"...let's have some music now, huh."

The quote is from the beginning of a track called "Lightning Strikes(Not Once But Twice)", off the hugely under-appreciated record "Sandinista!", by one of my absolute favorite bands of all time - The Clash. This is one of my 'desert island discs', and not the only double disc on my list, what! Who ever said they had to be single discs anyway??

In addition to being an album with an amazing array of style, sonic boom, & political commentary wrapped in music far ahead of its time, there is humor too, and the quoted part never fails to bring a laugh.

The song begins with a recorded bit of host Habte Salassie speaking on his "Labbrish" show aired on WBAI; 99.5 here in NYC. Some bloke calls in, and politely asks Habte if he could "give a message", & then coolly hits Salassie with the title of this posting.
What makes this nugget so funny to me, no matter how many times I'll hear it, is how drily the caller tells this DJ (who, in his defense, has probably just smoked a blunt the size of a baby's leg with his guest) to, basically, shut the hell up and play the music.

So thank you dear Cheech for the note that served as an emailed version of the above for me today. Sometimes there is too much thought, too much stimulus, far too many ideas and a plethora of noise that serves no other purpose than to delay simple acts: like writing. I have to laugh at myself the way that Salassie's guest, a certain Baba Ras[sic] lets his chuckle escape, when I realize that I've crippled myself into an idle funk with too much thought.

I lit a candle tonight for Joe Strummer, who left this world too soon, but not before his passion gave birth to timeless works of art, and gobs of inspiration. And here's to Baba Ras, Habte Salassie & Cheech! Three blessed names that always bring a smile, and three, unexpectedly grounding, shots of levity for remembering how much more delightful it is to shut off the noise, shut one's mouth, and just have some music...

Early Dogs

So I'm out to get my Sunday Times, a ritual that is mostly about paying $4 for a crossword puzzle, and I see the cover of a "Rolling Stone" magazine. There is a very heavy portrait of Barack Obama, the sort you'd expect to see hanging in a 7th grade classroom somewhere in Chicago, and the words: "A NEW HOPE" right there, boldly heralding the existence of this charismatic presidential candidate.

A kick in the balls, what!

After several weeks of pacing, and wrestling with the more reticent bits of my ego, about my first blog posting, I thought I'd had it licked. I had a few decent strings of deep thought ready, a handsome picture of Yoda for luck & a title. Sure, it may have gone on a bit thickly with the Star Wars reference, but who hasn't mined this seminal film in times of great distress: "Help me Obi-Wan..."

So let this serve as a warning, summed up in the faces of the pictured dogs, that until I get some sort of rhythm established with these posts there will most certainly be some "Early Dogs"

A New Hope

"A Lazarus taxon (plural taxa) is a taxon that disappears from one or more periods of the fossil record, only to appear again later. The term refers to the New Testament story of Lazarus, in which Jesus miraculously raises Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus taxa are observational artifacts that appear to occur either because of (local) extinction, later resupplied, or as a sampling artifact. If the extinction is conclusively found to be total (global or worldwide) and the supplanting species is not a lookalike (an Elvis species), the observational artifact is overcome."
For the rest, and to have a look at such creatures as the Tammar Wallaby, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, & others that share this trait I'm now claiming for myself, check the first link.

The character of Lazarus has been a source of fascination since the first time I heard the bible story. I was still very much a child in the Catholic school system (in Hell's Kitchen no less!); it would be years before my contempt, for religion, took root. Lazarus' story resides in my unconscious for reasons that I'll surely re-visit here. The first impressions that stuck with me were: the Christ character was fully a human, and not a deity. He was a man and bereft over the loss of his good friend before bringing him back to life. That last part was the other cool thing to my young mind, the supernatural twist of raising the dead pal.
After a healthy dose of experience with deaths and losses, I have come to what I can only describe as peaceful acceptance of this condition that is as natural, and necessary as breath. The only thing that rankles any philosophical search for meaning, in the aftermath of loss, is grief; especially the grief of people near and dear.

The bigger reason for the title, and why it was a no-brainer when I chanced upon it during some aimless meandering through these internets, is that I had been as dead as Lazarus, and locked in a virtual grave from which I have recently emerged. A tragic end to a marriage was the thing that put me down for the long stretch. The friends and family that helped me rejoin the living are no less magical than the force described in that old Bible tale; some are bound to make appearances in future posts.

There is much to discuss, and we are living through a remarkable period of time that can yield great advancement for our human race. The path will not be easy, in fact it looks more and more as if harder times are on the way, and the enemies to enlightened thought are hanging on, but without endings how could we ever begin anew.

The time of the ignoble creeps is going to end.
The black cloud, and signs of the apocalypse that have enshrouded the world since November 2000 (e.g. - Bush, 9/11, the Red Sox winning, Patriots cheating), have begun to show cracks, as a collective wish for truth and justice is starting to gain momentum. The rats have begun to jump ship, the liars are being exposed, and the Karmic wheel keeps trying to set things right again (e.g. - Giants win, Alberto Gonzales, Ken Lay, Spitzer's fall) .
Hope should never be underestimated or dismissed. If enough minds focus upon the wish for truth, reason and justice, then perhaps greed, stupidity and evil can finally be stamped out.
We may even get around to evolving.