This photo was first used in a posting in September of 2010
"He who would not accept things the way they are - - is the only hope of society ever moving forward"
The best guitar playing I ever heard from John Lennon was in his version of "I Pray -OLE" done in August 1992
The Bible teaches "the furvent prayer of the righteous availeth much". Well some of my prayers have indeed been answered over the years. Once a new cat escaped in the night- - actually it was I who let her out. And she made the way over a hazardous two mile trek accross Brookhurst, which is a busy street, back to the home where she used to live when my brother Al was living there. I prayed for the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel to last, when Chuck Smith apparently was gambling on just the opposite. God sided with my point of view. I prayed for Ronald Reagan to be elected over Jimmy Carter. God answered that one, too. Now I see the folly of 'getting what you pray for'. But in 1984 when I no longer had certain holy rollers breathing down my neck- I voted for Mondale. And when informed that Chicago was experiancing an epidemic of violence and murder, I prayed for peace there. Now some local priest is organizing "midnight basketball" or whatever, a concept that is repeatedly mocked by Rush Limbaugh, as a means by which Gangs could expend their energy in a more constructive way. And apparently it has worked. The murder rate has dropped way down.
You people know my position about steroids and professional Baseball. I don't see it as a problem and believe the players should be able to do as they wish, barring specific contractual prohibitions. I certainly would never sign any contract with a life time suspension clause. I believe Profession sports is an "exhibition" meaning it exhibits the very Best that this sport has to offer. It would be as if some rock band were beaten out by another rock band for a record contract and raising the cry "We are just as good of musicians as you are, but you've got a way better sound engineer". In high school or amature sports such as the Olympics or the Tour de France that's a whole other animal. In those sports you are striving to prove you are BETTER than someone else. But when you are at the Top you strive to be the best YOU can be. Do you see the difference? I would not go invalidating any baseball records and our kids don't need to throw out all their baseball cards of disqualified players.
This whole terrorist alert is still being hyped in the news. On one level I understand it. After all if we liberals are going to be morally consistent- - in getting on George Bush's case for ignoring warnings about Al Qaeda and spending all that time in his Crawford ranch, then consistency would dictate that we take these warnings seriously. Still I don't. I personally am not a bit worried. People are worried about different things. I note these stories about people falling to their deaths leaning on twelve story faulty balconies. It doesn't bother me much. I figure they are just stupid or unlucky or something. But if you were to tell me there was ebola virus or some neurotoxin in my food, I would be scared spitless. I can picture myself much more readily being poisoned to death than I can falling to my death. And just remember with the Syria thing - - - We could paraphrase Kennedy of "Never go to war out of fear propaganda, but never let us fear to go to war when it is proved necessary by the circumstances". Al Qaeda would actually be Stronger by us ignoring the situation in Syria. Just think about that one a minute. I honestly believe that John Mc Cain loves his country. I cannot say the same thing about a lot of his other joker comrads in Congress on the Republican side of the aisle.
Today is August 4th and the President's birthday and also Becky Daniel's birthday. (It's just another of those birthdays I mention in my blogs) She was born in the year of the water snake and so that makes her - - - well, the prospect is so unthinkable I can't bring myself to say it. August of 1993 was a better month for me than the two & a half that preceded it, and also a better month than the two and a half months to follow. I still had that black cat Chiquille as it were a "shared pet" with this young married couple that lives on the north side. But they moved out on either Saturday the 7th or the 14th. I don't remember which. And Chaquille kept running into my apartment even when I wanted him out because I was leaving for a while. Eventually I figured it out. The cat liked to roll around on my newly installed carpet. If I had August 1993 to do over again I would not have started drinking alcohol because that undermined my new relationship with Marie from apt 12 and her two little girls. Her ex husband was into drugs- - and understandably any hint of a problem would be "problematical" for our relationship. And if you're curious- - no, it did not lead to sex. In those days I was dealving into a new Computer language every few months. At the turn of the year 1992-1993 it was the "C" language. In the spring of 1993 it was PL/1. That fall around November it was Prolog. And in the spring of 1994 it was Fortran. The relationship with my parents, particularly my Dad would hit one of those "Defining moments" in an adverse way come Halloween and shortly thereafter. The relationship between me and my Dad was never again the same.
This next story- - which I had pondered doing this morning I liken to "an old man with a prostate condition" because "the truth about my relation with the Beatles is trickling out it a slow rate". I used that imagery because of this coffee maker I have now- - isn't brewing coffee as well as it did when I got it. It's taking longer and sometimes the flow slows to a trickle. I'm informed it's because I use hard water all the time and there's a calcium buildup or something. The story is now that "Pink" was slated to be the "New John" as far back as mid 1964. Still in August it was me that was singing on that Anthology CD. Now they are saying me might be Me singing on the official version of "Mr Moonlight". But they are also "taking a song away from me" and that is "Baby's In Black". It's too bad, too, because I really like that song. You can tell "Pink's" involvement because Lennon's voice takes on sort of a droning quality- - of which "Rain" is a prime example. Also there is that whole 3/4 thing that was introduced, and also the bit with the tambourine. "Pink" also exhibits this new "Metal" sound on such tracks as "Intersteller Overdrive' and "Pick Up Your Stethescope and Walk" on Pink Floud's debut album. They decided to give me two other songs on "Beatles for Sale" that I could do anything I wanted to on. I figured maybe I'd stick it to Lennon "Just because I could" because he never liked the way his voice sounded "Au Natural" and so on "I'm a Loser' and 'I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" I decided, perhaps due to having heard a Bob Bylan album for the first time- - that these two songs needed the earthy, organic touch. I was finally allowed to do two more songs- - my Swan Song appearence on the Beatles. In case you didn't know, I perform all three Larry Williams songs that the Beatles do. Of course Larry Williams is a Romulan. When it came to Abbey Road years later and Pink was shall we say "lost to us" I really tried hard now to imotate Pink and "sound like him". But I was having a lot of trouble on Polytheme Pan- - then George Harrison gave me a suggestion- that worked.
There was "put forth the proposition" (to quote the Doors) that you can TEST prayers lifted up to the Lord. There is of course that scripture in Malachai that was quoted this morning. (A Hawaiian finally made it into the Old Testament) But more importantly Paul teaches us to "test all things". So I see nothing at all wrong with "testing' to see if "These things be true" so to speak. I know there is a scripture quoted by fundamentalists that God hates being tested- - - but what are you going to do? If two passages contradict one another you have to go with one or the other. Too many of these psychic programs seem to lack "mental focus". It's like open mike hour at the local bar when you get up there to sing a sing and then discover that you've forgotten the words. So many of these psychic programs are sadly "just not ready for prime time". If I were to get on one of these shows I would tell they what I know- - and if I didn't know some particular question I would be clear about that and say "This is just my personal oppinion based on my life experiances". There is this pernicious notion that somehow that "Your own thoughts are somehow- - Dangerous". The not too hidden message here is "Don't think for yourself- - let US do the thinking for you". Obviously right therein lies a problem.
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