[FairfieldLife] Re: A Song Dedication for Pope Ratzinger
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Apr 21, 2008, at 4:28 PM, TurquoiseB wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: I'd like to dedicate this song video to Pope Ratzinger on his first visit to America. http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/Joni_Mitchell.html I'd like to follow up on this, if I might. I think that this is a remarkable video, and an interesting moment captured. Equally remarkable, add racism and sexism though: http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/2 I am a descendent of William Penn's favorite Indian translator (and the favorite and most trusted of the natives). So I grew up in natural awe of the natives of Pennsylvania, their sacred sites and lore. But none were actually left, save merely a handful. Imagine then my later shock and awe, growing up, at seeing the conditions they currently lived in on the rez. In that world, Cherokee Louises were an everyday occurrence. What's fascinating to me is how strong a Canadian prairie accent Joni has. It's like living in Toronto again and hearing all these Canadianisms all around me. As I said before, remarkable woman. I met her briefly once at a gathering for Yaqui shaman Grandfather Cachora, one of the people that Carlos Castaneda based don Juan on. She was intense to the max, the very personific- ation of the triple Scorpio I've heard she is, but I liked both her sharp mind and her equally sharp tongue. She don't take no shit off of anybody, but at the same time she don't *give* anybody shit unless they try to put her into a box of some kind. Thanks for finding and sharing these videos, Vaj. I like hearing artists talk about where their songs or movies or books come from. It always provides insights into the mind of the artist, and into the process of creation itself.
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Song Dedication for Pope Ratzinger
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Apr 21, 2008, at 4:28 PM, TurquoiseB wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: I'd like to dedicate this song video to Pope Ratzinger on his first visit to America. http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/Joni_Mitchell.html I'd like to follow up on this, if I might. I think that this is a remarkable video, and an interesting moment captured. Equally remarkable, add racism and sexism though: http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/2 I am a descendent of William Penn's favorite Indian translator (and the favorite and most trusted of the natives). So I grew up in natural awe of the natives of Pennsylvania, their sacred sites and lore. But none were actually left, save merely a handful. Imagine then my later shock and awe, growing up, at seeing the conditions they currently lived in on the rez. In that world, Cherokee Louises were an everyday occurrence. What's fascinating to me is how strong a Canadian prairie accent Joni has. It's like living in Toronto again and hearing all these Canadianisms all around me. As I said before, remarkable woman. I met her briefly once at a gathering for Yaqui shaman Grandfather Cachora, one of the people that Carlos Castaneda based don Juan on. She was intense to the max, the very personific- ation of the triple Scorpio I've heard she is, but I liked both her sharp mind and her equally sharp tongue. She don't take no shit off of anybody, but at the same time she don't *give* anybody shit unless they try to put her into a box of some kind. Thanks for finding and sharing these videos, Vaj. I like hearing artists talk about where their songs or movies or books come from. It always provides insights into the mind of the artist, and into the process of creation itself. The whole concert is pretty much like that. She talks about her songwriting process and fields questions from the audience, the phone and the net. The entire DVD of the gig is on dimeadozen.net (sign up required): JONI MITCHELL Toronto, Canada Sept 23, 1994 Intimate Interactive MuchMusic TV I got a DVD here on DIME awhile back that, compared with this version, had inferior video and really inferior 192 kbps audio. Since I recently came into possession of this videotape, I thought I'd share it with you here. 1st gen VHS tape Cyberhome Standalone DVD recorder at SP HDD TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 chapters and menus VIDEO_TS 01 Intro 02 Sex Kills 03 Moon at the Window 04 Interview QA 05 Magdalene Laundries 06 Interview QA 07 Hejira 08 Cherokee Louise 09 Interview QA 10 Night Ride Home 11 Crazy Cries of Love 12 Interview, QA, and The Fishbowl (poem) 13 Just Like This Train 14 Facelift 15 Interview and Closing Credits Video Attribute : Video compression mode : MPEG-2 TV system : 525/60 (NTSC) Aspect Ratio : 4:3 Display Mode : reserved Source picture resolution : 720x480 (525/60) Frame Rate : 29.97 Source picture letterboxed : Not letterboxed Bitrate : 4.51Mbps Audio Attribute : Audio Coding mode : Dolby AC-3 Sampling Rate : 48kHz Audio application mode : Not specified Number of Audio channels : 2 Bitrate : 384.00 Kbps Number of Audio streams : 1
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Song Dedication for Pope Ratzinger
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd like to dedicate this song video to Pope Ratzinger on his first visit to America. http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/Joni_Mitchell.html Interesting synchronicity, Vaj. I spent last night on a Joni kick, playing pretty much every- thing I have by her, which is another way of saying everything she has ever recorded. It was a fascinating experience to revisit an Artist with a capital A and to see how strong her Art (also with a capital A) has been for so many years, and how strong it continues to be. I felt like posting a few of the lyrics to FFL myself, but it's not fair to do that unless you can also provide a link to the song itself, so that people who don't know the song can hear the words in the context of the music. Rhapsody doesn't work for me outside the USA, but maybe it will for others. So here's the song that most grabbed me last night. Like Magdalena Laundries, it's not a happy song, but IMO it just nails one state of attention just perfectly -- the mindset of someone who feels himself or herself to be the victim or plaything of fate, or God, or whatever comes *up* with this shit that happens to human beings. It's Joni's version of Job shaking his fist at God. Another way of looking at this mindstate, of course, is that she's describing the Bardo, both between death and rebirth, and at every moment of life. You make everything I dread and everything I fear come true. Or a dharma talk on the pitfalls of attachment and aversion. Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song) http://tinyurl.com/3mle3y Let me speak, let me spit out my bitterness-- Born of grief and nights without sleep and festering flesh Do you have eyes? Can you see like mankind sees? Why have you soured and curdled me? Oh you tireless watcher! what have I done to you? That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true? Once I was blessed; I was awaited like the rain Like eyes for the blind, like feet for the lame Kings heard my words, and they sought out my company But now the janitors of shadowland flick their brooms at me Oh you tireless watcher! what have I done to you? That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true? (antagonists: man is the sire of sorrow) I've lost all taste for life I'm all complaints Tell me why do you starve the faithful? Why do you crucify the saints? And you let the wicked prosper You let their children frisk like deer And my loves are dead or dying, or they don't come near (antagonists: we don't despise your chastening God is correcting you) Oh and look who comes to counsel my deep distress Oh, these pompous physicians What carelessness! (antagonists: oh all this ranting all this wind Filling our ears with trash) Breathtaking ignorance adding insult to injury! They come blaming and shaming (antagonists: evil doer) And shattering me (antagonists: this vain man wishes to seem wise A man born of asses) Oh you tireless watcher! what have I done to you? That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true? (antagonists: we don't despise your chastening) Already on a bed of sighs and screams, And still you torture me with visions You give me terrifying dreams! Better I was carried from the womb straight to the grave. I see the diggers waiting, they're leaning on their spades. (antagonists: man is the sire of sorrow Sure as the sparks ascend) Where is hope while you're wondering what went wrong? Why give me light and then this dark without a dawn? (antagonists: evil is sweet in your mouth Hiding under your tongue) Show your face! (antagonists: what a long fall from grace) Help me understand! What is the reason for your heavy hand? (antagonists: you're stumbling in shadows You have no name now) Was it the sins of my youth? What have I done to you? That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true? (antagonists: oh your guilt must weigh so greatly) Everything I dread and everything I fear come true (antagonists: man is the sire of sorrow) Oh you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A Song Dedication for Pope Ratzinger
On Apr 21, 2008, at 8:03 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: Interesting synchronicity, Vaj. I spent last night on a Joni kick, playing pretty much every- thing I have by her, which is another way of saying everything she has ever recorded. It was a fascinating experience to revisit an Artist with a capital A and to see how strong her Art (also with a capital A) has been for so many years, and how strong it continues to be. Actually added it last night and just decided to post it this morn. Just finished a Joni marathon ourselves but after spending an evening with Patty Larkin earlier this weekend, we're now on to a Patty Larkin marathon. :-) Her new CD (Watch the Sky) is excellent and the tour is not to be missed, mind-blowing really. Since her and her partner adopted two children, she says this is probably the only album in history to be completely recorded during nap time. :-) I really dug her ability to create layers and then jam on top of them. She was using the Boss RC-20XL Loop Station which allowed her to lay down a track live and then jam over it. In some cases she would lay down a couple layers, building them up and them play on top of it. Amazing to hear. In some cases she lays down layers with different guitars. Other than Kaki King who will do a similar thing, I've never heard anything quite like it--especially in folk music. Brian Eno meets folk-rock.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A Song Dedication for Pope Ratzinger
On Apr 21, 2008, at 8:51 AM, Vaj wrote: Her new CD (Watch the Sky) is excellent and the tour is not to be missed, mind-blowing really. Since her and her partner adopted two children, she says this is probably the only album in history to be completely recorded during nap time. :-) I really dug her ability to create layers and then jam on top of them. She was using the Boss RC-20XL Loop Station which allowed her to lay down a track live and then jam over it. In some cases she would lay down a couple layers, building them up and them play on top of it. Amazing to hear. In some cases she lays down layers with different guitars. Other than Kaki King who will do a similar thing, I've never heard anything quite like it--especially in folk music. Brian Eno meets folk-rock. CRITICS CHOICE: PROFOUND RESULTS—New York Times Richly contemplative tracks about solitude and togetherness, open vistas and spiritual quests. Her voice can be breathy and confiding, tinged with the blues or infused with Joni Mitchell’s pearly depth... Larkin is deeply attuned to the resonances of her many instrumentsmeditative chords ripple across acoustic and electric guitars in “Cover Me” and “Traveling Alone,” and float over a dance beat in “Phone Message.” Countless little slide and steel-guitar licks ricochet around conga drums and filtered choruses of her voice in “Beautiful.” MASTERFUL—Billboard The sonic multiplicity of these dozen tunes is impressive. “Hallelujah” is a rhythmic pearl that’s radio-ready, while “Hollywood”...elicits an anomalous sound worthy of Laurie Anderson. Ballad “Dear Heart” is direct and elegantly done. “Phone Message”—an uncanny mix of insistent drums, ethereal voices and an instrumental arrangement. ONE OF AMERICAN MUSIC’S MOST DISTINCTIVE GUITARISTS —Associated Press “Watch the Sky,” is an artful, forward-minded collection of songs featuring dreamy textures and percolating percussion... Larkin’s delicate yet expressive alto probes matters of the spirit and soul... She pulls listeners in with mantras and searching, Zen-inspired phrases, but brings it down to earth with moments of gentle ache and sweet joy. GRIPPING—Boston Globe A stark, yet varied, palette of ambient folk-pop that shimmers softly and speaks in potent, dreamy tones. “Phone Message”...blurs the line between earthy songcraft and modern technology. She nails the misplaced dream of “Hollywood” in a queasy, narcotic thumbnail and chases it with a slinky, beat-driven soul tune more redolent of Erykah Badu than the folk tradition. EXQUISITE—Performing Songwriter Larkin purveys mood music with a firm emotional core—a sound that’s serene yet surreal, one that treads softly while whispering seductively. INNOVATIVE ARRANGEMENTS—Vintage Guitar Patty Larkin is one of the finest acoustic guitarists in the world. On Watch The Sky, she focuses on her songwriting, singing and multi- instrumental talents. The final results are as stellar as her guitar playing. NEW OPUS—MTV.com The folk-pop vet plays us her new opus ...fusing modern technology with acoustic instruments.
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Song Dedication for Pope Ratzinger
Here's my dedication to the good pope-meister. It's a song about John the Baptist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IKwSvU3ZTg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: I'd like to dedicate this song video to Pope Ratzinger on his first visit to America. http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/Joni_Mitchell.html Interesting synchronicity, Vaj. I spent last night on a Joni kick, playing pretty much every- thing I have by her, which is another way of saying everything she has ever recorded. It was a fascinating experience to revisit an Artist with a capital A and to see how strong her Art (also with a capital A) has been for so many years, and how strong it continues to be. I felt like posting a few of the lyrics to FFL myself, but it's not fair to do that unless you can also provide a link to the song itself, so that people who don't know the song can hear the words in the context of the music. Rhapsody doesn't work for me outside the USA, but maybe it will for others. So here's the song that most grabbed me last night. Like Magdalena Laundries, it's not a happy song, but IMO it just nails one state of attention just perfectly -- the mindset of someone who feels himself or herself to be the victim or plaything of fate, or God, or whatever comes *up* with this shit that happens to human beings. It's Joni's version of Job shaking his fist at God. Another way of looking at this mindstate, of course, is that she's describing the Bardo, both between death and rebirth, and at every moment of life. You make everything I dread and everything I fear come true. Or a dharma talk on the pitfalls of attachment and aversion. Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song) http://tinyurl.com/3mle3y Let me speak, let me spit out my bitterness-- Born of grief and nights without sleep and festering flesh Do you have eyes? Can you see like mankind sees? Why have you soured and curdled me? Oh you tireless watcher! what have I done to you? That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true? Once I was blessed; I was awaited like the rain Like eyes for the blind, like feet for the lame Kings heard my words, and they sought out my company But now the janitors of shadowland flick their brooms at me Oh you tireless watcher! what have I done to you? That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true? (antagonists: man is the sire of sorrow) I've lost all taste for life I'm all complaints Tell me why do you starve the faithful? Why do you crucify the saints? And you let the wicked prosper You let their children frisk like deer And my loves are dead or dying, or they don't come near (antagonists: we don't despise your chastening God is correcting you) Oh and look who comes to counsel my deep distress Oh, these pompous physicians What carelessness! (antagonists: oh all this ranting all this wind Filling our ears with trash) Breathtaking ignorance adding insult to injury! They come blaming and shaming (antagonists: evil doer) And shattering me (antagonists: this vain man wishes to seem wise A man born of asses) Oh you tireless watcher! what have I done to you? That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true? (antagonists: we don't despise your chastening) Already on a bed of sighs and screams, And still you torture me with visions You give me terrifying dreams! Better I was carried from the womb straight to the grave. I see the diggers waiting, they're leaning on their spades. (antagonists: man is the sire of sorrow Sure as the sparks ascend) Where is hope while you're wondering what went wrong? Why give me light and then this dark without a dawn? (antagonists: evil is sweet in your mouth Hiding under your tongue) Show your face! (antagonists: what a long fall from grace) Help me understand! What is the reason for your heavy hand? (antagonists: you're stumbling in shadows You have no name now) Was it the sins of my youth? What have I done to you? That you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true? (antagonists: oh your guilt must weigh so greatly) Everything I dread and everything I fear come true (antagonists: man is the sire of sorrow) Oh you make everything I dread and everything I fear come true
[FairfieldLife] Re: A Song Dedication for Pope Ratzinger
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd like to dedicate this song video to Pope Ratzinger on his first visit to America. http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/Joni_Mitchell.html I'd like to follow up on this, if I might. I think that this is a remarkable video, and an interesting moment captured. This is Joni Mitchell being asked to explain what the inspiration for her song, The Magda- lene Laundries was, and then performing the song. The subject of feminist thought has come up here recently. I consider this song, and the telling of where it came from about as feminist a statement as I have ever heard in this incarnation on planet Earth. Joni just nails it. But it's the *way* that she nails it that makes this video so interesting to me. She could have written an overtly angry song, denouncing the hypocrites who did this in the name of religion and in the name of God. But she didn't. Instead she took a happy melody and found a way to sing it from the first-person perspective of one of the women consigned to the Magdalene Laundries for life, for the crime of being noticed by men. Now that's Art, in my book. But also compassion, in spades. By singing the song from the perspec- tive of one of these women, she invites you into that woman's life, and allows you to *feel* it. I think this song has some legs under it for a potentially interesting discussion. Here are the lyrics. You can hear the song and watch it performed at the link above. The Magdalene Laundries I was an unmarried girl I'd just turned twenty-seven When they sent me to the sisters For the way men looked at me Branded as a jezebel I knew I was not bound for heaven I'd be cast in shame Into the Magdalene Laundries Most girls come here pregnant Some by their own fathers Bridget got that belly By her parish priest We're trying to get things white as snow All of us woe-begotten-daughters In the streaming stains Of the Magdalene Laundries Prostitutes and destitutes And temptresses like me-- Fallen women-- Sentenced into dreamless drudgery ... Why do they call this heartless place Our Lady of Charity? Oh charity! These bloodless brides of Jesus If they had just once glimpsed their groom Then they'd know, and they'd drop the stones Concealed behind their rosaries They wilt the grass they walk upon They leech the light out of a room They'd like to drive us down the drain At the Magdalene Laundries Peg O'Connell died today She was a cheeky girl A flirt They just stuffed her in a hole! Surely to God you'd think at least some bells should ring! One day I'm going to die here too And they'll plant me in the dirt Like some lame bulb That never blooms come any spring Not any spring No, not any spring Not any spring
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A Song Dedication for Pope Ratzinger
On Apr 21, 2008, at 4:28 PM, TurquoiseB wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd like to dedicate this song video to Pope Ratzinger on his first visit to America. http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/Joni_Mitchell.html I'd like to follow up on this, if I might. I think that this is a remarkable video, and an interesting moment captured. Equally remarkable, add racism and sexism though: http://home.earthlink.net/~vajranatha/2 I am a descendent of William Penn's favorite Indian translator (and the favorite and most trusted of the natives). So I grew up in natural awe of the natives of Pennsylvania, their sacred sites and lore. But none were actually left, save merely a handful. Imagine then my later shock and awe, growing up, at seeing the conditions they currently lived in on the rez. In that world, Cherokee Louises were an everyday occurrence.
