SUMMARY: An example of what can happen when I sit down to write and get overpowered by the Music Muse.
I intended to simply tell readers about some online concerts and mini-retreats being offered by Grammy-winning pianist Peter Kater. At the same time in order to give folks a preview of my new website, I posted the info instead of emailing it. This was my simple plan.
As I started to compose, my simple plan decomposed, as the Muse overtook me and the following adventure emerged.
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Here’s a link to a post about my first meeting with Peter at a wonderfully intimate concert in Brooklyn on 8/1/18. Went there with two of my sangha buddies – Richie and Mike.
My post also contains a link to Peter’s YouTube channel where you can sample his healing offerings.
I decided to send you to my new website to view the post there. I figured we’re still in Lent and your Inbox might be observing a fast…
Well, that was all I had planned to say when the Music Muse overpowered me. See, I surrender easily to her Siren’s call as I first protest, “Don’t!”…”Stop!”…”Don’t!”…..”Stop!”…"Don't"…..…and somehow I’m soon sweetly singing, “don’t stop..don’t stop.don’t……"cause my mojo’s rising”. To avoid this becoming an extended edition email, I’ll leave it to you to look up mojo references for “Jim Morrison” and “Muddy Waters.” You’ll be rewarded for your efforts.
Anyone else remember this cool TV show?
“Trouble with you is the trouble with me
Got two good eyes but we still don't see”
--“Casey Jones” – Grateful Dead
“Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?
--Jesus (Mark 17-18 The Message version)
In the Matrix, note how Neo sees in a new way after being blinded…
Now, where was I going???… Ahh, got Casey’s train back on the rails…
Here’s my current favorite Peter Kater piece called “Heaven’s Window.” I sometimes listen to it for hours. Seems to fit right in with these reflective, meditative, monastic scenes…and our current global Corona Sadhana. Go with the flow for what we resist…persists.
My first website, like many things in life, is a work in progress. Everything…every one of us…is always changing…evolving…
The framing and sheet rocking on the site is done and I’m just doing some pre-move-in spackling, sanding and painting. Should be ready to go in a few days. At that time, I will send each of you an invitation to my new online habitation. Come hang out with me…In the meantime, feel free to look around.
“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” Romans 8:22-25 The Message (MSG)
P.S. As this email shows, on my new site there will always be wisdom and music from some of my greatest teachers – like: The One from Nazareth; those Other Ones from Palo Alto – the Grateful Dead; the mop-haired blokes from Liverpool - the Fab Four; and from the high desert of Albuquerque, New Mexico - my Franciscan guru, Fr. Richard Rohr.
In the meantime…Get out of the door, light out and look all around…....go out truckin’…....smell some flowers......…and...…“Let there be songs to fill the air”.....…and “may the music never stop.”
FYI - 1 - I included videos with concert footage in case this summer’s planned ones don’t happen : (((((
FYI - 2 – I linked to that 2015 Grateful Dead Chicago concert because it shows that the band and their music never stops – and neither should we! I love how Bob expresses this (around 7:25) with his exuberant repetition of “Never stop now…No, never stop now…No……” “Don’t stop!”
Boni (my plural of bonus, not to be confused with Bono) for reading this far:
My post from 2 years ago about the power of music as medicine. It was inspired by Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart’s work with scientists on using the power of music to help folks with various forms of cognitive impairment – as shown in the movie “The Music Never Stopped.”
OK, hope to see you online – and Yes, I’ll be wearing my Norton antivirus protection.
Peace,
tOM