Valerie Dore: The Night (1984)

Don't miss the (best French Revolution) drummer (of all time) starting at 0:33!!!

Excerpt from Pascal's "Provincial Letters: #2"

Shall I describe for you the situation of the church in the midst of these different views? I think of it like a man who, leaving his native country to travel abroad, encounters robbers who would him so severely that they leave him half dead. He sends for three doctors who are resident in the neighborhood. The first, after probing his wounds, pronounces them to be mortal and tells him that only God can restore him. The second, wishing to flatter him, assures him that he has sufficient strength to reach home and insults the first for opposing his opinion and threatens to ruin him. When the unfortunate patient sees the third physician approach, he stretches out his hands to welcome him as the one who will decide the dispute.

This physician, upon looking at his wounds and learning of the opinions already given, agrees with the second and together they turn upon the first with contempt. They now form the strongest party. The patient infers from this that the third physician agrees with the second, and on asking him the question, assures him most positively that he has enough strength for the proposed journey. But the wounded man, expatiating upon his weakness, asks how he came to this conclusion.

"Why, you still have legs, and legs are the means which according to the nature of things, are sufficient for the purpose of walking."

The wounded traveler replies, "That may be, but have I all the strength required for using them? They really seem useless to me in my present weakened condition."

"Certainly they are," replies the physician, "and you will never be able to walk unless God gives you some extraordinary assistance to sustain and guide you."

"What then," says the sick man, "have I not sufficient strength in myself to be able to walk?"

"Oh no, far from it."

"Then you have a different opinion from your friend respecting my real condition."

"I must admit, I have."

What do you suppose the wounded man would say to all this? He would certainly complain of the strange procedure and of the ambiguous language of the third physician. He scolds him for agreeing with the second, when in fact he is of a contrary opinion, although they appear to agree and drive away the first in doing so. When he tries his strength and finds that he is only weak, he gets rid of them both. He then recalls the first one, who puts him under his care, follows his advice, and asks God for strength which he knows he needs. His petitions are heard, and eventually he reaches home in peace.

Japan: Life in Tokyo (1981)

Carl Sagan:

Excerpt from "For Sinners Only: The Book of the Oxford Groups"

"What is the Group teaching about smokes and drinks?" I asked.

"What do you think?"

That is the characteristic Group answer. The decision is left to you. Rigidity over details is unpopular. There are principles in the Fellowship, but no rigid rules. Throw a question at the Group and it comes back to you. Here are certain facts. Interpret them as you think best under God's guidance. "Do anything God lets you." That is the guiding theory of the Group, and that gives freedom.

Jerry Andress & 1 Corinthians 1:28

God chose the things that are not—to nullify the things that are.

Gary Numan: Music for Chameleons (1982)

Bassline city!

Thornton Wilder re: Theophilus North

"One of the themes that subtends Theophilus North is that old question -- what does a man do with despair (his rage, his frustration)! What does every different kind of person 'store up' to evade, surmount, transmute, incorporate those aspects of life which are beyond our power to alter. It would seem to be a depressing subject, but it's not."

Dennis Edwards: Don't Look Any Further (1984)

Bassline city!

Thornton Wilder quote:

"All men aspire to excellence. All men strive to incorporate elements of the Absolute into their lives. These efforts are doomed to failure. Every man is an archer whose arrow is aimed to the center of the target; but our arrows are leaden, their feathers are ill...our eyesight is imperfect; our education has failed to distinguish the true from the false targets; the strength in our arm is insufficiently developed."
(taken from his unfinished preface to Theophilus North)

(disco) Romans 7

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:15,19)

JAZ Church:

Christian Funk:

Limousine: Holy Spirit (Sweden, 1976)

Richard Rohr on Julian of Norwich:

"As she put it, 'First there is the fall, and then there is the recovery from the fall. But both are the mercy of God.' Maybe you can't believe that until the second half of life."

(from Everything Belongs, p.20,21)

Astronaut (Remi Gaillard)

Graham Tomlin quote:

If all this is anywhere near true, the first stage in a church's approach to its non-Christian neighbours may not be in thinking 'how can we persuade them that it's true?', but by asking 'how can we make them want to know more?' (p. 13)

Luther, Heidelberg Disputation:

"The thirst for glory is not ended by satisfying it but rather by extinguishing it."

Jorge Ben & Tim Maia: Lorraine (1981)

ComMOONion

Check it out, Buzz Aldrin took communion on the moon:

“In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.’ I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly. …I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements.”

(Aldrin quote taken from Eric Metaxis' interview)

Amazing words from Ezekiel:

Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, 10 which He unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. And He said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll..."

So I opened my mouth, and He gave me the scroll to eat. Then He said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

(Eazy 2:9-3:3)

"Love Is My Message"

Zodiac: Mysterious Universe (Latvia, 1982)

note: Don't miss the part that starts at 1:54.

Aaron Broomfield: I'm Gonna Miss You (1981)

Turtle-Gopher

Remembering Donnay:

Cosmic Christ

45 King

"A Note On Sports"*

"Please note that there are only two references to sports in this book. They are on pages 71 and 95, and both are appropriately dismissive. If you wish for sports information, might I kindly refer you to every other aspect of our culture?"

* (quote taken from John Hodgman's "The Areas of My Expertise")

Stern-Combo Meissen: Der Kampf um den Sudpol (GDR, 1977)

Abreaction in Art

My father gave a brilliant talk at the Mockingbird Conference last week in NYC. You can hear it here:



...and, if nothing else, download the readings (from Kerouac, Wilder, Tolstoy, and Eliot) here:

Click Me!

Albatros: Volo AZ 504 (1976)

2009's Best New Site:

COSMICDUDES.COM

Plaidmusic quote:

"Before i grew a beard and started listening to sophisticated disco..."

(taken from plaidmusic blog)

On Irony:

"The default for Wallace would have been irony—the prevailing tone of his generation. But, as Wallace saw it, irony could critique but it couldn’t nourish or redeem."
(Quote taken from D. T. Max's excellent recent New Yorker article on David Foster Wallace: The Unfinished)

Beard Science EP3: Out Now!

Specials AKA: Girlfriend

Galatians 6:3

"If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

Can We Get Serious for a Minute? (German Balearia)

William Pitt: City Lights


Frank Zander: Captain Starlight

Remember This?!

JAZ : "I Played Sports" (out now!)

Piccadilly says: "...the Jaz CD (causing much interest when played in the shop)...The minister of edits, Jaz, follows up his amazingly ace twelves on Beard Science and Sixty Five with his first full length CD, which naturally features another 14 edits. 13 of these are previously unreleased and none of them disappoint - there's not a dud track on the disc! On "I Played Sports" Jaz takes us right across the board, from Balearic mellowness via spacious choral cosmic rock to a mix of underground and full-on disco. All the time he never goes for the obvious heard-em-before tracks to mess with, instead these cuts will have even the the most well-versed in the Balearic / cosmic / disco arts scratching their heads in wonder."

Click Me to Hear Samples!

(untitled)

"As loyal citizens of the modern world we believe in our own efficacy." (E. Perel)