Thursday, December 8, 2011

(non)-Violence: I gave her the gun!

I've always wondered how a group of people who can be so nonviolent when it comes to culture (opposed to violent television.. movies.. video games.. etc.)  can also be so very pro War when it comes to real life and real politics...

(Zen... can there be "real politics?").  

I'm not talking about self defense or even those who struggle between weighing the balance of the "necessary" war with the devestation and destruction that war actually causes... Im talking about those who treat war like it's the Suberbowl..

..Us against them...

..sitting down with popcorn.. in front of the TV watching bombs drop (on other human beings) through night vision.. on HD..

Im talking about making a War to market with it's own catch phrases (Shock and Awe)...

In my van.. There was a soulful distortion coming through the speakers... it was "Hey Joe..." (where you going with that gun in your hand?... Jimi Hendrix.. #198 on the list)... 

When Jimi sang "Hey Joe".. (cover... Not his original song).. it was to an anti-war crowd.. But "Hey Joe's" not an anti-war song... At least not the kind of War between nations... 

Rather... It's about a war between lovers.... a dude going down to "shoot" his "old lady" cause he caught her.. "messin round with another man"... 

disturbing. 

But to an anti war crowd.. in the mind.. it's jumbled and re-imagined..

a dude.. a GI (named Joe).. is going down (to war) to shoot an (ideologically) unfaithful lover.. 

Same words... different setting.. 
..suggesting a similar but different meaning.. (Zen)

Shocking.  

But poignant for it's time.   

Because that's how Art works... 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Local Music FRIDAY!


DECEMBER 9TH
AT THE CRYSTAL PISTOL
STREET LIGHT FIGHT
WITH JOHNNY BADSEED AND THE ROTTEN APPLES

more info
http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/220162681386394/?notif_t=event_invite

Also

DECEMBER 9TH
AT MAIN STREET TAVERN (BA)
ACOUSTIC SET WITH KEVIN SAC AND LARON SIMPSON

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Hey Joe (#198 in The List)


Released in December 1966, Hendrix's version became a hit in the United Kingdom, entering the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart in January 1967 and peaking at #6.[38] The single was released in the United States on May 1, 1967 with the B-side "51st Anniversary" but failed to chart.[39] "Hey Joe", as recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, remains the best known version of the song[6] and is listed as #198 on Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[40] In 2009 it was named the 22nd greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[41] "Hey Joe" was the last song Jimi Hendrix performed at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and as such, it was also the final song of the whole festival. The song was performed after the crowd, comprising the 80,000 who hadn't yet left the festival, cheered for an encore.[42]

For More Info Here's Wiki for What it's Worth:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Joe

Friday, December 2, 2011

What's in a name?

Another "lost" epistle. I write to you concerning "the name" dear brothers. Some of you.. knowing how incompatible our interests are with his interests.. wish to throw off "the name".

You say you remember him and the disconcerting images...

-40 days of desert sand matted on his malnourished face....

-crawling around on all fours like a shoe salesman.. water bowls.. with filthy feet in front of him and dirty bourgeois-rags... (how unnecessary that all was).

And In the end?... His wallowing and his leaderless Garden cries.

..(he writhed and complained all night long.. but who took care of all
his constituents and his remaining 11 when I left?).

And like you.. I too can hardly believe we all nearly fell for his "way". What results do we have of those who've turned the cheek?... only to have the entire head removed.

(How silly and foolish... What a waist.!).

Agreed!.. the business at hand should be about business.. the economy.. the making of money.. and the taking back of our nation.. legislation.. morality.. the American way etc..!

(not Love). - How Impractical!

Poor leadership indeed. I agree with you brothers. He (the man himself) would never stand up in a general election. And I'm not even sure he could clear the primaries.

The problem however.. with denying the name entirely.. is that it's been around for a very long time. There are generations and generations of donors and constituents who.. though agreeing with us solidly in spirit.. still continue to swear by "the name". (You know how tradition is).. And that.. for us.. poses a problem.

That said.. I believe what appears as weakness can be turned for our strength... should we be smart about it and play it just right.

The beauty of it is that it's almost as if they don't even recognize the discrepancy of it... the absolute antithetical nature of what he said and did with what we're trying to do.

He was never really comfortable trying to force or control or manipulate people into his will.
In fact. How Ironic it is that the man who resisted absolute power at every turn now has tons of followers seemingly Hell Bent on taking over all of society, culture and government.. in his name?

For all practical purposes they're dumb to his wishes.. And that works in our favor.

Of course there are some of them who resist..

insisting on living "counter-cultural" to the ways of the world... missional.. communal.. authentic..

..blah. blah. blah.

But the masses are confident and externally? they tend to question their orthodoxy.. internally? they tend to pity them as dreamers or pie in the sky idealists.

(I call them idiots).

In truth.. it's become entirely "normal" to use the name and yet mean it more generally.. say.. more like "palatable religion".. things that tend to lend themselves to our cause.

No brothers. "Christian" is the name we're stuck with.. We are "Christians".. though.. when we say it.. we dare not mean the old things... like treating people as you wanna be treated.. self sacrifice, mercy, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, etc.

Rather... we mean.. a "Christian Coalition" to restore "America" to it's original heritage.. (and to Hell with the rest).

Don't give up brothers. Our dream is around the corner. One day we'll feel free to give up the name (and the absurdity will come to an end). But in the mean time keep focus on the things at hand. Watch The polls.. Keep up with public opinion. And above all.. keep them directed to the web sites and the talk shows and the news shows that work so tirelessly on our behalf.

They'll all be rewarded for their faithfulness one day. And remember...

Im with you in spirit.

Kisses
-Judas


day dreaming.. I suddenly awoke sitting at a red light. .. dazed and confused (Zeppelin.. not on the list) and like the wax unstripped and sticky on the base of a theatre porn floor.. I felt dirty. I considered turning east but my blinker pointed west.. and so I stretched myself out as far as east is from west (Zen) but.... I vanished.

So instead I settled on West and turned left down highway 66.. going to California" (Zeppelin not on the list). And in my minds eye.. I could see palm trees in the distance as far as the eye could see.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

World Aids Day Tulsa: http://www.okeq.org/2011/11/01/world-aids-day-2/

On World AIDS Day, Circle Cinema will host a special premiere for the documentary We Were Here. The event will include a candlelight vigil, a RAIN Team reunion and performances by the Council Oal Mens Chorale and Sisters in Song.

wewereherefilm.com

This event is sponsered by Tulsa Reaches Out and the Tulsa AIDS Coalition. The film will continue showings from Dec. 1st – 8th at Circle Cinema.

Link to Oklahomans For Equality:
http://www.okeq.org/2011/11/01/world-aids-day-2/

Support Local Aids Organizations: http://www.csctulsa.org/content.php?p=135

The AIDS Coalition of Tulsa was founded in l988 to assist the Tulsa community in developing a coordinated response to AIDS. The Coalition is sponsored by the Community Service Council with support from the Tulsa Area United Way and meets monthly for an educational forum on HIV/AIDS issues.

The Coalition:

he H.O.P.E. Testing Clinic provides free confidential and anonymous testing for HIV infection.

Youth Services of Tulsa provides HIV education, counseling and testing for at risk youth in the Tulsa area.

Morton Health Services’ HIV prevention program targets African Americans and Hispanics, but all Tulsa are residents are welcome to contact Morton for HIV prevention education, counseling and testing.

Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma provides free and confidential HIV prevention education, counseling, and testing at their Clinic office, 1007 South Peoria.

The University of Tulsa Alexander Student Health Services offers HIV/STD education, counseling and testing. Free and confidential OraSure 20 minute HIV tests are also available at the Clinic.

The American Red Cross provides HIV/AIDS educators for schools and other community groups.

The HIV Prevention Program for Incarcerated Men and Women is a nationally recognized award winning program for educating inmates and their family members about HIV prevention.

Tulsa C.A.R.E.S., a United Way agency, provides many HIV care services for low income individuals and their families who are living with HIV/AIDS.

The OSU Internal Medicine Specialty Clinic provides medical care for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Our House II offers a gathering place for individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS.

Oklahoma Department of Human Services AIDS Information and Coordination Services is a free service for people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS to connect them to HIV care and other supportive services.

St. Joseph Residence is a residential care facility for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Hospice of Green Country, a nonprofit hospice dedicated to serving the critically ill including individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS regardless of the ability to pay.

For Links, and more info check out:
http://www.csctulsa.org/content.php?p=135

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Phoenix Rising Fundraiser (Support Local Tulsa):

Phoenix Rising Fundraiser Party Extravaganza
When?  Saturday.
Time?  8:00pm until 11:00pm..
Where? 6th & Xanthus (Tulsa Ok).
Donations at the door
Free Food
keg- $5/cup
Silent Auction
... Musical performances by:
*Verse
*Surfacer
*Don't Care Bears
*Music Genius Crew
& Johnny Bad Seeds and the Rotten Apples

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Personal Jesus (#377 on The List)


Your own
personal
Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own
personal
Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there



Feeling unknown
And you're all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer
Take second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confess
I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiverP
Reach out and touch faith
Reach out and touch faith


Your own
personal
Jesus...

Depeche Mode's song Personal Jesus, from their 1990 album Violator, has been interpreted in a variety of ways--from an assault on organized religion to an endorsement of Christianity--and lyricist Martin Gore thinks that's just fine. "He never explains the lyrics at all," says bandmate Andy Fletcher in Jonathan Miller's 2003 book Stripped: Depeche Mode. "I've heard about ten different interpretations of 'Personal Jesus' and that's what Martin really likes. . . The lyrics are very ambiguous, so although it could have been controversial, in fact it turned out not to be at all. Most people thought it was a pro-Christian anthem, which wasn't intended."

As its inclusion in these pages suggests, the inspiration for "Personal Jesus" came from a book, but it's not The New Testament, as one might think. According to Gore--who opened up about the song in an interview with Spin Magazine--the unlikely inspiration was Priscilla Beaulieu Presley's book Elvis and Me, written with Sandra Harmon and published in 1985, which chronicles her relationship with her late ex-husband, Elvis Presley. Gore told Spin:

It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way. We play these god-like parts for people but no one is perfect, and that's not a very balanced view of someone is it?

In the book, Priscilla Presley writes of Elvis: "Over the years he became my father, husband, and very nearly God."

Stripped: Depeche Mode (Kindle Edition)

(Secondary Source).
http://theclassicsrock.blogspot.com/2010/07/personal-jesusdepeche-mode.html

Monday, November 28, 2011

(s)exploitation

I was hungry

..and out of nowhere came the calming smell of bread... a smell from the factory on the corner.   

As I approached 11th street an 18 wheeler.. white with balloons... primary colors... Turned in front of me north onto the road... and in my minds eye Im inside the factory.  The red white and blue.. dangling from the rafters.

the factory Supervisor... a stern conservative looking man stands on a catwalk above the workers overlooking the Sunday morning process.

He watches it all protectively like a pimp but he raises his hand and makes the sign of the cross like a priest.. and with the hum of mass production..  Loudly he speaks.  

In the name of the Father... et Fìlii, et spiritus sancti.

The workers receive the yeasted ..dough....

It is risen.  The celebrant says.

Indeed.  It is risen.  Comes the response like gears grinding in a machine.. and then the dough..  mixed... now moves onto conveyor where it's chopped.. harshly broken by blades turning like film reels.

The Supervisor raises his hands.. open at shoulder height.

Excelsis..
Deo.

and with the words.. Clasps his hands together with a clap like a thunderous nut cracker.. and then he bows his head to pray...  Robotic.. and in sync to the metal parts around him.

The dough is carried by belt through a riser.. and then baked  Golden Brown.  Tan like freshly burned skin.

Body of Christ...  The celebrant say's  

Amen..  come the workers.

And The bread is moved through a Slicer.  Slicing at 65 loaves a minute.  And then...

it is finished.

What remains are 22 slices of bread per loaf...  Fully leavened.. divided.. and sent out to the world for the highest possible profit..  

Under the flag.. the packaged bread is loaded onto the truck for distribution...

unto all of those in the world..
who have the cash.  

The truck turns on to the street in front of me so that I have to slow down... 

As I near a stop.. I can hear words coming from inside the factory..

Ite Missa est.  Go in peace.  He says... And the truck travels on northward to the highway... like an outlaw heading for deadwood.

Friday, November 25, 2011

The Porn Within

I was hungry..

And suddenly I was Aware.  

My mind fell backwards like I was no longer driving but I was in class.  Not me, but someone like me.. or like them.. or like us.. in another time..

old-fashioned..

A sudden Spaghetti Western with a cowboy-amalgam of us all.. the Roy Rogers of the religious right....sitting in a Sunday school class hearing the pre-class babble of opinions and high pressure politics but under the surface?.. hidden safely from view was my thoughts..

..and I was watching some dude across the room eating the last donut....triggering in me the awful empty feeling of "nothing"... turning over in the gut.... (I was satisfied before that) and thinking how.. in the end.. everything looked and acted (and reacted) just like a machine..

..and how much, despite wanting to love thy neighbor.. I also wanted food like I could kill a man.  Like I could club him over the head with his own partially eaten arm.  Like if I could get a hold of it.. wrestle his beloved blueberry-glazed Sunday School cruller out from his hand.. Black Friday-style.. I'd strip away it's un-edibles (napkins etc) and with someone holding him at bay.. (with the necessities and the rights of war) I would devour it right in front of him.. BIG DOG eats first!.. But not before I held it in my hands like the last life vest on a sinking ship.. groping it like a consumer does STUFF.. a re-Marie Antoinette in an upper room watching them occupy the streets below.. and me?.. with hands clinched tightly like a ravished economy of cake falling carelessly below.. with fevered fervor.. and a confidence as if.. for the good of society.. the market had selected me as CEO for my bulging bank account and my bigger weapon.. a gun barrel of loaded capital... unregulated... untaxed.. and multiplying with excitement at a frenzy as I compounded it quarterly..

But then.. just like that.. I snapped out of it...
"occupy Wall-street"... I heard someone say.. rolled eyes... proud stares.

I was empty.
..my stomach growled and my face flushed red...

"stop bitching and get back to work".. came more words..  and others laughed.  

My palms were sweaty against my will..

Flesh.  I thought.

and now driving faster..  I realized the desperation of being trapped in a body.. and overly attached to my spine.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Support Local Artists

The American Theater Company, Tulsa is a resident professional performing arts theater company celebrating 42 years of live theater.

Check out these shows in December
Good Boys
Dec 2-10
Doenges Theater Tulsa Performing Arts Center

A Christmas Carol
Dec 8-23
Williams Theater Tulsa Performing Arts Center

For More Info
http://www.americantheatrecompany.org/

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Sympathy for the Devil (#32 on the List)

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me

(The Rolling Stones') album before beggars banquet. while containing no direct Satanic references, had been titled Their Satanic Majesties Request, and "Sympathy" (for the Devil) brought these concerns to the fore, provoking media rumours and fears among some religious groups that The Rolling Stones were devil-worshippers and a corrupting influence on youth.[3] The lyrics' focus, however, is on atrocities in the history of mankind, including the trial and death of Jesus Christ where "Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate". Also, including European wars of religion ("I watched with glee while your kings and queens fought for ten decades for the Gods they made"), the violence of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the 1918 massacre of the Romanov family ("I stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a time for a change, killed the Tsar and his ministers — Anastasia screamed in vain") and World War II ("I rode a tank, held a general's rank when the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank").[6]

(Keith) Richards said in a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, "Before, we were just innocent kids out for a good time, they're saying, 'They're evil, they're evil.' Oh, I'm evil, really? So that makes you start thinking about evil... What is evil? Half of it, I don't know how much people think of Mick as the devil or as just a good rock performer or what? There are black magicians who think we are acting as unknown agents of Lucifer and others who think we are Lucifer. Everybody's Lucifer."[9]

wiki for what its worth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathy_for_the_Devil

Monday, November 21, 2011

The Hugh Hefner on High


if skimpy bathing suits bother you... don't watch this. 

Strip clubs are one thing.. But Art Lovers have been looking at naked bodies for years.. Somehow the appreciation doesn't translate well in the faith world however.

But there is a middle way.

I've never quite felt comfortable with an anything goes approach to art ie... stuff like child pornography.. (Again.. see Rapha House and Black Box International to help sexually exploited children).. but I've never liked a "bubble-type" definition of what pornography is either.

Again... the Holy Book is filled with graphic and shocking descriptions of all kinds of things.

That said.. Nakedness is not porn. Nakedness is someones Vulnerability becoming something else...

What's the difference between describing a lovers naked body in an Ancient text.. and showing it as a piece of art on canvas.. in a photo.. or on film?..

..(or even the sexuality associated with it for that matter??).

on the other hand... PORNOGRAPHY ISN'T as much an image... As it is a mindset.. or an attitude.

PORNOGRAPHY itself IS MORE LIKE graphically taking a shotgun and blasting someones humanity...

words used to describe what porn looks like are words like..
exploiting
graphically dehumanizing
degrading
obscene
profane
each of those words require strict definition..

it can be confusing at times as some things that appear as porn aren't actually porn at all... and being able to successfully identify porn as porn is sometimes directly proportional to our awareness of our condition

example: the art may be (relatively) shocking but the artists intention may be the absolute opposite of say.. someone who.. for practical purposes.. is in the business of graphically killing people.
again.. pornographers degrade and exploit..... artists (sometimes) shock for a greater purpose.

on the other hand.. other things that seem benign (perhaps because of our callousness) are actually a major offense to human-kind and we never even realize it.

example: The 1915 film "The Birth of A Nation" portrays the KKK as a group of heroes to a Southern culture. It was well received (and artistically respected) as a major motion picture of its day... There is no nakedness or sexually explicit material in the film at all. But does it actually fit the usual porn criteria?...
..Exploitive? Dehumanizing? Profane? Obscene?

Wise people know the difference between literature like Lolita.. and child pornography.

Beyond that though.. only God above... (or the Hugh Hefner on High)... can truly identify pornography.. because pornography happens in the heart..

...and strictly speaking.. for legal purposes.. God doesn't seem to be speaking.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Next Four

80. "You Really Got Me" – The Kinks

82. "Blueberry Hill" – Fats Domino

84. "Every Breath You Take" – The Police
85. "Crazy" – Patsy Cline

Each week I purchase 4 more songs from the list that I don't already have.  These are the next four.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Supporting Homeless Children of Tulsa: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/content/youthdivision/resources/ttafactsheet.htm



Runaway and Homeless Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center assists 3rd party programs that have been granted assistance for coordination and training of Homeless youth and Runaway's.
 Your Tax Dollars Do This!




This is what they do.
Runaway and Homeless Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center Coordinates:

-Skill-based training sessions that provide opportunities for hands-on participation, direct observation, and expert feedback
-Distance learning training that focuses on core competencies needed by youth workers; courses are offered online and address topics such as Positive Youth Development, dynamics of runaway and homeless youth, cultural competency, crisis counseling, street culture, conflict resolution, resiliency, asset-based approaches, mental health issues, and staff safety and boundaries

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Technical Assistance Center offers:

-Intensive skill-based technical assistance for newly funded and/or inexperienced grantees
-Program-specific, individualized technical assistance through consultation; consultation may be provided onsite, via telephone, or through a combination of strategies that address and correct programmatic and administrative concerns
-Technical assistance that addresses the grantee’s program-specific needs, as identified by monitoring reports, Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information Systems data, and corrective action reports
-Information sharing, especially regarding new and emerging information concerning service provision and best practices
-Technical assistance clinics on targeted grantee issues

US Department of Health and Human Services.
Administration for Children and Families

Link:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/content/youthdivision/resources/ttafactsheet.htm

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Be Naked!

I'm not sure that just because someone can hear music.. it says anything at all about their ability to actually HEAR the music.. (Zen)

Art (like truth) communicates on multiple levels and it happens in ways that simply talking, teaching, etc.. can never do.

For instance, being naked is not always about being unclothed.  Sometimes it's about being real... or open.. or vulnerable..

In the perfect world... vulnerability is sexy.. (sexiness is not always about sex). 

And the title of my blog, "Blue Notes" refers to the blurbs... the words of my spiritual journey... my blog...

But it also refers to the specific musical notes that make the Rock N Roll/Blues tradition unique to any other music in history. Those notes are called "blue notes".

That said... In the metaphor of nudity.... musical notes.. just hearing vibratory sound pass incessantly over the tympanic membrane of my head is a routine mechanical function at best. It's more like dropping clothes for a flash-3-minute-shower on a cold clockwork Monday morning before work. There's no "sexy" in that.. Sometimes with tooth paste (and saliva) running down your face.. you just do what you gotta do.

But hearing the MUSIC.. Blue like it is.. as it swirls real.. lithe and light.. electric like a live-wire in the head... and the bed.

Now... That's like being Naked.

Be Naked!!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Support Local Musicians: www.RSU.edu/rsuradio.live.asp


Did you know RSU radio plays local music on Monday Nights? (7pm-9pm)

Local Flavors with David Souter is a radio show dedicated to playing only local music from around the Tulsa Metro Area.

Tune in to 91.3 FM every Monday from 7pm to 9pm for Tulsa's True Alternative.

www.RSU.edu/rsuradio.live.asp

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Get Up! (Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine) #334 on The List


Are you Ready for some 1970's Retro?

ARE YOU READY FOR THE SUPER BROTHER?

Get up
get on up
get up

Get on up
stay on the scene
get on up
like a Sex Machine.
Get on up
get up


Shake your arm
then use your form.
Stay on the scene

like a Sex Machine.
You gotta have the feeling
sure as you're born.
Get it together
right on
right on


By 1970, most members of James Brown's classic 1960s band had quit his act for other opportunities, and The Famous Flames singing group had disbanded, with original member Bobby Byrd the only one remaining with Brown. Brown and Byrd employed a new band that included future funk greats, such as bassist Bootsy Collins, Collins' guitarist brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins and trombonist and musical director Fred Wesley. This new backing band was dubbed "The J.B.'s", and the band made its debut on Brown's 1970 single "Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine". Although The J.B.'s went through several lineup changes, with the first change occurring in 1971, the band remained Brown's most familiar backing band.

  (wiki for what it's worth).



 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brown#1970s_and_the_J.B..27s

Monday, November 14, 2011

Get On Up!

I was probably gonna get lucky.

that's what I was thinking...

Which worked out well... since we were going to Vegas.  I was thinking about the Champagne waiting in our room

 (an anniversary surprise.. cause I'm that kinda guy).  

But I was also thinking about Sex

(cause I'm that kinda guy too).  

In my van I was leaving midtown but I was entering Motown.

"Sex Machine"... was playing.. James Brown (#334 on the list).. though I don't recall whether it was from my Ipod in the airplane way back then...  Or in the car.... speeding towards 11th street right here and now.

I remembered on the plane.. 2 rows ahead of me.. on the opposite side of the aisle.. I saw a preacher.. or a priest... or a minister of some sort.. (he was wearing a collar).. and suddenly I felt the overwhelming urge to confess.

I didn't do it.

What I would have said to him if I had confessed is "I'm sorry Holy Man.. I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

And in my minds eye the preacher would have said, "You seem troubled son...  Tell me what's on your mind".

And I would have said... You were right Father.  All of you in the 1950's and 60's were right...

Rock N Roll really is about Sex.

But Instead... I just sat there in my airplane seat... thinking about Champagne... and Sex.. And listening to.. "the God Father".. calling "It" up... like an ED add.

Get up!...
Get On Up! (echo)

As the plane taxi'd down the runway...  I imagined the Jet fuel spilling into "the can" for the 1500 degree pay off

(now that's hot)..

and the turbine engine lifted us off the ground.

And in the background.. I could hear him... still singing.

Get Up!
Get on Up! (echo)

And then.. suddenly.. we were gone!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Next Four

74. "Summertime Blues" – Eddie Cochran
75. "Whole Lotta Love" – Led Zeppelin


77. "Mystery Train" – Elvis Presley


79. "Mr. Tambourine Man" – The Byrds

every week I purchase and download 4 more songs that I don't have from the list. Here are the next four.

Friday, November 11, 2011

You Can Help with Poverty in Eastern Oklahoma http://www.cfbeo.org/AboutUs.aspx

You can help to prevent child homelessness in
Eastern Oklahoma by supporting local food banks that give drowning family budgets a breath of air.

The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma was founded in 1981 as the Tulsa Community Food Bank. They are the largest private hunger-relief organization in Eastern Oklahoma. Their mission is to feed the hungry of Eastern Oklahoma and engage our communities in ending hunger.
(from the website)
For more info:
http://www.cfbeo.org/AboutUs.aspx

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Sex Songs

Despite some of the terrible things that are done for the purposes of sexual gratification... (Penn State as a current reminder) there's nothing wrong with Sex as a human function.  

In fact.. I'm amazed at the tendency of people to live in a state of denial on this issue.  Trying to keep sex hush-hush is like trying to clean sand from the shore one grain at a time.  

Even when it gets squished down from conscious thought.. it squeezes itself out in other ways.. And what's left is always more dangerous than the first.. repression building to a boiling point..

or perversion

(see links below-.. Black Box International and Rapha House- for ways to fight sex trafficking)

or worse.. a concentrated false sense of piety... resulting in Fakeness.. Self-Righteousness and the big daddy of them all... Bootstrap-Pride.

Utah is the largest consumer of Internet Porn...  Why is that?

Again... It has me wondering if the bubble people have ever read their own Holy Books.  

In an ancient poem (part of the Hebrew Scriptures) a dialogue between two lovers.. the lover tells the beloved...

"You are a garden"... and then describes her body as a garden in poetic fashion... face.. neck.. breasts.. legs.. etc.

She responds to him...
COME INTO YOUR GARDEN.. she invites.    

Now...  As far as literary genres go... It's actually considered ancient erotic literature.

Strange cultural metaphors... sheep.... gazelles aside.. That's Hot.

Why don't we know about this??

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Support Local Musicians: http://www.shadeout.net/


Check Out This Local Band
Shade Out
http://www.shadeout.net/

New Album:
One of One Release Date - November 18th, 2011

Pre-Orders can be placed at - info@forwardslip.com - Reserve your copy today.

The CD cost is $10.00 plus Shipping. Please provide complete shipping address and contact information.

We will reply providing you the total amount of purchase including shipping cost to your address.

We will provide you the Pay-Pal Account information to make your payment.

Correspondence for the Band via FaceBook coming soon.

For More Info:
http://www.shadeout.net/

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Just Like Heaven (#488 on The List)


Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream" she said
"The one that makes me laugh" she said
And threw her arms around my neck
"Show me how you do it
And I promise you I promise that
I'll run away with you
I'll run away with you

According to Robert Smith, "The song is about hyperventilating—kissing and fainting to the floor." The lyrics were inspired by a trip with his then-girlfriend (and later wife) Mary Poole to Beachy Head in southern England. Smith said the opening line of the song ("Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick") refers to his childhood memories of mastering magic tricks, but added "on another [level], it's about a seduction trick, from much later in my life".[1]

wiki for what it's worth,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Like_Heaven_(song)

Monday, November 7, 2011

I'm the Woman

The interesting thing is.. in the story.. I'm the woman.  That's not anything Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson ever told us.
      
If there's a Yin and Yang of life.. a balance between 2 counterparts.. it seems to demonstrate itself in this thing between the universe and it's Universal.  The Chi and Me... and the harmony that happens between us.  Or in Jewish terms... The Lover  and it's beloved.

And for me.. the most interesting thing is that.. in the metaphor... I'm the woman.

Strangely.. that has me imagining Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in drag.    

Is anyone else disturbed by that besides me?

Saturday, November 5, 2011

The Next Four

69. "Crying" – Roy Orbison
70. "Walk On By" – Dionne Warwick

72. "California Girls" – The Beach Boys"
73. "Superstition" – Stevie Wonder

every week I purchase and download 4 more songs that I don't have from the list. Here are the next four.

Friday, November 4, 2011

The Homeless Children of Tulsa


Driving by local area shelters you will often see adults standing nearby or walking within the vicinity, but rarely are homeless children ever seen. Although it is comforting to try to tell ourselves there are no homeless children in Tulsa, a survey conducted this year yielded different findings.

The survey reflected the following;

•934 Homeless Adults
•124 Homeless Children
•334 Reported Being Homeless 1-6 Months

read the entire article
http://www.examiner.com/poverty-in-tulsa/homeless-children-tulsa

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Metaphors

On the one hand there's something not right in the universe.  If you try to sense it out.. you can feel it.  It's like a dissonance or a separation between things and people.. and it makes its way out into "the real world" by all sorts of things.. but specifically by way of all the -isms.

Sexism..

Racism..

Nationalism..(not the same as patriotism in my view) etc..

I was listening to the (The Reverend) Al Green driving down Sheridan Rd. and I was remembering this article I had been reading in a Religious magazine.  In the article this Religious musician was talking about music and how the music wasn't "Holy" enough he thought.. and that it was offensive to sing about God "as your girlfriend"... he said... like if there was this wall between "normal life".. and the higher "spiritual" world... an uncrossable line.. or a plastic barrier where things like "friendship"... or old fashioned "romantic love" (and sex) should never be allowed to mix with the higher (more important) things.. like doctrine.. and worship.. and church.. and God.. and I wondered if this guy had ever read his own Holy Book.....because there are tons of metaphors about this Universal "other"..- "God"... and us... (mankind).. as 2 Lovers.

The Jewish book (a lot like "the blues") poetically describes this separation we feel in the world.. and all the crap that goes with it as 2 Lovers... split by betrayal... the dissonance and the distance?... because we (generally speaking of humanity as a whole) no longer give a crap about our spiritual lover.. and as well..  no longer give a crap about it's Universal image (mankind... all people).. And As a Result?

Racism.. Sexism.. Nationalism etc.    

The Christian scriptures describe the healed Universe as "the Bride".. and compares it to the consummation of a marriage and a wedding party.. (for all) With Music.. and booze..

Jesus turned water to wine at a wedding

and Sex.

the Jewish wedding always began with the "union" of 2 lovers.  Sex...  and then the week long celebration afterward.

And with all this Party and Sex and Lover talk..  it tends to bring up this whole other thing for me when I listen to "normal" music.

Now when I hear just plain old Love songs...  Elton John.. The Doors.. Or (the Reverend) Al Green I can't hear them without thinking of this bigger thing on a Universal level.    

Love and Sex are Metaphors.

And the sad thing about it to me is that Religion can't get that.  When it comes to dissonance..  spirituality recognizes the separation and seeks to overcome it.

Religion perpetuate's it.  




 
  

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Support Local Artists


Club 209 The Arts Bar presents: Local Tulsa Artist Donna Louise Ham.. UNDER HIS WINGS, Nove 4-28. Reception is Nov 4th, 7-10pm.

www.club209tulsa.com
www.theprayinggirl.com

Support Local Musicians


Sunday Nov. 6th at the Yellow Brick Road Pub.

A Cozy Night Indoors with Johnny Badseed and the Rotten Apples, And Maria Fantasma, with Special Guest Eric Von Strauss, 2630 at 15th st. Tulsa Ok across the street from OZ, Music Starts around 10pm

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Light My Fire (#35 on the List)


Light My Fire
The Doors


You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire

The band appeared on various TV shows, such as American Bandstand, miming to a playback of the single, "Light My Fire" however the song was performed live by The Doors on The Ed Sullivan Show broadcast on September 17, 1967. The Doors were asked by producer Bob Precht, Sullivan's son-in-law, to change the line "girl, we couldn't get much higher", as the sponsors were uncomfortable with the possible reference to drug-taking.[5][6] The band agreed to do so, and did a rehearsal using the amended lyrics; however, during the live performance, the band's lead singer Jim Morrison sang the original lyric.[5]Ed Sullivan did not shake Morrison's hand as he left the stage. The band had been negotiating a seven-episode deal with the producers; however, after breaking the agreement not to perform the line, they were informed they would never do the Sullivan show again. Morrison's response was "We 'did' Sullivan."[7]

Wiki for What its good for...
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_My_Fire

Monday, October 31, 2011

If 66 was 69

What's out of bounds?  How far's too far?  Human Freedom (a big deal in the art world) gets little respect with the religious. 

Rather...  Rules....

Go here.  Don't go there.  Listen to this.  Don't say that....

Rules tend to be the "vision" for the world and it's problem... from the religious side... 

But if a turn around is what's expected of me.. A U-Turn of life... based on a long list of somebody else's do's and donts...  I can't do it. 

It doesn't work.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't say that cause I'm a bastard.. (no more than anyone else is..)  It's just the way it is. 

I was coming up heavy.. to a cross section of road.. approaching 11th street.... which in Tulsa Oklahoma is the famous.. nostalgic.. route 66.  (America's Main Street)..

On 11th street there are buildings with architecture common of most city streets.. fast food places.. mini strip-malls..

But there are classic buildings as well... 40's/50's type.. reminiscent of the types of things one might see traveling the classic highway.  Example?.. Tally's Cafe on the corner of 11th and Yale is a classic American Diner.. Sleek.. Sexy.. Red, Blue, and Yellow Neon.. 1950's sock-hop decor.

But.. like the 1950's.. (and in every pew.. in every church across this great land)... there's a whole other thing happening under the surface on 11th street.. (especially the further you get "downtown"...)

I mean that literally.. and figuratively.
If Tulsa is the Buckle of the Bible belt.. then there are places on 11th street that (to follow the metaphor).. are further down below..

...the zipper... get it..(Jimmy Swaggart?... the original open fly of the bible-belt).    

As I drove north down Sheridan Rd. I passed adult video stores.. converted buildings to strip clubs.. and the occasional motel (with "movies".. and hourly rates?).

Sex.  I said.

I was taken aback...

Sex is happening out here in Tulsa Oklahoma... 

For Heaven's sake.... What do you do with something like that?

Sunday, October 30, 2011

The Next Four

65. "Sunshine of Your Life" – Cream
66. "Redemption Song" – Bob Marley and The Wailers
67. "Jailhouse Rock" – Elvis Presley
68. "Tangled Up in Blue" – Bob Dylan

Each week I purchase 4 more songs from the list that I don't already have.  These are the next four.

Friday, October 28, 2011

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month


Oklahoma Project Woman is a comprehensive regional program for women who, because of financial hardship, may delay seeking medical attention.

Early detection through screening and awareness through education saves lives. Oklahoma Project Woman helps women be survivors instead of statistics.

http://www.oklahomaprojectwoman.org/

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Arrested Development

They told me not to get tattooed..  

It's in the bible they said...    

I've found that most people don't read the bible for information... As much as they read it for proof-texts.  (remember when people use to use it to justify slavery?).    

I've found.. they like to tie it all up for you neatly..  And then throw it up on your back...

But I've also noticed (as Jesus said once- Matt.23:4) they seldom lift a finger to help you carry the load.

That said.. I'm not overly concerned about whether my "outside" matches much with anyone'a approval.  And so my latest thing has been tattoos.  

In fact... early in life.. After music... Ink would have been my next stage of evolution.  That's not a punk thing... or a thug thing.  It's an artist thing.

But sadly.. my people didn't believe in evolution.. so I always remained exactly as I was.

Getting inked is like joining a club.. though there's definitely a hierarchy of commitment...

Forearms send you higher up the ladder.

Hands.. Neck...  All higher up the ladder..    

Thoughts are a dangerous thing... especially on the run.  Truth is I should be on my last inches of un-inked skin right now..  But instead.. I'm 41 and trying to prove this isn't just a mid life crisis...

(it is mid life... and a crisis.. but I should be doing it with a body full of ink!!!).

(*See above tab "Ink" for pics of Tattoos).  

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Support Local Art: Circle Cinema




Circle Cinema hosts a wide variety of special programs, including the following:
  
     -Opera in Cinema: Presented
       approximately once a month with
       Tulsa Opera and Emerging Pictures.
  
     -National Theatre Live from London:
       Live plays broadcast from London’s
       famous west-end National Theatre.
  
     -Midnight Movies: Cult classic films
       presented the last weekend of every
       month, Friday and Saturday at
       Midnight.

Support Local Cinema.  Support Local Art
http://www.circlecinema.com/

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Weight


I pulled into Nazareth, I was feelin' about half past dead;
I just need some place where I can lay my head.
"Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"
He just grinned and shook my hand, and "No!", was all he said.
Take a load off Annie,

take a load for free;
Take a load off Annie,

And (and) (and) you can put the load right on me.The Weight (#41 on the list)
The Band


According to songwriter Robbie Robertson, (of the band "the band") "The Weight" was inspired by the films of Luis Buñuel, about which Robertson once said:

(Buñuel) did so many films on the impossibility of sainthood. People trying to be good in Viridiana and Nazarin, people trying to do their thing. In ‘The Weight’ it’s the same thing. People like Buñuel would make films that had these religious connotations to them but it wasn’t necessarily a religious meaning. In Buñuel there were these people trying to be good and it’s impossible to be "good".[7]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weight

Monday, October 24, 2011

Shomer Shabbos!!!

dont watch this if language offends you


Are these the Nazis, Walter?


No Donnie.. these men are nihilists.  There's nothing to be afraid of..
-Walter
The Big Lebowski


Artists occasionally color outside the lines...  
.. there's no coloring in an evangelical bubble world however....  

There's no coloring because there's no color.  Everything in the evangelical world is black and white.
In fact..  there's a lot you can't do in a bubble world.  You can't ask too many questions.  You can't drink.. smoke.. or cuss.. (just the top 3 of an ongoing list).... And you sure as Hell can never ever.. for any reason.. ever admit you doubt.        

That said.. its hard to be real in a bubble world.  And I've always needed my reality to be more real than what's been allowed.  So thats why I had to go.

Don't get me wrong.. It's not that I don't believe in anything.            

People who believe in nothing are Nihilists... and while... Nihilists seem cool dropping ferrets in bathwater..  Or pissing on a rug.

"Did I urinate on your rug Mr Lebowski?"

They've never been a go to group for optimism...

Sometimes you gotta break the rules to keep the rules (Zen).  And Underneath the panic and angst.. and the Breaking of rules......rolling on Shabbos has always been about optimism for me...

..driving as if there's something out there is a faith of it's own....   
Shomer Shabbos.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Next Four

61. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" – Jerry Lee Lewis"
62. "Bo Diddley" – Bo Diddley
63. "For What It's Worth" – Buffalo Springfield
64. "She Loves You" – The Beatles

Each week I purchase 4 more songs from the list that I don't already have.  These are the next four.

Friday, October 21, 2011

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By JASON ASHLEY WRIGHT World Scene Writer
Published: 9/15/2011  2:25 AM
Last Modified: 9/15/2011  3:22 AM
reproduced from the Tulsa World

When Elian Hurtado found out she had breast cancer, she first thought of her children.
She sat in the doctor's parking lot, called a friend of hers and asked if she knew an attorney.
"I thought, 'I have to make an appointment because I need to do a will for my kids,' " she recalled.
But Hurtado wasn't resigned to the worst-case scenario. Instead, she educated herself and, above all, stayed positive.
"Breast cancer isn't a death sentence," said the 30-something mother of three, who was diagnosed in November 2008.
Now, Hurtado is cancer-free and a survivor, who will be among the thousands of women gathering downtown Saturday for the annual Komen Tulsa Race for the Cure.
She was too sick to attend the event in 2009, but she did in 2010, walking with her family and a couple of friends.
"That day, I turned the switch from breast cancer patient to a survivor because everyone who was there survived," said Hurtado, who "gets chills" when she thinks about the overwhelmingly positive experience she had at the last Komen Race for the Cure.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=425&articleid=20110915_43_D1_CUTLIN403929

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Imagination

 
The metaphor is perhaps one of man's most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic, and it seems a tool for creation which God forgot inside one of His creatures when He made him.

-José Ortega y Gasset,
The Dehumanization of Art (1925)

Artists Imagine...
It's a fact.

They have to. 
 
It's inherent in the functionality of an artist.  Artists that don't imagine are like un-wet water or sound without hearing (Zen).      

Surprisingly... there are a lot of similarities between faith and art..

-Artists have faith.. on some level.. that something can be known. (and communicated).  

Even the absurdity of Nihilistic art has faith that nothing matters.      

-People of (genuine) faith.. use their imagination as part of the faith process...  though admitting that makes us terribly uncomfortable... (we'd rather believe our experiences to be uncluttered of subjectivity).. we want them to be accepted as provable as the parting of waters.. or as certain as science.

-Artists visualize and imagine a thing... and then by way of metaphor or symbol.. (even if representationally) act to create.

-All peoples of faith imagine.. the supernatural world...  What God looks like... Divinity.. etc..   
..and by way of life as a metaphor.. act to recreate that life in the world.. (theoretically.. for the better..)...  It's really very existential.    

Both artists and people of faith deal with the expression of reality and truth.  Both experience inspiration..  subjectively and intimately.  Both struggle to get that inspiration out... into the "real".. "objective".. world... (whatever that means).

Both deal with the paradoxes and the absurdities of modern life.  Both struggle to communicate..... especially in a modern world...

Lastly...  unless you're famous... or workin for "the man".  There's little.. to no money in both art and faith.

Tulsa..
home of the original TV evangelists... workin for the other "Man" notwithstanding...

That Can Change!  Support Local Art!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Support Local Art


Welcome musicians, poets, actors, dancers, storytellers, etc... The stage is yours for the next 30 minutes!

Did you know tonight is Open Stage Tulsa at The Crystal Pistol? Support local Musicians, poets, actors, dancers, storytellers, etc at the Crystal Pistol Saloon tonight beginning at 8pm.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Imagine


Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
Maybe some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one.

John Lennon
Imagine (#3).



The song's central theme was inspired by Cloud Piece, a three-line instructional poem that appeared in Yoko Ono's 1964 book Grapefruit. The words were reproduced on the back cover of the Imagine album.[5]

In a 1980 interview with David Sheff for Playboy magazine, Lennon remarks on the message of "Imagine":

Sheff: On a new album, you close with "Hard Times Are Over (For a While)". Why?

Lennon: It's not a new message: "Give Peace a Chance"—we're not being unreasonable. Just saying "give it a chance." With "Imagine" we're asking, "can you imagine a world without countries or religions?" It's the same message over and over. And it's positive.[6]

Ono indicated that the lyrical content of "Imagine" was "just what John believed—that we are all one country, one world, one people. He wanted to get that idea out."[4]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_(song)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Superstars


There had been a thin... silver.. rosary with small wooden beads hanging from my rearview mirror once.  Now there was just a blank place in the space where it used to live.   

I took it down a few years ago. 

I'm not catholic...  Traditionally Im an evangelical.   


evangelicals dont trust rosary's

It was a gift from my uncle.  I use to keep it as a visible symbol of real humanity to me (among other things).

Imaginatively.. rosaries and the creative process go hand in hand..  though we don't often think of it that way.  (Some do).  Evidently Andy Warhol was one who made the connection...

A closet churchy. (That's one of the most recent acknowledgments from researchers and biographers).  The suggestion is that Andy Warhol with his Byzantine Catholic family background, secretly kept a home altar.. a crucifix.. and a catholic prayer book on his bedside table... as it's also affirmed by Warhol's brother and the Pastor of a church near "The Factory" (his art studio) that the artist visited the church "almost daily"... usually coming in the mid-afternoon.. lighting a candle.. and praying for about 15 minutes before leaving back out into the fame and pop art culture of Andy Warhol's New York City.  (1.  See link to article below). 


If you were to take the artist and his art at face value... the two images would seem paradoxical or controversial at best.  He hung mostly with "disreputable characters".. transvestites... and misfits.. friending them and also making use of them in his art.  (His "Superstars")..

But that's the problem with the face-value treatment of the modern world.  There's always something more under the surface.. something that lives in both places.. doesn't quite match the visual.. the things we're shown.. the things.. sometimes.. we choose to see.

Andy Warhol hung with his superstars because they were two of a kind.. both.. "characters".. living in a pop-artificial world.. keeping the common secret underneath.. of course.. that misfits are people too.

The most powerful thing a person can give is the recognition of another's humanity... that's why I think its interesting that Warhol could have been a churchy.. (though it appears to have been very private to him).. because hanging with the misfits was very Jesus-like. Something religious people don't often get. 

1.
http://spacecollective.org/Reckon/3347/Andy-Warhols-Secret
   

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Next Four

55. "Long Tall Sally" – Little Richard
56. "Anarchy in the U.K" – The Sex Pistols
57. "Whiter Shade of Pale" – Procol Harum
58. "Billie Jean" – Michael Jackson

Each week I purchase 4 more songs from the list that I don't already have.  These are the next four.

Friday, October 14, 2011

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month


Judi Grove, was in the insurance industry for over 23 years. In January, 2007 she faced a breast cancer scare. She wanted to make a cast of her breasts in case the diagnosis indicated a mastectomy was necessary. Needing the materials to do this, She contacted Nancy Coryell, owner of Anticipation Ultrasound Studio in Tulsa, OK, who sold "belly casting kits" to pregnant women. When they met they agreed there was a need to raise awareness in their own community and beyond. Together they started Breast Impressions.

Breast Impressions first mission was to offer breast casting kits to women who have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer and would like to make a "memory" of their own breast prior to surgery. Since their inception well over 200 breast casting kits have been sent free of charge to women across the world.

Now Breast Impressions is working with leagues of the Women's Flat Track Roller Derby Association to raise awareness and fund raise for their local breast cancer programs, clinics and support groups in cities across the United States!

Always looking for new ways to reach women and men, Judi welcomes invitations to speak with churches, civic groups, and sports organizations to help save lives through early detection.


http://www.breastimpressions.com/

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Bubble Church


When I checked my rearview mirror... I could see the church in the distance.. A large building with large walls... built sturdily to ride the storm like a mighty Ark.  But instead of a rainbow arched over the top (evangelicals no longer believe in rainbows).. I saw a giant transparent sheet of plastic... domed over the roof.  A see-through protective barrier like a  bubble boy.  Except it was a bubble church.... Isolated from the contaminates of the world... disconnected from everything... from life.... from other churches.. from reality..

...from everything but it's dogmatic doctrines.. conservative cohorts.. and peer pressure politics.

As it turns out... there's a whole world that exists out here.. and so Im wondering how it all ever got locked down to (relatively) a few people... inside a few buildings... for a few hours on a Sunday morning. 

I needed it all to be bigger.  And what I wanted to know was... is there anything else out here?...anything in the world besides strained bootstraps and disapproving eyes.

My eyes scanned the streets and sidewalks for signs of life...  and I rememberd 11th street.. which in Tulsa Oklahoma is route 66...

maybe I'd head up North to Chicago or out West to California...

Then I turned my head down.. and turned off of 71st street north... down Sheridan Rd. towards 11th street... Waving bye-bye to the church and it's Tulsa sized Bible Belt... all the way singing Walk on the Wild Side... (Lou Reed.. #223 on "the list" ).  

Disclaimers:
1).  This is a blog about the journey of life.  It's not about religion.  For me.. it involves religion at times because that's part of my journey.
2).  my church is not off of 71st street.  I changed the street name to protect their identity.
3).  The religious issues I have aren't with a church...  But a movement (primarily evangelical fundamentalism as it exists). 
4).  There are people in this group who've committed their lives to love without condition.  They are a minority but they are persistent.  Im incredibly thankful for these people.  God Bless. 

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Support Local Music

Did you know 104.5 plays Local Music?
Listen to Local Music... Home Grown Sunday Nights on
104.5 The Edge.

Homegroan airs Sunday Nights 11pm to 1am with Drew and Ashlee!  Can't get enough of local music?  Check out TulsaOriginalMusic.com, Local Music 24/7!
http://www.edgetulsa.com/music/homegroan.php

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Walk on the Wild Side (#223 on the list)


Sugar Plum Fairy Came And Hit The Streets
Looking For Soul Food And A Place To Eat
Went To The..
 Apollo,
You Should Have Seen Him Go Go Go - They Said:
Hey Sugar, Take A Walk On The Wild Side,
Said Hey Honey, Take A Walk On The Wild Side.

Walk on the Wild Side
Lou Reed

In the 2001 documentary Classic Albums: Lou Reed: Transformer, Reed says that it was Nelson Algren's 1956 novel, A Walk on the Wild Side, that was the launching off point for the song, even though the song grew to be inhabited by characters from his own life...

The lyrics tell of a series of individuals and their journeys to New York City, and refers to several of the regular "superstars" at Andy Warhol's New York studio, The Factory, namely Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Joe Dallesandro, Jackie Curtis and Joe Campbell (referred to in the song by his nickname Sugar Plum Fairy). Candy Darling was also the subject of Reed's earlier song for The Velvet Underground, "Candy Says".


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_on_the_Wild_Side_(Lou_Reed_song)