Kissing The Sky

In 2003, Rolling Stone published its 100 Greatest Guitarists issue.

No surprise, topping the list was Jimi Hendrix, and Pete Townsend wrote a gorgeous tribute, a reflection on that lightening flash made flesh for not quite 28 years.

I found this YouTube upload of an MTV production sometime ago, and have long thought to do an entry on it. It’s not a great video on it’s own, but what the MTV crew managed to do was capture so much of what made Jimi special, and what made him an icon for the era: the creativity, the destruction, the raw sexuality, the power, the rebellion, the poetry, the skewed beauty attached to a new musical form tethered to the black blues, while simultaneously reaching for melody and dissonance.

“Are You Experienced” is my favorite Hendrix tune, for it captures all of these strange and beautiful qualities, or as Pete Townsend writes, “What he played was fucking loud but also incredibly lyrical and expert. . . It was a high form of eroticism, almost spiritual in quality. . . . He made the electric guitar beautiful. It had always been dangerous, . . . Jimi made it beautiful and made it OK to make it beautiful.”

“Are You Experienced” reflects all these things, and this little video offers some of Jimi’s most magical moments.

Are You Experienced?

If you can just get your mind together
Uh-then come on across to me
Well hold hands and then well watch the sunrise
From the bottom of the sea.

But first, are you experienced?
Uh-have you ever been experienced-uh?
Well, I have.

(Well) I know, I know, youll probably scream and cry
That your little world wont let you go
But who in your measly little world, (-uh)
Are you tryin to prove to that you’re
Made out of gold and-uh, cant be sold.

So-uh, are you experienced?

Have you ever been experienced? (-uh)
Well, I have.

Uh, let me prove it to you, yeah.

Trumpets and violins I can-uh, hear in the distance
I think they’re callin’ our name
Maybe now you cant hear them,
But you will, ha-ha, if you just
Take hold of my hand.

Ohhh, but are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?

Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful.

This And That.

This is a brief entry to update those who are interested on the various “thats” going on in my life.

First, you’ve probably noticed that I am now on Twitter, which is the greatest network utility that I’ve stumbled on.  The networking is dynamic.  I’ve gleaned more resources in a week than I imagined possible.  Twitter is also the easiest way for me to stay active on this site without writing a full blog entry: if I’m too busy for an entry, I can still ‘tweet,’ even when in the library.  My thesis  calls once again, and once again I am behind schedule.  For two reasons:  first, getting the long awaited MacBook Pro; second, my research director nitpicked my draft to death, and I have to basically rework much of what I’ve done.

The first reason is an unexpected joy, one that I have waited some time for.  This machine is beyond elegant.  17 inch monitor, seamless interface, color saturation to die for, to name just a few things.  I also received the free iPod Touch (education purchase) which is basically the iPhone without the phone, i.e. wireless connectivity for the web, e-mail, GPS, and all kinds of apps for on the go.  Anytime I am in an the area of an open wireless network (or on campus, as I’m in the school’s network), I can read anything on the web I want, check my e-mail, etc.  Some of the apps are absolutely the best things I’ve ever used, and I can’t believe how much functionality and ease they add to both life and the mini-computer-on-the-go.

Many of you may be saying, “no biggie I’ve been doing that for years.”   Well, I’ve not.  And this little gizmo was free with my glorious MacBook Pro purchase.  It’s just too cool.

In addition to the Pro, I now have a Time Capsule, which backs everything on my computer up every hour, silently in the background, while I am Tweeting, cruising YouTube for rare tidbits, scouring eBay for deals, or following links in an endless regression of surfing for useless if interesting information.  (In other words, doing everything but writing my thesis.)   All my drafts, files, iTunes library are saved on this gadget.  Simply amazing.

My screen, now that it is larger, makes my blog look sparse.  On my old iBook G4, everything looked simple and elegant.  Not the case now, so I’ll have to see about moving the blog over to an upgraded space.  This blog is free, Word Press has a paid upgrade which allows me to fiddle around more. That way I can enhance it with Java goodies and some custom additions.  Not this month, though.   Also, I used to find writing entries incredibly frustrating, because my iBook was just a little too slow to handle the Word Press interface.  Looks like that is a now a thing of the past, and I am happy.

About the second, I am excited to revamp the draft and get moving.  My director’s main complaint is that I dallied around too much with the critics, and most of that stuff must be stuffed into the footnotes.  He wants me engaging more with the texts, which I have absolutely no problem with.  I was dallying around with the critics, because in the first draft of my proposal, the complaint was that I spent too much time dallying around in the texts.  That written, I’m successfully avoiding reading his criticisms point by point, as compared to a conversation, as he has a tendency to get a little lost in the details himself sometimes, all respect intended, and one reason I rather enjoy his direction, but I want to make sure I don’t flog myself for every shortcoming, as is my habit, one that I am working on.

In case you missed it, I posted a must see YouTube the other day on my Twitter feed.  It is must see: Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein performing Bach.

On the eightyth million day, G-d saw Gould and Bernstein, and said, “It was worth all that damn Garden nonsense.”

*****************************************************

YouTube Find Of The Week: Joni Mitchell

Cactus Tree

There’s a man who’s been out sailing
In a decade full of dreams
And he takes her to a schooner
And he treats her like a queen
Bearing beads from California
With their amber stones and green
He has called her from the harbor
He has kissed her with his freedom
He has heard her off to starboard
In the breaking and the breathing
Of the water weeds
While she was busy being free

There’s a man who’s climbed a mountain
And he’s calling out her name
And he hopes her heart can hear three thousand miles
He calls again
He can think her there beside him
He can miss her just the same
He has missed her in the forest
While he showed her all the flowers
And the branches sang the chorus
As he climbed the scaley towers
Of a forest tree
While she was somewhere being free

There’s a man who’s sent a letter
And he’s waiting for reply
He has asked her of her travels
Since the day they said goodbye
He writes, “Wish you were beside me
We can make it if we try”
He has seen her at the office
With her name on all his papers
Through the sharing of the profits
He will find it hard to shake her
From his memory
And she’s so busy being free

There’s a lady in the city
And she thinks she loves them all
There’s the one who’s thinking of her
There’s the one who sometimes calls
There’s the one who writes her letters
With his facts and figures scrawl
She has brought them to her senses
They have laughed inside her laughter
Now she rallies her defenses
For she fears that one will ask her
For eternity
And she’s so busy being free

There’s a man who sends her medals
He is bleeding from the war
There’s a jouster and a jester and a man who owns a store
There’s a drummer and a dreamer
And you know there may be more
She will love them when she sees them
They will lose her if they follow
And she only means to please them
And her heart is full and hollow
Like a cactus tree
While she’s so busy being free
Like a cactus tree
Being free

The Man In The Mirror

There is a story that I frequently remember, when my life is moving slower than I would like.

Jermaine Jackson tells this story, and I heard him tell it around the time I was doing work in ‘write it down, and make it happen.’

Michael Jackson wrote a note to himself that read, “I will record the best-selling album of all time,” and he placed this on his bathroom mirror, where he read it every morning.

With time, Michael eventually released that album.  “Thriller” remains to this day the best selling album of all time, the closest runners up lagging behind by over 45,000,000 albums.  No other recording artist or groups comes close.

List of Best Selling Albums Worldwide.

Destiny is a strange bird, indeed.

Rest in peace, Michael.

There’s always a dark side to our dreams.

Edited August 8. 2009:

Unfortunately, the YouTube video I originally posted was pulled.  I had two update choices: a live performance with an introductory note that I’d prefer not to see, or the official MJ YouTube upload that includes no video of Michael.  I decided to embed the former with its personal dedication, but I’ve included a link to the latter.  Both have their merits, for reasons that seem to me obvious.

Official Michael Jackson YouTube Channel Video ‘Man In The Mirror’

Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, sometime before 'Thriller' changed the world.

Ali Akbar Khan

April 14, 1922 – June 18, 2009

The master’s death is

joy to the one who lovingly crafted

that heart, that spirit, and

those hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

See also:

Ali Akbar Khan & Swapan Chaudhuri – Brindabani Sarang (YouTube video, embedding disabled).

NYT article on Ali Akbar Khan.

“Indian music is like a river or stream that has come down to us through time, bringing nurture to man’s soul. From the past masters, this music flowed to my father and through him to me. I want to keep this stream flowing. I don’t want it to die. It must spread all over the world.”

–  Khansahib

*

YouTube Find Of The Week: Alanis

Citizen Of The Planet

(From ‘The Flavors of Entanglement’)

I start up in the north
I grow from special seed
I sprinkle it with sensibility
From French and Hungarian snow
I linger in the sprouting
Until my engine’s full.

Then I move across the sea
To European bliss
To language of poets
As I cut the cord of home
I kiss my mother’s mother
Look to the horizon.

Wide eyed, new ground
Humbled by my new surroundings . . .

I am a citizen of the planet
My president is Kwan Yin
My frontier is on an airplane
My prison’s homes for rehabilitating.

Then I fly back to my nest
I fly back with my nuclear
But everything is different
So I wait
My yearn for home is broadened
Patriotism expanded
By callings from beyond.

So I pack my things
Nothing precious
All things sacred.

I am a citizen of the planet
My laws are all of attraction
My punishments are consequences
Separating from source the original sin.

I am a citizen of the planet
Democracy’s kids are sovereign
Where the teachers are the sages
And pedestals filled with every parent.

And so the next few years are blurry
The next decade’s a flurry
Of smells and tastes unknown
Threads sewn straight through this fabric
Through fields of every color
One culture to another.

And I come alive
And I get giddy
And I am taken and globally naturalized.

I am a citizen of the planet
From simple roots through high vision
I am guarded by the angels
And my body guides the direction I go in.

I am a citizen of the planet
My favorite pastime edge stretching
Besotten with human condition
These ideals are born from my deepest within.

Quan Yin: Anonymous, 14th Century Japanese Painting

Toni Morrison: Why Books Must Not Be Censored

Toni Morrison: Why Books Must Not Be Censored | csmonitor.com

See also: Toni Morrison Defends ‘Sacredness’ of Books Against Censorship at The Gaurdian.

One of the world’s most beautiful womyn:

AP photo of Ms. Morrison, taken by Jeff Christensen, 'courtesy' of The Gaurdian.

A link to the PEN American Center can be found to the right, under “News, Media, and Resources.”

Posted using ShareThis

Midday Rant

I really don’t care too much about what’s on the Boob Tube (the reference to mindlessness and its joining to the female anatomy noted once again), for the double standards employed are beyond ridiculous. Not really worth commenting on, as only the truly oblivious can be oblivious.

For example, Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowel [sic] merits outrage and lawsuits, but every single hour we have erectile dysfunction ads that parents must explain to their kids.

“Mommy (and or) Daddy what is erectile dysfunction?”

“Why must a penis be ‘erect’?”

“Why is a pill necessary if it is natural and about love?”

Oh, please say it ain’t so, a black woman flashing a bit of flesh is a moral outrage, a sullying of the national psyche . . . but white men talking about their need for a pill to get it up, well that’s just honky dory (racial nod intended).

But my beef for today is about those damn Brinks Home Security ads.

All of these bits of ‘home security’ advertising tripe employ the most obvious stereotypes.

Most of the ads follow a formula:

Woman alone.

Or woman alone with kids.

Or young woman alone.

(Though a newer advert does portray a married, i.e., man and woman, couple, so I guess they’ve had complaints.)

Masked man dressed in black comes in to do harm to woman.

She’s scared to death, her fear reminiscent of a horror flick, though presumably she knows that she has the Brinks Security system installed. But I guess the unexpected always gets the best of her pretty little head.

Wait! The Brinks Home Security man inevitably and immediately calls to tell her “I am here, and help is on the way.”

Security. The day is saved.

The Brinks man is of course a relatively good looking white male, without exception.

Indeed, the entire behind the scenes security staff flashed near the end seems solely comprised of white men, those bastions of security and well-being.

Oh god, it is just so painful to watch.

That such nonsense generates sales is mind boggling . . . and I hear that Brinks has really poor home security, too. (The keypad featured at the ad’s end is presumably one of the most outdated on the market, or so I’ve been told.)

I credit Brinks for at least having the savvy to have white men dressed in black portray the intruders, and not simply black men (or Latinos) dressed in jeans and a tee.

G-d bless them. The advertising geeks know how to play an audience.

Today’s midday mini-rant.

Meanwhile, the world turns.

Feeling Like A Lunatic?

Photo courtesy from the CSE department, University of Michigan. Taken from Poe Field, Princeton.

At precisely 2:12 p.m. est on June 7th, the moon goes full.

The June full moon is also known as the ‘Full Strawberry Moon,’ for according to the Farmer’s Almanac, “the Algonquin tribes knew this moon as a time to gather ripening strawberries. It is also known as the Rose Moon and the Hot Moon.”

As it is the beginning of June, the sun is in the constellation of Gemini, so the full moon is in the opposing constellation, Sagittarius. If you’re sensitive to the moon’s effects, expect to feel a little crazed until it moves out of direct opposition, and the effects dissipate, probably early Tuesday morning.

Until then, nurture your inner lunatic and smile.

We’re about two weeks away from the Summer Solstice, the year’s longest day, and the official beginning of summer.

I Am Troy Davis

“On 19 May 2009, Amnesty International held a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in London calling for the commutation of Troy Davis’ death sentence. We recorded people’s messages of solidarity, which we are sending to Troy and his family.”

Update: “On May 20, twenty-seven former judges and prosecutors from across the political spectrum filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis.”

Click here for details, and for links to both the amicus brief and the original writ of habeas corpus.