Friday, March 02, 2007

The Invisible Church of the Perpetual Raccoon

Are there collective psychospiritual weather patterns? Yesterday, most everyone commented on what a strange day it felt like, beginning with the strange absence of comments. As Cosanostradamus put it in his cosmic weather report, "birth [congrampalations, Nomo!--GB], death, rebirth, waves of light, black holes, wild weather." Tornadoes and stock market crashes... Ms. E. said it felt like a mixed atmosphere in which "the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." Will called it a "very quiet dream-like day, a liminal day." Another Bob observed that it was an eerily "quiet day," and ominously added, "I hope everybody's OK."

It was certainly a not-okay day for me. For whatever reason, I woke up with low blood sugar and had some difficulty getting it up into the normal range all day -- as if there were some kind of "metabolic fire" burning in me. I've certainly felt the fire in recent weeks, but this was too much. I was uncharacteristically under -- or was I in? -- the weather all day. Weird.

But this mutual perception of a "weird day" does bring up the issue of our "collectivity" and just where it resides, for although "interconnectedness" surely exists as a consequence of the principle of Wholeness that flows through every artery of the cosmos, there is no particular "place" where it can be located. You can't point at wholeness from the outside, only experience it from the inside (which is the secret of consciousness, which is a reflection of the Creator's unifying interior wholeness-amdist-diversity). This causes a lot of confusion for philosophers and metaphysicians who try to arrive at wholeness additively instead of beginning with it as an assumption, which one must do.

It seems that a group is a group by virtue of "tuning in," so to speak, to some sort of resonant field of consciousness. The essential point is that a group is not fundamentally externally related, or it's not really a group. Rather, it's just a "crowd" or a "mob." But a true group has an interior relationship, as if each of the members is literally tuned into the same frequency. What is so jarring, for example, in reading one of the crazy websites of the angry left, such as the dailykurse or huffingandpissed, is that they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency in whatever they write about. I am quite sure you all know what I mean, even if you've never thought of it this way before. The surface structure of the topic hardly matters -- they can be talking about economics, or the war, or science, or religion, but whatever it is, the main thing you will detect is the deep structure of this painfully dissonant energy.

Now, in fairness, someone will no doubt say to me, "Bob, that's not a vibration you're feeling. It's just the unpleasant sensation of your own disagreement." Could be, but I don't think so. For example, I work in forensic psychology, so I am accustomed to crafting sound and unassailable medico-legal arguments. Part of this involves taking the report written by the whore who works for the other side and reducing it to dust with facts, logic, and the law. In doing so, there is "passion" involved, but it is nothing like the feeling of wading into the left wing fever swamps.

For one thing, the latter is a hellish world in which facts and rudimentary logic generally do not apply. Rather, the first thing one notices is that this world is held together by "feeling" or "sentiment," not by logical coherence. Underneath the "political left" is a "psychological left," and latter is far more primitive and dangerous, for they literally inhabit a self-contained psychological space similar to the black holes discussed yesterday. No light escapes. These people really do want to see the Vice President murdered, as we witnessed at huffington the other day. They really do idealize a thug such as Hugo Chavez. They really do hate George Bush much more than Saddam Hussein.

A religion is very much a resonant worldspace in the sense described above. For example, this is what the Master means when he says that he is present when any two or more meet in his name. This is quite literally true. The logos is magically made present through the triangulation of two people, somewhat similar to the manner in which a holograph works. My technical description is probably lacking, but I believe the hologram results from the interference pattern of two different beans of light. In any event, that's certainly how it works spiritually.

For example, this is how our Unknown Friend in Meditations on the Tarot can speak to us so intimately from beyond the horizon of death. I realize that is a challenging book for kits, but once you allow yourself to enter its world, it is as if you have entered this incredibly beautiful spiritual cathedral that the two of you are leisurely investigating together. He is your congenial tour guide, showing you this or that, often dwelling on random little points of arcane interest. The point is that it is a world -- and a beautiful one at that. It too resonates at a frequency -- the frequency being love, but also truth and beauty.

This is obviously what the secular person does not -- cannot -- understand about leading a religious life. They accuse us of "escapism," of believing in strange myths to shield us from the harsh realities of existence, in particular, death and loss. However, the opposite is patently true, at least for the invisible brotherhood of Raccoons. For us, religion is an inscape into the most beautiful supraterranean cave art ever co-created by human beings.

I have mentioned before that I happened to marry into a family of secular Jews, some of whom are quite unapologetic "anti-Jews." For example, only a Jew (or maybe Jimmy Carter) could get away with writing Uncle Peter's book on how the Holocaust is just a big PR scam to advance Israel's political interests.

(Don't worry -- I'm not airing dirty laundry in public. I like him and he likes me, even though he charitably regards my views as "not even insane." It is fascinating to talk to him, for it is fair to say that we agree on nothing, from the essential to the trivial. People talk about what it would be like to encounter an alien from another planet with a completely different frame of reference. Ahem. How concrete does one have to be to believe it is necessary to leave earth in order to have a close encounter of the third kind? Most Coons don't have to even leave their own family. The bottom line is that there are not enough Coon families for all Coons, so many of us had to drop into a non-Coon habitat, to put it mildly. In the case of Mrs. G. and myself, we consciously prayed for a little kit to come down into our Coon den. It worked.)

Now, if I were a less congenial fellow, I could easily turn a conversation with Uncle Peter into an ireworks show, but what would be the point? He lives in one world, I live in another. Can't we all just get along? For him, the question never arises as to whether he lives in "a" world, only "the" world. People talk about how religious fundamentalists live in their own world, but I cannot think of anyone with so naively parochial, crimped, and predictable a world as academia and the liberal media -- or primitive New York Timesman. You give me the topic and I'll tell you what they think. But my world -- if I may say so -- is fundamentally a world of surprise and of inexhaustible novelty. I never know what metaphysical goodies are awaiting me in the morning, including this post, for example. Nor do I have any idea where it's leading. Rather, I'm just following this little creek that was here in the morning when I got up.

In my world, it is impossible to be cynical. Yes, I am cynical about their world below -- how could one not be? -- but the eternal regeneration of my world is the best possible ungnowculation against cyncism. Again, some might say that it is a "naive" world, but that is not quite right, for we are as wise as serpents around here. Rather it is an innocent world, and the fact that this world coexists with the other world is something of a miracle -- that one can recapture one's primordial innocence and live as man was intended in this fallen world.

I had never attended any Jewish services until I got married. Naturally, just because my in-laws are secular, it doesn't mean that they don't try to resurrect the dead ghost of their Jewish past on sacred occasions. So I've attended these functions -- weddings, bar mitzvahs, funerals, etc. While my relatives experience them as a social rituals, I remember on my very first visit to the synagogue, I realized that I was in contact with the sacred. In fact, I'm omitting my marriage, which was undoubtedly my first participation in a Jewish ritual. If the event had been presided over by a Christian holy man, then my relatives would have undoubtedly regarded his words as slightly sinister blah blah; if it had been a Vedantin priest, it would have been just goofy blah blah; but the fact that it was a rabbi made it just plain innocuous blah blah, the same old same old testament.

But not for me. First of all, the language was all new to me, so it was not saturated. Furthermore, I found the words of the rabbi so spiritually resonant and psychologically inspiring, that I knew I was in the presence of the sacred and the holy, and that my marriage was being blessed by this divine light. A resonant "world" was successfully invoked and tapped into, at least for me and for Mrs. G. For the rest, it was essentially a sentimental occasion, "sentimentality" being one of the most common replacements for religion among secular people. (Incidentally, I do not see now people who "write their own vows" could match the sacred potency of the words written by "no one" for "everyone.")

(By the way, until this very day, I had thought it was "Rabbi Kuhn." Only now do I realize it was "Rabbi Coon.")

Now, Rocky Raccoon asked a good question yesterday. He "was wondering today about the Arc of Salvation. Both Phase I and II were followed by a ‘book.' Do you think we have a new ‘book’ on the way for the 3rd Phase?"

No, I don't think so, although I suppose it would be a good hobby for me to try. But what will happen is that people will return to the original texts but understand them with "eyes made new" -- i.e., with Phase III Coon vision. They will "arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time."

And then perhaps each person will write their own book based upon their encounter with the Real -- sort of like how we can all respect giants like Beethoven but still "sing our own song." You know -- speaking of innocence -- something like this:

Sing, sing a song
Sing out loud
Sing out strong
Sing of good things not bad
Sing of happy not sad

Sing, sing a song
Make it simple to last
Your whole life long
Don’t worry that it’s not
Good enough for anyone
Else to hear
Just sing, sing a song

*****

Folks, I hope this admission doesn't reduce my esteem in your ears, but -- I'll say it -- I am a big Carpenters fan. At the time (the early 70's) no one was regarded as less hip, but in hindsight, we can see that no one was more courageously "counter culture." I certainly dismissed them. But their musical sophistication speaks for itself -- probably no one aside from Brian Wilson wrote more complex vocal harmonies than Richard Carpenter, not to mention the extraordinarily subtle instrumental arrangements and production standards that rival Steely Dan -- and the unique voice of Karen Carpenter aches with a sad innocence and depth of longing that went unappreciated at the time (at least artistically). She is the greatest female pop vocalist of her generation (her phrasing and technique are so much more subtle than Babs). If you can put away your preconceptions, their masterpiece, A Song For You, is an amazing headphone experience (sounds richer on good vinyl -- the transcendent Goodbye to Love is awesome on Dupree's turntable). Any musican who is studying arrranging could profit from the experience. Here's the AMG review.

And no, I'm not gay.

(For you beginners and young kits, this is probably the best introduction. It has versions of songs that were actually remixed by Richard Carpenter for the digital age, so they sound closer to contemporary production values and more full on a CD player.)

*****
From On Top of the World, Lookin' Down on Creation to the Kit who Fell to Earth:

(Which reminds me, Sal: photo of sweater coming soon.)

106 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went on a Carpenters music buying binge a few years ago when I experienced what was a basic change in the way I appreciate music. I still find a lot of the Carpenters music to be corny, sticky-sweet, etc. but there's also huge and rare talent there. Perhaps only the Carpenters could get me to listen to such corny music, if that makes any sense.

My favorite album turned out to be Horizon, and I highly recommend the collection "Interpretations: a 25th Anniversary Celebration" because it contains the previously unreleased "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" which is downright astounding to listen to. Matt Drudge has used it as a bumper for his radio show.

Finally, I read many Amazon.com reviews when I was buying their music. Many of their fans are men. A man who can appreciate The Carptenters is just a grown-up, that's all.

Eric

Anonymous said...

Towards the end of my flowing along in your little creek I found a familiar tributary when I spied "A Song for You" and followed it to it's source: Leon Russell.

I like Leon Russell.

I didn't buy Carpenter's albums; I bought Leon's. His version on his album "Leon Russell" is so soul-ful.


A SONG FOR YOU
by
Leon Russell

I've been so many places in my life and time
I've sung a lot of songs I've made some bad rhyme
I've acted out my love in stages
With ten thousand people watching
But we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you

I know your image of me is what I hope to be
I've treated you unkindly but darlin' can't you see
There's no one more important to me
Darlin' can't you please see through me
Cause we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you

You taught me precious secrets of the truth witholding nothing
You came out in front and I was hiding
But now I'm so much better and if my words don't come together
Listen to the melody cause my love is in there hiding

I love you in a place where there's no space or time
I love you for in my life you are a friend of mine
And when my life is over
Remember when we were together
We were alone and I was singing this song for you

You taught me precious secrets of the truth witholding nothing
You came out in front and I was hiding
But now I'm so much better and if my words don't come together
Listen to the melody cause my love is in there hiding

I love you in a place where there's no space or time
I love you for in my life you are a friend of mine
And when my life is over
Remember when we were together
We were alone and I was singing this song for you
We were alone and I was singing this song for you

Gagdad Bob said...

Anonymous--

You are so right about the occasional "corniness." The truth is that every musical style must balance on a knife edge that can veer into a negative aesthetic territory. Thus, country music can veer into corniness or sentimentality, rock into narcissistc posing and general barbarism, jazz into mere technique, etc. It happens to everyone, but less often to the great ones.

Gagdad Bob said...

Ms. E--

The line, "but we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you" is suggestive. A critic once said that when you are listening to a great pop singer, it is as if they are sitting on your lap -- it's very personal, and their phrasing has the natural musicality of the spoken word, like Sinatra, a quintessential example of the phenomenon. This was certainly true of Karen Carpenter, and why contemporary songers compare to her so unfavorably. They lack that incredible intimacy and vulnerability.

Anonymous said...

I must say, as a non-gay young man, I fell in love with Karen Carpenter and her lovely voice (a taste of Heaven).

Excellent post Bob, and it looks like future leader is having a ball!

Anonymous said...

I reintroduced myself to The Carpenters after moving to OC (the CA OC) and getting to know an early member of the Carpenters, Gary Sims, at my church. He is in the Carpenters special that airs semi-regularly which made me watch it and I was blown away. I frankly only had the association of hearing the Carpenters while shopping in KMart with my parents and never appreciated Karen's voice, Richards musical talent, and the combo. I also heard Sing the first time with Ernie singing it on a Sesame Street double album.

I can now mostly keep the "Attention KMart shoppers, under the blue flashing light" mantra out of my head while listening ;-)

IANG also, BTW. Perhaps just getting old ;-)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, we've got one of those big exercise balls too. When it's on the main floor of the house and the two kids start playing with it, it becomes very fun and dangerous.

I've nicknamed it "rover" (get it?) and for the time being it's confined to the garage.

Eric

Anonymous said...

Going back from the Carpenters to group connectivity, Instapunk started an interesting challenge on Wednesday (and the results were in on Thursday), to compare the amount of profanity found on the most popular leftist blogs vs. the most popular rightist ( ? - funny how nobody uses rightist) blogs; the difference (lefties curse more by an order of magnitude) was not surprising, but just as interesting, I thought, were the responses the leftists had to this challenge (go to instapunk for the full commentary and rundown). Anyone paying attention can see the murky, proto-human group consciousness at play in their responses. To me the creepiest thing about all this - the huffpo, etc., is knowing that there are so many people out there who think and feel that way - angry at and hateful of virtually everything that is good and beautiful, especially if it makes this country look good.

As to the Carpenters - "Sing a Song" brings me back, somewhere near the Gagboy's current age. A happy time for this little kit.

I love that picture!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"What is so jarring, for example, in reading one of the crazy websites of the angry left, such as the dailykurse or huffingandpissed, is that they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency in whatever they write about."

Or, freakwhensee, as I see it.

"...I work in forensic psychology, so I am accustomed to crafting sound and unassailable medico-legal arguments. Part of this involves taking the report written by the whore who works for the other side and reducing it to dust with facts, logic, and the law. In doing so, there is "passion" involved, but it is nothing like the feeling of wading into the left wing fever swamps."

Ha! Hilarious Bob!

WV: yahynazi (with apologies to Will. Couldn't resist).

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Bob said:
"This is obviously what the secular person does not -- cannot -- understand about leading a religious life. They accuse us of "escapism," of believing in strange myths to shield us from the harsh realities of existence, in particular, death and loss. However, the opposite is patently true, at least for the invisible brotherhood of Raccoons. For us, religion is an INSCAPE into the most beautiful supraterranean cave art ever co-created by human beings."
(Emphasis mine)

Inscape. Singing our own song that harmonizes with and accentuates the same own song all Raccoons sing.

All a part of the Whole song.
A tune to die for and live for.

JWM said...

Well, I'll try again. I haven't been able to get a post up in the last couple days. Blogger won't let me. And it's only this one site. I can post fine everywhere else.
Anyway. Just thought I'd share a treat with y'all since the topic of music is in the air:
"The Journey & the Labyrinth"
The music of Elizabethan composer John Dowland performed by Sting with lutist Edin Karamazof.
My wife picked up the two disc set with a CD and DVD of the production. Incredible stuff.

JWM

JWM said...

Finally!
If you haven't been able to post you may have to start up a Google account. That's what finally worked for me.

JWM

Anonymous said...

Bob - Yes, it is suggestive and inviting and seducing. Mr. E positively swoons when you mention Karen Carpenter's name. I swoon when hearing Frank telling me I'm "Too Marvelous for Words" and Leon telling me
"There's no one more important to me
Darlin' can't you please see through me

Cause we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you."


I'm not gay.

Anonymous said...

Music is loved by everyone. I’m pretty certain I’ve never known anyone to ever to say or in print ‘I don’t care much for music’. Other than maybe food or air I’m struggling to think of another ‘thing’ that is so universally loved or built into us that is also so obvious to everyone. Love goes in the same category.
Like love, biologically speaking, music is not necessary. The scientist skips over these. Music also seems to be one of those things that is infinite in you’re ability to love it. You can’t tire of it. If you were only ever exposed to one song, you would love that one song.

My wife always unashamedly mentions her love of Karen Carpenter songs. I admit I like them more than I’ll admit outside the coon squad. Now I see my own mind parasites were at it on this musical group. I’ll have to give them another look (listen). With ears made new.

Anonymous said...

Bob,

Your analogy to a hologram is even better than you imagined. If I remember my college physics, a hologram is formed by splitting a beam of light (oneness) and rejoining it to form the hologram (oneness).
I liked Karen Carpenter also. She phrased like a jazz singer, sometimes slighly behind the beat, but always in the pocket, with good intonation and style. When I first heard their recordings on a good system, I was amazed by the quality of her voice and of course the arrangement and clarity of the recording. And "I don't think I'm gay", he said, half in Ernest.
I think Leon Russell was singing about his piano in "A Song for You".

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm gay and I like the Carpenters as well. On the other hand, I'm not into Broadway show tunes. What the f*** does any of that mean? Do you have to be straight to be a 'coon?

(If you have to ask . . .)

wired216 said...

Young kit here working my way through Meditations on the Tarot... I'm on the 8th chapter and I'm doing about a chapter a week. I'm sure I'm only getting a small amount of what's in there but it's wonderful.

And now I have to go check out The Carpenters. I remember them from when I was little and loving Karen Carpenter. Haven't listened to them in years. The amount of stuff I want to investigate that I've learned of here is kind of boggling. I'm so happy I found the den.

Gagdad Bob said...

debass--

Yes, one of the keys for "hearing" the Carpenters is a good stereo system. It makes all the difference in bringing out the nuance, richness, and interior detail. There was an article about this in no less an authority than Stereophile magazine about a decade ago. Only then did I have the courage to come out of the closet and admit that I too was a fan.

Van Harvey said...

The Carpenters have been a non-guilty pleasure since I was just a little monster. After hearing them first on a bank commercial in SoCal, my Dad started buying the Carpenters on 8-Track tape (and Al Hirt & the Tijuana Brass...)... they became the sound track to many a family trip. He used to Drive to the Beat of songs like "Saturday (Drive to the Beat - dangerous behavior for non-racoons - GAS, BRAKE, swerv LEFT,swerv RIGHT, to the beat- a skill passed on to me which my kids love, wife HATES!)".

Positively soul-shivering when Karen's voice goes Low.

Gagdad Bob said...

Van--

You are so right about the "going low!" That always knocks me out. It reminds me of what they said about Patsy Cline, that she sang "with a teardrop in her voice."

Anonymous said...

Van said:
He used to Drive to the Beat of songs like "Saturday (Drive to the Beat - dangerous behavior for non-racoons - GAS, BRAKE, swerv LEFT,swerv RIGHT, to the beat- a skill passed on to me which my kids love, wife HATES!)".

Heh! Never drive to the beat of Sammy Hagar's "I can't drive 55."

Anonymous said...

Karen Carpenter had a lovely voice. The other great vocalist of her generation (who was also a great songwriter/pianist) was Laura Nyro. Her best albums are New York Tendaberry followed by Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.

Nyro's songs provided hits for Three Dog Night, The Fifth Dimension, Blood Sweat & Tears and Barbra Streisand (none of whose renditions were as good a Nyro's).

Anonymous said...

JWM-
Good to see you!
Remember, your comments are welcome at my blog also. Anytime. Really. Everyone (not-so-subtle hint)! :^)

Van Harvey said...

"... they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency in whatever they write about." and not surprisingly a rather flat one at that, many voices raised but no harmonies.

For the inscape to the InwardlyOutward ... frequency might just be a better word than location. The sense of reaching into the InwardlyOutward, somewhile back, was the first real shock to my horizontal world view I'd experienced, and it's still reverberating and resonating... yep, I think frequency, harmonic frequency, might be a real good description.

Gagdad Bob said...

Yes, Laura Nyro was great, but her career was a bit preternaturally front-loaded. She wrote all those amazing songs when she was like 18-20, and sang with a maturity far beyond her years. But it seems like she must have gone nuts after about 24, when she first retired....

Van Harvey said...

Uss Ben,
"Remember, your comments are welcome at my blog also. Anytime. Really. Everyone (not-so-subtle hint)! :^) "

[ringtail tucked around tight, head low]'fraid I'm guilty of reading often, but commenting rarely Ben.

Not quite sure what to say sometimes, without getting all treacly... especially regarding the Grandfather's story of he & friends in the water... throat clenches, fingers freeze....

Anonymous said...

"... they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency. . ."many voices raised but no harmonies."

Anonymous said...

I think that the possessor of a k->onsciousness - particularly these days - can't help but pick up on the frequency of the collective. The irony is the collective isn't really aware of what it is thinking/feeling, but those with k->onsciousness are indeed aware of what the collective is feeling. Needless to say, for the k-person, this doesn't always make for a sunshiny walk in the park.

In other words, "normal" people by the millions might spend the day feeling vaguely restless and disturbed, none of them perceiving that they are adrift in a common bandwidth that is dictating their moods.

The k-person, however, having escaped the collective gravitational field, perceives, can often bodily feel the collective anxiety in its true depth - and that means being able to sense, feel the behind-the-scenes meta-forces at play in and around the earth.

Anonymous said...

Yes, yesterday was definitely wierd. Not in a good way. Came down with a chest/head cold and cough that is ripping up what's left of my voice. All out of the blue.

I attributed my malady to testing my voice - uttering the word "Hello" - before reciting the "White Rabbit" (3x) mantra that starts each new month. Now I'm resigned to 30 days of wierd-and-not-in-a-good-way.

I've always wondered whether or not it's a 'bad' sign that I can pretty much hear every note of the "Goodbye to Love" guitar solo in my head. At will.

So I suppose I may be gay. But my wife thinks not. ;-)

"For one thing, the [left wing fever swamp] is a hellish world in which facts and rudimentary logic generally do not apply."

Hell is the impossibility of reason ?

Anonymous said...

Dr Bob mentioned:
“Both Phase I and II were followed by a ‘book.' Do you think we have a new ‘book’ on the way for the 3rd Phase?"

Dr, I was not putting pressure on you to write another book – although that would be wonderful. Actually, I think your Arc series is a book in the making. Awesome to watch this genesis taking place.

But I placed book in quotes above because I was thinking ‘it’ (God’s next volume in the thrillogy of us) may not be in book form like the 1st two Books.

Considering our time and our evolutionary stage (collective spirituality and technologically speaking), what comes after the information age? …the inner information age? What would be God’s mode of delivery of this 3rd Testament? It would need to speak to us in our time and point of view – the child that we are today. Would it be unmaterial? I get the feeling that if we were told today the answer of just what this physical ‘thing’ is, we would not be able to recognize it as having been delivered. Because the preparation is not complete. No peaking, coons. But then again it may already be here…or at least partly here.

Anonymous said...

"Yes, Laura Nyro was great, but her career was a bit preternaturally front-loaded."

Sadly so.

Agree with all that Karen Carpenter's low register was a wonderment.

NoMo said...

Bob said, "But my world -- if I may say so -- is fundamentally a world of surprise and of inexhaustible novelty."

Whoa, mine too apparently. Celebrating The Carpenters here at OC? I didn't see that coming. Delightful! Better find out what I've been avoiding, strike that, missing all these years. Every day truly offers a new frontier to explore.

Now off to the local music store (perhaps in disguise). ';0)

...and thanks much all for the congrats on the new addition to my clan (Vivian Rose).

Anonymous said...

Bob said:

"But a true group has an interior relationship, as if each of the members is literally tuned into the same frequency. What is so jarring, for example, in reading one of the crazy websites of the angry left, such as the dailykurse or huffingandpissed, is that they resonate on this horribly plangent and quite primitive frequency in whatever they write about. I am quite sure you all know what I mean, even if you've never thought of it this way before. The surface structure of the topic hardly matters -- they can be talking about economics, or the war, or science, or religion, but whatever it is, the main thing you will detect is the deep structure of this painfully dissonant energy."

You're right about the aliens here on earth. I've been listening to AM radio on my mindless wanderings lately and have tuned in to Air America on several occasions. I'm not sure what it would take to dial in to the interior relationship required to find their programming even the least bit entertaining, funny or informative. It's like one huge inside joke that I guess i might get if I had spent the last 30 years ingesting large quantities of weed and hanging out in coffee shops in Seattle or New York. Otherwise it's just adolescent and annoying.
BTW, I thought they went bankrupt? I know their "talent" is.

Anonymous said...

Bob, you wrote today that, "In my world, it is impossible to be cynical. Yes, I am cynical about their world below -- how could one not be? Rather...(mine) is an innocent world, and the fact that this world coexists with the other world is something of a miracle."

This is the daily paradox we face, isn't it? The "innocence" of Truth cannot NOT be cynical -- whereas, getting tangled-up in day-to-day undergrowth just grinds the soul down, and seems to BREED cynicism.

Yesterday, you referred to "increasing integration and centration" as remedy for internal "division"; today, you mention the "co-existence" of the two worlds. So, it is the inherent-purity of the (hopefully growing) innocence that allows it to "co-exist" in the undergrowth without being soiled? (And as the higher touches the lower, there must be an effect...)

Anonymous said...

Air America was bankrupt in every way except financially, but they have now corrected that omission.

Anonymous said...

I had an interview last week. The interviewer's name: Karen Carpenter.

Now if the interviewer's name had been Leon Russell, I would have demanded the job right there on the spot. Probably for free. :-)

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth - tomorrow (Sat) there's going to be a full lunar eclipse.

Eclipses usually make themselves felt 3 days or so before the event. This eclipse is in Virgo-Pisces, which emphasizes introspection, duty, obligation.

Let us remain alert as we sink into the often murky seas of consciousness.

robinstarfish said...

primal vowels move
across the face of the deep
fossils in the sand

Anonymous said...

Indulge me and PLEASE take a look at this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4776181634656145640

Future Leader and the ball reminded me that men (or boys) playing with balls is just great fun.

This is my favorite Beatles performance:)

Anonymous said...

Ms. E - I really almost choked on that one - I think a warning label was necessary ; )

Bubba - that was cool; I think I liked watching his face as much as watching the balls. Do you think he had the whole thing completely choreographed, or did he just know the music so well that he did whatever felt natural at the time? Either way, he was definitely feeling the music.

Last night my choir had our final dress rehearsal for our concert on Sunday. One of our songs is going to be sung with the Phoenix Children's Chorus, and one of the boys in the Chorus (kids in 5th and 6th grade, from what I gathered) was standing next to me. At one point, during an instrumental section, I glanced over at him. His eyes were half-closed, and with his left hand he was dreamily conducting, totally lost in the music. It was absolutely precious. It's fascinating to watch people when they're totally swept up in the music - even if they're not creating it, their energy adds to the effect, building it into more than it already was.

Anonymous said...

I'm kind of partial to this one.

Stephen Macdonald said...

That Howlin' Wolf clip was just wonderful. YouTube is a blessing!

There are many African American artistic geniuses who were born after 1970, too. I know most people here look down on music made in the past couple decades, but acts like Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa, Nas, The Fugees, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and yes, even Kanye West have made brilliant music in recent years. They ain't no Howlin' Wolf, but then some people would say Howlin' Wolf ain't no Bach. I love Bach and Hownlin' Wolf and De La Soul.

Gagdad Bob said...

Mr. Wolf.

Anonymous said...

My musical heroes, selected with a little help from my dawning Coonsense:

Brian Wilson
Thelonious Monk
John Barry
Dave Brubeck
Matthew Sweet
Robert Schneider (Apples In Stereo)
Doug Martsch (Built To Spill)
Charles Mingus
John Coltrane
Mark Hollis
Geddy Lee
Eric Dolphy
Yôko Kanno
Stannard Ridgway
Weird Al Yankovic (and why not?)
Emerson Lake + Palmer
Ennio Morricone
Robert Johnson
Tim & Neil Finn
Paula Scharf

And a few enemies:

Wayne Kramer
Kurt Cobain
Roger Waters
Paul Hewson
Trent Reznor
Richard Melville Hall
Tim Commerford
Tom Morello
Zack de la Rocha
William B. Rose Jr.
Mark Mothersbaugh
Cat Stevens

Stephen Macdonald said...

jacob c:

Heh.

I know Geddy Lee (Gary Weinrib). He's a great guy. We met at a Masterati dealership in Toronto in the late 1980s.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

I think I finally got this new Blogger thing working. Now it no longer reveals my Secret(tm) Identity(r).

I wanted to stream some music off my site, but I've got no clue where to get the software to do it..

Anyway, suffice it to say, there is good video game music out there, you just have to look a bit deeper.

Overclocked Remix is a good place to start...

Stephen Macdonald said...

Maserati, that is. He had a Biturbo back then.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

The only Reznor song that has any music in it is 'Just Like You Imagined'.

Special super-double danger hint: Trent doesn't say anything during the performance....

Stephen Macdonald said...

The other thing I was going to mention about today's post. Bob mentioned that yesterday was a day that felt somehow... incongruent.

Well, yesterday was the first day in probably 5 years that I just didn't go to the office. I wasn't really sick, I just felt sort of weird and not able to focus on work.

Anonymous said...

Goy: I've always wondered whether or not it's a 'bad' sign that I can pretty much hear every note of the "Goodbye to Love" guitar solo in my head. At will.

Don't worry, that happens to me too - only with me it's George Harrison's solo on "Let It Be."

Cocytus: The Almighty gives us occasional shocking glimpses of the next level on the vertical ladder. Sometimes I'll be walking around and suddenly get a sense of deja vu - and then I'll realize I dreamed myself in the exact situation about five months earlier (?!).

Stephen Macdonald said...

Nobody has mentioned Elton John yet. "Don't Shoot Me..." and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" were great records.

Gagdad Bob said...

I really think Tumbleweed Connection is Elton's only aesthetically fully realized album.

Anonymous said...

Smoov,
You mean Geddy didn't have a Red Barchetta?

Stephen Macdonald said...

I like Tubleweed a lot too. I think many of the songs we played in high school and college tend to get burned into our memories. "Crocodile Rock" brings back warm memories of that first kiss at the sock hop.

I have to add Honky Chateau since it contains my favorite Elton tune: Rocket Man.

Stephen Macdonald said...

ricky:

I don't know what he has now. I see him on occaision in New York. Haven't been to his home in Toronto's Rosedale for many years. Back when we sort of hung out a bit he had a Porsche 911 Turbo, Maserati Biturbo, Mercedes 450SL, Jeep Wagoneer and a BMW 7 series.

His home is a real palace. He bought it back when houses like that were maybe $3 million. At least 5 times that today.

Anonymous said...

Well I went out at lunchtime and got a Carpenters’ CD. My wife was delighted.
But before I found that one I just happened to I find THE CD I’d been looking for for a very long time. Chicago IX.
The horn section speaks to the singer and the singer speaks back - like a conversation.

The whole album has new meaning lately, but really I can’t believe the lyrics to this song which I never really noticed till today:

(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long

Listen to a sample here:
http://www.mp3.com/albums/3199/summary.html?from=3284&q=Chicago+IX

As my life goes on I believe
Somehow something's changed
Something deep inside
Ooh a part of me

There's a strange new light in my eyes
Things I've never known
Changin' my life
Changin' me

I've been searchin'
So long
To find an answer
Now I know my life has meaning
Ow oh

Now I see myself as I am
Feeling very free
Life is everything
Ooh it's meant to be
When my tears have come to an end
I will understand
What I left behind
Part of me

I've been searching
So long
To find and answer
Now I know my life has meaning
Woah woah

Searching
Don't you know I'm hell yeah
For an answer
To the question
Oh yeah
For our minds
Baby
Baby it's true
It's only natural
It's only natural baby, yeah
Good things
In life
Take a long time
yeah yeah

Anonymous said...

SMOOV: What about "Madman Across The Water"? That one's a personal favorite, if only becasue my dad listened to that album constantly when I was a kid.

And you've met Geddy Lee? Don't say that in front of my wife - she and her sister are the hugest Rush fans I know.

COCYTUS: I agree with you on the video-game thing. Some of the best composers to come out of Japan (and America) in the past thirty years don't work in movies. Nobuo Uematsu, Koichi Sugiyama, Koji Kondo, Hirokazu Tanaka, Yasunori Mitsuda, Akira Yamaoka, Tim Larkin, Jack Wall, Robyn Miller... and a special nod to Joe Hisaishi, who doesn't do video games but is worth attention anyway.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Oh, the other big thing that happened is that my copy of "Meditations on the Tarot" finally arrived.

The look on my EA's face is priceless when she puts this stuff on my desk.

Now all I need is a bit of time to actually read all these books. I'm about to enter the greuling struggle of second-round financing. I'm lucky if I have time to read OC itself most days (although I haven't missed a post since I started reading last autumn).

Stephen Macdonald said...

jacob:

Geddy Lee's Austrian au pair became my first wife!

Stephen Macdonald said...

A lot of lefty types make breathtaking music when they aren't moonbatting about. Natalie Merchant's Tigerlily comes to mind.

Ever hear Natalie and Michael Stipe do To Sir With Love (the Lulu hit)?

Merchant's voice is mesmerising and haunting.

Gagdad Bob said...

They say Jackie Wilson might have been the most electrifying rock/soul performer ever. Here he is toning it down considerably for a white audience. But check out how he floats.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Well, it stands to reason if you speak the established language of music with skill real Music is bound to pop through when you let it.

Jacob: I'm currently listening to the Gensosuikoden Collections, Particularly the 'Ongakushu' (which just means arrangement.) Both Hiroyuki Nanba and Kentarou Haneda's arrangements are excellent. The music in these CD's is live-- and the quality is terrific.

Suikoden (there are five games) have particularly inspired soundtracks, in my opinion.

Stephen Macdonald said...

I love Jackie, Bob.

And surely you'll agree that the dulcet voiced Sam Cooke is among the all time greats as well.

Stephen Macdonald said...

More Sam Cooke. This one is just tear-inducingly beautiful.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Ricky:

I just clued in about that "Red Barchetta" jest. It is one of Rush's songs. I didn't listen to Rush much at all then, and never now. I never went to one of their concerts, and they never listened to their own music, or even talked about it, at least around me.

Gary mostly wanted to talk about basebell. He was (and is) a huge Jays fan and it was one of his life's ambitions to buy the team. I don't think Rush made quite that much money though.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Blind Faith: Presence of the Lord.

But, what was up with that cover? I suppose it was a more innocent time.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Now, as for the Carpenters, I just instantly loved the sound back when I was a kid in the 70s. There was this one "tough" kid in our neighborhood who also liked the Carpenters. So we'd covertly listen to the 8-track in his basement while the rest of the toughs were air-guitaring to Thin Lizzy.

This all has me reflecting on Bob's remarks the other day that looking back our lives seem to be almost scripted, as though we've been following a pre-scribed arc. All I know is I'm glad I escaped the vain flat world of atheism. I had lost interest in simple joys like the Carpenters. By 1995 I was flying around the Carribean, doing coke, womanizing and seeking out increasingly "extreme" "thrills". The Carpenters would have seemed hopelessly pathetic to me then. I wanted a cigarette racer! When I saw those Saudi yachts floating off the coast of Barbados (the ones that are like Russian dolls, with a smaller ship inside, and speedboats inside the small ship), I was envious as hell (even though it didn't feel like envy). This despite the fact that by that time I was already quite well off by most standards. I thought I was happy, but that's only because I confused the rush with happiness.

I'm happy that I can listen to the Carpenters again.

Anonymous said...

Smoov,
You hung around with Geddy Lee?!
That noise was my jaw just hitting the keyboard.

Gagdad Bob said...

Smoov:

I'll be honest -- I'm not big Sam Cooke fan, for the simple reason that he mostly sang commercialized teenage white music. When he could really cut loose before a black audience he was totally different, but none of those records came out while he was alive.

Of course, it's a never ending argument, but a number of soul cognosecenti feel that Solomon Burke was the greatest soul singer. Here he is in a performance with Van Morrison.

Gagdad Bob said...

Mavis Staples is probably the most underrated female soul singer. Here she is in a classic clip with the Band.

Stephen Macdonald said...

So you have a thing for vinyl too, huh? I'm always amazed that so many people cannot immediately hear the difference. Well, most people can hear it on my system, but then most people don't have a Linn Sondek.

In terms of sheer musicality--and I'm talking now about the ability to physically reproduce the sound of live instruments, nothing to do with the quality of music per se--the closest I've experienced to a "musical Turing machine" is an old Sheffield direct-to-disc recording of Harry James played on the Sondek through a set of Little Big Horns.

No 16-bit digital recording can come remotely close to this. I believe it is due to the "screen door" effect of the quantization process, but an expert in psychoacoustics once told me that is BS. Who knows. All I know is that vinyl is always the preferred way to go.

Gagdad Bob said...

Well recorded and mastered CDs are better than mediocre vinyl, but there's just no comparison between CDs and good vinyl. I think it's just because music is analog, not digital, and there's no way to capture all of the infinite nuance with digital bits. It's just a different experience -- literally, because vinyl captures much more of the emotion, the space, and even the feel of the room the music was recorded in. There's a "weight" to it that is rarely present in CDs.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Wrong link in last post. That was to the Sheffield site (where they have the world's most technically perfect recordings.

The speakers are here.

I don't advise getting too much into high-end audio, though. It is a bizarre cult-like world which involves behvior that Bob would no doubt have a field day dissecting.

I have equipment like that, but I have not because I want to listen to the equipment (as the audio-nuts do), but rather so I forget there is any equimpent there at all.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Super Audio CDs and DVD Audio are definitely a big improvement. Since they use a 32 bit process they have 4 billion potential "samples" to work with instead of 65,000 samples that normal 16 bit CDs have available. Obviously 4 billion values allows for a much finer approximation of an analog waveform than do 65,000.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Now that I've read the Coonifesto twice, I'd like a recommendation as to in what order the following should be read:

Schuon: Divine Wisdom
A Different Christianity
Polanyi: Meaning
Polanyi: Personal Knowledge
Meditations on the Tarot

I'm currently leaning toward Polanyi...

Do I have a big gap here somewhere? What about Sri Aurobindo?

Gagdad Bob said...

I'm a long time subscriber to Sterophile, so I'm a member of the cult!

You're right though -- a lot of very sick, obsessive behavior. Christopher Guest could do another movie like "Best in Show" about audiophiles.

By the way, my father-in-law told me I get his Martin Logans when he leaves this world. Sort of a good news/bad news situation....

Gagdad Bob said...

Yes, I would go with Polanyi, since he is more foundational. Save Schuon for last, as he is extremely advanced and cannot be understood without an activated gnosis.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Martin Logans are probably wonderful, although I've never heard them.

The thing with the high-end stuff is that it makes listening effortless. I get a headache when I try to use an iPod. At home I can listen for hours without any of the stress caused by the compression and distortion caused by low-grade gear.

Also, virtually every pop CD made in the past 10 years is complete audio rubbish. They idiotically got into a "level war" so that everything is pushed to maximum levels with heavy compression. Great for cheap iPods, terrible for actual music, especially if there are actual human voices or un-electified instruments invovled.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Yes, I figured Polanyi was the way to go. I've still got plenty of uncharted territory ahead of me. I am still in the place where I am overjoyed to have found out that spirituality is not only not naive and foolish supersition, but that it is about what is really real. I meet a heck of a lot of people in my line of work, and I travel extensively. You'd be amazed how many people there are like me. We weren't bad people, we just accepted the received wisdom and considered Scientific American to be the gospel, and Christianity to be quaint.

I'm still reeling from the sweeping changes my life is undergoing. Now and then I'll pause and look back 5 or 10 years: how could I have thought that way?

This IS the reality-based community. (The Left really do reverse the meaning of everything they say).

Anonymous said...

Speaking of authentic recordings. You can hear the tubes buzzing on this great one. Even on the CD. Listened to it the other morning just before meditating. Was a very good primer.
Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7pGnPjYWFs&mode=related&search=

Stephen Macdonald said...

Here is an incredible picture.

I worked at 222 Broadway then.

Gagdad Bob said...

Smoov--

Yes, even if an artist has talent, contemporary recordings sound just awful. I usually can't even listen more than once, the sound is so uninviting.

Stephen Macdonald said...

ricky:

Little Wing was always my favorite Hendrix song. It's gorgous. Thanks for the link.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Shortly after 9/11--I had a friend in the south tower--I started my current company to make sure those demons never, ever get on our planes again. Some days it feels like our hands are tied, but we're making progress. We're on a first-name basis with the people at DHS. They care. We all care. We'll outsmart the buggers in the end.

Gagdad Bob said...

We just watched SRV live in Montreux the other night, and I'm pleased to say that Future Leader was totally enraptured.

It's two concerts, one from 81, the other from I think 84. Amazingly in the first one -- which was recorded even before his first album came out -- the Euros boo him!

Wow, past my bed time...

Stephen Macdonald said...

BTW, USS Ben knows who my company is. I don't mind if he shares that privately with Bob or other true Coons, but I really need to keep that info confidential otherwise. Moonbats and Islamists never sleep. They look for any opportunity to malign anyone in the counter-terrorism community.

Stephen Macdonald said...

Me too.

G'nite!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Bob. I'll have to rent those SRV videos. Thanks for the tip. Nighty night.

Anonymous said...

Get the bad guys for us, Smoov.

Van Harvey said...

Wow, step out to chase some car repairs and people slap 90+ comments on the board.
Loved the Juggler & Mr. Howler.
On Elton John, I'm probably off on my own here, but Captain Fantastic is my favorite, start to finish.

And Smoov, "And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start to mold a new reality closer to the heart..." I'm usually not one for extended instrumentals & solo's, but when Geddy Lee and Neil Pert get going, I'm a believer.

Van Harvey said...

Smoov,
"I've still got plenty of uncharted territory ahead of me. I am still in the place where I am overjoyed to have found out that spirituality is not only not naive and foolish supersition, but that it is about what is really real. "

I echo that.

Anonymous said...

Something to take you to dreamland - Eva Cassidy, who never got her due while she was alive.

Night, 'coons...

Van Harvey said...

There was that certain summer intimately tied up with that Captain Fantastic LP... cool northern california nights, surepticious glances and snuggling... every pop and crackle of that vinyl playing on a cheap turntable is precious to me. I actually got that lp recorded to cassette and then years later to CD - audio quality's piss-poor, but sensory recall is Hi-Fidelity.

Van Harvey said...

Good timing on the Polyani/Schuon question.

Sigh, time for bet here too... feel like my seven year old "but I don't WANna go to bed! Coon's are callin!" I suppose it's more snoring (snoring on key and to the beat) that I'm hearing now though...

Nighty-nite
wv:deizdq God's dairy queen?

Anonymous said...

Smoov-
Not a problem. Although I'm retired from the Navy, there is still TS, Secret and NoForn info. I can't divulge, so I'll file the data you sent me under 'lips sealed'.

After all: Loose lips sink ships (and stuff).

Security is my middle name.

Anonymous said...

Van-
Actually, I read all your posts and don't always comment, so now I feel bad...sort of.
Kind of a periphery bad feeling, but I know it's there.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

cosa: Eva Cassidy is the best. I love her album, 'Live at Blues Alley' -- if there is a singer who can bring me to tears every time, it would be her singing, "Fields of Gold", "Had I a Golden Thread", "People Get Ready", "Bridge over Troubled Waters"... (her rendition of that one I like a lot, though many, many have done it.)

It is a shame that she didn't get her due during her days, but isn't that one of life's unusual ways? Keeping us humble, all.

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

Bob, if you want to go full old school, listen to some of Joplin's piano rolls. Recorded by his own hands on the keys...

Now that is analog!

Ephrem Antony Gray said...

PS - as a pianist, I've never been impressed by vinyl. I think maybe I've never heard a good vinyl recording of piano music, but the piano on all old recordings vinyl or otherwise sounds tinny and empty. A lot of it, I know, is the mic used, and so forth.

Question is, what is the difference between excellent vinyl and excellent digital? Possibly, the vinyl will always suffer from poorer quality, but have better atmosphere. Wonder how one could get a bit of both?

Oh, live music. Moving on...

Gagdad Bob said...

River:

That's a good point about piano. Perhaps it's such a "bell-like" instrument, that it translates well to the digital domain, whereas the human voice suffers the most. The new release of the Bill Evans Trio live at the Village Vanguard, the consensus choice for the greatest jazz piano album by arguably the greatest jazz pianist ever -- sounds phenomenal.

Much also depends on how well something was recorded to begin with. The art of recording hit a certain high point in the 1950s, whereras much of the music of the 60's and 70's was recorded quite poorly, including a lot of bad stereo.

If you listen, for example, to Sinatra's Capitol albums on audiophile vinyl, there is no way they would have been able to capture that same magic today. There is literally a "magical" element to vinyl that cannot be reduced to a scientific engineering category -- which, of course, drives engineers nuts.

As we were saying yesterday: you shall not turn stones into bread, or digital into analog!

Anonymous said...

River and Dr Bob,
“As we were saying yesterday: you shall not turn stones into bread, or digital into analog!”

Perhaps it’s like the difference between a movie shot on film versus a soap opera shot on video equipment. Sometimes you’ll see a little of both used in a TV show – which are shot in film… and then some character picks up a video camera and your view is now through the camera. You can tell the difference.

There is a flatness – lack of color depth to video. Film is richer and smoother. It’s also a function of the frames per second displayed. If you go to the movies the delivery reading/equipment is much different process. Light is used to pass through film. I believe they still ‘flash’ each frame twice (the clicking sound on the old projectors). VHS magnetic tape recorder reads changes in magnetic field. DVD is different still. Laser light is used but to read a digital number basically which is later converted to analog. So there are a number of conversions involved versus film with no conversions at all.

I believe Mel Gibson’s new movie Apocolypto is filmed with a completely digital HD camera. I think it’s a first. There’s getting closer…but better. Well better for other reasons…not necessarly more accurate. But what you can do with the digital imagery later (color grading, etc.).

Anonymous said...

Wow! 104 comments posted as of 9 a.m. Saturday morning. Cool!

Eavesdropping in on the conversation - which is better than doing housework- I find analog is preferred - Cosa and River love Eva Cassidy too. And "What a Wonderful World" to know there are OC coons working behind the scene to locate, isolate, remove and, if necessary, eradicate the deadly mohammad and related parasites. My own chosen part to play is to inoculate the host through education.

I saw the film "Breach" last night -- a tribute to the worth of public service and the gravity of espionage. Chris Cooper's performance, as the
extremely externally devout, but internally troubled Catholic spy Robert Hanssen, is nothing short of mesmerizing.

Hanssen's character is a sublime metaphor for the ever present unceasing work of God being hindered by the activity of man's fallen nature, by obedience to earthly passions. Such people breach the work of God upon their own souls.

Van Harvey said...

uss ben said...
"Van-Actually, I read all your posts and don't always comment, so now I feel bad...sort of."

Ben, tell you what, I'll take your :(, you take my :(, and exchanging them they'll both get turned around into a (:

;-)

Anonymous said...

VAN: My wife and I are both of the opinion that Alex Lifeson's picture is next to George Harrison's in the Pantheon Of Criminally Underrated Guitarists.

Van Harvey said...

Jacob c.
Heh, no slight meant to Alex Lifeson, as a reformed bassist, my attention naturally turns more towards the backbeat than the lead.

;-)

Anonymous said...

One other thing about "Breach" (and I don't think I'm giving away the ending because we already know Hanssen got locked away in solitary confinement for life) is the salt.isfaction an OC coon will get when viewing the final scene: Two Coons taking an interloper down an elevator he had breached.

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