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)

Libre Ambiance out now!!!

Available from Juno (Click Me!)

Bubbles

A nice slice of baby-disco:

(dedicated to TZ)

Bombers - Get Dancin' (1979)

Friday Nights (10-1)

JAZ = Uncle (since Oct. 28)

Introducing Tommy Z.

1 Corinthians 13:12

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

Connecting the dots between Article 26 of "The 39 Articles of Religion" (1562) and 1980

Article XXVI: Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers...

"Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ's, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in the receiving of the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ's ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God's gifts diminished from such as by faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ's institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men."

(note: Thank you Cliff Swartz for this amazing nugget!)

In case you haven't been following my train of thought, these will help you to get back on track:

Intro:


Craft Fair:

Wonder Woman (JAZ edit)

Mark Mattes quote:

"Theology should not be about providing an overall system, but instead should deconstruct systems." (taken from p. 181, The Role of Justification in Contemporary Theology)

David Foster Wallace (R.I.P.)

The alternative:

...You can hear him spin some of those gems on Thursdays in NYC, or check out his amazing blog: Voodoo Funk

Nacht und Nebel: Beats of Love (Live 1984)

New 12" out:

"Claremont 56 sublabel with another collection of stunning disco tracks. Track one is a peak into the album by JAZ that will be released later this year and is a driving disco number for peak times. On the flip manchester's Cosmic Janes edits are not the obvious choice of tracks..but therefore much more interesthing then many of the edits comibg out these days. Diving into the 80's obscure pop releases we have some excellent tracks that will get the party started!! well done!" (Flexx)

Available from Juno, Piccadilly, and Flexx.

Grace in Practice quote:

"People become semi-Pelagians the day (after) they become Christians. This is the heart of it. People in the world, including Christians, are Pelagians by nature. They want to do it for themselves. 'Control' is the key word or concept. But control fails massively at some specific, vulnerable point of opening. When this happens, people are undone and they open up to grace...But the moment things are patched up a bit, life morphs back toward control, into semi-Pelagianism. Semi-Pelagianism is the compromise Christians force between the grace that saved them and the Pelagianism inherent in their human nature. It is the Achilles' heel that besets Christians and all the Christian churches." (pp. 92-93)

Rodney Mullen

My Favorite Band:

Spike the Punch (Italo 101 Mega-Mix)

Re: Dennis Wilson

Wonderful to see Pacific Ocean Blues re-issued recently with much of the Bambu sessions material on it as well. Dennis Wilson is one of my all-time faves! The music he made toward the end of his quite tragic career was undeniably Christian. He was, for me, the archetype of the sinner-in-need-of-a-savior, albeit of a most drunken and sentimental variety, which may be why I like him so much, because of the extremity of his own predicament, and the deep need that his helplessness generated.

Here follow four wonderful quotes, all found on the recent re-release of Pacific Ocean Blues/Bambu Sessions:

"I believe my Jesus is in my soul. Come on brother, let's rock and roll." (Friday Night)

"I know a carpenter who had a dream, killed the man but you couldn't kill the dream. Who said it was easy? People gotta be free!" (Dreamer)

"My Jesus, you open up my heart and make me laugh when I'm feelin' down. No more lonely nights." (You and I)

"Turn the corner all alone? He meets you there. The one you love is everywhere, and you can follow. When summer burns and winter blows, the Holy Man. When you lose the innocence, he's standing there. Holy Man will meet you there." (The Holy Man)


Amazing, no? I think so. And wait 'til you hear the music and especially his tortured and beautiful voice! -JAZ+

p.s., For what it's worth, I could say most of the same things about Andy Gibb too.

Adolf Koberle quote:

"The sanctification of conduct by the strengthening of the will; the sanctification of the emotions by a strenuous training of the soul; the sanctification of thought by a deepening of the understanding; moralism, mysticism, speculation, these are the three ladders on which men continually seek to climb up to God, with a persistent purpose that it seems nothing can check; a storming of Heaven that is just as pathetic in its unceasing efforts as in its final futility." (p. 2, The Quest for Holiness)

Y'all know about larping?

Which is better?

Magic Missle
or
Lightning Bolt

Learn more:



...and check out the:

Dragon Fight (featuring World of Warcraft fantasy car in background at 0:59)

Kilpatrick quote:

"But the honeymoon period is over. Humanistic psychology looks more and more like one of those seemingly benign drugs whose harmful effects don't become apparent until years later." (p. 36, Emperor's New Clothes)

A Mux!

Click Me!

Self-Portrait:

A special song from the Cosmos:

Capon quote:

"Direct, straight-line, intervening power does, of course, have many uses. With it, you can lift the spaghetti from the plate to your mouth, wipe the sauce off your slacks, carry them to the dry cleaners, and perhaps even make enough money to ransom them back. Indeed, straight-line power ("use the force you need to get the result you want") is responsible for almost everything that happens in the world. And the beauty of it is, it works. From removing the dust with a cloth to removing your enemy with a .45, it achieves its ends in sensible, effective, easily understood ways.
"Unfortunately, it has a whopping limitation. If you take the view that one of the chief objects in life is to remain in loving relationships with other people, straight-line power becomes useless. Oh, admittedly, you can snatch your baby boy away from the edge of a cliff and not have a broken relationship on your hands. But just try interfering with his plans for the season when he is twenty, and see what happens, especially if his chosen plans play havoc with your own. Suppose he makes unauthorized use of your car, and you use a little straight-line verbal power to scare him out of doing it again. Well and good. But suppose further that he does it again anyway -- and again and again and again. What do you do next if you are committed to straight-line power? You raise your voice a little more nastily each time till you can't shout any louder. And then you beat him (if you are stronger than he is) until you can't beat any harder. Then you chain him to a radiator till....But you see the point. At some very early crux in that difficult, personal relationship, the whole thing will be destroyed unless you -- who, on any reasonable view, should be allowed to use straight-line power -- simply refuse to use it; unless, in other words, you decide that instead of dishing out justifiable pain and punishment, you are willing, quite foolishly, to take a beating yourself.
"But such a paradoxical exercise of power, please note, is a hundred and eighty degrees away from the straight-line variety. It is, to introduce a phrase from Luther, left-handed power...Left-handed power is precisely paradoxical power: power that looks for all the world like weakness, intervention that seems indistinguishable from nonintervention."
(Kingdom, Grace, Judgment, pp. 18-19)

Twinkling Tower

Stephany: Shame (1983)

A Robot in Detroit

Cosmic Carpenters

Poppin John

Interview with yours truly (just up on the Another Night On Earth blog) + a new mix:

Click Me To Read It!

Big Train

Barrabas: On The Road Again (1981)

With one voice they cried out, "Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!" (Luke 23:18)

Karl Holl quote:

"Christianity, on the other hand, drew the rabble." (from The Distinctive Elements in Christianity's amazing 2nd Chapter)

Flexi Cowboys

JAZ on the Un-Free Will:

February 20th, '08, Church of the Holy Cross, Daniel Island -- Click Me To Listen!

JAZ Mixes

Here are links to most of the mixes I've made in the last year:

Disco-Rock Mix for "Cosmic Disco"Leather Get Going or HERE

"ARAWA" 1st Anniversary Mix: Biluminescently or HERE

Show Me on the Doll mixes on "Lovefingers":Show Me (pt. 2) and Show Me (pt. 4)

Cosmic mix for "Cosmic Disco":Cosmic 101 or HERE

Mix for "Another Night on Earth": Press Play #8: Fresh into the Sexy Night or HERE

Mix for "24 Hours": Slow-Wave or HERE

Mini-mix for "Talking in Stereo": Furby Mini-Mix or HERE

Mix for "Video Kitten": Amor Mix

Show Me on the Doll (pt. 3) for "Talking in Stereo": Show Me (pt. 3) or HERE

202 Machine: Get Up (Rock Your Body) -- 1980

(untitled)

Thanks to DZ and Josh Kulseth for help with this graphic! -JAZ+

Don't Build Your House on the Sandy Land:

Ruth Norman: "I prefer a Cartesian approach."

*note: the above quote was made up by this blog's author and in no way reflects the actual thinking of the actual Ruth Norman.

To Summarize:

JAZ edits -- New 12" out now!

Phonica says:

"Following on from his work on the Beard Science: Razor Sharp Edits twelve that caused a bit of a storm round these parts late last yeat, John Zahl AKA Jaz returns with another 4 high class disco/ funk/ boogie edits for the Sixty Five label. Smoky, funky quality all round!"

Piccadilly says:

"As per usual the lovely paul Murphy sends us his records direct, which means we get no hype or sales notes, which when it comes to edits means trawling the internet searching for lyrics. This time I have been advised not to bother, for Paul, The Idjuts and even Moonboots haven't got a clue what the OG's are. I will still give you a run down. "Show Me The Doll" is an 80's sounding funk / disco crossover with ace bassline and synths, great drum fills and a Bowie-esque delivery (kind of). Next up is "Leg Room", a brilliant wonky piece of sludge disco with sampled voices and a nagging synth loop. Over on side-B "Jokin' My Way" is a bit of rock disco for you and last up is "I Fought The Claw And The Ray-Gun" which to me hints at Ray Mang and possibly Bear Funk / Big Bear, but it doesn't sound like, that being a driving bit of electro disco rock. Aceness all around, Jaz who is just some guy with a full time job, has me flummoxed."


Available from Juno, Phonica, Piccadilly
and other fine establisments. (Limited to 500)

One of life's few neccesities:

Fashion: Love Shadow (1982)

Goals for 2008:

+



& also:



+

Mike Francis -- Closing out 2007 for us back in 1982!

4th Sunday of Advent: featuring Sheila B. Devotion - Spacer (1978)

Advent in Charleston

(excerpt from a recent conversation in my apartment)

John: "Deirdre, do you think I've been ontologically changed?"

Deirdre: "No."

The Parable of the Lost Sheep (brought to you by McDonald's)

Synergy: Delta 1 (1979)

Ministry is:

The Whole Enchilada!

(untitled)

Best Commercial Ever:

Check It!

It's a 12" recor, and it kicks off with one of my edits... I've finally come home to fresh pressed vinyl!

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

Gerhard Forde quote:

"If you start from freedom, you will end in bondage. If you start from bondage you are more likely to end in freedom." (p. 52, The Captivation of the Will)

Ahmed Fakroun: Soleil Soleil (1985)

"...not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offenses." (BCP)

Neon: Skydiver