Natural Nincompoops 8/01/09

You have been given worldly means to use and employ against human ignorance and wrong.

Knute Nelson
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Happy to see you.
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There are two men out west somewhere. One of them did me a serious heartbreaking wrong thus ending a friendship of 20 years. The other one automatically took the first one's side without giving me any explanation for it. I knew from his emails that he didn't know what had happened. I tried to explain to him what had taken place just so he would know, not to turn him against the other guy. The more we communicated, the more adamant he became at not considering or even listening to what I was saying. It was causing me a lot of distress until I heard someone say "You can't win an argument with an ignorant man." Then I relaxed and let it go. It's not up to me alone to heal ignorance.

You can't reason with the unreasonable. You can't educate one who refuses to be educated. You can't convince a person whose mind is closed. You can't turn the lights on in a house that has no lights, You can't argue with an ignorant man.

In "A Christmas Carol" Charles Dickens writes that the Spirit of Christmas Present shows Scrooge two children it has hiding under it's robe.

From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children;
wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt
down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.

'Oh, Man. look here. Look, look, down here.' exclaimed the Ghost.

'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon
them. 'And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers.
This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both,
and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy,
for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the
writing be erased.

Beware the ignorant of the world, They are dangerous, They will do wrong. The best we can do is work against human ignorance and wrong, because we can't argue with it.

DB
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Welcome to August.
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Managed Maturity 7/31/09

If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.

Mickey Mantle
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The door is open.
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When I was a youngster. like most young ones, I paid little attention to the advice I was getting from my elders. I was repeatedly told to plan for the future. But I didn't want to waste time planning for the future. That would just take time away from living in the present. I wanted to live life to the fullest right then. And so I did, to the extent possible given financial and family limitations.

I figured that some day I would be 70 years old and decrepit. So it was necessary to get as much living done as I could while I was still young. My elders told me I should work hard and save as much money as I could so that I could retire comfortably in peace and security. But peace and security were not subjects that interested me at that tender age. Life was meant to be enjoyed, I said.

So I set about enjoying it. Once I came of age I began a career as an actor which continued for many decades. I went to many different places, worked with many different people and had many different and interesting experiences. None of which I regret. Of course I sometimes did scripts I wish I hadn't done, but there was always a good experience that came out of it in one way or another.

One of the benefits of choosing life as an actor is that the roles change as you grow, but there is always another role to come. I moved graciously from playing someone's son, to someone's lover, to somebody's Dad, to someone else's Grandpa, with no angst or effort. I was living life to the fullest.

Then I retired. My retirement is not peaceful or secure and certainly lacks a lot of comforts. I might have better heeded the advice of my elders at the time. But I didn't. I wanted to live my life to the fullest, the way I wanted to.

Now I'm 70 years old and decrepit and, guess what, I still live life to the fullest, even given the physical and financial limitations of a man who didn't take better care of himself. I am my own entertainment. I read as much as I can. I go outside to enjoy the sunshine, the flowers and birds. I write every day. I paint almost every day. I enjoy sharing thoughts and ideas with my Internet friends. And, in spite of everything that has come down on me to annoy me, grieve me and waste my time, I still have a sense of humor.

Please don't think I'm bragging. I wrote this entry simply to say that, if you're young do take better care of yourself, as Mickey advises, but however old you are, let nothing take away your zest for life.

DB - The Vagabond
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When you get to the corner, go the other way.
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SUMMER QUIZ
This is not a contest.



A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.



Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?



You have all summer to answer if you wish.

18 responses so far.



DB

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Living Light 7/30/09

A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.

Hedy Lamarr
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Welcome to my studio.
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I, alas, will never see all the paintings in the world. There are millions of them. But I see as many as I can. I enjoy going to museums and galleries. I've seen thousands of art works, some excellent, some good and some terrible. But of all that I've seen my favorite is one called "The Piano Lesson" by Henri Matisse.

A young boy is seated at a Pleyel practicing (Ignaz Pleyel was the foremost piano maker before Steinway, Baldwin and Yamaha ever showed up). There's a triangular metronome on the piano. Over his right shoulder an open window with a breeze blowing the curtain. Over his left shoulder a female figure sitting on a stool with her hands folded in her lap, a teacher? his mother? the muse?

There are a few triangles in the picture which I read as the triad, the basic building block of harmony. And there are mysteries. Does the boy want to learn to play the piano, or does he want to be outside playing on this beautiful day? And who is the woman?

The Piano Lesson will always be alive for me. It lives at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Whenever I'm in the city, if I have time, I go and visit it. It's my friend.

When I started painting I turned out a few works that were nice, but then one day I surprised myself with a picture I call "The Blues." It's an abstract of deep grays and blues. Some might say it's a dark and somber work, but for me it's full of light. It inspires me. It shows me what art and I, as an artist, are capable of.

Whenever someone looks at my works I have to tell them that The Blues will never be for sale. It is precious to me. It talks to me every day. It's my friend.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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Midsummer is on the way.
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Kind Kappellmeister 7/29/09

When Bach and Beethoven and all those guys were doing their thing, it was an absolute pinnacle of our consciousness, and ever since then we've been re-exploring different avenues of it.

Maynard Keenan
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Tune your fiddle and have a seat.
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If you are reading this you are probably not a fan of classical music. Most people aren't. But whether you prefer jazz, rock, folk, new age, easy listening or whatever your choice, you should know that if your favorite musician had formal training in a music academy or college department he or she had to analyze Bach chorals as part of the training.

Johann Sebastian Bach was the organist and music director of his very large church. Bach was a Lutheran. He composed, rehearsed and conducted a cantata every week to commemorate what the Sunday service was about. These cantatas were written for orchestra, chorus and usually solo singers. In between he managed to write an enormous amount of music. It was calculated that if a modern day musician sat down with a ball point pen, in good lighting and worked a 40 hour week it would take him many decades just to copy out what Bach wrote. And Bach did it with a quill pen, an inkwell, by candle light in a house full of his children.

Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and many others were inspired composers. I have a different feeling about Bach. Bach wasn't inspired. Bach WAS music. Music flowed out of him like breath. It was a divine exhalation. And that's why every true musician needs to know it.

I used to know a folk singer who graduated with a Bachelors degree in music. For her honors thesis she did an analysis of the Bach B minor Mass, a formidable task for any music student. It's a personal thing I know, but I happen to believe that the B minor Mass is the greatest piece of music ever written.

Far from my intent is to proselytize and try to make a classical music lover out of you, if you don't want to be. But if you don't listen to anything else you should listen to the amazing opening chorus of the Bach Mass It lasts 10 to 12 minutes depending on the conductor. It starts with a few basic chords and then begins a slow stately fugue for orchestra and chorus. During it the chorus sings only two words, Kerie Eleison, the opening two words of the Mass. It is a work of pure genius.

It's true that ever since Bach composers and musicians have been trying to re-explore and recapture that genius, to reinvent that wheel, to regain that amazing level of consciousness that brought such music to the world. And some have succeeded. Bach is always there to show us the way.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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Join me for a happy Wednesday.
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PS: Whenever I write on classical music people seem to find out about it ahead of time and all head for the hills. Hence, no readers, no comments.

undocking

Can we call the undocking of Endeavour the unendeavouring?

Justified Journey 7/28/09

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

William James
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A big loud welcome to you.
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Two of the most powerful virtues we can have are faith and patience. In fact, without those two qualities at work in the stream of life, things would be a fine mess. The opposite side of patience is to be rash and hasty, two activities that have been the designers of some of the most tangled and regretable messes in the world.

One of the traits of youth is the desire to have what we want when we want it. Instant results. And if we don't see them we push on, do things over or do something else. Fads are born of that. The latest gadget is coveted with a passion. There has to be some evidence of what we wish for or pray for or else.

Lust has been described as the desire to have whatever we want on the instant, without waiting. Instant gratification. Carrie Fisher once wrote that instant gratification takes too long.

In my career I found that some directors want the results of their directions instantly. But there is a gestation period for any ideas that are worthwhile. A good argument doesn't convince any thinking person immediately. The more important an event the longer it takes to bear fruit.

The farmer doesn't expect his crops to grow right after he plants them. He has faith that nature is doing the work. You don't want your children to grow up instantly and miss their childhood. But if the right influences and instructions are given them the result will most likely be an adult you want to know.

The worst things that can happen usually take no time to appear. That's just because they are worthless. But the blessings take time. Lately I've seen things blooming in my life that I made some good efforts to see a long time ago. Some of them are things I simply forgot about. But the seeds opened, took root and eventually bore fruit while I wasn't thinking about them.

We are the fruits of life. We are the products, the results of life. We are neither swallowed up in life nor are we plowed back under. That gives us the right, opportunity and obligation to act in ways that make a positive difference in the world, even if the results are not immediate.

DB
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Watch the flowers enjoying the weather.
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SUMMER QUIZ

This is not a contest.



A young man out west just took home 88 million dollars from the lottery.



Whether you play the lottery or not, if you suddenly had 88 million dollars, or the equivalent of whatever your currency is, what are the first three things you would do with it?



You have all summer to answer if you wish.

18 responses so far.



DB

Innocent Inspection 7/27/09

My paint brush is like a telescope. It helps me to discover things.

DB - The Vagabond
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Happy Monday to you.
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According to a recent report the Russians are planning to send a poet up into space on one of their Soyuz missions. I was having a conversation about that with someone the other day. I, being an artist, think it's a great idea. She, not being an artist, or for whatever reason, thinks it's a stupid idea.

I remember back in the 50s or so, when American Airlines first introduced their 707, they hired a poet, Carl Sandburg as a matter of fact, to fly back and forth in the plane and write about it. Those poems not only sold people on the 707, they also, and even more importantly, described the experience of air travel to people who were still unaware of it, and described it in ways only a poet can.

I have always thought, and frequently said in the past, much to other people's amusement and scorn, that I believed there should be a poet in space. Poets see things ordinary human don't see. It seems appropriate somehow that the Russians, the first people in space, should be the ones, especially considering their vast and colorful literature, to be the first to send a poet.

I spite of what the super practical may think, the telescopic mind of a poet can enhance the experiences and possibilities of outer space. Poets are seers and can fortell what others cannot. A poet will discover because he won't look for what he expects to find. A poet will talk to space and listen as space replies. Poets are at home in the stars.

Poetry must be defended, with an army if necessary.

I look forward with anticipation to read what words the poet has to utter.

DB
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Laugh at the heat. Smile at the breeze.
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