This subpage is supplemental to the "Archived Essays" subpage, containing the playlists and thematic images for the archived essays. To return to the "Archived Essays" subpage, click here.
‘Endless Plains’ of Beat Poetry
from the Ferlinghetti to the Tower of Song
(The Poetisphere)
10/24/11
October 18 --Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day in Santa Cruz
Officially recognizing the iconic artist and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti today – by an official proclamation and screening the 2009 documentary “Ferlinghetti” (with the Poet and the film director/producer Christopher Felver both in attendance!) provides area residents a chance to also remember that Santa Cruz has had a big capital “P” for Poetry branded across it’s corpus municipalis over 30 years ago, when it hosted Poetry Festival Santa Cruz. The yearly festival featured Lawrence Ferlinghetti, among many other luminaries. (See KUSP website at kusp.org for details on "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day in Santa Cruz," including trailer of film.)
"On my first trip to San Francisco, when I first heard the name Ferlinghetti I thought it must be a large geographical area." --Tom Waits at SF Litquake Barbary Coast award for 2010 to poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti
"Unfinished Flag"
"Don't Give Me"
Ferlinghetti gave Canadian
punk band Propagandhi permission to use his painting “The Unfinished Flag of
the United States,” which features a map of the world painted in the stars and
stripes, as the cover of their 2001 release Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s
Ashes. Before this, the same
painting was used for the cover of Michael Parenti’s 1995 book, Against
Empire, which was published by
City Lights.
SONGS What's Going On Santana (Ravi Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Idrissa Diop, Patti Austin, Angelique Kidjo, Barbara Morrsion, Sylver Sharp) Hymns for Peace: Live at Montreux 2004
Into The Nightlife Cyndi Lauper Bring Ya To The Brink The World Is Unforscene New World Disorder The World is a Wonderful Place Richard & Linda Thompson The World Is A Wonderful Place: Songs Of Richard Thompson Fire Men (Poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti cover) Tom Waits Chimes of Freedom Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Youssou Ndour The River (Live Argentina - Amnesty International 1988)
Poems by Ferlinghetti The World Is A Beautiful Place Lawrence Ferlinghetti Pictures Of The Gone World Fire Men Lawrence Ferlinghetti Coney Island of the Mind The Loud Prayer Lawrence Ferlinghetti The Last Waltz-The Band The Statue Of St Francis Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poetry Readings In The Cellar In a surrealist year Lawrence Ferlinghetti A Coney Island of the Mind: 50th Anniversary Edition Sometime during eternity Lawrence Ferlinghetti A Coney Island of the Mind: 50th Anniversary Edition Reading Yeats I Do Not Think/Sweet And Various The Woodlark Lawrence Ferlinghetti Pictures Of The Gone World I have not lain with beauty Lawrence Ferlinghetti A Coney Island of the Mind: 50th Anniversary Edition "Truth Is Not The Secret Of A Few" Lawrence Ferlinghetti Pictures Of The Gone World The wounded wilderness Lawrence Ferlinghetti A Coney Island of the Mind: 50th Anniversary Edition Away Above A Harborful Lawrence Ferlinghetti Pictures Of The Gone World
Readings from Ferlinghetti Poetry As Insurgent Art (book)
BACKGROUND MUSIC Alice Coltrane
The Troubadours & The Beloved: Impossible Love & The Music of the Night 10/17/11
A Gothic-Romantic Tale of Unrequited Love
The Phantom of the Opera & Beloved
The Phantom of the Opera's underground chamber
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The Gypsy Scholar's favorite lines and lyrics from The Phantom of the Opera
THE PHANTOM (from the LABYRINTH UNDERGROUND):
Turn your face away from the garish light of day, / turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light / and listen to the music of the night! / Softly, deftly, music shall caress you. / Hear it, feel it, Secretly possess you.
I am your Angel of Music... / Come to me, Angel of Music.
You alone can make my song take flight. / Help me make the music of the night...
. . . the Phantom of the Opera / is there -- inside your mind . . .
CHRISTINE:
I have been visited by the Angel of Music….
Angel! I hear you! / Speak -- I listen . . . / Stay by my side,guide me!
But his voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound. In that night there was music in my mind. And through music my soul began to soar! And I heard as I'd never heard before.
Somehow I know / he's always with me . . ./ He -- the unseen genius . . . / In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came, that voice which calls to me and speaks my name... / And he'll always be there, singing songs in my head / He'll always be there, singing songs in my head.
No, what I love best / Is when I'm asleep in my bed, / And the Angel of Music sings songs in my head!
THE PHANTOM & CHRISTINE (from the LABYRINTH UNDERGROUND):
And in this labyrinth, / where night is blind, / the Phantom of the Opera / is there/here / inside your/my mind . . .
Click below for The Phantom's "Music of the Night" song and for (partial) libretto of The Phantom of the Opera musical.
Click here to see "Impossible Love" subpage of page #8, "The Troubadours & The Beloved."
PLAYLIST 10/17/11
SONGS
Meet Me In The Indian Summer Van Morrison Down The Road Autumn Leaves (Live Acoustic Version) Rickie Lee Jones Naked Songs Live And Acoustic Autumn Carla Bruni No Promises Forever Autumn Moody Blues Lovely to See You (Live at the Greek) The Music of the Night Andrew Lloyd Webber The Phantom of the Opera (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) The Other Side of Life Moody Blues Lovely to See You (Live at the Greek) Learn to be Lonely Andrew Lloyd Webber The Phantom of the Opera (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture) Love Song For A Vampire Wojciech Kilar Bram Stoker's Dracula: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack House Carpenter Cara In Between Times My Laglan Love Van Morrison & The Chieftains Irish Heartbeat Demon Lover Steeleye Span Commoners Crown Demon Lover Steve Savitzky Coffee Computers and Song The Daemon Lover Alasdair Roberts Too Long In This Condition The Demon Lover Kornog Première Demon Lover Kaleah LeRoche Single
BACKGROUND MUSIC Phantom Melody David Osborne Music of the Night
Columbus Day vs. Indigenous People's Day: Goodbye Columbus October 10. 2011
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PLAYLIST 10/10/11
SONGS My Country 'tis of Thy People You're Dying Buffy Sainte-Marie The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie Coyote Dance Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble Music For The Native Americans Blue Indians John Trudell Blue Indians Hanging from the Cross John Trudell Bone Days Ghost Dance Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble Music For The Native Americans Crazy Horse John Trudell Bone Days All There Is To It John Trudell Johnny Damas And Me White Buffalo Rod MacDonald White Buffalo Treaty Joanne Shenandoah Eagle Cries Wounded Knee Walela Walela The Code Of Handsome Lake Robbie Robertson Contact From The Underworld Of Redboy What Happened To The Tribes Of Europe John Trudell DNA - Descendant Now Ancestor Look At Us/Peltier - Aim Song John Trudell Tribal Voice Powwow Songcatchers Dreaming In Color Now That the Buffalo's Gone Buffy Sainte-Marie The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie History Songcatchers Dreaming In Color A Postcolonial Tale Joy Harjo And Poetic Justice Letter From The End Of The Twentieth Century
Thematic Images for "Ode To Autumn: Golden Days" Program 10/3/11
And I'm taking in the Indian Summer
And I'm soaking it up in my mind And I'm pretending that it's paradise On a golden autumn day, on a golden autumn day On a golden autumn day, an a golden autumn day --Van Morrison
PHOTOGRAPHS
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PAINTINGS
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A painting done in honor of John Keats' ode, "To Autumn"
"A Day with Keats, Autumn"
TO AUTUMN John Keats
I Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease, For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.
II Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook; Or by a cyder-press, with patient look, Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.
III Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,-- While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn Among the river shallows, borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft; And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
Playlist Ode to Autumn 10/3/11
SONGS
Connswater Van Morrison Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart Fire In The Head The Tea Party Tangents: The Tea Party Collection Beautiful Vision Van Morrison Live At The Grand Opera House Belfast Beautiful World Eliza Gilkyson Beautiful World River Of Time Van Morrison Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart Autumn Leaves Eric Clapton Clapton When The Leaves Come Falling Down Van Morrison Back On Top Golden Autumn Day Van Morrison Back On Top Autumn Leaves Rickie Lee Jones Naked Songs Live And Acoustic Autumn Leaves Eva Cassidy Live at Blues Alley Isn't That What Friends Are For? Bruce Cockburn Breakfast In New Orleans, Dinner In Timbuktu Look How Far Bruce Cockburn Breakfast In New Orleans, Dinner In Timbuktu
BACKGROUND MUSIC
The Music of O'Carolan Steve Tilston & Seth Austen Autumn Leaves Miles Davis & John Coltrane Single Autumn Sequence Charles Lloyd Quartet Dream Weaver
This is the playlist for the Epilogue to the Leonard Cohen Birthday Tribute program (9/26/11)
SONGS Lover, Lover, Lover Leonard Cohen Songs From The Road [Live] In My Secret Life Leonard Cohen Live In London That Don't Make It Junk Leonard Cohen Songs From The Road [Live] Anthem Perla Batalla & Julie Christensen Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Came So Far For Beauty Leonard Cohen Recent Songs Heart With No Companion Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen Live In Concert A Thousand Kisses Deep Intro Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man A Thousand Kisses Deep (poem) Leonard Cohen Live at Colosseum, Caesars Palace, LV, 12/11/10 A Thousand Kisses Deep Leonard Cohen Ten New Songs Hallelujah Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen Live In Concert
BACKGROUND MUSIC A Thousand Kisses Deep Chris Botti A Thousand Kisses Deep
This is the playlist for the Leonard Cohen Birthday Tribute program (9/19/11)
SONGS Tower of Song Leonard Cohen & U2 Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Love Leonard Cohen Robin Grey Single Waiting For The Miracle Leonard Cohen Songs From The Road [Live] I'm Your Man Nick Cave Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Hallelujah Bono Tower of Song: The Songs of Leonard Cohen Take This Waltz Leonard Cohen Live In London God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot Leonard Cohen (spoken word) God is Alive Magic is Afoot Buffy Sainte-Marie The Best Of Anthem Perla Batalia & Julie Christensen Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Bird On A Wire Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat In My Secret Life Leonard Cohen Live In London The Traitor Martha Wainwright Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man A Thousand Kisses Deep Chris Botti A Thousand Kisses Deep A Thousand Kisses Deep Intro Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man A Thousand Kisses Deep Leonard Cohen Live Concert - Dublin, 20 July 2009 A Thousand Kisses Deep Leonard Cohen Ten New Songs Boogie Street Leonard Cohen & Sharon Robinson Live In London Tower of Song (extended) Leonard Cohen Live In London
The first part of the Tower of Song program (9/19/11) will welcome in the Autumnal Equinox, the gateway to the autumn or "fall" season.
The Autumnal Equinox occurs at September 23, 2:05 a.m. (PDT) 09:04 (or 9:04am) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
The song played for the Autumnal Equinox: These Are The Days Van Morrison Avalon Sunset
Equinox, which means "equal night" refers to a
time when the length of day and night (nearly) are equal. As the Sun
crosses the celestial equator, the axis of the Earth points neither
toward nor away from the Sun resulting in in 12 hours of darkness and
light over the planet. The Sun enters Libra at the Fall Equinox in the northern hemisphere, Spring Equinox in the southern hemisphere.
On the Autumnal (September) equinox the sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward in the northern hemisphere. The location on the earth where the sun is directly overhead at solar noon is known as the subsolar point. The subsolar point occurs on the equator during the September equinox and March equinox. At that time, the earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun. This is the time when many people believe that the earth experiences 12 hours of day and night. However, this is not exactly the case. During the equinox, the length of night and day across the world is nearly, but not entirely, equal. This is because the day is slightly longer in places that are further away from the equator, and because the sun takes longer to rise and set in these locations. Furthermore, the sun takes longer to rise and set farther from the equator because it does not set straight down - it moves in a horizontal direction. Moreover, there is an atmospheric refraction that causes the sun's disk to appear higher in the sky than it would if earth had no atmosphere.
The Autumnal Equinox celebration is observed with a harvest feast to celebrate and share the abundance of the past season. Traditionally, this celebration was observed with a harvest feast to celebrate and share the abundance of the past season. And a time when the plants are setting their seeds; making themselves ready for their new cycle. According to neo-pagan traditions, the equinox is a time to balance yourself and your life; setting yourself and your life to be ready for your new cycle of being. Thus, rituals are enacted to assist in creating and maintaining that balance; using this time to look closely at the balance in your life and shifting what needs to be shifted or changing what needs to be changed. How do you balance your personal needs with your commitments to the outside world? How do you receive? How do you give? How do you hold on to that which is no longer beneficial in your life? The autumnal equinox is a time to plant the seeds making yourself ready for your new cycle.
Thematic images for Harvest Moon program on September 12, 2011
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Playlist Harvest Moon Program 9/12/11
SONGS Harvest Moon Solace The Gathering Season Harvest Moon Neil Young Harvest Moon Full Moon Big Circle Tina Lear Full Moon Big Circle Drawing Down the Moon Alison Brown The Company You Keep Drawing Down the Moon Gaia Consort Evolve Calling The Moon Dar Williams Many Great Companions Moon Song Norah Jones Feels Like Home [Deluxe Edition] Moondance (w George Fame) Van Morrison The Best Of Van Morrison, Vol. 3 [Disc 1] Moondance Hubert Laws Moondance Full Moon The Black Ghosts The Black Ghosts Lover's Moon Shana Morrison & Roy Rogers Everybody's Angel Moon Is Up Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Under A Violet Moon Blackmore's Night Under A Violet Moon Lovers of the Moon Ruth Barrett & Cyntia Smith The Early Years I Become The Moon Eliza Gilkyson Through the Looking Glass Full Moon Santana Spirits Dancing In The Flesh Culver Moon Jackson Browne Concert The Moon Cat Power The Greatest Moon, Turn the Tides Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland
The Gypsy Scholar's Labours ("tied to this table / right here, in the Tower of Song") in the "Arts & Sciences" of radio have paid off, and so is now presenting for September 5, 2011 his performance art ("Mental Studies & Performances") of the musical essay on Labor Day. (9/5/11, 12 am.)
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Playlist Labor Day 2011
SONGS Cleaning Windows Van Morrison Beautiful Vision A Different Kind Of Love Song Dick Gaughan A Different Kind Of Love Song The Chimney Sweeper Greg Brown Songs Of Innocence And Of Experience I Ain't Gonna Work In The Factory Celia Ramsay Songs Of My Father's People Labor Day (It's A Holiday) The Black Eyed Peas Greatest Hits Brothers In Arms Dire Straits Brothers In Arms Joe Hill Joan Baez Rare, Live & Classic Stupid's Song Utah Phillips/Ani Difranco Fellow Workers Labor Day John McCutcheon John McCutcheon's Four Seasons: Autumnsongs The Union Makes Us Strong Leonard Cohen Other Songs Of Leonard Cohen Bread And Roses Judy Collins Forever: An Anthology Pharaoh Richard Thompson Amnesia Workers Song Dick Gaughan Live In Edinburgh Blackleg Miner Richard Thompson 1000 Years of Popular Music Who Reaps the Profits? Who Pays the Price? Leon Rosselson RosselSonGs Last Shift Richard Thompson & Danny Thompson Industry Bread & Roses Queen Cee Single
The Alchymist In Search of the Philosophers Stone (Wright, 1771)
The GS will be celebrating Van Morrison's 66th birthday (8/31/45) on his program (8/29/11). The GS hopes you will join him in wishing Van a "Happy Birthday." He also hopes that you will join him as he searches, through song, for the Philosopher's Stone in the Tower of Song.
Searching for the Philosopher's Stone
Happy 66th Birthday Van Morrison!
Van's Natal Chart
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The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance, allegedly capable of turning inexpensive metals into gold. It was sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For a long time, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy. In the view of spiritual alchemy, making the philosopher's stone would bring enlightenment upon the maker and conclude the Great Work. It is also known by several other names, such as 'materia prima.'
The Philosopher's Stone is, in the final analysis, a metaphor for perfect psycho-spiritual wholeness and the enlightened state of existence. Alchemy has always made extensive use of analogy, symbolism, and so forth to relate chemical and physical concepts to esoteric and mystic ones. In some epochs and contexts, these metaphysical aspects came to predominate, and the chemical processes were then viewed as mere symbols of spiritual processes.
In this hermetic side of alchemy, the "philosopher's stone", supposed to to be the most tangible and dense crystalization or condensation of a subtle substance, became a metaphor for an inner potential of the spirit and reason to evolve from a lower state of imperfection and vice (symbolized by the base metals) to a higher state of enlightenment and perfection (symbolized by gold). In this view, spiritual elevation, the transmutation of metals, and the purification and rejuvenation of the body were seen to be manifestations of the same concept.
The mystical revival in the late 20th century renovated the public interest on alchemy, and particularly on this metaphysical and philosophical conception of the philosopher's stone.
The album Back on Top (1999) by Van Morrison includes a track Philosopher's Stone, which contains the phrase: "Even my best friends they don't know that my job is turning lead into gold." Van Morrison also released a collection of previously unreleased tracks and alternate takes under the album name Philosopher's Stone in 1998.
A Personal Note: When the GS had to drive to grad-school (for his Masters Degree in "Philosophy & Religion") in the San Francisco Bay Area, he would take the route of Skyline Boulevard. There was a stretch of this beautiful road from which you could see the East Bay on the right side of the road and the Pacific Ocean on the left. Every morning or afternoon, the GS would play Van's "Philosopher's Stone" as he drove that magnificent stretch of road. In the hard times of doing what it takes to get through grad-school, the song got him through.
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Playlists & Images for "Lughnasadh/Lammas 2011: The Imagination of Albion" new series of musical essays found here. The 2nd (8/8) and 3rd (8/15) installments of this musical essay series will be more properly entitled, "The Imagination of Albion: The Spirit of Place."
Celtic Wheel of the Year
The Lughnasadh autumn harvest festival
The Seeds & Fruits of English Poetry
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Wordsworth's Grasmere, Lake District
The Orphic Essay-with-Soundtrack for the celebration of the cross-quarter Celtic high holy day of Lughnasadh or Lammas (August 1) is entitled "The Imagination of Albion: Summertime in England."
Below you will find both information that is a supplement to the Essay-With-Soundtrack and paintings/photos of the spirit of place (featuring Constable, Turner, and Gainsboroguh) that the Romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge knew as the Lake District in northwest England.
"The poetic landscape presents the geography and architecture of landscape from a subjective point of view, using elements of myth, fantasy or the picturesque. These works form a long but complex tradition in European painting, culminating in the romantic landscape of the 19th century. At its purest, the poetic landscape presents the viewer with an imaginary place [imaginal place]." --Bruce MacEvoy, 2007
LAKE DISTRICT (Travel Guide)
"A
region of mountains and lakes, c.30 mi (50 km) in diameter, NW England.
It includes the Cumbrian Mts. and part of the Furness peninsula. The
district comprises 15 lakes, among them Ullswater, Windermere,
Derwentwater, and Bassenthwaite; several beautiful falls; and some of
England's highest peaks�Scafell Pike (3,210 ft/978 m), Scafell, and
Helvellyn. Many of the region's valleys were deforested following Roman
and Norse invasions. Numerous ancient relics remain, such as the stone
circle near Keswick and the ruins of old castles and churches. This
scenic district is a favorite resort of artists and writers.
The
most famous, because he practically initiated the Lake District's
reputation as a mythopoetic landscape (connecting with with its more
ancient history of embodied collective, archetypal memory understood as
the genius loci, the genius or presiding spirit of place), was William
Wordsworth and his spiritual brother-poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Along
with the poet laureate of England, Robert Southey, they were known as
the "Lake Poets." It was in this "sublime" landscape that
Wordsworth--encouraged by Coleridge and stimulated by the close contact
with nature--was inspired to compose his first masterwork, �Lyrical
Ballads" (which opened with Coleridge's �Ancient Mariner"). This 1798
collection launched their poetic revolution--poetry in the subject and
language of the common man. To literary historians and critics, this is
generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English
Romantic movement in literature.
William Wordsworth was born in
1770 on the Northern edge of the Lake District. He spent most of his
life in Grasmere and Rydal, in the heart of the Lake District. He wrote
most of his poems at Dove Cottage, Grasmere. In 1795 he met Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, and he and his sister, Dorothy, who had lived in
Somerset, moved to Alfoxden to be nearer Coleridge. Between 1799-1808
Wordsworth lived at Dove Cottage in the village of Grasmere, and from
1813 to his death in 1850.
The beauty of the English Lake
District has also inspired artists such as Turner, Constable and Gainsborough, who were themselves inspired by the writings of William
Wordsworth.
Wordsworth's Lake District is visited by thousands of
people from all over the world every year, yet it still remains
unspoilt, and it is still very possible to appreciate the natural beauty
of William Wordsworth's Lake District.Grasmere Village and Grasmere
Lake are at the heart of England's Lake District. Visitors who come to
the Lake District because of their love of Wordsworth, can follow his
footsteps on trails and hikes around the area. Wordsworth and his fellow
Romantic poet friends, including Coleridge, de Quincey and Southey,
walked for miles in this beautiful area. Hiking is one of the main
activities of visitors to the Lake District today."
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Playlist Lughnasadh/Lammas 8/1/11
SONGS Lammas Robin Williamson Ten Of Songs Lammas Song Inkubus Sukkubus Wild Sun Is Shining Bob Marley Natural Mystic Season of the Witch Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll Open Sun King The Beatles Abbey Road Sun It Rises Fleet Foxes Daytrotter Session Bright Side Of The Road Van Morrison Van Morrison At The Movies: Soundtrack Hits The Summer Is Magic Playahitty Dancefloor Party 2010 Lammas Robin Williamson Songs Of Love & Parting/Selected Writings 1980-83 Never Be The Sun Dolores Keane Best Of Dolores Keane The Fair Dance Robin Williamson Songs Of Love & Parting/Selected Writings 1980-83 Summer Sent You Mary Black The Holy Ground Summer Song Joe Satriani The Extremist Ancient Song Robin Williamson Ten Of Songs These Are The Days Van Morrison Avalon Sunset Someone Like You Van Morrison Poetic Champions Compose
Playlist The Imagination of Albion: The Summertime In England 8/8/11
SONGS These Are The Days Van Morrison Avalon Sunset Motherland Natalie Merchant Motherland The Four Points Are Thus Beheld Robin Williamson Skirting The River Road Invocation Robin Williamson Ring Dance Eternity Dougie MacLean Indigenous Shenandoah The Chieftains (w/ Van Morrison) The Wide World Over Songs Of Innocence Jah Wobble The Inspiration Of William Blake Got To Go Back Van Morrison No Guru, No Method, No Teacher Caledonia Dougie MacLean The Sounds Of Caledonia The Land Dougie MacLean Marching Mystery The Gael Dougie MacLean The Search The Beauty Of The Days Gone By Van Morrison Down The Road Summertime In England Van Morrison Common One
Playlist The Imagination of Albion: The Spirit of PLace 8/15/11
SONGS Banks Of The Bann Martin Simpson Leaves Of Life Tir Na Nog Van Morrison No Guru, No Method, No Teacher Cry For Home Van Morrison & Tom Jones Cry For Home (Single) Irish Heartbeat Brian Kennedy & Shana Morrison No Prima Donna --Songs Of Van Morrison Feel So Near Dougie MacLean Riof Carry The Stone John Trudell Liv At Fip Haunts Of Ancient Peace Van Morrison Common One Alan Watts Blues Van Morrison Poetic Champions Compose The English Countryside Lori-Ann Latremouille Let's Be Like John and Yoko These Are The Days Van Morrison Avalon Sunset
Commemorating
Independence Day, The Fourth of July
2011
Blake's "Glad Day" or "Albion's Dance" of Total Revolution fulfilled
"If I can't dance I don't want to be in your revolution." --Emma Goldman, Anarchist (1869-1940)
Independence Day 2011 thematic images for Essay-with-Soundtrack: "Romantic Total Revolution: The Democracy of Soul & The Goddess of Liberty" (Previous parts can be heard on the "Archived Essays" subpage.)
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Images of the French Revolution 1789 & 1830
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Images of the Goddess of Liberty, Liberty Staff/Pole & Liberty Cap
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Playlist Independence Day 2011 7/4/11
SONGS I Am a Patriot Jackson Browne The Very Best of Jackson Browne For America Jackson Browne Lives In The Balance 4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) Bruce Springsteen The Essential Bruce Springsteen Democracy Leonard Cohen The Future Call It Democracy Bruce Cockburn World Of Wonders Revolution Dick Gaughan A Different Kind Of Love Song Brothers In Arms Dire Straits Brothers In Arms Redemption Song Bob Marley & The Wailers Legend Take It Where You Find It Van Morrison Wavelength
Playlist Independence Day 2011 7/11/11
SONGS American Prayer Dave Stewart & His Rock Orchestra American Prayer Outlaws And Dreamers Dick Gaughan Outlaws & Dreamers Freedom Rage Against The Machine Rage Against The Machine Your Daughters And Your Sons Dick Gaughan Live In Edinburgh God Save the King Brian Joseph King of Echo Park Tom Paine's Bones Dick Gaughan Outlaws & Dreamers The Liberty Tree Leon Rosselson The Liberty Tree: A Celebration of Life & Writings of Thomas Paine The Liberty Tree Karan Casey The Winds Begin To Sing Freedom Song Karan Casey Chasing the Sun Street Fighting Man The Rolling Stones Forty Licks Marat Sade Judy Collins Forever: An Anthology Bomb The World Michael Franti & Spearhead Everyone Deserves Music Villanelle For Our Time Leonard Cohen Dear Heather
Playlist Independence Day 2011 7/18/11
SONGS
Democracy Leonard Cohen Above the Soul Land of Hope and Dreams Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band The Essential Bruce Springsteen When Will We All Be Free Karan Casey Chasing The Sun In God's Country U2 The Joshua Tree The Liberty Tree Leon Rosselson The Liberty Tree: A Celebration of the Life and Writings of Thomas Paine On The 4th of July James Taylor October Road Freedom For My People U2 Rattle And Hum The Promised Land Bruce Springsteen Darkness On The Edge Of Town Chimes of Freedom Bruce Springsteen, Chapman, Sting, Gabriel, Ndour The River (Live Argentina - 1988) The Land Of Plenty Leonard Cohen Ten New Songs America the Beautiful Willie Nelson & Neil Young America: Tribute to Heroes concert
Playlist Independence Day 2011 7/25/11
SONGS
The Star Spangled Banner (Live) Jimi Hendrix The Ultimate Experience American Prayer Dave Stewart & His Rock Fabulous Orchestra American Prayer America Is A Dream Martin Luther King An American Prayer The Doors American Prayer America Tracy Chapman Where You Live My Country Lori B Shadows of Love Wasteland Of The Free Iris Dement The Way I Should Won't Get Fooled Again The Who Who's Better, Who's Best I Forgot That Love Existed Van Morrison Poetic Champions Compose Talkin' Bout A Revolution Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman End Of The Land Van Morrison Keep It Simple I'm Free The Who Who's Better, Who's Best Democracy Leonard Cohen Live In London
Summer Solstice occurs June 21 at 10:17:31 a.m. PDT
These are the days of the endless summer These are the days, the time is now There is no past, there's only future There's only here, there's only now
Oh your smiling face, your gracious presence The fires of spring are kindling bright Oh the radiant heart and the song of glory Crying freedom in the night
These are the days by the sparkling river His timely grace and our treasured find This is the love of the one magician Turned the water into wine
These are days of the endless dancing and the Long walks on the summer night These are the days of the true romancing When I'm holding you oh, so tight
These are the days by the sparkling river His timely grace and our treasured find This is the love of the one great magician Turned water into wine
These are the days now that we must savour And we must enjoy as we can These are the days that will last forever You've got to hold them in your heart.
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Playlist Summer Solstice 2011 6/20/11
SONGS Satisfied At Last Joe Ely Satisfied At Last Satisfied Van Morrison Common One Night Comes On Leonard Cohen Various Positions I'm Not Feeling It Anymore Van Morrison Hymns To The Silence Summertime (Organica Remix) Billie Holiday Remixed & Reimagined - Billie Holiday The Summer Is Magic Playahitty Dancefloor Party 2010 Summertime Sharon Robinson Everybody Knows Summer Solstice Tim Guidotti To Seek the Peaceful Life Summer Moon David Guetta, Tim Deluxe, Bob Sinclar, Joachim Garraud 'Summer Moon' Remix Summertime [live] The Doors Live At The Matrix Lullaby For The Summer Jimi Hendrix Valleys Of Neptune Dancing in the Street David Bowie feat. Mick Jagger Best Of Bowie Summer, Summer Ruth Barrett & Cyntia Smith The Heart is the Only Nation Hot Summer Day It's A Beautiful Day It's A Beautiful Day Summer Sent You Mary Black The Holy Ground These Are The Days Van Morrison Avalon Sunset
BACKGROUND MUSIC Summer Solstice Phil Thornton Solstice Summer Solstice Sean Harkness Summer Solstice Summer Tracy Scott Silverman Summer Solstice Summer Solstice Vincent & Vonorn Earth Spirits Midsummer's Moon David Arkenstone Summer Solstice Companions David Arkenstone Summer Solstice Summer Star Lisa Lynne Summer Solstice Canticle #3 Lou Harrison Solstice • Canticle #3 • Ariadne • A Summerfield Set Suite Fr. "Solstice" (p.I) 1. Garden Of The Sun Lou Harrison Solstice • Canticle #3 • Ariadne • A Summerfield Set
Honoring
Memorial Day
2011
Introduction to this Memorial Day Musical Essay
As the Gypsy Scholar pointed out in the first musical essay of my Beltane/May Day series, there are two May Days. To reiterate, there’s the older one, celebrated for thousands of years in the ancient past by peoples like the Celts, which is annual seasonal festival that marks the beginning of summer, with undertones of a pagan nature religion. It also probably goes back to the Floralia festival in ancient Rome, dedicated to Flora, the goddess of flowers Then there’s the new one that only goes back to the 19th-century workers struggle and commemorates International Worker’s May Day. Therefore, the Gypsy Scholar began with a musical essay on the ancient seasonal May Day, particularly that of the old Celtic countries called “Beltane,” which in some places was referred to as “The May” and lasted the entire month. He uncovered the ecstatic pagan origins of our seasonal May Day. In the second musical essay of the series, he made an important historical and cultural connection between the two May Days, and thus elucidated the deeper implications of the workers consciously choosing the put their holiday on the old May Day. Again, the old May Day festivities featured the pagan custom of men and women disappearing into the woods throughout the night for a “greenwood marriage,” the crowning a May Queen, a parade with Jack-in-the-Green or the Green Man, the coronation of a “Lord of Misrule,” and dancing around a maypole. The Gypsy Scholar pointed out how the pagan May Day festival was finally outlawed by the Puritans in 1644. He then introduced the sociological concept of “carnivalesque” to aid in explaining the motives behind this outlawing of the maypole and to aid in defining the increasing socio-political aspect of the sixteenth-century May Day festivities.
The Gypsy Scholar will revisit these previous musical essays in summary in order to establish a logical segue from it to this present one for Memorial Day, and in this way having the Memorial Day holiday complete the May Day series of musical essays, both the seasonal May Day and the worker’s May Day, for the month.
For essay "Introduction to Memorial Day," click here.
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"Decoration Day is the most beautiful of our national holidays.... The grim cannon have turned into palm branches, and the shell and shrapnel into peach blossoms." ~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
The very first commemoration of Memorial Day was actually on May Day—May 1, 1865—when it was called “Decoration Day,” commemorated in profuse flowers. The first known national observance of Decoration Day was on May 5, 1866. Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day because it was a time set aside to honor the nation's Civil War dead by decorating their graves. Memorial Day was first observed in 1868, as two women in Columbus, Mississippi placed flowers on both Confederate & Union graves. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to honor the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers.
The question of the Day:
Could it be that we have lost the true cost of war as we morn its dead ~ could it be that flowers and flags can never justify the inhumanity of war ~ could it be that all wars are lost because there are no true winners?
“We must kill them in war, just because they live beyond the river. If they lived on this side, we would be called murderers.” –Blaise Pascal (17th century mathematician and philosopher)
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?” –Gandhi
“We must be prepared to make heroic sacrifices for the cause of peace that we make ungrudgingly for the cause of war. There is no task that is more important or closer to my heart.” –Albert Einstein
“Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder and it is the working class who fights all the battles, the working class who makes the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely sheds their blood and furnishes their corpses, and it is they who have never yet had a voice – in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class (the 'plutocrats') that invariably does both. They alone declare war. They are continually talking about patriotic duty. It is not their patriotic duty but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches.” –Eugene Debs (Antiwar activist, union organizer and Socialist candidate for president, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for speaking out against WWI. He received a million votes as a 1920 write-in candidate for US president while he was in jail!)
“They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason. . . . Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” –Ernest Hemingway
“All that was required of them (i.e. the brain-washed masses) was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.” –George Orwell 1984
“ I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.” –George McGovern
“Once and for all the idea of glorious victories won by the glorious army must be wiped out. Neither side is glorious. On either side they're just frightened men messing their pants and they all want the same thing—not to lie under the earth, but to walk upon it— without crutches.” –Peter Weiss (German writer, painter, and artist.)
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1) Veterans For Peace marches each year in Albany’s Memorial Day Parade in May 2) DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace & Justice Memorial Day parade in Illinois 3) Memorial Day anti-war march in Washington D.C. 4) Memorial Day peace march in Rochester NY 5) Memorial Day peace march in Upstate NY 6) Peace Action Marches in The Staten Island Memorial Day Parade 7) Vets for Peace Memorial Day peace march in NY 8) Sycamore Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5768 Memorial Day Parade in Illinois 9) Rolling Thunder Vets bike parade in Washington DC 10) 1937 "Memorial Day Massacre" at Republic Steel plant in Chicago. Police murder 10 fleeing workers, wound 30, beat 55.
PLAYLIST Memorial Day 2011 5/30/11
SONGS
The World Turned Upside Down Karan Casey Songlines The Price of Freedom Random Disorder Random Disorder One More Parade Phil Ochs There But For Fortune War Is A Business Celtic Wonder Band Small Wonder I Ain't Marching Anymore Phil Ochs There But for Fortune Brothers In Arms Dire Straits Brothers In Arms Internationale Ani DiFranco & Utah Phillips Fellow Workers And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda Eric Bogle Singing The Spirit Home Why Old Men Cry Dick Gaughan Redwood Cathedral War (What Is It Good For) Eric Burdon & War Single Which Side Are You On Dick Gaughan Live In Edinburgh No Man's Land (aka Green Field Of France) Eric Bogle Singing The Spirit Home War/No More Trouble Playing for Change Playing for Change Masters of War Eddie Vedder & Mike McCready Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration Masters of War Bob Dylan The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
BACKGROUND MUSIC
Trance Spirits Steve Roach & Jeffrey Fayman
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Click here for archival footage of traditional Mummers' Dance and see Loreena McKennitt's video released with her single, "Mummers' Dance."
May Song Sharron Kraus, Jon Boden Right Wantonly A-Mumming Beltaine Inkubus Sukkubus Beltaine Dancing In The Streets Van Halen Diver Down Magic Time Van Morrison Magic Time Fire In The Belly Van Morrison The Healing Game Huron Beltane Fire Dance Loreena McKennitt Loreena McKennitt Away with the Faeries Inkubus Sukkubus Away with the Faeries Song of the Wandering Aengus Ruth Barrett Songs of the Otherworld As I Roved Out Ruth Barrett & Cyntia Smith The Early Years Cup Of Wonder Jethro Tull Songs From The Wood Tree Lessons Ruth Barrett & Cyntia Smith The Heart is the Only Nation Cambridge May Song Ruth Barrett & Cyntia Smith The Early Years Queen of the May Inkubus Sukkubus Away with the Faeries He Moved Through The Fair The Chieftains & Sinéad O'Connor The Long Black Veil
BACKGROUND MUSIC
Trad. and pop Irish/British (Instr) music
PLAYLIST Beltane/ May Day Part II, 5/9/11
SONGS
Mayer's Song / The Rochdale Coconut Dance / Three Around Three Magpie Lane Jack-in-the-Green Dancing In The Streets Van Halen Diver Down The May Song The Gathering Nighttime Birds May Song Sharron Kraus, Jon Boden Right Wantonly A-Mumming The May Queen is Waiting Ruth Barrett Songs of the Otherworld Jack-in-the-Green / Jack's Alive Magpie Lane Jack-in-the-Green Jack-In-The-Green Jethro Tull Songs From The Wood King Of May Natalie Merchant Ophelia Carnival Heath Vercher Rise Carnaval Santana Festival Carnival Eric Clapton No Reason To Cry The World Turned Upside Down Leon Rosselson RosselSonGs Chimes of Freedom Bruce Springsteen, T. Chapman, Sting, P. Gabriel, Y. Ndour Live Argentina-AI '88 Carnival Sandy Denny No More Sad Refrains: The Anthology Brothers In Arms Dire Straits Brothers In Arms Bread & Roses Queen Cee
BACKGROUND MUSIC
Trad. and pop Irish/British (Instr) music
PLAYLIST Beltane/ May Day
Part III, 5/16/11
SONGS
The May Song The Gathering Nighttime Birds Magic Time Van Morrison Magic Time Full Moon Santana Spirits Dancing In The Flesh Drawing Down the Moon Gaia Consort Evolve I Become The Moon Eliza Gilkyson Through the Looking Glass Full Moon Big Circle Tina Lear Full Moon Big Circle The May Queen is Waiting Ruth Barrett Songs of the Otherworld The World Is Turned Upside Down Maddy Prior & The Carnival Band Hang Up Sorrow And Care Hawthorn Tree Heather Dale The Trial of Lancelot Fairy Queen Ruth Barrett Songs of the Otherworld He Moved Through The Fair Sinéad O'Connor Faire Celts- A Woman's Voice Maypole Dance Moonstruck Crossroads My Laglan Love Van Morrison & The Chieftains Irish Heartbeat
BACKGROUND MUSIC
Trad. and pop Irish/British (Instr) music
PLAYLIST Beltane/ May Day Part IV, 5/23/11
SONGS
Shelter (Eric Bogle) Brian Sutton Sydney to San Diego She Moved Through the Fair (Ta Me Mo Shui/Samhradh, Samhradh) Patrick Ball Fiona She Moved Through The Fair Van Morrison & The Chieftains Irish Heartbeat Hawthorn Anne Lister A Flame in Avalon Hawthorn Tree Heather Dale The Trial of Lancelot Maypole Dance Moonstruck Crossroads Sweet Fire of Love Robbie Robertson Robbie Robertson As I Roved Out Brian Kennedy Common Ground: Voices Of Modern Irish Music Lagan Love William Coulter Celtic Twilight 3: Lullabies (Instr) Lagan Love Jacqui McShee's Pentangle Passe Avant
BACKGROUND MUSIC Trad. and pop Irish/British (Instr) music