The Sanctuary...

Some times I find myself playing "caretaker." Usually taking care of a furry, four-legged soul.

I am in a grand old house, two blocks from the shore of a Great Lake (don't forget, as the sign says, it's "a dangerous body of water"). Yes. Dangerous & beautiful.

I find myself in a weird cul de sac of luxury. It is not disagreeable.

I have been reading RZA's "Tao of Wu."  It is a tale of poverty & riches, ignorance & wisdom, Gangsta and Holy Man.

I am also streaming Kung Fu movies. I wanted to see what RZA saw, to know what RZA knows.

So, I watched, The Five Venoms, The Thirty Six Chambers, The Return to the Thirty Six Chambers.
Funny.

I am not really into Kung Fu. But after wading thru those crude, but entertaining films, I found an exquisite masterpiece by the great filmmaker Wong Kar Wai: The Grandmaster.

So beautiful, powerful, enlightening. Renews my faith in the power of art.

So what else? I am drinking a new brew of coffee: Andes Mountain Brew.

And I am stuck on playing one record, over and over and over again: Led Zeppelin II (1969).  Page is a riff machine, and really just a fabulous guitar-master. Bonham is an exquisite drummer, (I can even listen to his drum solo on Moby Dick, over and over), power, yes, but a precise grace too. Plant does a bit of over the top caterwauling on a few tracks, but he also sings with passion and nuance especially when he sings about Frodo and Gollum, and John Paul Jones is the secret weapon on bass and organ.  Jones never makes a false move. Is Led Zeppelin II the greatest album ever made? No, probably not, I mean it's not even Led Zeppelin's best album, there are 3 or 4 others that rank up there with the best, but II does sound fabulous in these comfy digs. Play it loud on the BOSE, it sounds majestic.

So, yes, things are different here. Lots of time to contemplate & meditate, to water the garden, to take long, rambling walks. Whatever is happening out in the world, I can kind of keep it at bay. This is a time of sanctuary and renewal.