Protest songs have always existed in one form or another. But with advances in technology and a growing expendable cashflow in the 20th century the role of the protest song changed and became popularized and politicized. Ever since the 60’s and early 70’s protest music has been part of the main stream and has been a unifier of a necessary opposition. That tradition continues even today. Here are some protest songs from…
then…
…and now….
Sometimes life is ALL walls & windows… no doors.
But it is still life.
And in my confinement I found contentment.
Quietly sitting in the center
To weak to climb the walls
I found a shovel and started to dig instead.
My contentment brought enlightenment
and opportunity… my sight was more
than any window could afford.
~ mobius faith (Akron,OH 8/5/17
a Reblog from Photography in Oman. I absolutely love this beautiful video by Mike Olbinski. FYI – a must-watch in full screen.
via Now this is, weather. (just a little diversion) — Photography in Oman
– Rabbi Rami Shapiro
Mehliana (Brad Mehldau & Mark Guiliana) performs “Just Call Me Nige” at Largo in LA, October 2013. The song is featured on the album Mehliana: Taming the Dragon • Nonesuch Records Video directed/recorded by Alex Chaloff
Some great thoughts on quitting social media and spending less time online. Is 2017 the year you will make some changes and take charge of your life?
Quantities of “stuff” from the local rail yard.
A great cover
and the original
I love blenders. They make great drinks, soups, etc….
But what about culture blending… there are pros and cons…. one of the pros can be – it’s just so damn entertaining. This has been proven, time and again, by many serious musicians. Some of you may remember a comedy called SPINAL TAP that lampooned every hair metal band that existed to that point in time.
Well, there was a movie in 1989 by Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki called LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO AMERICA…. A fantastic comedy if you like your comedy very dry and dark. The “Leningrad Cowboys were called The worst rock and roll band in the world. In many ways they were the Finnish version of SPINAL TAP….. not afraid to mix in their cultural roots with communism and rock and roll they pretty much live up to the SPINAL TAP of world music comparison….. Of course just like SPINAL TAP – the band – the cowboys started taking themselves too seriously even daring to write some of their own rock standards and phasing out the cultural mishmash that made them so much fun to begin with….. But that’s the way of all things….
So here is a reminder of what once was. This live video was titled LENINGRAD COWBOYS TOTAL BALALAIKA SHOW…. featuring drums mounted on a tractor, guitars shaped like tractors big, BIG hair and pointy shoes and of course the actual Red Army Chorus/band and Dancers from Moscow – all doing a cover of ZZ TOP’s “GIMME ALL YOUR LOVIN'”…What more could a citizen of the world ask for? LOL
May it put a smile on your face this weekend. 🙂
and here’s a trailer for the movie that started it all.
Leningrad Cowboys Go America – Free Screening at The Loft Cinema from The Loft Cinema on Vimeo.
something every voter should consider…..
LOL
… sometimes we need to just let loose and have some fun…..
…one morning while in a foggy state of mind….I wandered the local hills as nature gave visual credence to my mood….in the fog when thoughts are distilled into the fine wine of wisdom, courage and faith….preparing one for action….
[fyi: after you click play for the music – if you right click on the first photo and open in new tab you can view larger versions while the music plays]
Traditions are best when they are broken.
FACEBOOK IS SHIT – “Someone who has 500 friends has no friends”
Rest in peace Demis Roussos
A great entertainer who made people happy even through the RAIN AND TEARS.
PEACE OUT
HAPPY NEW YEAR to my readers.
I don’t know about you but I am rather happy to see the end of 2014. It’s been a particularly difficult year.
So like the picture says, PEACE OUT!.
The fire of the old year dies away into smoke and ashes while the new year sparks hope for tomorrow.
Like the song says, This is “THE LAST GOOD DAY OF THE YEAR”
Yep, you read right. For Forest Gump, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” which is great for those who love romantic sweetness mixed up with chaos theory. I’m more of a practical realist. I think life is like a box of rocks. They are interesting and fun to throw. But when we play with them we and/or someone else will get bruised and hurt. Hurt is unavoidable in this life. Pain and suffering are unavoidable. The trick is trying not to hurt others especially when tossing rocks. Always easier said than done. Kinda like using a rock to hit a window without breaking the glass – possible, but sure-as-hell, isn’t easy to do. Rocks are fun to play with by and, like most things, we choose whether to keep them as objects of play and fascination or weapons of destruction, pain and suffering. There is a fine line between play and war and the tipping point varies from person to person. So take care, play hard and don’t blame others.
BOX OF ROCKS
(from the Concordant Literal New Testament) – Mark 11: 1-10 tells the story of what is often referred to as the “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem to great and seemingly spontaneous and positive crowd response. But was this manufactured? Was the crowd egged on? Was this the result of hype?
It is a possibility. Of course we may never know for sure because our way of perceiving now is so different from how perceptions were formed during the time that Jesus lived. But let’s look at the text. On coming into Jerusalem Jesus tells his companions to
“Go into the village facing you, and straightway, going into it you will be finding a colt, bound, on which not as yet, any man is seated. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone should be saying to you, ‘What is this you are doing? say that The Lord has need of it….'”
And it happens exactly that way. I have always been a bit mystified by the use of the title “Lord” when referring to Jesus, the Christ. Lord is a title like president, viceroy, chairman, etc. It is given to people who have power, and authority, influence like a ruler. Now Jesus was not born into any of this and he cannot be said to be of that class at that time. It is a title conferred on him by those who believe he is the Messiah (another title). So I have many questions. Why did Jesus tell his disciples to tell a “white lie”? He was not a Lord in terms of class and position. Was it just a way to get what he wanted because people wouldn’t question taking another persons property if it was done by a Lord? When he then rides the colt entering Jerusalem, and people are shouting and laying their cloaks on the road and waving palm branches, were they just caught up in the hoopla because someone had prepped them saying that “someone special, a lord, is coming to town.” Were his followers egging on the crowd whipping them into a frenzy of adulation? Was it all manufactured? Was this one of the reasons people turned on him? Did the people thinking he was a Lord of the land come to see that he was just a poor homeless man that wasn’t going to change their world? Did Jesus play into the hype because he knew he could never live up to others expectations for him?
Of course that is entirely possible and while many Christians would read this and start shaking their heads in disappointment I would postulate that if this is what happened then the lesson from this story is very different. This story is typically told as a justification for the Godhood of Jesus, the Christ as a Celebration of his Godliness. But the Greater lesson is that Jesus did not come to change the world but to change individual lives through a change of perception, thinking, and being. This is the true miracle. The miracle is not that Jesus is the essence of God but that he paved the way for all individuals to be the same, to save us from ourselves to find the essence of God in our own lives. We were created in the image of God. We have access to the essence of godliness. It is time to wake up! Don’t suffer from the hype of God changing the world for you. Let God change YOU for the world. It’s not something we make happen, it’s something that happens to us.
... on being and becoming ... 