I'm surprised!! Excited!! Procrastinating? Na. Feeling 'sunny' today. A quick word on the admission of 'mystic' inclinations(in his case, poetic) from UVIC's Robin Skelton:
"Well, I write a lot of things - essays, criticism - I do anthologies and" - a deep breath here, a silent prayer that my interlocutor would not either freeze up or turn tail - "poetry of course." Back against the wall, glass in hand, and brought to the ultimate in self-revelatory candour, I would then wait for that extraordinary question which has alway seemed to me one of the "Have you stopped beating your wife?" variety. When it came I always hesitated for the answer. "You are a poet?" I sometimes nodded. I sometimes fled, filled with a confused anger that my inquisitor had never heard of my name and works, and a sudden chilling belief that, since I was so totally unknown, I had no right to claim the distinction of the title." - From Skelton's "Memoirs of a Literary Blockhead".
Check out Tripswitch, Shpongle, or Mystical Sun for some brilliant meditative music. "The Dorset Perception" by Schpongle is one of my favorites. These groups (particularly Mystical Sun) have researched the psychological/brain effects of circadian+dirunal beats+rhythms and effectively use this research to create powerful healing/empowering sound. They'll totally rock your suprachiasmatic nucleus. I'm close to the Afrocelts (Afro Celt Soundsystem) in spirit, but have hundreds, thousands, millions(!!) of musical and non-musical influences. In future I'll continue to be involved in live performance of jazz, rock, and 'psytrance'(with and without electronica) - I'm versatile - it usually depends on who is around to network/play with!! I haven't been staying put in one geographical location for very long, so I've been playing with all kinds of different people for years. Networking and putting together the tech to display the full range of my capabilities takes time on relocating to a new place - and I usually seem to move on before anything HUGE manifests - it will be interesting to see what happens if I ever settle down. I do have some favorite players around the world that I'd love to connect with again. I've never done much recording because I believe live music has a power that gets 'lost in translation' upon being recorded - also, I have wished to avoid being a part of the "music industry" for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who has experience therein. I prefer to 'stay free' and play with that 'in the moment' aspect of shaping reality. Live improvisation, zen, magic(K), chaos theory, subatomic physics, these things are all interconnected - as the internet to the physical world of 'meatspace' like a mirror - like art and audience - like the quintessential paradox of divided unity in all of us living here on Earth at all times, always. My own musical journey has been influenced by perrenial ground philosophy, integral theory, and vision-logic, which Wilber describes as "a non-dominating, global awareness of holistic hierarchy, in which the pathological dissociations of Nature from Self, interiority from exteriority, and creativity from compassion are transformed into healthy differentiations." I'm also interested in creative manifestations of co-evolution, neurolinguistic programming, (applied)musical therapy, and the 'study in practice' of synthesizing Eastern+Western mysticism and spiritual evolutionary methods. Aspects of all these things that I've studied tend to come out and fill the room when I play live music, moreso in conjunction with other players who can access high levels of awareness, which can be weird, and have unexpected, interesting consequences. It's happened. Weird, wild stuff. As a teacher, I employ some of these ideas and techniques in the classroom, as well as in music and writing. I believe that the integration of science and the humanities in a complex, particular, 'integrated' sense is absolutely central to the further evolution and survival of our race (I won't get into here, but we'll all be getting into it together soon enough). I'm excited by all levels and lines of thought on this subject. The tracks on this page represent cross sections of my life from when I was 16 years old(Zombie Song) to the present(Snowcrash Meditation)///I find the term 'hipster' absurd - am using digital tools to get practical things done - should really move it on over to wordpress. Ohya - what I think of digital music and podcasts - great for listeners, indie artists, and huge companies(Virgin) - devastating to the soul of real LIVE music. In the age of information such opinions are fluid and under constant revision - ask me again next week based on current events and I may have a completely different answer. Get out and support a live artist before they're all dead and gone!!
A couple of Lennon-isms to live by:
"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality."
"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."
"Well, I write a lot of things - essays, criticism - I do anthologies and" - a deep breath here, a silent prayer that my interlocutor would not either freeze up or turn tail - "poetry of course." Back against the wall, glass in hand, and brought to the ultimate in self-revelatory candour, I would then wait for that extraordinary question which has alway seemed to me one of the "Have you stopped beating your wife?" variety. When it came I always hesitated for the answer. "You are a poet?" I sometimes nodded. I sometimes fled, filled with a confused anger that my inquisitor had never heard of my name and works, and a sudden chilling belief that, since I was so totally unknown, I had no right to claim the distinction of the title." - From Skelton's "Memoirs of a Literary Blockhead".
Check out Tripswitch, Shpongle, or Mystical Sun for some brilliant meditative music. "The Dorset Perception" by Schpongle is one of my favorites. These groups (particularly Mystical Sun) have researched the psychological/brain effects of circadian+dirunal beats+rhythms and effectively use this research to create powerful healing/empowering sound. They'll totally rock your suprachiasmatic nucleus. I'm close to the Afrocelts (Afro Celt Soundsystem) in spirit, but have hundreds, thousands, millions(!!) of musical and non-musical influences. In future I'll continue to be involved in live performance of jazz, rock, and 'psytrance'(with and without electronica) - I'm versatile - it usually depends on who is around to network/play with!! I haven't been staying put in one geographical location for very long, so I've been playing with all kinds of different people for years. Networking and putting together the tech to display the full range of my capabilities takes time on relocating to a new place - and I usually seem to move on before anything HUGE manifests - it will be interesting to see what happens if I ever settle down. I do have some favorite players around the world that I'd love to connect with again. I've never done much recording because I believe live music has a power that gets 'lost in translation' upon being recorded - also, I have wished to avoid being a part of the "music industry" for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who has experience therein. I prefer to 'stay free' and play with that 'in the moment' aspect of shaping reality. Live improvisation, zen, magic(K), chaos theory, subatomic physics, these things are all interconnected - as the internet to the physical world of 'meatspace' like a mirror - like art and audience - like the quintessential paradox of divided unity in all of us living here on Earth at all times, always. My own musical journey has been influenced by perrenial ground philosophy, integral theory, and vision-logic, which Wilber describes as "a non-dominating, global awareness of holistic hierarchy, in which the pathological dissociations of Nature from Self, interiority from exteriority, and creativity from compassion are transformed into healthy differentiations." I'm also interested in creative manifestations of co-evolution, neurolinguistic programming, (applied)musical therapy, and the 'study in practice' of synthesizing Eastern+Western mysticism and spiritual evolutionary methods. Aspects of all these things that I've studied tend to come out and fill the room when I play live music, moreso in conjunction with other players who can access high levels of awareness, which can be weird, and have unexpected, interesting consequences. It's happened. Weird, wild stuff. As a teacher, I employ some of these ideas and techniques in the classroom, as well as in music and writing. I believe that the integration of science and the humanities in a complex, particular, 'integrated' sense is absolutely central to the further evolution and survival of our race (I won't get into here, but we'll all be getting into it together soon enough). I'm excited by all levels and lines of thought on this subject. The tracks on this page represent cross sections of my life from when I was 16 years old(Zombie Song) to the present(Snowcrash Meditation)///I find the term 'hipster' absurd - am using digital tools to get practical things done - should really move it on over to wordpress. Ohya - what I think of digital music and podcasts - great for listeners, indie artists, and huge companies(Virgin) - devastating to the soul of real LIVE music. In the age of information such opinions are fluid and under constant revision - ask me again next week based on current events and I may have a completely different answer. Get out and support a live artist before they're all dead and gone!!
A couple of Lennon-isms to live by:
"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality."
"If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."
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