Happy Birthday, JERRY!!! T house and August moon Was closing up shop for the night when I caught a glimpse of tonight’s “cold-hearted orb that rules the night…removes the colors from our sight…” Another interpretation is provided by the lyrics in "Standing on the Moon" (link below) - where the viewer's heightened perspective enables them...enlightens them to see more and all around the world....beauty as well as suffering...(see info under Molly Tuttle's cover of this song for link to annotated lyrics site that mentions the suffering that can be seen from this heightened awareness) August 1: Full Moon My mental wordplay processor formed:“T house and August moon”: First letter of my first and last names (*) I snapped this photo from behind our house It’s August It’s a FULL moon (*) Hmm...in places where reincarnation is part of the belief system...people can never have a "LAST" name...that is, until they've fulfilled ALL of their karma... What follows here in these reflections (of the moon) is yet another example of the importance of HOW we see...Am I staying open and receptive?...OR, is my mind closed figuring I already know everything about what I'm exploring...? As I looked up the plot line in the film "Teahouse of the August Moon", I read that part of the story dealt with the occupying forces trying to Americanize the local people of Okinawa after the war. Doctrine of Discovery Hmm…earlier today, I was in conversation with a friend who reminded me of how our country and others did similar injustices to their land’s original inhabitants, including forcibly removing children from their parents to strip away their culture, and even forbidding them to use their native language. For more on these cruel practices see the end of this post for a link to the doctrine of discovery post with its description of the unholy alliance between church and state. These practices resulted from an UNholy alliance between church and state...one that benefited both of them at the expense of the victimized lands' first nations. "We were planting corn and they were planting crosses." ~ Faithkeeper Oren Lyons John Lennon's arm is around Oren's shoulder. The man to Yoko's right is Chief Leon Shenandoah, a tribal leader who headed the Haudenosaunee ( Iroquois) Confederacy from 1968 to his death. The injustices and cruelties that resulted will be explored further in an upcoming post. In the meantime, here's an earlier related post: With G-d on our Side: The Doctrine of Discovery, unHoly Roman Empire & other matters... JERRY, Fare you well my only true one... "The Wheel" - Jerry Garcia (04:02) [from video's description] "The Wheel" from Jerry Garcia's debut solo album 'Garcia'. Written by Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia. Video directed & created by Justin Kreutzmann. http://www.JerryGarcia.com Molly Tuttle - Standing On The Moon (Grateful Dead Cover - Official Music Video) (04:59) Standing on the moon I see the battle rage below Standing on the moon I see the soldiers come and go There's a metal flag beside me Someone planted long ago Old Glory standing stiffly Crimson, white and indigo - indigo I see all of Southeast Asia I can see El Salvador I hear the cries of children And the other songs of war It's like a mighty melody That rings down from the sky Standing here upon the moon I watch it all roll by - all roll by The Annotated "Standing On the Moon" - David Dodd (1997-98 Research Associate, Music Dept., Univ. of California at Santa Cruz) I discovered Molly while searching the heavens for this year's July Super Moon post: Join Me for some LUNAR SEE that's sure to leave us HOWLIN' at the Moon... Jerry Garcia Week: 9 Daze of Haight --the next 8 days in last year's series are listed sequentially on the site. This initial post begins with these images. #music #JerryGarcia #moon #OrenLyons #MollyTuttle #JohnLennon #DoctrineOfDiscovery #DavidDodd

INDEX to this CODEX PREFACE CHAPTER 1: FOUR Play CHAPTER 2: Poetry helps us experience our commonality CHAPTER 3: Weekly Poetry Readings on the Schoolhouse Green CHAPTER 4: WE learn more by doing it WRONG, Huh? CHAPTER 5: Xcised Words CHAPTER 6: Poetry on trial in "The Wall" CHAPTER 7: Reading Between the Lines (songs that breathed inspiration into these musings) CHAPTER 8: A friend says there's a Grateful Dead Song for Every Occasion NUMBER 9: Revolution 9 CHAPTER 10: WORDPLAY LIST (all songs in post) PREFACE Last evening (7/24), Eileen and I went back to the Gazebo on Oceanside’s Schoolhouse Green for our second “Poetry Under the Stars” event. As was the case last week, we went to hear a friend’s spoken words. See "Chapter 3" below for location, dates, times and Zoom link. CHAPTER 1: FOUR Play I woke up this morning and went from bed to verse… Dear Cadence, won’t you come out tonight Miss Spelling mused about 4 letter words Saying while 3 is Trinitarian 4 is Humanitarian Her first name has 4 - ending with" e" Herman- my Dad's last name ended with "n" 2 that is And to emphasize this when MY name is misspelled I say 2 please adding, while I’m a tit MANN I’m also a leg man Of the 4 letter words I was waiting to hear 1 And I was in luck 1 gal had the pluck to actually say Fuck Some used their pauses Another her paw’s All spoke from their lives and one from her best friend’s 1 that is…not feline 9 They spoke with their bodies One added purple plumage Memories emerged and with them emotions Of loved ones now gone but never forgotten 1 shared things not often spoken His words sounded like mine His inner world now exposed Awakening compassion But also concern… Wondering…where it will go? I’ve been in my mind it’s such a fine mind Ah, but 1 reader reminded us of a place even better…it’s heart shaped…a shelter from the storm Another’s project brought us to the projects Powerfully, where she demanded and earned respect 1 offered bacon and repeatedly so At 1 more mention I was ready to show her I’m not too proud to beg or rub against her leg Reader, remember that “god” is just “dog” spelled backwards “Ennui” was introduced - a word not often heard And certainly not experienced by any listeners on the Green... ...As we were collectively and individually being transported to lofty and deeply spacious places. Had to interject an adverb or 2 to pay homage to 1 of the evening’s wordsmiths Big bright green pleasure machine “Ennui” was paired with “Henry” - possibly by the artist who counted cross stitches…Was it Henri the First…or the Eighth? Or the hippie on his mission across the border? NRPS As I shared this today, Eileen broke her silence with a memory that's fit Seems Herman the hermit like every proper Brit never pronounces his "H's" Giving us "enry" N...R...Eee Reminded me that the poet who's name included an "e" Also complained when folks added an "h" to her 4-letter last name Mixing her with rabbi's and guys named "Myron" Is counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike The same as on Foxhurst Road? Together, as fellow humans, we sat under the stars And allowed the words of poets to show us our commonality - each in their own ways And for our unique paths... Dear Canine, glad you came out last night… CHAPTER 2: Poetry helps us experience our commonality Humaniversal - Miten (03:39) Note: I took my website's name from the title track on this album. Also saw them in NYC's Town Hall. The words of the prophets are written on subway walls, tenement halls…and black pick-up trucks… Let us who have eyes…ears…and hearts… CHAPTER 3: Weekly Poetry Readings on the Schoolhouse Green Oceanside Library & Kiwanis Summer Gazebo Readings --location, dates, times and Zoom link. 7:00 PM to 8:30 (approx.) Every week on Mon, until Aug 28, 2023 School House Green 1 Foxhurst Road Oceanside, NY 11572 BRING A CHAIR CHAPTER 4: WE learn more by doing it WRONG, Huh? Blog post link Mistakes - Mary C M Phillips (01:10) Mary introduces this work as "Dear Mistakes"...adding that she could also say "Dear Regrets"... My Franciscan Guru - Fr. Richard Rohr says that we learn MORE by doing it wrong. Huh? Curious? Then take the first step...The step, poet David Whyte tells us, is the step we DON'T want to take... We Learn by Doing It Wrong - Center for Action and Contemplation Monday, March 27, 2023 Start Close In - David Whyte (02:50) CHAPTER 5: Xcised Words In these videos, George bemoans the facts that there isn't a list of words we can't use...BUT, instead, have to say one FIRST to find out they ARE NOT PERMITTED.... VIEWER ALERT/FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS George Carlin - 7 dirty words (best part) (09:47) George Carlin on Being Arrested for Performing "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" (15:43) This guy at the event was wearing his First Amendment tee... CHAPTER 6: Poetry on trial in "The Wall" Powerful cadence in these repeated lyrics from "Another Brick in the Wall": We don't need no education We don't need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the classroom Teachers leave them kids alone Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall Official Music Video (06:00) --The crime and punishment begin at 00:59...and is repeated in several places... CHAPTER 7: Reading Between the Lines (songs that breathed inspiration into these musings) Dear Prudence (Remastered 2009) (03:55) Dear Prudence - Beatles (03:55) Poetry in Motion - Johnny Tillotson (02:39) Humaniversal - Miten (03:39) Fixing a Hole - Paul McCartney (03:08) Heart of Gold - Neil Young (03:10) Shelter from the Storm - Bob Dylan (10:20) Ain’t Too Proud to Beg - Temptations (02:26) Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine - Simon and Garfunkel (02:45) Henry the Eighth/VIII - Herman's Hermits (02:03) Henry - New Riders of the Purple Sage (05:14) America - Simon and Garfunkel (03:26) The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel (02:53) Woodstock ("we are stardust") - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (04:25) Dear Prudence - Jerry Garcia Band (10:20) Revolution 9 - The Beatles (08:08) Another Brick in the Wall Official Music Video - Pink Floyd (06:00) CHAPTER 8: A friend says there's a Grateful Dead Song for Every Occasion Jerry Garcia Band - Dear Prudence - 3/1/1980 - Capitol Theatre (Official) (10:20) NUMBER 9: Revolution 9 Revolution 9 - The Beatles (08:08) CHAPTER 10: WORDPLAY LIST (all songs in post) #music #humor #poetry #Oceanside #MaryPhillips #AnneCoen #wordplay #RichardRohr #CenterForActionAndContemplation #CAC #DavidWhyte #Beatles #JohnnyTillotson #Miten #PaulMcCartney #NeilYoung #BobDylan #Temptations #SimonAndGarfunkel #HermansHermits #NewRidersOfThePurpleSage #CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung #JerryGarciaBand #GratefulDead #PinkFloyd #GeorgeCarlin

For info about next Sunday's World Peace Day Vigil in Bellport (Aug. 6), please go to the end of the post.. What follows are my personal reflections on this matter of life and death...Of course, they include music... The time for peace is NOW...I swear it's not too late... Judy Collins & Pete Seeger - Turn! Turn! Turn! (04:32) THE BOTTOM LINE...OR, The BUCK $tart$ here... Our leaders – political and higher up (those that pull the politician$' $tring$ (i.e., pur$e $tring$) – bear the direct responsibility for ALL suffering and death caused by wars. (See “Home Work” at end of post) The average “Joe” and “Jane” in every country on our shared planet simply wants to live their lives in peace… "All we are saying is give peace a chance..." This is NOT nuclear medicine... Oppenheimer | Official Trailer (02:02) Air Raid "Yoga" in Grade School I was in grade school in the 50’s. We had air raid drills and hid under our desks….tucked in our arms and legs…and practiced kissing our sweet asses GOOD-BYE! How ‘Duck-and-Cover’ Drills Channeled America’s Cold War Anxiety [from article] Amid an escalating arms race, civil defense drills offered comically simple strategies for surviving an atomic attack. Duck and Cover: Civil defense for schools - Library of Congress (09:27) It was a Gay day... “It was a grey day, that least fleshly of all weathers; a day of dreams and far hopes and clear visions. It was a day easily associated with those abstract truths and purities that dissolve in the sunshine or fade out in mocking laughter by the light of the moon. The trees and clouds were carved in classical severity; the sounds of the countryside had harmonized to a monotone, metallic as a trumpet, breathless as the Grecian urn.” --F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Side of Pardise Aftermath – Science.org July 23, 2020 By allowing scientists to study their suffering, atomic bomb survivors have transformed our understanding of radiation's health effects. [Article’s opening] HIROSHIMA—Kunihiko Iida wants the world to know that the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago next month are still claiming lives and causing suffering. The White Rabbit…DIED – The Enola Gay (flying in for the Jefferson Airplane) When the men in the war room Get up and tell it where to go And you've just felt the blast from the mushroom And your mind just can’t be found Go ask Enola I think she'll know When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Britannica --great piece on the development of the bomb beginning in 1939 MUSHROOM Clouds (thanks, Joni!) Rows and floes of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air And feather canyons everywhere I've looked at clouds that way But now they only block the sun They rain and snow on everyone So many things I would have done But mushroom clouds got in my way But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say I've changed Well something's lost, but something's gained In surviving another day OMD - Enola Gay (Live at Royal Albert Hall 2016) Song references the time of the devastation: Credit BRIAN BRAKE / SCIENCE SOURCE / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Caption Hiroshima clock. A charred clock, stopped at 8.15 in the morning, the moment when the atomic bomb devastated Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August 1945. Dropped by the US Air Force, the 'Little Boy' uranium bomb was the first nuclear bomb used in anger. It exploded 580 metres above the city of Hiroshima with a force of 12,500 tons of TNT. It killed 140,000 people by the end of 1945, and a further 60,000 from wounds or radiation sickness by 1950. Whenever the clock rings at 8.15 o’clock … the soul of the people of this country trembles, what is the story of the ‘wretched clock’? [from the article] ‘I won’t be able to forget even after 100 years’ The plane’s co-pilot, Captain Lewis, recorded this sight in his logbook, which is the only existing record of that mission. Robert A. Lewis wrote in his logbook, ‘Oh my God! What have we done? Even if I lived for 100 years, I would never be able to get those few minutes out of my mind. He described it as the ‘worst blast ever’. This logbook, written with pen and then pencil, was sold at a heritage auction a few months ago for about Rs 4 crore. Dis-HARM-amen-T "All we are saying is give peace a chance..." GIVE PEACE A CHANCE. (Ultimate Mix, 2020) - Plastic Ono Band (official music video HD) (04:55) It's worth singing again...and with new visuals... Give peace a chance – John Lennon (02:19) Glow in the Park… Forever... Candles in the Park (from the album Gallery) (05:41) …Not in the Dark This image immediately reminded me of my favorite jam band…the one we can always count on when we’re in a jam…Curious? See this post: Red, Take my advice you'd be better off DEAD... Playing for Change: Peace Through Music Playing for Change – Peace Through Music (2021) --16 Episodes 88 Artists from 24 Nations Peace Through Music: A Global Event for the Environment | 200+ Artists Unite to Save Our Planet (58:58) [from video’s description] Join Playing For Change and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for Peace Through Music: A Global Event for the Environment, presented by Corning® Gorilla® Glass, an online event that seeks to unite the world in taking action for a sustainable future, advance progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and amplify the voice of the most left behind, including Indigenous communities, whose knowledge and wisdom can help show us the way forward but is often unheard. Featuring performances by Baaba Maal, Ben Harper, Black Pumas, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jack Johnson, Jake Shimabukuro, John Paul Jones, Keb' Mo', Lee Oskar, Liniker, Mickey Hart, Paula Fuga, Rhiannon Giddens, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Rosanne Cash, Sara Bareilles, Sikiru Adepoju, Slash, Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction), Taj Mahal, The Lumineers, The Pocket Queen, Tony Kanal (No Doubt), Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Zakir Hussain and more. Narrated by Robbie Robertson and Sir David Attenborough. All net proceeds will go to organizations that prioritize real time solutions that facilitate environmental justice and sustainability, including Conservation International, American Rivers, REVERB, and the Playing For Change Foundation. Part of the funds raised will advance education programs led by the Playing For Change Foundation with the support of UNFPA to positively impact the lives and choices of adolescents and youth around the globe. When the music's over...turn ON the Lights... After-school Activities The American Ruling Class Trailer (01:54) 2023 NNSS Course - Brookhaven National Laboratory Nuclear Nonproliferation, Safeguards, and Security in the 21st Century This Course will be held at Brookhaven National Laboratory July 17–26, 2023 [from the site] This course is designed to give students a sound understanding of the framework created by the international community to address the threats of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. The focus is on the central element of this regime, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its verification mechanism, the IAEA safeguards system. The course presents students with critical assessments of current nonproliferation issues, confronts them with the hard choices needed to address them, and provides in-depth analysis of the technical and legal framework needed to assess policy options. Exercises and demonstrations introduce students to the techniques and technologies of international safeguards and the challenges faced by international inspectors in the field. Above all, the course aims to give participants the knowledge, analytic tools, and the motivation to contribute to the improvement of the nonproliferation regime. Dr. Strangelove: Or, how I stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb Dr. Strangelove Film Ending (07:02) Info & Contacts for the Sunday World Peace Day Vigil in Bellport Info: Sun. Aug. 6, 2023 @ 5 pm - 41st Annual World Peace Vigil & Community Dedication to Peace Contacts: South Country Peace Group Website Email:southcountrypeace@outlook.com Building Bridges in Brookhaven Website Email: buildingbridgesbrookhaven@gmail.com Facebook: @buildingbridgesinbrookhaven Other posts in this series Sun. Aug. 6, 2023 - 41st Annual World Peace Vigil & Community Dedication to Peace Red, Take my advice you'd be better off DEAD... #music #peace #WorldPeaceDay #nuclear #bomb #Hiroshima #Nagasaki #BuildingBridgesInBrookhaven #SouthCountryPeaceGroup #JudyCollins #PeteSeeger #OppenheimerMovie #EnolaGay #OMD #OrchestralManoeuvresInTheDark #BrookhavenNationalLaboratory #PlayingForChange

This first section is from another post in this series on World Peace Day: Aug. 6 THE BOTTOM LINE...OR, The BUCK $tart$ here... Our leaders – political and higher up (those that pull the politician$' $tring$ (i.e., pur$e $tring$) – bear the direct responsibility for ALL suffering and death caused by wars. (See “Home Work” at end of post) The average “Joe” and “Jane” in every country on our shared planet simply wants to live their lives in peace… "All we are saying is give peace a chance..." Politicians Throwing Stones Commissars and pinstripe bosses roll the dice Anyway they fall, guess who gets to pay the price? Money green, or proletarian gray Selling guns instead of food today Heartless powers try to tell us what to think And the rich man in his summer home Singing just leave well enough alone But his pants are down, his cover's blown And the politicians throwing stones (there's more below...) GRATEFUL DEAD join1968 protest at Columbia University Revisit the Grateful Dead's powerful gig at a protest against the Vietnam war, 1968 – Far Out Magazine [clips from this "Grate" article] The Dead had been invited to perform as the tensions within New York’s Columbia University reached fever pitch. The university wanted to build a military gym, not on campus but in the nearby Morningside Park, which would border Harlem. As well as being set to feature segregated entrances, protests began almost instantly as the displacement of the African-American residents who used the park regularly became apparent. What’s more, as Open Culture reports, the Student for a Democratic Society had also discovered links between the university board and the Department of Defense. The two events combined to make a particularly unhappy student body being to revolt. The band’s Mickey Hart recalled how they managed to defy security and sneak themselves on campus: “[Grateful Dead manager] Rock [Scully] reached out to the strike organisers and offered to do a free show for the students. Always up for an adventure, we of course, went right along.” Adding: “Since the police and guards were closing off access to the majority of the campus – we were ‘smuggled’ on campus to Low Library Plaza in the back of a bread delivery truck. Equipment and all. We were already jamming away before the security and police could stop us.” I Was There...with friends...as "rent-a-cops"... As I’ve written in other blog posts, me and my friends were on Columbia’s campus at this very time…working as "rent-a-cops" (security guards) to protect their buildings from students just like “US”. We were working for the Wackenhut Security Corporation. If you have some time, follow the rabbit down their trail... See, we were earning money for the first of several surfin’ safari’s to Callie. To get this gig, we had to disregard CSN&Y’s message in the song "Almost Cut My Hair" -See below... Grateful Dead - 05-03-1968 Columbia U. (video) (10:00) --be sure to read the story in the description Grateful Dead 5-3-68 Columbia University (08:24) Next offering is courtesy of Bert in the "Duck and Cover" video in the other post...BUT, it's not a cover band but the real DEAL... Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station/Estimated/Eyes/NFA/GDTRFB/Around and Around - 5/26/77 Baltimore, MD (1:03:29) "While the story teller speaks A door within the fire creaks Suddenly flies open And a girl is standing there Eyes alight with glowing hair All that fancy paints as fair She takes her fan and throws it In the lion's den Which of you to gain me tell Will risk uncertain pains of hell? I will not forgive you If you will not take the chance" Counting stars by candlelight All are dim but one is bright The spiral light of Venus Rising first and shining best I can't figure out Terrapin If it's the end or beginning Terrapin Fire...Door flies open...Glowing hair - all pretty obvious effects of a nuclear holocaust Candles because the grid has been destroyed The end of the world as we know it... "GYM" CROW How Columbia’s Student Uprising of 1968 Was Sparked by a Segregated Gym - History.com [from this article] The ‘Gym Crow’ controversy became a flashpoint at an already volatile university. If you walked across the campus of Columbia University in April 1968, you may have been handed a typewritten flyer inviting you to a campus protest. “The big steal is on,” it declared. Columbia was in the process of stealing land and resources from nearby Harlem, the flyer claimed—and students could help stop it. The students who passed out those flyers may not have realized it, but soon they’d be part of a controversial occupation of Columbia University that would spark one of the largest mass arrests in New York City history. By the end of the uprising, five university buildings would be taken over by nearly 1,000 protesters and the campus would be on lockdown after its dean was taken hostage. And the gym that partially sparked the protest, which was mockingly called “Gym Crow” by its detractors, would become a symbol not only of the unrest, but of an epic struggle between a historic university and the broader community. Politicians Throwing Stones Throwing Stones Lyrics By: John Barlow Music By: Bob Weir Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free Dizzy with eternity Paint it with a skin of sky, brush in some clouds and sea Call it home for you and me A peaceful place, or so it looks from space A closer look reveals the human race Full of hope, full of grace, is the human face But afraid we may lay our home to waste There's a fear down here we can't forget Hasn't got a name just yet Always awake, always around Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Now watch as the ball revolves and the night-time falls (note 1) And again the hunt begins and again the blood wind calls (note 2) By and by, again, the morning sun will rise But the darkness never goes from some men's eyes (Well I know) It strolls the sidewalk and it rolls the streets Staking turf, dividing up meat Nightmare spook, piece of heat It's you and me, you and me Click flash blade in ghetto night Rudy's looking for a fight Rat cat alley, roll them bones Need that cash to feed that Jones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Commissars and pinstripe bosses roll the dice Anyway they fall, guess who gets to pay the price? (note 3) Money green, or proletarian gray (note 4) Selling guns instead of food today (note 5) So the kids they dance and shake their bones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Heartless powers try to tell us what to think If the spirit's sleeping then the flesh is ink History's page will be neatly carved in stone The future's here, we are it, we are on our own On our own, on our own, we are on our own If the game is lost, then we're all the same No one left to place or take the blame We will leave this place an empty stone Or that shining ball of blue we call our home So the kids, they dance, they shake their bones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Shipping powders back and forth Singing black goes south and white comes north (note 6) And the whole world full of petty wars Singing I got mine and you got yours While the current fashions set the pace Lose your step, fall out of grace The radical, he rant and rage Singing someone got to turn the page And the rich man in his summer home Singing just leave well enough alone But his pants are down, his cover's blown And the politicians throwing stones So the kids, they dance, they shake their bones 'Cause it's all too clear we're on our own Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free It's dizzying, the possibilities Ashes, ashes, all fall down [Ashes, ashes, all fall down] Ashes, ashes, all fall down [Ashes, ashes, all fall down] Ashes, ashes, all fall down [Ashes, ashes, all fall down] Ashes, ashes, all fall down [Ashes, ashes, all fall down] (1) Bob Weir sometimes sang "...as the sphere revolves." (2) Bob Weir seems to have sung some variations on this line. These include "The light goes on and off and the nightbird calls" and "Come close to the stars, celestial balls" (thanks to Dave Ellis for this). (3) Bob Weir has sung variants on these two lines: eg "Any more the pinstripe bosses own the dice, Anyway they roll guess who gets to pay the price?" (thanks to Brian and Bill for this) (4) Bob Weir sang this line as "Money green is the only way" on at least two occasions on The Dead's 2003 summer tour (thanks to Carrie for this) (5) Bob Weir has sung this line as "Blood for oil, dropping bombs today," "Drop them bombs, grab that oil today" and "Sell them guns, rape the earth today" (thanks to Bill, Chuck and Brian for noting these). (6) Bob Weir sometimes sang "...while white goes north" - which are the lyrics in the "In The Dark" songbook. (6***) My add from other sources: Gun powder goes south and cocaine comes north Source: Dead.net Time may be running out... Grateful Dead - Throwing Stones (Official Music Video) (04:38) The Barber of Civil...Disobedience Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Almost Cut My Hair (Live at Farm Aid 2000) (06:27) CROSBY, STILLS, NASH Woodstock 1971 (04:22) Long Hare Music...A Classical Gasser Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II: "Rabbit of Seville" Excerpt (02:14) The Barber Shaves Another Customer The Beatles - Penny Lane (03:06) Other posts in this series World Peace Day Aug. 6 - All we are saying is give peace a chance... Sun. Aug. 6, 2023 - 41st Annual World Peace Vigil & Community Dedication to Peace #music #humor #WorldPeaceDay #GratefulDead #ColumbiaUniversity #Beatles #CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung #CrosbyStillsNash #Peanuts #barber #BugsBunny

Stop the Arms Trade * Cut the Arms Budget * Money for Environmental and Human Needs Friends, BBB is a co-sponsor of the South Country Peace Group's annual WORLD PEACE VIGIL in Bellport on Sunday, August 6, the 78th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Please see notice above for more details. With the release of the film Oppenheimer, there may be renewed interest in the nuclear arms race and the lead-up to the first use of the atomic bomb (by the US) that destroyed so many in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Vigil attenders start out at the South Country Library and process solemnly down Bellport Lane to the marina where a program will take place. Show your support - mourn the lost - vow to work for peace, both abroad and here at home. Thanks, peace, Susan Perretti for BBB (Building Bridges in Brookhaven) Contacts: South Country Peace Group Website Email:southcountrypeace@outlook.com Building Bridges in Brookhaven Website Email: buildingbridgesbrookhaven@gmail.com Dress: You may wish to wear WHITE, traditional Japanese color of mourning. Bring: a Chair Bring signs: e.g.: BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS~ PROTECT LIFE on EARTH! Redirect Military Spending; Reverse Environmental Destruction; End Poverty & Racism! ACTION: Tell Pres. Biden: Sign TPNW! NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL! Support H. Res.77* *Summary: H.Res.77 — 118th Congress (2023-2024) This resolution calls on the President to embrace the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of U.S. national security policy. It also calls on the United States to lead a global effort to move the world back from the nuclear brink and to prevent nuclear war. Other posts in this series World Peace Day Aug. 6 - All we are saying is give peace a chance... Red, Take my advice you'd be better off DEAD...

Join me for some summertime DEADucation...Classes available in art, music, paleontology, psychology, driver education, Eastern studies, finance, sex ed, and MORE... "SYLLYBUS" (1) Driver Education Paleontology 101 Children's Church Music History Art Class: Animation SEX Education class...clASS...CLASS!!! Eastern Studies: The Middle Way Art Class: Mixing Colors Paleontology 102: Not All Dinosaurs are Extinct Mortuary Science: Take my advice, you'd be better off DEAD... Psychology 101: Deprogramming/Reprogramming Psychology 102: "creatures" of "habit" Touch of Grey Women's Studies The UNITIVE WAY: It's a collective effort...WE will get by... Post-Graduate Studies...Everything Belongs: Moving beyond B.A. (behaviorally adequate) Extra Credit Classes [not just for brown noses :))) ] (1`) See "Extra Credit Classes..." for more on this famous and not-so-silly "bus". Driver Education A few days ago I was on the Southern State Parkway heading for the Bayard Cutting Arboretum to meet with some of our Baha'i Fellowship friends. I was driving in the middle lane when I found my 2012 Grey Prius surrounded by a new Black Mercedes SUV on my left and a new White Mercedes SUV on my right. A road trip metaphor started forming...BUT, I was also trying to pay attention to my driving...not wanting to unintentionally wander into someone else's lane... black plus white makes GREY...they combine to produce something NEW... My 11-year old car gets me to my destination the same as the others... This "oldtimer's" hybrid power plant is friendlier to our shared planet... and, gets FAAAARRR better gas mileage. See, I'm mindfully using my ancestors' remains... Paleontology 101 Let's meet our instructor: Here's our lead singer and his back up group: "Zacchaeus, come down...we're goin to a party tonight at your joint..." - Jesus ...in today's parlance, this like going from the nosebleed seats to backstage with the band...Cool, huh? West Coast Pre-date-ors... Dick exits the set in style... Hollywood Argyles "Alley Oop" (03:44) Children's Church Zacchaeus Come On Down (03:40) This tax-collecting dude was a real Robbing Hood...taking from the poor AND the rich...a real equal opportunity OFFENDER... Music History Early music delivery system... Art Class: Animation "Everything Class": Everything we ever needed to know...We learned from Saturday morning CARTOONS Memory Lane: Farmer Grey Cartoons --post includes this classic: Let me know if the opening music triggers memories... "Mouse's Bride" Farmer Gray Silent Cartoon by Paul Terry 1928 (07:54) SEX Education class...clASS...CLASS!!! This warning is only being posted for those who have not yet met this dynamic duo... Cheech & Chong Live 1978 - Sister Mary Elephant (04:09) Eastern Studies: The Middle Way I chose to screenshot this part in Robert Thurman's video (third image below) because of where I AM NOW...RELATIONSHIPS are very important to me...FIRST, the one I'm developing with myself ("love my neighbor AS I love myself")...then with Eileen...and then will all y'all... What is the Middle Way? | Robert Thurman (03:34) Art Class: Mixing Colors ...something new emerges from our UNION...a middle way... Paleontology 102: Not All Dinosaurs are Extinct Mortuary Science: Take my advice, you'd be better off DEAD... If you're ready to join the tribe, raise your right hand and repeat after me..."I will be KIND" ...That's it...That's all we need to practice...We can throw away those HIM (hymn) books & HER books & THEIR books and practice KINDNESS. Because of early programming (i.e.; "thought control"), a part of you might still be worried that a guy in a red suit or sitting on a judgement seat up in the clouds...is makin' a list and checkin' it twice...This next tip is for you: Here's the final test question/entrance exam question: ...Congratulations! Your two-good eyes will now be able to see anew... 10 Grateful Dead Quotes to Inspire You to Be Thankful for What You Have - The Capitol Theater Includes: This next one is a meme for all seasons...all parties... Psychology 101: Deprogramming/Reprogramming Still afraid because of all that early thought control to let go and trust all that's good in us? Step 1: Become aware of the reason for our fear...Repeat this lesson if needed... Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall Official Music Video (Lyrics In Description) (06:20) Another Brick in the Wall - The Scandinavian Pink Floyd Project in Ghaxaq (08:13) Step 2: Repeat after me: "LORD,... Step 3: Replace our subservient bowing and scraping with this next song's self-empowering posture: Hold Your Head Up-Argent-1972-(Long Version) (06:20) Psychology 102: "creatures" of "habit" Love how in the context of this post, these two words take on new meanings... I wear the same BLUE jean shorts every day... ...so, to get into the flow of this post, I CHING'd...I CHANGED and wore ALL GRAY...from Head to Toes... "A touch of grey suits me any way..." Eileen, my "Sugar Magnolia," is my paparazzi... ...it all flows together... Touch of Grey She was not like other girls... Grateful Dead - Touch Of Grey (Official Music Video) [HD] (04:52) Women's Studies Leader of the pack... Our timekeeper... Scarlet Begonias (Grateful Dead) :: Savannah & The Kings :: DeadCoversProject (05:03) The UNITIVE WAY: It's a collective effort...WE will get by... Post-Graduate Studies...Everything Belongs: Moving beyond B.A. (behaviorally adequate) [Hyperlinks take us to each day's full-strength medication...meditation...Added emphases are mine.] Sunday Everything belongs. No one needs to be punished, scapegoated, or excluded. We cannot directly fight or separate ourselves from evil or untruth. Evil becomes apparent when exposed to the Truth. —Richard Rohr Monday Oneness is even an easy thing to profess, until we realize that it must include not only the people we like and agree with, not only those to whom we are sympathetic, but also those whom we view as abhorrent (whatever side of a political position we may hold). We don’t get to choose who we are one with—it’s everybody. —Liza Rankow Tuesday Exclusion operates by the same rule of mutuality as welcome, for it harms both the excluded and the excluder. —Cole Arthur Riley Wednesday Human existence is neither perfectly consistent, nor is it incoherent chaos. Instead, life has a cruciform pattern. All of life is a “coincidence of opposites,” a collision of cross-purposes; we are all filled with contradictions needing to be reconciled. —Richard Rohr Thursday Francis of Assisi, like Jesus, refused to exclude things from the garden of grace; there is no exclusionary instinct in either of them—except toward exclusion itself! —Richard Rohr Friday It seems that simply allowing ourselves to be here, to recognize the sacrament and the grace of the present moment, is enough to allow God’s loving gaze to happen. What we are doing in the allowing is returning the gaze. That’s it. We are completing the circuit and saying it’s okay. —Richard Rohr Belonging to Every Moment At the age of thirty-four, Buddhist author Sebene Selassie was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. The experience offered her the freedom to find love, joy, and belonging in every moment. Belonging is an expression of life. I would have done anything to belong to the living. Also, everything is relevant when we talk about belonging. The challenge with belonging in these times is “everything” includes a whole lot of things….We live in a world where previously isolated languages, cultures, and beliefs have been melded into each other. Each of us has a multitude of influences, various identities, and countless experiences….In any moment, we may feel like we belong to one thing and not another. I belong to this community, to which others don’t. I belong to this statement, definitely not that one. I belong in this space way over here. Or perhaps I belong nowhere. The truth: we all belong to it all. Also to death…. I don’t wish cancer on anyone else, but I wouldn’t change a thing about my experience. That doesn’t mean it was easy: I wasn’t always open to what was happening while it was happening. But the challenges I faced—the challenges you face, the challenges we face collectively a this time, any place in the world, …any challenge in life (even cancer)—all are invitations to belonging. And belonging is our true nature. Belonging is our capacity to feel joy, freedom, and love in any moment. As the late Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck [1917–2011] said: Joy is exactly what’s happening, minus our opinion of it. She made a distinction between joy and happiness—Happiness has an opposite: unhappiness. [1] Joy is not about happy or unhappy, liking or disliking. Joy is accepting each moment for what it is without contention. We belong to any moment simply by meeting it with joy. This is freedom. Love is the ultimate expression of joy and freedom. Joy, freedom, and love could be considered synonyms for each other, and for belonging. SOURCE: Center for Action and Contemplation Extra Credit Classes [not just for brown noses :))) ] Nights In White Satin - Moody Blues: with Lyrics(가사번역) (07:20) How Ken Kesey used LSD and a travelling bus of hippies to start the 60s psychedelic revolution - The Plaid Zebra --Well-written "peace" about this social influencer...He surely affected my life... Property Taxmen: The Real Criminals in Nassau County The Ides of April - Time to give it to Caesar ...In case you still have some doubts about the power of simple kindness... #music #humor #Bahai #BayardCuttingArboretum #SouthernStateParkway #SinclairOil #dinosaurs #DickClark #HollywoodArgyles #Zacchaeus #Jesus #JodiBenson #CheechAndChong #FarmerGray #Buddhism #RobertThurman #GratefulDead #JerryGarcia #CapitolTheater #AniasNin #IRS #taxes #NassauCounty #IChing #MoodyBlues #RamDass #KenKesey #MerryPranksters #FurthurBus #Peanuts #Argent #PinkFloyd #RichardRohr #CAC #CenterForActionAndContemplation #SavannahAndTheKings

Tonight: July 17 @ 7 PM - Live & Zoom Live: Oceanside, NY @ Schoolhouse Green - off Foxhurst Rd just east of Long Beach Rd Bring: Your chairs and your cares... Zoom link: Poetry under the stars Mary C M Phillips will be joined by three other village wordsmiths (*) - you'll find all the details here at her blog: Caffeine Epiphanies "Caffeine-induced epiphanies and occasional literary musings" Mary's Spotify channel (singles and albums) Table of Contents Author, Author...Mary C M Phillips “Let us live lives of quiet inspiration…” Akbar, thank you for your wisdom... Quelle Surprise!!! Somehow "anvil" brought up this famous operatic usage of the word... "I go into the forest to lose my mind...and find my soul" Among the Trees at Bayard Cutting Arboretum with our Baha'i Friends Among the Tree & Lake & Tai Chi Creatures at Hempstead Lake State Park Choices...A road less traveled... Sunrise...Sunset...Mom's Words Still Dance with the Trees... Author, Author...Mary C M Phillips Mary C. M. Phillips Mary C. M. Phillips is a caffeinated wife, mother, writer and musician. Her inspirational essays have been published in numerous bestselling anthologies. Her spoken word poetry has been featured at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, Rock-n-Soul Gospel on WCWP radio, and Bards Revolution on BlogTalk radio while her written word appears in a variety of poetry anthologies. As a musician she has toured nationally with various recording artists such as Matthew Sweet, Marti Jones, and Don Dixon as well as comedian, Rob Bartlett, and satirist, Barry Mitchell on ABC’s World News Now. Her latest work, Music of the Forest (Rock-it Science Records) is available on iTunes, Spotify and other streaming platforms. Writing inspirational essays and poetry is a way of seeking — and conveying — the invisible. I talso helps us to see beauty in others. Good words — like choice musical notes — quiet the restless soul. To learn more visit: www.CaffeineEpiphanies.com. ...now, for a few personal early-morning musings... “Let us live lives of quiet inspiration…” As I was waking, these words were baking…And in an early morning online search found this among the offerings: Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver (read by the poet on Many Miles) (00:51) (*) The earlier mention of "wordsmiths" reminded me of "village smithy" which led to this song - an adaptation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith." See, I feel poetry needs to be both spoken and heard...beginning with the speaker. The words carry vibrations that are best experienced as they travel through the air current to our ears...I'm smiling as I write this...How fitting to these musings, that our ears contain a part known as the "anvil." The Blacksmith Song by Aspen Forge: Micah Darwin (03:42) He has others on his YouTube channel Students Read-aloud version follows - with very enthusiastic hand motions. Be sure to listen to the end to see where this very cool teacher is taking his kids...He and they are "class acts." The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (02:40) Akbar, thank you for your wisdom... These lines from the poem reminded me of the wisdom you shared with me at your home about completing one thing before beginning another: Toiling,—rejoicing,—sorrowing, Onward through life he goes; Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. I'm now trying to "practice this principle in all my affairs" Quelle Surprise!!! Somehow "anvil" brought up this famous operatic usage of the word... So I set out in search of where I was now being led by my Muse...this time she's adorned as an Italian Gypsy...It's also likely that I was under a spell cast by my longtime friends whose ancestors hail from this country - like: Mike, Steven, Gregory, Vinnie, Richie... Not one but two anvils create a stereophonic opera... Verdi’s 'Anvil Chorus' from Il trovatore (The Royal Opera) (02:42) Anvil Chorus lyrics in English See how the clouds melt away from the face of the sky when the sun shines, its brightness beaming; just as a widow, discarding her black robes, shows all her beauty in brilliance gleaming. So, to work now! Lift up your hammers! Who turns the Gypsy's day from gloom to brightest sunshine? His lovely Gypsy maid! Men: Fill up the goblets! New strength and courage flow from lusty wine to soul and body. All: See how the rays of the sun play and sparkle and give to our wine gay new splendor. So, to work now! Who turns the Gypsy's day from gloom to brightest sunshine? His lovely Gypsy maid! SOURCE "I go into the forest to lose my mind...and find my soul" These words from naturalist John Muir are inviting us to explore other spaces... The Music of the Forest - Mary C M Phillips (03:30) You'll find her other words at her Spotify channel - the link is at the beginning of this post. Chapter Of The Forest - Trevor Hall (06:24) --I've enjoyed Trevor here on Long Island when he came to Mulcahy's in Wantagh. Among the Trees at Bayard Cutting Arboretum with our Baha'i Friends I've mentioned our Baha'i friends in several posts. Here's one that included the above photo. It's from our May 24 fellowship time among the trees: Bayard Cutting Arbor 'eatem...State Park in Great River, NY Among the Tree & Lake & Tai Chi Creatures at Hempstead Lake State Park In several posts, I've mentioned our Tuesday & Thursday Tai Chi gatherings at the low fishing pier in Hempstead Lake State Park. 7:30 - 9 AM. Parking in the lots marked "2 & 3"- by the pickleball courts. You're welcome to check us out. An old friend who's very young in spirit - Richie - is our guide. Tai Chi…TOM-a-Son, Lake & Calmer (01:36) Choices...A road less traveled... The above image of the path recalled this ode to choices made while traveling life's highways and byways... The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (01:55) Sunrise...Sunset...Mom's Words Still Dance with the Trees... On the anniversary of Mom's 103rd birthday in Heaven, I’m honoring her poetic influence on me with some reflections on the Nature of things and beginning my “SUNnet” (sonnet) with the title from her self-published book of prayer-verses…which was a life’s work and brought to all of us by her Editor - our sister Peggy. It was published one day after the 60th anniversary of the day she carried me here. Take a look inside... #music #humor #poetry #MaryCMPhillips #TrevorHall #JohnMuir #RobertFrost #HenryWadsworthLongfellow #TaiChi #HempsteadLakeStatePark #BayardCuttingArboretumStatePark #Bahai #Richie #IlTrovatore #Akbar #AspenForge #MicahDarwin #MaryOliver #Mom #CatherineTittmann

Just mixed up some prescription music for a friend whose body is hurting. Use as directed... Take 3 and call me in the morning... WARNING: Music can cause uncontrolled head bobbing, foot tapping, bodily gyrations, loud singing... 1. From the "Capsule" theater in Port Chester, NY: The Rolling Stones - Sister Morphine - Live 1997 (04:28) 2. From the Royal Albert Hall Pharmacy David Gilmour / David Bowie / Richard Wright - "Comfortably Numb" (08:11) 3. From the same musical dispensary Eric Clapton - Cocaine (07:47) 5. Extra Strength...Jazzing it up... For Peggy and other cats that dig jazz... Take Five - (Paul Desmond & Dave Brubeck) Sachal studios and Wynton Marsalis (06:42) Laffter is the best medicine... Take as much as your sides can bear... Stress relief from laughter? It's no joke - Mayo Clinic Collapsed laughing: how the gap between music and comedy has disappeared - The Guardian For Larry Febo and other pickers and strummers... Ringo also suggested changing their names from the "POLKA DOTS." For those in law enforcement...especially those who had concert duty.... Environmentally savvy... A Head of his time...signature... Calls for a Song: Classical Gas Mason Williams was the head writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the time of the piece's release and premiered the composition on the show. Williams performed it several times over several episodes. First, here's Mason providing some backstory... Cousin Bobby, "EYE" don't mean no harm toward the network where you worked... Mason Williams ( Classical Gas comp./artist ) - Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (07:55) Mason Williams - Classical Gas (1988) (03:13) Post Op There's so much research being done...check i\the topic out on the web... Effects of music therapy under general anesthesia in patients undergoing abdominal surgery - NIH National Library of Medicine Waking Up Is Hard To Do - Laryngospasms (02:27) #music #humor #jazz #RollingStones #DavidGilmour #DavidBowie #RichardWright #BaqirAbbas #Bansuri #Flute #Take5 #TakeFive #DaveBrubeck #PaulDesmond #SachalJazz #WyntonMarsalis #MasonWilliams #SmothersBrothers #Laryngospasms

Le Menu Background to this tale... It is now post time…Start the Revolution... Miss Quotes "Life is short...Eat dessert FIRST!" Witches Brew's like "Cheers"...it's a place where "Everybody knows your name" Napoleon: Had his coming to him...BUT, I had to go get mine... Peace, Love and Pastries I met my Napoleon in NYC in 1961 Lessons from the Blackboard...on Hempstead Turnpike Sing Us Songs of Revolution Do you hear the students sing...at Columbia University in the Spring of 1968? Want more local protesting opportunities? Recipes for Unity: Let us break bread...not heads... together... After Show: Post Party Mercy triumphs over Judgement Reading/Listening material for your second cup... Background to this tale... As part of my preparation, Eileen and I watched the musical version of "Les Mis" to experience the Victor Hugo story with more of our emotions. Many years ago, Eileen, John and I were introduced to this powerful drama by a family at church - a family that could and did sing all the songs from memory. Bastille Day – History.com (quick read will give us the basics) [Intro] Bastille Day is a holiday celebrating the storming of the Bastille—a military fortress and prison—on July 14, 1789, in a violent uprising that helped usher in the French Revolution. Besides holding gunpowder and other supplies valuable to revolutionaries, the Bastille also symbolized the callous tyranny of the French monarchy, especially King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. [end of citation] A follow up to this post – Bastille Day-2 – will cover more of its dark side… The French Revolution has been compared to our American Revolution and Bastille Day (14 Juillet) is often compared to our Independence Day (July 4). According to Britannica its timeline ran from 1789 to 1799... It is now post time…Start the Revolution... This post highlights revolution from a food and musical perspective. It is not meant to overshadow the seriousness of other forms of revolution as instruments of change… “Better free your mind instead…” Miss Quotes Marie Antoinette is frequently MISquoted as the “sauce” of this dismissive remark toward the poor: “Let them eat cake…” Today, I would say, “Naw, make it crème brûlée…” "Life is short...Eat dessert FIRST!" Visitors to the Witches Brew Coffee House are immediately greeted by the dessert displays. Here's a recent example...this is only a sample of the complete showcase. Whenever I notice a curious customer trying to decide which ONE…If it seems appropriate, I’ll invite them to move outside the dualism of “EITHER/OR” to the more expansive “BOTH/AND.” See, Nanny, my Irish grandmother always said, “Life’s short…Eat dessert first.” Below, A.J. our server is doing a simulation of how this decadent treat goes from yellow (upper photo) to golden brown (below). He's also my Grateful Dead Subject Matter Expert...I always learn something new from our conversations. I had asked to go into the kitchen and observe the actual culinary tool used: a BLOW TORCH…But local fire regulations didn’t permit this. Besides, Big Brother - our wonderful Westerners - the crew at the West Hempstead Fire Department were watching from their post in the fire house right across the street from the Brew. Author, Author...enjoying much-appreciated rest and some afternoon delight... NOTE: Last year, in this coffee house was the first time ever I experienced its taste... Witches Brew's like "Cheers"...it's a place where "Everybody knows your name" Like "Cheers" without the beers... Whenever I set foot inside their front door for my daily cup...I am enthusiastically greeted. WOW! This always makes me smile. Even more, based on the tee shirts they're sporting, they also share their favorite bands and performers. Oh! And on most days, I can also remember THEIR names... "Do I come here often?" :) For some...this is a spiritual experience...--Folgers 3:16 Napoleon: Had his coming to him...BUT, I had to go get mine... Earlier this week, I went to Sapienza’s Bakery in Elmont to get specific desserts for a celebratory Baby Shower hosted by our Baha’I friends. While there, I treated myself to a Napoleon. Note: I always remember how to spell “dessert” – with 2 s’s because we want seconds…OR, thirdssssss 😊 While there, a Mom came in with her 4 young children. The only boy in her clan points to one of the display cases (see below) and says, “ Mom, look - fruits and vegetables!" Wanna bet he goes into sales? 😁 No offense meant…but, considering this neighborhood’s root population, they might have used an alternate warning like : "All others will be iced” And, since this post highlights the Witches Brew, I’ll throw in a version of this cartoon I used previously in a Halloween post about them. Hmm...In gangster language, they'd get ribbeted (rubbed) out... Peace, Love and Pastries In Sapienza’s Bakery in Elmont, I noticed that cannoli’s and Napoleon’s exist side-by-side (see below) without any “fussing and fighting my friends”… AND, I did NOT notice any food fights going on… Why can’t our countries live like this??? Based on the colors in their flags…they are 2/3’s similar…So, WHY can't they...WE get along? Comprendez??? Capiche??? Since one group talks as much with their hands as their mouths, we need a visual: I met my Napoleon in NYC in 1961 I had one almost every day in high school at Power Memorial Academy…Went there at the same time as basketball legend Lou Alcindor…You might know him as LA Lakers #33 Kareem Abdul Jabbar… When I mentioned my bakery experience to our son John, he joined in the fun by offering this solution to this political rivalry: “Smash the Napoleon and cannoli together and call it the Sardinian Special!” Not familiar with history (despite repeating it in summer school :)))), I looked it up and found that this French defeat was also the first military service of Napoleon Bonaparte. Wikipedia His last military engagement - Waterloo - was also a defeat... Hmmm??? Lessons from the Blackboard...on Hempstead Turnpike One of the mindful messages that greet visitors and passers-by… It’s part of a collection on the front windowpanes at Witches Brew: Sing Us Songs of Revolution Entrance “Him” How fitting that a folk protester Dylan was playing as I entered the Brew on Bastille Day. --For women like Joan Baez, we'd change the heading to “Entrance Her”… Here are 9 of Bob’s most important protest songs Bob Marley - Revolution (Official Video) (03:06) The Beatles – Revolution (03:27) The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again (Shepperton Studios / 1978) (09:09) Tracy Chapman - Talkin' About A Revolution (Official Music Video) (02:54) Do you hear the students sing...at Columbia University in the Spring of 1968? Needing cash for our first surfin' safari to California, me and a few friends went lookin' for a job...but got no offers...Ooops, not that story... Our search brought us to the Wackenhut Security outfit. The guy who interviewed us was a former cop and, sizing up our long hair and beards, asked us how attached we were to them. "What are you paying?" we asked. We complied and were given our first assignment: Protect the buildings at NYC's Columbia University FROM their students. As we showed up for the night shift, the protestors spotted us and we had to run into a nearby building for safety. Through our barricaded door we tried to explain to them that we were for them...But they were too angry to listen...Here's how we earned our tickets to paradise... Why Did Columbia University Students Protest in 1968? | History (05:46) Want more local protesting opportunities? Check out my friend Keith Crocker's upcoming live and virtual offerings. Two of the subjects on which he frequently presents are music and horror (see link below). If you'd like to get on his mailing list, just send him an email at: drfaustusmd@verizon.net. This way you'll stay informed about the following and lots of other presentations. Here's his IMDb profile. [from his recent email] As far as Adult Education goes, I'll be doing a three different classes for Hutton House. On Monday, August 14 we will be doing the Birth of Psychedelic Rock (in person), Monday August 21 Crosby, Stills Nash and Young (virtual) and August 28 History of Spaghetti Westerns (virtual). Sign up right here: liu.edu/Hutton . Also, I'll be returning to Nassau Community College for some daytime adult education. On Monday August 7 I'll be doing The Three B's, Bob, Beatles and the Byrds in person at 1pm. Sign up here: https://www.ncc.edu/continuingeducation/ I'll be on vacation in July, hence scant offerings that month. With Dr. Faustus, MD (a.k.a, Keith Crocker)...It's not what we see...it's what we don't see... (Nov. 2022) Recipes for Unity: Let us break bread...not heads... together... 23 Summery French Recipes for Bastille Day In my late teens me and friends used to host large parties – usually in rented halls like the VFW, Masonic Temples. Knights of Columbus... To advertise our services we had mother of pearl business cards made up with this slogan: “Apres moi…le deluge” After Show: Post Party 10 Songs That Rallied Resistance Around The World (2019) - npr --despite some missing links, worth reading and listening to the songs. Of special interest here, is their inclusion of this song from "Les Mis": Hong Kong Protesters Use 'Les Mis' Song as Anthem (01:05) It's finds like the above that continue to encourage me to write... The Beatles - Revolution 9 (Music Video) (08:08) [from YouTube video] Revolution 9 is a sound collage that appeared on the Beatles' 1968 eponymous release (popularly known as the "White Album"). The composition, credited to Lennon–McCartney, was created primarily by John Lennon with assistance from George Harrison and Yoko Ono. Lennon said he was trying to paint a picture of a revolution using sound. The composition was influenced by the avant-garde style of Ono as well as the musique concrète works of composers such as Edgard Varèse and Karlheinz Stockhausen. The recording began as an extended ending to the album version of Lennon's song "Revolution". He, Harrison and Ono then combined the unused coda with numerous overdubbed vocals, speech, sound effects, and short tape loops of speech and musical performances, some of which were reversed. These were further manipulated with echo, distortion, stereo panning, and fading. At over eight minutes, it is the longest track that the Beatles officially released during their existence as a band. Mercy triumphs over Judgement Watching the mercy-less Javert obsessively track Jean-Valjean through the streets, alleys and sewers of Paris, reminded me of another tale with "West"..."West Side Story" - where a similarmercy-less law enforcement saga unfolds on the streets of New York City... As he reads the conditions of his release to Valjean, Javert doesn't even face his former prisoner, choosing instead to focus solely on the law... Les Misérables - Clip: "Javert Releases Prisoner 24601 On Parole" (01:21) About to administer his form of justice...Krupke's nightstick is raised over the head of the perp... West Side Story - Gee Officer Krupke! (1961) HD (04:05) Reading/Listening material for your second cup... All Good Vegans Go to Heaven...Flesh eaters...Prepare to "MEAT" your maker (July 2, 2023) (a tribute to Witches Brew food offerings) ODE on a W. HEMPSTEAD URN: Celebrating Witches Brew’s 27 Years of Service to our Community (Apr. 30, 2023) THE WICKEDly good WITCH OF THE WEST hempstead (Oct. 31, 2022) From Manic to Mindful Monday's-with a little "1 cup-at-a-time" help from our friends at Witches Brew (Jan. 24, 2022) 10 Powerful Bob Marley Songs of Protest and Revolution That Are Still Relevant Today Let's do some homeschooling...so the truth be told...Here's an animated version: Bob Marley & The Wailers - Revolution (Audio) (04:20) It takes a revolution (revolution) to make a solution (Doo-doo-doo-doo) Too much confusion (aaa-aaah), so much frustration, eh I don't wanna live in the park (live in the park) Can't trust no shadows of the dark (shadows of the dark), yeah So, my friend, I wish that you could see Like a bird in the tree, the prisoners must be free, yeah (free) Never make a politician (aaa-aaah) grant you a favour (Doo-doo-doo-doo) They will always want (aaa-aaah) to control you forever, eh (Forever, forever) So if a fire make it burn (make it burn, make it burn) And if a blood make you run (make you run, run, run) Rasta up on top (aaa-aaah), can't you see (doo-doo-doo-doo) So you can't predict the flock, eh-eh (doo-doo-doo-doo) Source (with my added emphases) #music #humor #WitchesBrew #WitchesBrewCoffeeHouse #BastilleDay #FrenchRevolution #MarieAntoinette #Napoleon #cremebrulee #AJ #Nanny #Cheers #SapienzaBakery #BobDylan #Beatles #TheWho #TracyChapman #LesMis #LesMiserables #WestSideStory #BobMarley #ColumbiaUniversity #Wackenhut #KeithCrocker #GratefulDead

BACKGROUND to this tale... Act I: Meet the Dancers I went looking for “Grateful Dead ballet” to send a greeting to one of my former Sunday school students who, along with his wife - Grace Morton, is a professional ballet dancer. Today is their wedding anniversary. As a Sunday school teacher for nearly 30 years, I can say that parents Charley and Reine raised wonderful children...I had the pleasure of spending time with several of them. The dancers' bios can be found at BalletAustin (Texas). Dancer Ian J. Bethany: How I spent my summer - 2019 (02:21) Reclamation No 4 at Lincoln Chapel (Dancers) (05:29) on Vimeo Entr'acte noun The interval between two acts of a theatrical performance. Another performance, as of music or dance, provided between two acts of a theatrical performance. The interval between two acts of a play or an opera. Dixie Cups - CHAPEL OF LOVE ('Shivaree' 4-10-65) (03:07) Act II: Meet a DARK STAR...and her Grateful Dead Ballet And to help us ordinary folks mix with “high” society…here’s something I just found…🤔 or found me???Read on...the music follows the words...Hmm? Or do the words follow the music??? Here's the text of the comments I added to their online offering: Cooooool! Went looking for “Grateful Dead ballet” and was AMPly rewarded with this find. Lemme ‘splain… I wanted to send a greeting to a professional ballet dancer and his partner/wife. Many years ago, I was his Sunday school teacher. “Who knows where the time goes…?” I’m now a 75-year young Friend of Jerry…a JERRYatric if you like …but still able to move and shake dem bones…thanks in part to kundalini yoga and Tai Chi… I really enjoyed your interpretation…improvisation…jam…And your venue…like far out… So, I’m gonna send Ian and Grace a link to this video… Happy Anniversary to them… …and to you…y’all…Keep on dancin’ Viewer: The masks were mandated for COVID... BalLED... Charlottesville Ballet - Darkstar (Grateful Dead) (02:58) Act III: Black Tie Meets Tie Dye Bob Weir on how his long, strange trip turned classical - CBS Morning Show Nov. 26, 2022 (Facebook) Grateful Dead's Bob Weir took the stage with the National Symphony Orchestra - Oct. 2022 [from this article] When Jerry Garcia died in 1995, it closed out a 30-year run of the Grateful Dead. Bob Weir began the band with Jerry Garcia in 1965, and now he's found another way yet to explore the band's legacy. Earlier this month, that project took center stage at the Kennedy Center. Felix Contreras is NPR Music's resident Deadhead and has this report. ON WITH THIS SHOW... Listen as the conductor tells us that this is the FIRST EVER collaboration between a JAM BAND and a symphony orchestra...After his excited opening remarks, he said, "Without further adieu..." ...and I mused, thinking about another song I like...Maybe some day he'll say, "Without FURTHUR adieu...Here's some MORNING DEW..." (Click here for a haunting version of "Morning Dew" from Robert Plant) "Sometimes the light's all shining on me..." China Cat I Know You Rider Bob Weir Wolf Bros National Symphony Orchestra 10/8/22 Kennedy Center DC (16:19) Act IV: Dark Star Orchestra at the "Cap" Dark Star Orchestra - “Althea” Live at The Capitol Theatre (May 14, 2022) Spring 22’ Tour (08:00) Ticketmaster (a.k.a., "Scalpmaster") for their 2023 gigs Let's give thanks...They'll be on Long Island Thanksgiving weekend: Intermezzo: And now for something completely different (a.k.a., "the circus is in town") Opera intermezzo The intermezzo, in the 18th century, was a comic operatic interlude inserted between acts or scenes of an opera seria. These intermezzi could be substantial and complete works themselves, though they were shorter than the opera seria which enclosed them; typically they provided comic relief and dramatic contrast to the tone of the bigger opera around them, and often they used one or more of the stock characters from the opera or from the commedia dell'arte. In this they were the reverse of the Renaissance intermezzo, which usually had a mythological or pastoral subject as a contrast to a main comic play. Often they were of a burlesque nature, and characterized by slapstick comedy, disguises, dialect, and ribaldry. The most famous of all intermezzi from the period is Pergolesi's La serva padrona, which was an opera buffa that after the death of Pergolesi kicked off the Querelle des Bouffons. SOURCE: Wikipedia (with my emphases) Weekend Update: Emily Litella on Television Violins - SNL (01:20) 1986 Steve Martin Skits: Ballet Parking & The Skier & Camping In The Woods (Ballet is in first 01:40 - other skits follow) ...some have said Mel couldn't do many (most???) of his movies now... ...his parody of men who dance uses terms I find demeaning and offensive...BUT, our Mr. Brooks is also simultaneously doing a send up of these masculine men... "You gotta be a man to wear tights..." Men in Tights Song (01:33) and just for the halibut... Monty Python - The Fish Slapping Dance (00:23) That hilarity prompted this classic... Marx Brothers: Horse Feathers - Swordfish (02:21) I Give Opera High Marx...How 'bout you? Mel Brooks On The Marx Brothers & A NIGHT AT THE OPERA - American Film Institute (00:55) CAUTION: If you still believe that a bearded old man in a red suit delivers presents...Please disregard the closing comments in this video clip. See below for proof...of delivery...and SANITY...and this should reinforce your FANTASY... Marx Brothers - A Night At The Opera - The Party Of The First Part (04:19) Even Santa uses PRIME... Act V: Continuing the Operatic Vibe... Opera's Three-'Ring' Cycle - The Washington Post (June 17, 1985) [from this article] Surely, nothing more dramatically typified the civic operatic spirit than Grateful Dead lead bassist Phil Lesh, a serious Wagnerian who canceled two of the group's Sacramento, Calif., concerts so he and three other band members, Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart and Bob Weir, could attend the first "Ring" cycle. Lesh's San Francisco Examiner photograph backstage with bass baritone Morris Stewart (The Wanderer, Siegfried) became the sort of anecdote cab drivers pass along with racing and restaurant tips. How Hippies Saved the Lord of the Rings (26:18) Meet our host and guide... Grateful Dead Live at Kiel Opera House on 1970-10-24 - Internet Archive --listen to all 16 songs Grateful Dead: Feelin' Groovy Symphony (with high-speed cloud video) (51:46) A mashup of ten live Grateful Dead performances of the Feeling Groovy jam... Post "Foot" Notes Ken Kesey and the Grateful Dead's unrealized ballet Ken Kesey and the Grateful Dead's unrealized ballet "The Sea Lion," Ken Kesey's tale based on the mythology of the Northwest Coast Indians, wound up as a children's book, the author originally intended it to be a three-part rock ballet scored by the Grateful Dead. The Sea Lion: A Story of the Sea Cliff People - Goodreads "Although taunted for his small size and bad leg, Eemook proves his worth by saving his tribe from an evil and powerful spirit that comes visiting one stormy night." Ken Kesey was American writer, who gained world fame with his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962, filmed 1975). In the 1960s, Kesey became a counterculture hero and a guru of psychedelic drugs with Timothy Leary. Kesey has been called the Pied Piper, who changed the beat generation into the hippie movement. Read the rest of his bio here... ...and to all a Good Night... Episode 235: And to All a Good Night - Muppet Wiki Bear in the Big Blue House - Episode 39 All To A Good Night - Internet Archive (24:01) We Bid You Goodnight (2 cam) - Grateful Dead - 10-8-1989 Hampton, Va set2-11 (03:19) Oh! Hold on...Just found out there's an AFTER PARTY goin' on... Younguns: That's a jukebox in the center of the screen...Consider it a predecessor of your iPhone...or anDROID (see below for HOW it capitalized it)...it only a lot LESS music... You fed coins into it's always-open mouth and then oh so carefully selected THAT certain song you wanted a special other person to hear...and hoped she'd be your partner...tonight... Status Quo - Anniversary Waltz Part 1 (05:40) Status Quo - Anniversary Waltz Part 2 (05:31) This was the table-top version common in diners...see bottom image... Sorry to say...but it looks like this music-filled tech didn't make it into the future :( HAY AY! (AI) Note Dex's remarks about a shortcoming of DROIDS and what's they're capable of...the difference between KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM...and "if Droids could think, there'd be none of us here..." Hmm??? One more...it's thumbnail got my attention... Space Oddity - David Bowie (04:51) #music #humor #ballet #BalletAustin #children #DixieCups #CharlottesvilleBallet #BobWeir #GratefulDead #NationalSymphonyOrchestra #FurthurBus #GerryGarcia #RobertPlant #DarkStarOrchestra #SNL #SaturdayNightLive #SteveMartin #MelBrooks #MontyPython #MarxBrothers #RingCycle #LOTR #LordOfTheRings #KenKesey #Muppets #StatusQuo #BackToTheFuture #StarWars #DavidBowie #AmazonPrime #Prime #Santa #hippies

Woke up this morning with these words playing in my mind... "Bring me a higher love..." And began thinking about other songs about the theme of love....These next ones are just from what I recalled at that moment...Didn't look online for other prompts... Oh...Before moving on here...STOP in the name of LOVE...and make your own LOVElist...AND, if you'd like, please share them with me... Your love's lifting me higher... Easy like Sunday morning... What's love got to do with it... All you need is love Good lovin' 1 Corinthians 13 My early morning musings continued... While it's relatively EASY when we're young and in love...what about when we get so much older???...like when we're 64... Well...I'm now 75...and that's more than ten years after... Ten Years After FYI: There's a LOVE/Play list near the end of this post... It is NOW Post Time... Steve Winwood - Higher Love (Official Music Video) (04:13) Some guys will go out on a limb...or a ledge...for this higher love...check out this next video... Jackie Wilson - Higher & Higher Official Video (02:57) Somehow, I associated this next song with our wedding day...don't remember if we requested it of our wedding band - the Soul Psychedelics...Yup, that's their name... "Easy Like Sunday Morning" - Lionel Richie with Westlife (04:22) The Morning after... I knew this song had some connection to our wedding day. I just fact-checked with Eileen, and she said the band played it for us - their pick. LIVE from New York...It's Sunday Morning... Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It (Official Music Video) (03:46) The Beatles - All You Need Is Love (Official Music Video on VIMEO) (03:43) Look who was in the crowd.. joining their lovefest... This next guy's TV show introduced some of the most famous bands in the USA, UK...and beyond... The Young Rascals "Good Lovin'" on The Ed Sullivan Show (02:30) If all WE need is love...here's some more...Beatles' version The Beatles - 51 Years Ago Today - All You Need is Love (01:22) --great article and images about this first-ever live, satellite-linked world-broadcast of a song... 25 June 1967, the FAB FOUR told the world what we needed...and still DO... See how many musicians and other celebrities you can name (STUCK? They're mentioned in the video.) The Beatles - All You Need is Love w/ Lyrics (03:56) I added this YouTube version of the song for the LovePlaylist near the end of the post. 1 Corinthians 13 This reminder hangs next to our bed... 'Love BEARS all things..." UNfaithfully yours... The Supremes - Stop! In The Name of Love [The Hollywood Palace - 1965] (03:19) LOVE in the Second Half of Life While it's relatively EASY when we're young and in love...what about when we get so much older?... When I'm sixty four Paul McCartney and Julian Lennon (01:43) --video alternates images of Paul and Julian based on who's singing... Well...I'm now 75...that's more than ten years after... Ten Years After - I'd Love To Change the World (Official Lyric Video) (03:42) With my current level of awareness, I find some of their lyrics offensive to certain groups of people... "I want to change the world...but I don't know what to do..." - See Post game show below "We DID...and Still DO!" 4/2/78 WE DID... 2023...We still DO... --at a friend's home OKAY...Addin' just one extra inspired by my writing...thanks to my AI assistants: Guru Google and Yogi YouTube... Spencer Davis Group - 'Gimme Some Lovin' Stereo Music Video (02:23) "...and we're riding a motorized stairway to Heaven..." Gimme Some Lovin - The Spencer Davis Group - Alternate Take- 1967 (03:07) LOVEList (playlist of all 9 songs in first part - ABOVE) Post Game Show Higher and Higher - Ghostbusters 2 (Sung by Howard Huntsberry) (04:46) Addin' some Fred and Ginger... Jackie Wilson...(your love keeps lifting me) higher and higher (02:50) This next article and the links to the songs it showcases are worth the price of admission to this post... 30 essential psychedelic soul songs - Brooklyn Vegan How to Build a LEGO Stage for a Rock Concert in Stop-Motion (Stage from The Guilty Club - Wating) (03:20) --includes references to a LEGO Indiana Jones set...New movie out now...Coincidence??? --even includes a glow-in-the-dark drum kit --FYI - I used the above video and/or some of the following images in 2 other posts: JUNETEENTH-4: Music Fuels & Moves the Movement UNorthodox Easter: We Built this City on Rocks that Roll "Hear's" the real deal...MINI version of the Grateful Dead's "Wall of Sound"... Music Empowers: SPREAD MUSIC NOW --tells the story of how I came to be here in this historic Connecticut church... ...the RIGHT place at the RIGHT time... "I want to change the world...but I don't know what to do..." (Read on...) "Love your neighbor AS you love yourself..." ...Let's start with OURSELVES... FYI - This recent awareness is radically transforming my life...and the lives of this around me... Want to Build Deeper Connections? Start with Yourself First - Chopra Old... ...and New... "Ah, but I was so much older then...I'm younger than that now..." #music #humor #love #Bible #SteveWinwood #JackieWilson #LionelRichie #Westlife #TinaTurner #Beatles #EdSullivan #YoungRascals #Supremes #DeepakChopra #GratefulDead #WallOfSound #MiniWallOfSound #LEGOS #Easter #MusicEmpowers #SpreadMusicNow

The beginning of our journey...is an INSIDE-out awakening...We must first become aware of our OWN fears, bigotry, hatred...and allow it to be healed... This is NOT just an American problem...but worldwide... Our Guides on this journey... Dalai Lama XIV Baháʼu'lláh Emma Maya Marvin Bob & Woody Martin Richard CURIOUS??? If any of this resonates with you or simply awakens your curiosity, please let me know and I can refer you to some Long Island groups that are working collaboratively to foster our INTER-DEPENDENCE... Dalai Lama XIV Baháʼu'lláh Liberty Enlightening the World by Arya Badiyan, 2020. "The figure in the foreground restores the original intention behind the Statue of Liberty symbolizing the emancipation of the slaves,” Arya says. “The background is symbolic. The pillars are evocative of the lynching memorial in Alabama. The crowd represents the millions of black lives that have been tragically taken over hundreds of years as this country has failed to be a haven of liberty. It is also a reminder that they are still with us, a veritable army ready to help establish liberty and justice for all.” We’re Not Free Until We’re All Free - Baha'i teachings.org (June 2020) [from this article - it begins with these statements...refer to the article for links to other helpful information] History can be a tricky business. I mean, we all go to school and learn so much about the history of our country, and the history of our world. We are tested on this information and taught that it is factual. What happens when you learn that what you have been taught is not the truth, but a narrative that makes one group of people look good while condemning another group of people? If you look at the history of race in America, you will find this to be the case over and over and over again. The Baha’i writings tell us that “Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues.” Baha’u’llah the prophet founder of the Baha’i Faith stated: Trustworthiness is the greatest portal leading unto the tranquility and security of the people. In truth the stability of every affair hath depended and doth depend upon it. All the domains of power, of grandeur and of wealth are illumined by its light. We must tell the truth — our very stability as a society depends upon it. We must right the wrongs of history, we must take a stand for all that is right, and today we will start with learning the history of Juneteenth and Lady Liberty! June 19 is Juneteenth, which African American communities celebrate as their Independence Day. I’m sure some of you are saying, “But I was taught that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.” Although that is historically true, many ignored the law and continued the institution of slavery. Also from this article... Juneteenth by Arya Badiyan, 2020. [to continue, refer to the above link] Emma “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.” Emma Lazarus, 1883 - Rabbi Daniel Aronson [from this article about the May 2022 attack on a grocery store in Buffalo killing 10 and wounding 3. Of the 13 victims, 11 were Black.] An online manifesto attributed to (the perpetrator) explains that the attack was spurred by the theory that a tide of immigrants is crowding out white populations in western countries. The manifesto also says that Jews are the real problem but that “they can be dealt with in time….” How can we read the words of this proud anti-Semite, who just shot eleven Black people, and not recall Martin Niemoller’s lament, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist….” We know how it ends. Niemoller could distance himself from Hitler’s hate for only so long before he, too, was incarcerated in a concentration camp. He discovered just how intertwined his own fate was with the Jews and others whom Hitler sought to exterminate. In our own day, white supremacists and believers in the bogus “replacement theory” will target anyone they deem as “other” and they’ll do it “in time.” This week, we read in the Torah about God’s call for a jubilee (yovel, in Hebrew) – a reboot of the social order and a release from indebtedness and servitude. The yovel reminded our ancestors that the lives of all Israelites were intertwined, that all of Israel was responsible for one another. The same must be said of all humankind: all lives are intertwined, we are all responsible for one another. In this spirit, I ask each of us to explore ways in which we can build relationships with people who are different from ourselves – whether that’s joining them in their social justice efforts or inviting them to support our work for social justice. There’s more than one right way to increase love in the world. Find one that works for you. May we live to see the day when hatred ceases, guns go quiet, and all of us are truly free. Please let me know if you are interested in checking out local groups of people trying to life life in harmony. Eileen and I are part of several. Maya Maya Angelou: 'No one of us can be free until everybody is free...(2013) She states that when undertaking this work, COURAGE is essential...Fear motivates most of the cruelties in our world...She extends the scope of this effort to all groups of people oppressed for ANY reason... Maya was a friend of Dr. King. In this video, she mentions that he and Malcolm X both had good senses of humor. I really liked when she says, "I never trust people who don't laugh..." Dr. Maya Angelou - Love Liberates (05:34) Marvin "War is not the answer...Only love can conquer hate..." Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (Official Video 2019) (03:59) Now, let's place these dreams of a better world into our own hearts, let them GROW and then move them around our shared world... What's Going On (Marvin Gaye) Feat. Sara Bareilles | Playing For Change | Song Around The World (03:39) Bob & Woody The answer, my friend is HANGING in the wind... How white Americans used lynchings to terrorize and control black people (2018) - The Guardian They’re Selling Postcards of the Hanging: The Real Lynching in Dylan’s “Desolation Row” (June 2016) - chimesfreedom.com [from this article] On June 15, 1920, residents of Duluth, Minnesota lynched three African-American circus workers: Isaac McGhie, Elias Clayton and Elmer Jackson. An 8-year-old child named Abraham Zimmerman lived in Duluth at the time. And he grew up to have a son named Robert, who would later become famous with the name Bob Dylan. So, the lynching that Zimmerman witnessed eventually played a role in what American Songwriter has called Dylan’s sixth greatest song of all time. Abe Zimmerman reportedly taught his son about the lynching. The lesson was similar to the way Woody Guthrie’s father told him about a lynching he had witnessed (that similarly inspired Guthrie to write an excellent song - see next 2 links). Zimmerman’s story of the lynching in Minnesota and its aftermath eventually provided the imagery for the opening of Dylan’s “Desolation Row.” [End of citations] I selected this version because of the year and location- this city was a major locus of Dr. Martin Luther King's civil rights activities... Bob Dylan, Desolation Row, Birmingham 02.04.1995 (09:38) History Lesson: Before television and the internet, our stories were passed along by troubadours, wandering minstrels and folk singers... And in academia - something only the wealthy could afford - history's stories were retold from the perspective of the ruling classes... Woody Guthrie- "Don't Kill My Baby & My Son" (05:45*) * but video continues blank until 08:00 --song was mentioned in earlier chimesfreedom.com article on "Desolation Row". You can view it here. Martin As the events of the Birmingham Campaign intensified on the city’s streets, Martin Luther King, Jr., composed a letter from his prison cell in Birmingham in response to local religious leaders’ criticisms of the campaign: “Never before have I written so long a letter. I’m afraid it is much too long to take your precious time. I can assure you that it would have been much shorter if I had been writing from a comfortable desk, but what else can one do when he is alone in a narrow jail cell, other than write long letters, think long thoughts and pray long prayers?” (King, Why, 94–95). In Why We Can’t Wait, King recalled in an author’s note accompanying the letter’s republication how the letter was written. It was begun on pieces of newspaper, continued on bits of paper supplied by a black trustee, and finished on paper pads left by King’s attorneys. After countering the charge that he was an “outside agitator” in the body of the letter, King sought to explain the value of a “nonviolent campaign” and its “four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification (*); and direct action” (King, Why, 79). He went on to explain that the purpose of direct action was to create a crisis situation out of which negotiation could emerge. The body of King’s letter called into question the clergy’s charge of “impatience” on the part of the African American community and of the “extreme” level of the campaign’s actions (“White Clergymen Urge”). “For years now, I have heard the word ‘Wait!’” King wrote. “This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never’” (King, Why, 83). He articulated the resentment felt “when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of ‘nobodiness’—then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait” (King, Why, 84). King justified the tactic of civil disobedience by stating that, just as the Bible’s Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to obey Nebuchadnezzar’s unjust laws and colonists staged the Boston Tea Party, he refused to submit to laws and injunctions that were employed to uphold segregation and deny citizens their rights to peacefully assemble and protest. King also decried the inaction of white moderates such as the clergymen, charging that human progress “comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation” (King, Why, 89). He prided himself as being among “extremists” such as Jesus, the prophet Amos, the apostle Paul, Martin Luther, and Abraham Lincoln, and observed that the country as a whole and the South in particular stood in need of creative men of extreme action. In closing, he hoped to meet the eight fellow clergymen who authored the first letter. * [my adds] the same internal practice with which I began our adventure...the hero's journey WITHIN... Source: The King Institute @ Stanford University Martin Luther King - I Have A Dream Speech - August 28, 1963 (17:28) The letter from the Birmingham jail of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Britannica 1963 March on Washington - Smithsonian The 1995 Million Man March on Washington... "America, America, you kill the prophets and stone those sent to you..." (Matt. 23:37) Richard Some food for our journey within... In some circles, this in known as the "hero's" journey...It's at the heart of mythical tales of fear and courage..and the resulting transformation... Source: Wikipedia The way up is the way down - Michael K. Holleran/NCR Online This is a review of Richard Rohr's book "YES, AND ...: DAILY MEDITATIONS"... [from the article with my added emphases] Rohr himself explains and justifies his hermeneutic in a short introduction, claiming with good reason that he is interpreting the Scriptures much as Jesus did himself. He notes, "Jesus consistently ignored or even denied exclusionary, punitive, and triumphalistic texts in his own Jewish Bible in favor of passages that emphasized inclusion, mercy, and honesty." The seven underlying themes all evoke, and build upon, the central insight that "everything belongs" (the fourth theme, and title of Rohr's earlier book on contemplation). Plunging more deeply into their mysteries is not a spiritual luxury, as we quickly see, but a crucial challenge. Thus, the first theme cautions that experience is to be taken seriously, along with Scripture and tradition. This insight derails religion's tendency to blind dogmatism or fundamentalism, the source of so much havoc today. Stemming from and leading to this, the third theme boldly proclaims that there is only one seamless reality, the luminous Ladder of Being (as Medieval mystics/theologians called it), in which the distinction between natural and supernatural, sacred and profane, is exposed as ultimately and radically false. Theologians as diverse as Henri de Lubac, Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar have all pointed out the problems with such dichotomies -- and got into trouble for it. Nonetheless, insistence on such spiritual schizophrenia has wrought inestimable damage on many levels, and only a narrow clericalism has any interest in maintaining it. However central the previous insight, an even more critical one is the fifth: "The separate self is the problem, whereas most religion and most people make the shadow self the problem. This leads to denial, pretending, and projecting, instead of real transformation into the divine." Such clever diversion of attention perpetuates the reign of the ego: It feels superior by suppressing bodily passions, and meanwhile, in cruel isolation, seeks power, prestige and possessions, even within ecclesial life. As Rohr has noted, we have been "mortifying" the wrong thing for 2,000 years! This brings us to the next startling realization: The way up is the way down. The sixth theme states: "Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines." Even this belongs! These are hard lessons, though many primitive initiation rites and contemporary addiction recovery programs have proven to understand it well. How could we, who worship a tortured man on a cross, miss this? The ego managed to turn even this icon into atonement and satisfaction theories. So, if death is life, darkness light, and weakness strength, then the ultimate truth (and Rohr's seventh theme) is: "Reality is paradoxical and complementary. Non-dual thinking is the highest level of consciousness. Divine union, not private perfection, is the goal of all religion." This leads us full circle to the title of the current volume: Yes, and ... Rohr's pungent insights are a bitter and soothing balm for our wounded souls and world. That they seem so strange, shocking and counterintuitive only proves how poorly we have understood our own tradition, and grievously deformed it. The loss of this contemplative eye, he suggests, is what created wars of religion, whereas "non-duality" is recognized more and more as the meeting point of all traditions. Whether we, and religion, can survive depends on our finally getting the message right. [Michael K. Holleran is a priest of the New York archdiocese, a Zen sensei and a former Carthusian monk.] Coming Meditations... Refer to my blog for others in this series. As of 7/5/23 there are 2 more. These were some initial ideas - none yet published: 4th of July: Make America GRATEFUL Again...From Shea to shining sea... How many deaths will it take...? Only love and music can conquer hate... Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - Episode 10 The Federation and the Romulans have been at war for over 100 years...Sadly, a familiar story line from our human history... Romulus and Remus Jacob and Esau wrestled from the womb TO Russia with Love: Beatles TO Russia with Love: Mick...or, the Devil Wears Pravda TO Russia with Love: Dylan TO Russia with Love: M...Boney M... ...Bond...James Bond...In London, Bond is called to a meeting with M... Of Bulls and Bears...Or, Bears and Bulls...hit... Who is this Devil...the other political party...the other religion...the other race...the other country...??? #music #humor #DalaiLamaXIV #Bahaullah #EmmaLazarus #MayaAngelou #MarvinGaye #MartinLutherKing #PlayingForChange #RichardRohr #BobDylan #WoodyGuthrie