludwig. 

I had been listening to an mp3 copy of the album a friend had given me the last few months. I love the album, and lately I'd consider it in the top 5 or 6 albums the Stones ever made, but I was sure the mp3 version was kind of just the gist of the record. I wondered "What's missing?"

I also own an old, scratchy copy of the record on vinyl, but ease of use of CDs, led me to listen to the mp3 on my old Walkman!

Anyway, the Bob Ludwig master is a revelation. Absolutely. Suddenly there are all these little details I never heard before. The music is more dimensional. More dynamic, and I can hear Nicky Hopkins or Billy Preston on piano, you can really feel the fingers on the keyboard, you can hear Mick Jagger catching his breath, Keith's pick on the strings, the backup singers distinct and soulful.

So yes, it's a different album. If you just pay attention and listen. It all just confirms that mp3s are really like a fast food meal. You get full, but you are consuming empty calories. Not the real, soulful, musical meal with which you should nurture your self.

A Beautiful, Well-Made Thing!

A beautiful well-made thing. That's how I'd describe The National's "Trouble Will Find Me." It's the followup to their great "High Violet," which I wrote about here (it's still in the top ten of blog posts!).

I purchased this CD on Record Store Day. I bought a pristine copy of the CD for $6.99. I'm guessing someone else bought this new, opened it, burned it, and then sold it back to Reckless Records. It almost feels like stealing! I mean, what a steal! Such a beautiful package - the cover art, the booklet inside with cool photos and lyrics. And the music is just so gorgeous. Sad, and wise, and catchy. Every song just hits the mark. The National seems committed to something extraordinary - attention to quality, beauty and the well-made.

If you don't own the CD or the Vinyl you are really missing out. 

I'd have to say that The National is my favorite band of the moment. They seem serious about making extraordinary music. They make sophisticated, layered, powerful songs that really hold together as an exquisite suite of music. Matt Berninger's voice is a unique, insistent thing, he burrows into your consciousness. And his lyrics are always a little off-kilter, surprising, odd, never the standard or cliche.

And the sound of the band is superb. Check out the guitars, the symphonic arrangements, and the powerful extraordinary drumming throughout.  Nothing is missed. Beauty, doom, exhilaration. I don't exactly know how they do it, but  they are a beautiful, life-enriching thing to hear, to let into your being. Highly, highly recommended! 

Julian Lennon - Long Distance "Friend"

I'm Facebook "friends" with Julian Lennon. John's son. Which is funny. I mean, I know him only from his first solo record, and as John Lennon's son, the one Paul McCartney wrote about in "Hey Jude." And he doesn't even know I exist. That's a weird, social media friendship indeed. Still, I "friended" him a couple of years ago, and I get updates from him most every day.

Julian comes across to me as an "enlightened being." He is often posting off the beaten track articles, about food, health, politics. He seems to think out of the box. He's funny, engaged. He takes really interesting & beautiful photographs. He's not really my friend, but I identify with him a little bit, I kind of wish he was my friend. He seems like a wise searcher, which seems like a smart way to live in the world.

And he lives in the shadow of his famous father, but you know what? I do too. So we have that in common. John Lennon is still such a strong figure/presence in my life. When I think of music I think of him. 

Anyway, this is a long way around to a recent article that Julian posted, which is typical of the insightful kind of things he likes to post.  This one is from an Ogala Lakota Chief, Luther Standing Bear.

"Everything was possessed of personality, only differing from us in form. Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library and its books were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks, and the birds and animals that shared, alike with us, the storms and blessings of earth. We learned to do what only the student of nature learns, and that was to feel beauty. We never railed at the storms, the furious winds, and the biting frosts and snows. To do so intensified human futility, so whatever came we adjusted ourselves, by more effort and energy if necessary, but without complaint." - Luther Standing Bear

Free-Floating Spirits!

One of my more "New Age-like" friends tells me that we used to be free-floating spirits, kind of roaming the Universe, and then somewhere along the line we decided to inhabit the beings that we have become here on Earth. So we actually chose our bodies, our beings, our families.

And we are recycled, reconstituted, reincarnated over and over.

It's all some kind of grand bargain. Dealer's choice. Made with very little info. We just sort of zapped ourselves into the stream of life. I guess, on the one hand, it kind of puts the onus back on us, we can't blame anyone else for our condition. We made the choice. Go ahead live with it! And if this happens over and over, well, we get to do it all again, to work on whatever we need to work on again and again.

It's sort of appealing. And really, you can't refute any of it. I mean, you can't prove it's true, and you can't really prove it's hogwash either. Funny, that's how lots of that "New Agey" stuff works. Not sure  if I can buy any of it, but it sort of makes the life and death thing a little less singular and final.

And maybe that's a good thing. I mean, what thoughts do you want to think that will make life a little better, a little more tolerable, a little more fun... maybe those are the thoughts you want to put inside your head?

New is Better? We Don't Believe It!

I got to thinking about myself and my partner as economic entities. We buy lots of used stuff. We are not alone. Our visit on Record Store Day showed us that there is a thriving market of folks who like to buy used vinyl and CDs. I mean, maybe the new stuff gets the attention, but most of the store was stuffed with used vinyl records, CDs and videos.

We shop at thrift stores for clothes. We have the idea that older stuff, is better stuff.  We have a sensibility that says, "New and shiny is dazzling, but crappy, and wasteful." Why buy something new out of the box, when you can find a cool thing that's been around for awhile? I have an amazingly cool leather coat, that I purchased for $25 at a thrift store.  It looks like it's worth lots more, it's well-made, no flaws. Someone discarded it, but their discard turned out to be my treasure.

When it comes to musical instruments, you want to find that old, weathered guitar or amp. Something that has grown into itself. We shop local. We support small businesses. We are kind of on the margin of the economic scene. Looking for old, used stuff. We are told that new is better, but we don't believe it.

Record Store Day - We Scored!

It was Record Store Day yesterday. So we went to a record store. The one we chose to visit was Reckless Records in Wicker Park. It just moved to a new location. Reckless took over the space from a Dollar Store. What a big, beautiful new space. It is truly a record mecca! And it was bustling with record buyers.

We browsed through the used CDs, we still love that format, although we do have and play vinyl. It is a marvelous time to be a fan of music. And if you are into the tangible thing, you can really find some great bargains.

So we loaded up on new and old music - discs from P.J. Harvey, The National, Morrissey, The Smiths, Art Blakey Jazz Messengers, The Dirty Three, Arcade Fire.  Total $ spent, under $40! We really felt like we scored.

And then, accidentally, we were at the store when the Sea and Cake set up and did a short set. Never saw them before. They were cool, professional -  two guitars, a drummer, no bass. Lots of shimmering, ringing music, tight and relaxed. They seemed like a band I should really check out on disc. Maybe next time!

Meditation, Balance, Rocks & Alan Watts!

A friend pointed me to this pretty cool, I mean, really beautiful and amazing website called "Gravity Glue."  Michael Grab is a "stone balancer." Mind-blowingly fantastic.

You must watch this video... I believe the voice speaking in the beginning belongs to the late, great Alan Watts... 

"I am constantly in awe at the stillness, let alone possibility, of such precarious formations, amidst sometimes very turbulent conditions. For me this reflects our own potential to maintain a still-point amidst the variety of challenges we each face throughout our lives. Further, I wish to highlight the idea that WE ARE creators of our own reality, rather than mere recipients. Consciousness affects reality. This practice allows one to freely create, manifesting their own particular vibration into a 3D world." - Michael Grab

Exercise Your Reason

I just re-read Alex Tarabarrok's review of "Is Capitalism Making Us Stupid?" (see previous post). It is filled with interesting ideas. 

Was it reason that gave us representative democracy, the market and human rights? Was it the process of argumentation, debate and experimentation that brought us these things? If we fall away from reason, to intuition, are we falling back to a state of barbarism? Back to tribal blood feuds?

Is it reason that keeps us from killing each other? And is it emotion and intuition that others use for their own ends to bring us to the edge of destroying each other?

Would it be better to make bets on political ideas? Instead of having people vote their beliefs, what if people had to place bets on policy, to put their money on the outcome? Is "A bet is a tax on bullshit."

Food for thought... might make you want to exercise your reason.

Smart & Rational or Stupid and Irrational?

Is Capitalism Making Us Stupid? Joseph Heath says yes! "It isn't stupidity that causes commercialism, but rather commercialism that causes stupidity."

And as Alex Tabarrok puts it:

"Our limited ability to concentrate is being sapped by mind-viruses that under the pressure of profit maximization are rapidly becoming more and more effective."

This sounds right to me. Is that reason at work? Or intuition? Or a combo of both? Am I being smart and rational, or stupid and irrational? Sometimes it's hard to tell. Who to blame?

The Only Reality I Can Contemplate!

Idealistic vs Pragmatic.

I got into a discussion about Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House. I am very, very liberal. Super-liberal. Pretty much on the left wing of the liberal side of the equation. I am for taxing the wealthy at a high rate. I believe the tax code should be used to re-distribute income to improve the safety net for all. I am for Universal Health Care. I am for preserving Social Security.  I am for strict regulations to prevent climate change. I am against Big Coal and Big Oil. I am against unregulated money in politics. I am pretty much a pacifist when it comes to the international scene. I think we should do all we can to negotiate and compromise so we don't have to take up arms against another nation. I am for Gay Marriage. And Equal Rights for all. I think a woman and her doctor should be the only ones making decisions when it comes to their  bodies. I don't think someone's strong religious beliefs give them  license to discriminate against others. I think we should try our best to be a "color-blind" society, but I think we should acknowledge that racism and prejudice are still with us, and I support efforts to educate people, and to pass laws to encourage a more open and inclusive society. I am for declaring a truce on the War on Drugs. I say make all drugs legal and educate people on the danger of drugs, and treat addiction as an illness. I believe in Amnesty for all illegal immigrants in the U.S. Make them legal, let them apply for citizenship and encourage them to vote. I do think Corporations have too much power. I'd like to see more of that power transferred back to individuals. I am against a large, intrusive surveillance state, and think that the government should be much more transparent.

You get the idea. I'm pretty liberal.

But at the same time, I will be strongly supporting Hillary Clinton for President. Even though she is not as liberal as I am. Not by a long shot. But this is where the pragmatism comes in. I am not running for President. And I know that if I did, or if a candidate who held positions like I do, (maybe someone like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren) were to run, they would not raise enough money to be a serious candidate, they would not get the Democratic nomination, they would not be elected President.

And the Democrats have to win the White House in 2016. It is essential. Absolutely. I cannot imagine a GOP win. Just not acceptable. It would be backward, counter-productive. A terrible, terrible thing. Elections matter. They really, really do. Do a thought experiment. What if Al Gore had gotten enough votes to win Florida in 2000? What would 8 years of Al Gore's Presidency been like?

Who knows?! I do know that it would not have been the absolute debacle, the total horror-show that the Bush/Cheney Torture Regime turned out to be. Yes, elections matter. Individuals matter. Presidents matter. They make critical decisions every day that impact all of us. Even in the middle of this massive, lurching empire, one man, one woman can, and will, make a difference. Hillary 2016! She may not be the perfect candidate, but it doesn't matter. The alternative whoever it may turn out to be - Bush, Cruz, Rubio, whoever is just not acceptable.  President Hillary is really the only reality I want to contemplate!