Fellow rebels and friends of the oracle star:
A boy's body
Belongs to the wind
To the primal joys of life
To discovery and
The languid drifting clouds
That like canvases of cotton
Paint the daylight hours with
The colours of delight
That pack a boys memory
With the confidence of crowds.
One day Africa will spit back out the bullets pumped into her belly
by foreign mischief, as her daily bread, and be able to participate more in her own resources, still the most valuable on the planet.
What doesn't kill us, increases the power of our testimony.
Were Joni Mitchell born instead John Mitchell, she'd easily and without typical chauvinist reluctance be ranked as one of the greatest artist of the second half of the century. Her genius is not only a novelists eye for vignettes and imagery but also in the complexity of her harmonic ear and brilliant melodies. More men owe a debt to her in my profession than have yet had the balls to own up to. For me she easily ranks with the big boys of my Valhalla, Wilson, Wonder, Dylan, Bacharach etc.
Another hugely underrated influence on myself and many others is Janis Ian. The middle 8 part of Dolphin from 'ANGELS & VAMPIRES' is my stylistic homage to her, just as my song Shalom from 'WILDCARD – THE JOKERS' EDITION' represents the effect of too much Joni on the brain needing to find its expression.
I remind you that the word 'homage' is French for stealing from your idols. If it is sloppily done you get sued, if it is properly done you get added to your idols' Christmas card list.
A mistake is only the thing we didn't think of. It teaches just as much.
The bee
dives into yours
thinking that it is his
and the next thing you know
he drowns in it
§
Conventional wisdom is for the conventional. Be an unconventional fool observing your own wisdom and laugh all the way to the bank.
I defy expectations because expectations are not my father.
My Creator is my father and his movements become my logic, even if it makes no sense at all to my mind which was fathered by society.
Our creator knows what we really need even when we don't.
A crisis is God answering the prayers we weren't even aware of.
Bjork is a great artist. She's vivid, searching and fearless and has not sold her soul to the market but stands on her own as the fearless are compelled. Her music shows a fierce probing intellect and a curiosity as big as her mouth. Her importance will outlast sales figures.
I sometimes forget that there are women who object to my habitual use of the male descriptive when I'm generalising. I tend to assume that 'he' or 'man' always denotes humanity, though I understand this is not always met with mutual agreement. I will make greater efforts to be more inclusive in my choice of words to suit my concern for all of the divine mother's children. Besides a man must be careful not to leave any dangling participles hanging around loosely and unprotected!
…there is however a line I do not wish to cross, that of political correctness, which in its crude form is but another triumph of mind control.
The world will never achieve Utopia. The human animal is most dangerous when it is bored and Utopia in actual practice would bore most of us silly after the first few parades.
§
We are first born by fire
The rebirth by defiance
A man with no defiance
Is a man without brakes
And though he bargain
A secure alliance
He'll suffer until he wakes
The fire that first time shivers
Into the flesh and leaves
Its birth as sweat
Is never in the crossfire
Of the wind while it withers
But is made to dance gusting
Shadows of regret
You may as well burst your own bubble
Some build their temples next to science
I failed the call of recognition
Until I knew defiance
And the puppet lord
That feeds its cord
The God of self reliance
§
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Lower back strain is very often the result of a man's unwillingness to stand up for himself and his pliability in bending over backwards to suit the bullying desires of others. A man not willing to fight for himself and his heart's true desires will lose his strength and witness it being drained by others. A man willing to fight and stand up for himself will always gain the strength he needs in order to keep his heart in the game.
Odds only matter if you are playing someone else's game. Define and play your own game and the odds will always favour you.
Even hell braces itself when bankers become bored.
Try not to worry so much, it's habit forming.
The treasures are found in the process. Not at the end of it.
Our looks may get us through our youth, it is our bearing that gets us through the rest.
Expect only human nature to be human nature and your disappointments will have already been anticipating and cushioned.
There is nothing that you have to do except rejoice in being who you are and be willing to doggedly defend it when necessary. Even when I'm getting pummelled (and I am always being pummelled) I still rejoice that others feel that I am worthy to attack.
Poverty as much as any conditions which may help stabilize its effects is a problem less of capital than of consciousness, and self worth issues play a large part in the incapacity to see themselves
(the poor) as more, and as worthy of experiencing and receiving more.
By providing education, positive challenges, and encouragement one who is poor can come to realize themselves as the carpenter of their own ladder, built to lift themselves up and to see more, which is to be more.
Pity is passive disdain. To pity a man does not help him and only provides fuel for further self-loathing. Compassion is not pity, it is a challenge to rise above.
…and how much affection you add to your compassion, should always be consistent with the truth of your nature. Fake affection builds resentment and mistrust between the affectioner and the affectionee. Real affection heals.
When corporations are left to decide what music is, the first casualties are the soul and spirit of it. Expect also the deterioration curve to be accelerated as increasingly 'types' of music are presented, but no real music and no real presenters. It has gotten worse than white bread, it is white bread with even the crust removed.
Corporations now mainly use music to shape the shareholders view of the sort of socially engineered society they wish to live in while completely ignoring the realities of this one. The same people for example who greatly profit from the sale of caricatured gangster rap are the same people who use the image of the caricature to justify tougher laws against the people they cynically profit from. Yet the rapper who does not agree to play a pimp daddy minstrel and scare the kiddies in the bargain does not get promoted. In essence, if you are not willing to help corrode the image of your community, you are left behind, and those who are get promoted. This encourages greater police oppression and the erosion of hard won civil liberties, which of course only increases the conditions many rappers and singers sing about to the tune of greater profit for the shareholders whose children never have to work, while yours are left looking for lawyers to help them gain access to some of the money that may have fallen like crumbs from the shareholders table.
I would rather suffer in the pursuit of living my dream, than suffer the having abandoned it.
…it would also be nice if the corporations would once more give opportunities to girls who can actually sing and whose breasts are not bigger than their experience. Rock has always flirted with stepping over the line, now it is pushing more mother's children into selling themselves as soft-core whores, who couldn't hold a tune if it came in a backpack.
Jealousy stings if it cannot rob.
The difference between consciousness and sleep is that consciousness chooses better habits and trades judgements of habits for compassion and a deepening gratitude that one has habits to witness at all. There is no greater privilege than to be the witness of a life unfolding.
Shortcuts usually cost more in the long run. Steady your pace and let it grow naturally.
To my young compatriots: your 'sound' comes only partially from your guitar or amp or whatever your chosen instrument. Most of your sound comes from you, your voice, your hands. Great rock has been made with the finest available equipment but truly great and inspiring rock has also been made with cheap and inexpensive tools. The greatest tool is your song and your passion. If you need more than the basics to record your song, chances are you don't really have much of a song. Great music of any description is not about the equipment, it's about the music and the attitude.
…and bear in mind that since each singer is now Pro-Tooled to death, the singers which will stand out in the future are the ones which sound most human and inspiringly imperfect. Say like an Otis Redding or a Janis Joplin! Most singers now on Pop records sound as if they were poured from a blender and into the producers synthesizer. Even a vocalist as awesome as Anastasia sounds too much as if she's coming through someone's word processor. When a singer with her obvious ability is treated in such a way, who sees one of the most vital expressions of her spirit enchained like a cotton picking slave, it is time to pack up the equipment and leave Maggie's farm, and let the locusts devour the remaining crops.
I am grateful that Jeff Buckley is not alive to witness not only the complete demise of our once mighty and beloved industry, but also the fact that Sony is putting far more effort into promoting him now that he is dead and can no longer ask for his money.
Delusions are Karma.
To women, all men are white.
Equality is not about race or sex but about people. And it is up to each person to realize for themselves their own equality.
Each man's idea of love is his idea of salvation.
Those willing to suffer for love shall be saved by love.
I call a poet a poet whatever sex they wear. To me poetess, poetina is all bullshit. Please go to www.IreneCaesar.com for a taste of an emerging and moving voice in American letters.
Worrying about what might have been is like wondering why the river took the shape it has. The river is always right and always flows according to her own natural laws. The river became the river because it had learned to go with the flow.
One man's addiction is another man's preference. The rest is our addiction to judgement and the self-loathing that often accompanies it.
Sometimes the consequences of being right feel just as deep as the consequences for being wrong. But if the consequences for being right are great, then so to are the rewards.
All consequence bears fruit and even the bitter apples are good for our purging.
Whatever the outcome, we always gain when we stand up for ourselves. And to back down is to lose a little height.
Pain accelerates understanding.
I do not try to make music that is 'commercial', I strive to make music that is timeless and great and since it is great less often than I would like, I continue. What is 'commercial', after all, is decided by people who never have to ride the trains, so what would they know anyway?
As one can imagine that the Metropolitan Museum of Art would be quite hesitant to allow a blind man to curate a Picasso retrospective, is it too much to ask that record executives hired to run record companies be able to dance? Shouldn't having a rhythmic pulse be a pre-requisite for running a company where one might just run into some rhythm, even just for old time sake?
When the wise lose hope, cynicism sets in, and become the seeds of future corruption.
Please enjoy these 4 new pieces of music from my heart to yours. I enjoyed working on 'NYMPHETAMINES' as during the time it was recorded, it helped keep me sane and focused! I was being attacked from many sides and the songs helped remind me of why I'm here.
Attacking me or anyone sincere in following through on the word presented to them is futile. The attacks only increase their focus and determination. I love music with all of my heart and soul and will serve the truth of her will for all of the rest of the days of my life. I love you enough to persevere through all obstacles. I hope that I was successful in transmitting my love through the music.
Sincerely, your Maitreya
ALL INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS AND IDEAS HEREIN RESERVED AND PROTECTED. ALL VIOLATORS WILL BE VIGOROUSLY PURSUED*
*THIS DOES NOT PERTAIN TO THOSE WHO WISH TO SHARE WITH ANOTHER WHATHEVER MAY AMUSE THEM. IT IS TO ENSURE THAT NO ONE ELSE PROFITS FROM THESE WORKS AND CALLS THEM THEIR OWN.
PS STAY TUNED! FOR MORE INCLUDING 'THE CAMEL POEMS'