I know, I know, it's been a while and well, the life of an intrepid web designer is not always his own; life conspires to distract one from ones duties/responsibilities/pleasures (strike out as applicable).
Nevertheless, at least in the northern hemisphere, it's Halloween today (is that tonight, Igor?), despite the fact that here in the southern hemisphere, if one were a witch, and I'm not saying that you are a witch, only that you could be a witch if you wanted to be ... no, that sounds wrong. Only that you might be a witch, that's wrong too. OK. You're a witch if that's your desire, only you don't actually look like a witch when I see you dressed in your civvies. Make sense? Perhaps not, but after all, it is Halloween and tonight we're coming for you to take you to the Beltane festival, ha ha that stunned ya. Beltane is the Springtime witch festival whereas Halloween is the Autumn fessie. An' it ain't Autumn here babe!
Hopin' to get back to the blogos-FEAR real soon, Bless all souls cha terrence
There are so many foolish people who think that they have the right to tell others how to act when they themselves haven't overcome their own envy. Envy is when you wish anything but happiness upon another person, even if they deserve it. Yeah, sometimes we gotta uphold the law, but that's a different topic of discussion. Here we are discussing a Jamaican catholic parish worshiping God with plenty of rhythm thrown into the hymn.
So while we art on the subject of Jamaica (see previous post, if inclined), it cometh as no surprise to me that many people criticised this YouTube video of a parish worshipping the Lord as they, the Jamaicans see fit, because ignorance is often passed off as religiosity. I am not trying to be critical here myself, I just wish we could negotiate like friends unless there is the threat of a clear and present lethal danger.
I think it's fabulous that the Jamaicans combine their rhythm with their worship and I encourage everyone to worship God in whatever way they can.
The brunt of the criticism appears to be from three parish musicians in another parish in another country (possibly on another planet by the sound of things) who didn't like the Jamaicans' music. It seems like only people who have some marketablemusical talent are permitted to go to Heaven these days. And who's to say that the Jamaicans can only make purgatory at very best?
Though shalt learn to sing and stay in time or else.
Do Chopin and Beethoven get special treatment by the Lord?How about Alice Cooper or Marylin Manson? Not sure those guys can actually sing but people buy their work. I actually saw Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare tour whilst he was performing in Sydney in the 70s and I enjoyed his concert immensely. I wonder if God did, I hope for Alice's sake that He did, we wouldn't want another nightmare. In the aftermath of all this nonsense there was even a comment on the Daily Telegraph website wherein the Jamaican worship was reported, regarding the blame being with the catholic church for having made a mistake of policy regarding the frequency that baptisms could be held during the Reformation in England in 1549 due to concern over high rates of infant mortality. Aparently protestants murdered somewhere between 4000 and 5500 Catholics because they disagreed with the church policy. Whatever happened to negotiation? Amazing.
All this criticism because of a funky song that did nobody any harm at all. Chee! Murder in the Cathedral? But think about this: if I murder you because the catholic church made a decision with which I disagree, is the catholic church to blame for the murder or am I to blame?
I would be to blame. The catholic church didn't murder anyone. One individual murders another individual. The catholic church may have been in error but people murder people ... institutions don't murder people.
Ignorance makes people thicker than a truck driver's sandwich.
So unfortunately, despite his cynical tongue, I am once again forced to agree with Mark Twain in that if these critical people are representative of the people who are going to Heaven, then Hell seems to be a more attractive place.
I think this statement speaks volumes, ie: God's not stupid enough to make Hell more attractive than Heaven so these critic guys have gotta be the ones who've got it wrong. C'mon guys, God is about love and acceptance, not criticism.
Twain's actual quote (I believe) was "Heaven for climate, Hell for society" ... but you get my drift all the same as it means much the same thing.
I was half dreaming whilst dawn's left hand was in the sky (oops, apologies to Omar Khayyam) about a fisherman who caught a huge hammerhead shark off the south western coast of Jamaica near Savanna La Mar.
He wanted to show off his catch and thus he put it on a trolley and with the help of friends and acquaintances he set off to drag it to the market place.
On the way to the marketplace they passed a group of Chinese tourists out for a morning constitutional. The shark, though apparently dead, was still alive and reached out and bit off the tip of the little finger of one of the Chinese tourists and then the shark immediately fell dead.
Does this indicate that everything coming out of China these days is highly toxic or is this just another repeat of the Olympics displaying the amazing prowess of the Chinese people?
Whether the former or the later, we've got to get back to simplifying our lives to protect this amazingly beautiful planet and thus make a little girl happy (Severn Suzuki). What more important task could there be to augment our lives? Let's make the planet green once more and breathe easy knowing that we are more than exploitative consumers. Let's be friends with people that we'll never meet by helping them to eat, sleep and breathe. Let's show love in our every moment. Don't just save the whales, save the sharks and everybody else besides.
This blog, having no formal direction, might well be the journal of a lost soul, living outside the box but trying to think inside the box as people who live inside but think outside do well for themselves but those who live outside are usually aliens like myself. Thinking inside the box does not come naturally but to live in an inside the box world means one needs to be able to think like insiders to be able to mesh. Jerry Garcia, one outsider who made it on his own terms until they eventually overcame him, is the subject of this blog entry.
Despite having a copy of Anthem of the Sun purchased around 1968-9 in Sydney and being a big fan of the Mars Hotel album I could hardly be considered a deadhead. Phil Gottenschick once gave me a Sam Cutler biz card which I dearly loved till I misplaced it somewhere, but I still thought of Jerry and the boys as somewhat untidy and a bit too loose at times, although Jerry's unique guitar sound was a personal signature second to almost none.
However, last evening or the one before a friend and I were YouTubing the hours away and he searched for Greatful Dead. Afer a couple of the usual dead style music tracks he said "What's this Terrapin Station?", I replied, "Grab it, I heard that once, somewhere and really liked it."
Well lo and behold, it turned out to be better than I remembered. If Stairway to Heaven was the best that Zeppelin could turn out (some would argue Kashmir) and if Goats Head Soup was the Stones best album, Concerto de Arunjez at Sydney Opera House was John Williams at his best, Astrakan Cafe Anour Brahem's best album, and Comfortably Numb was Floyd's best track, again others might argue Money, personally I like the sax in Us and Them, but I do digress and humbly offer profuse apologies.
So following this line of thought, I thunk to meself that this Terrapin Station would have to be the best that the Grateful Dead ever came up with (yes, despite Trucking and Casey Jones), and with over 55000 hours of Jerry Garcia recorded - yes that's true, the Dead almost never stopped touring for 30 years and just about every concert was recorded (Nice trivia?) - that's quite a big trump card to be the best in a deck of that size.
Anyhow I leave you to make up your own mind about this track, but I still like it heaps.
Dark Stars follow a dead course
Also I give full marks for this version by Dark Star Orchestra (with a name like that they gotta be deadheads)
They can't match the Dead, maybe they could be zombies if they tried, but I think that they might find a place in music history eventually despite that young rhythm guitarist's lack of confidence in the beginning.
AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the founder Acharya of ISKCON (read Hare Krishnas) said that as a man thinks he speaks. Well, it ain't hard to figure out what's been on my little biddy mind today.
tarunkrsnadas is a sub-kanistha disciple of His Divine Grace Srila Narayana Maharaja.
Lacking in all good qualities, I struggle to become a Vaisnava devotee of Sri Sri Radhe Radha-Ramana.
Sometimes failing miserably, I can only rely on the hope and inspiration I get from my Godbrothers and Godsisters. If that's not there I fall into hell.
Happy Halloween Witchie-poo
