Anonymous Citizens

I suppose what separates the Great Powers from the Not So Great Powers, is the capacity to inflict damage on the anonymous citizenry without any compunction. At one level, there are the Great and Mighty who breathe in the heady air of Empire, then there are the poor people who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So the Big Shots get to divide up the maps, draw up the treaties, pat themselves on the back at another well-run campaign. Then there are the little people, nameless, faceless, with bloodied heads, dead children, blasted homes. They are the innocent bystanders, the collateral damage. They are the poor, down-trodden refugees. And as Woody Allen once said if you are a refugee all you do all day, every day is FLEE!

It is a sad, disgusting story. It happens all the fucking time. Change the names of the countries, change the names of the territories, it's happened on every bleeding continent. It is the never-ending story.

Yo La Tengo

I'm listening to Yo La Tengo this morning. One of the great bands from Hoboken, New Jersey. The core of the band is a husband/wife duo. He plays guitar and she plays drums. They channel early Velvet Underground and they certainly seem like cousins to Sonic Youth.

Still they have something unique, which they churn out with great regularity.

There is something to be said for longevity. Yo La Tengo is the kind of band, a kind of sound, that grows on you. Repeated listens. Beauty and dissonance. They have flown under the radar for a long time. And that's cool.

Here is a very funny video. Yo La Tengo goes to Rock School. They didn't learn much. I can't find any Hobbit references on the discs that I own...

The Healing Has Begun

I had a strange, healing dream a few days ago. It felt like all night I was channeling energy from different people. It was like I was running other people's energy through my body.

First a Kenyan runner, then a South Korean woman, a Serbian soccer player, a snooty New York socialite, a small Chinese farmer.

It was kind of disturbing, not the most restful sleep. It was like running an AC current through a DC cord, or maybe like playing a Guns N Roses song on a cello.

When I woke up I was in a pool of sweat, the pillow, the covers, were soaked. And it was like a fever had broken, I was alive, my hands and feet tingled. It was like my body was renewed.

I have been riding this newness for a few days. So strange.

Here Comes the Sun

If you pay attention, you can't help seeing that over the last few thousand years buckets of blood and carnage can be traced back to organized religion. Who Got the Gravy? has a nice overview post on the subject which I guess got my wheels spinning.

Any time, any day you can see see the blood-letting in action.

I'm thinking we took a wrong turn when we turned away from the Sun. Oliver Morton recently reminded me how powerful is that big gold thing up in the sky. I think we should go back to basics.

I think the Pagans had it right. The Sun gives us life. All of us. We are equal under the Sun. It is warm, life-giving, non-judging. There is no dogma. No rule book. No do's and don'ts. There is no secret club. No hierarchy.

If we look up to and worship the sun it does not make us any better than the next guy. Or the next worm or monkey either. There's only one Sun. But really we don't have to thump each other over the head proving or disproving the point.

I'm putting my faith in the Sun God. I do believe it will rise today and tomorrow too. It's gonna shine down upon me whether I like it or not. Maybe it won't save my soul, but it will certainly tan my ass. The Sun's only agenda seems to be to support life. All life on the planet. Now that's a Deity I can get behind!

The Dignity of a Man

Harold Pinter has died. He was a fabulously great writer. I remember when I first took up acting, doing a scene from the Caretaker. It totally fired up my imagination. I became a Pinter fanatic. I ended up buying the multi-volume collection of all his works.

No one quite wrote plays like Pinter. His plays, The Homecoming, The Caretaker, The Birthday Party are hilarious, mysterious, hard, brilliant. Very much like the man. When he won the Nobel Prize in 2005 he delivered a blistering speech about the Iraq debacle. Warmed my heart.

His work can't be reduced to politics, but I do share much of his supremely caustic view of the American Empire. We must always look in the mirror and try to discern the truth.

"When we look into a mirror we think the image that confronts us is accurate. But move a millimetre and the image changes. We are actually looking at a never-ending range of reflections. But sometimes a writer has to smash the mirror - for it is on the other side of that mirror that the truth stares at us. I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. If such a determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us - the dignity of man." - Harold Pinter

It is an Energy Thing People!

Did you see the Oliver Morton penned Op-Ed in the Times a couple days ago?

I mean I guess we all knew this, but it is good to be reminded that SUNLIGHT powers all life...

"It is this sunlight, endlessly refreshed, that allows the grass to grow, the birds to sing — and you to live. The Sun’s energy flows through your breakfast cereal, your morning coffee, your veins and your mind. It animates you as it has animated almost all the Earth’s life for billions of years."


We are all connected. Every living thing. Don't forget it.

Try

"Try faking it." - Stewart Brand

Advice that Keeps Me Sane

"Just make things." - Wallace Berman

Two To Tango

The weather here forces one to stay indoors. I think it also validates the idea that there are bigger forces in the world working on our little hills of beans. Sometimes things are imposed upon us, and we must deal with them, whether we like it or not.

The world has some demands which we must meet. There are debts to pay. Agreements to keep. Still it's all just our choice. It takes two to tango.

But the world isn't always the greatest dance partner. Sometimes it steps on your toes, throws you to the floor, flips you in the air. The tune is called and the dance commences.

You have to keep your dancing shoes nearby. Keep on dancing. Indoors. Outdoors. Whatever.

One Icicle

Yesterday it was so cold. Sub-zero, wind-chilling, face-freezing. Dangerous cold. I went out once. Snagged a newspaper (some habits die hard) and a hot chocolate.

First day of winter. It was a hibernation day. Slow movie. Zombie slow. Wake me in the Spring.

The news was crazy. Flying shoes. Crumbling pyramids. Rich people fleecing other rich people.

I was feeling a day-long groggy. Still recovering from my Spiritual Epiphany watching a James Brown cover band (see previous post) Saturday evening.

My party shoes have some serious miles on them. A little party goes a long way.

I seem to have arrived at a new place. A new face.

I imagine an icicle forming and then melting. Over and over.

One.

Divine in the Funk

Could a simple but widely-awake Pilgrim get an ecstatic glimpse of the Divine in a short but intense set by a James Brown cover band?

Last night I believe I did.

I saw a Hispanic Punk channeling Mr. Brown in all his sweaty glory. I saw a rag-tag five-piece horn section pumping up the funk. I saw a charismatic group of needy souls get up and get down. I saw white girls finding bliss in the Funky Chicken.

The Divine was in the Funk.

Dancing on Air

One man had a dream to build the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

One man had a dream to bring down the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

One man had a dream to string a wire from one tower to another and dance between the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Man on Wire is an extraordinary movie about an extraordinary dreamer who dreamed to dance in the air.

Amazing. Inspiring. Improbable. A dream.

The movie has a superb soundtrack. One of my favorite cuts is early Fleetwood Mac's Albatross. Beautiful. The band mimes for the cameras. Check out Peter Green fingering his famous Les Paul.

Hocus Pocus Dominocus (the little dominoes fall!)

Last night we went to our favorite Psychic School and we learned that there's a lot of energy around Giving and Receiving. Who would of thunk it?

I realized I'm good at neither. Which does not bode well for my great spiritual quest.

"I am a rock, I am an island. And rock feels no pain. And an island never cries." - P. Simon

I am not a rock. I am not an island. And I do feel pain. And I do cry.

Anyway, just by exploring this highly-charged subject I kind of blew up all the silly pictures that I have carried around with me. I did not know.

It's kind of a mind-blower to discover something about yourself. I suppose there is much we all don't know we all don't know.

The snow and ice is falling on our heads this morning. And I am ready to receive it! And I'm ready to throw myself into the day. I am the gift that keeps on giving.

Our lives are gifts. They are ours to give as we choose. And as they say, in a weird-ass way, by giving we receive.

It's a strange calculus.

A Criminal Enterprise Launched by Madmen

The re-writing of recent history is already going forward. We must not let it happen. Memory is our friend. We must strive to remember the good shit and the bad shit too. It's the only way we learn, as people and as a culture.

Bush and his enablers want us to believe Iraq was just a great little adventure to establish a shining new Democracy. And who could have predicted it would go bad, and really wasn't it all worth it any way?

Matt Yglesias calls us "An Empire of Sentimentality:

"The harsh reality is that this was not a noble undertaking done for good reasons. It was a criminal enterprise launched by madmen cheered on by a chorus of fools and cowards." - Matt Yglesias

Let us always remember...

The Malady!

The Lovely Carla tells me that all the problems of the world can be traced back to one thing: BIG MAN MONKEY BUSINESS!

Post Script: I told the Lovely Carla that I'd be happy to be Little Monkey Man if that would help.

And that's OK!

Who to trust? The Priest, the President, the Banker? Sorry, no can do, and that's the Trifecta. It's over. The End of the World as we knew it.

Time for a new narrative.

Once upon a time...

A Semi-Permeable Membrane

How much of what we know comes through osmosis? How much can we absorb? Are our brains, our beings, just like a big resilient paper towel?

What can we learn from the amoeba? Why did I think of 7th Grade Science Lab this morning? Is the great Amoeba in the Sky sending me a message?

Iraqi Welcome Wagon

President George Bush made an unannounced visit to Iraq. I guess this means he was secretly flown into the Green Zone, a fortified city within a City, and kept under wraps so no one could get a could get a clean shot at him.

He is there to assess his handiwork.

I have a suggestion. When Mr. Bush's term is finally over, how about if he and Laura move to Iraq? He's expended so much time and energy there. He staked his Presidency on the place. Wouldn't it be a great gesture for him to move into the great new Democracy he established in the Middle East?

And I don't mean in some heavily fortified compound. How about a nice little bungalow in Fallujah? I'm sure the grateful citizens would be happy to roll out the Welcome Wagon for him.

Dog Chronicles

I was walking Bear. Or is it, Bear was walking me?

Bear is a dog. Bear and I have a deep connection. Can't explain it. Bear doesn't think she's a dog. Doesn't like to be around other dogs. Doesn't act like other dogs.

Bear takes me places. Shows me secret paths. Likes to frolic on the beach. Likes to roll in the sand. Likes to let the wind blow through her hair.

Bear and I walk the wild places. The overgrown areas. The nooks and crannies. Near the rocks. Near the crashing waves.

We like to chase the waves. We like to chase the seagulls. We like to watch the light playing on the surface of the lake. We like the snow, the ice.

The whiteness, it makes us feel lighter.

Bear has a delicate animal grace. A delicate assurance.

I follow her. She cuts a deeply honest path.

Differ

Yesterday the Lovely Carla said to me: "You can't just plug in your iPod and hide from the world!"

I'm sorry, I beg to differ.