A review of Echoes in Time at Albany's Egg

                Last night, I went to the dance performance of Echoesin Time at the Egg performing arts center. I didn't know what to expect, my first time in the Egg and my first time seeing a professional dance show. I went up the oval elevator to the concourse level and smiled. The walls seemed liked they could vibrate sounds into colors. 

It was my first time ushering at the place. So I did my seating duties and then snagged a 3^rd row center seat for the show. The band immediately caught my attention. I haven't been to many dance performances, but they had a five piece band positioned towards the back of the stage. The curtains went up with the drum thumping the opening lines of Ellington's Caravan. The bassist started layering the pulse and the tappers went crazy. I suppose I couldn't really judge the actual dancers, I knew the movements were amazing, but at several points during the show, I just closed my eyes and focused on the rhythms of the tapping to the accompanying music. I visualized the claps and snaps of shoes as drums of varying shapes and tones. The sliding sounds of the tappers reminded me of jazz drummers slashing brushes on a snare. 

 The show was shaped to chronicle the different styles of a bunch of famous tap dances, ranging from Bill “Bojangles” Robinson to Jimmy Slide with Andrew Nemr’s CPD (Cats Paying Dues) Plus dance group. The troupe leader did a solo dance as the second to last number which sounded like a seasoned drummer playing off-beats and polyrhythms asynchronously, (here's a clip).  I would highly recommend seeing a jazz tap show as a medium for experiencing a new interpretation of music. And speaking of shows, as you might know, the 3^rd Annual Saint Rose Music Awards is happening March 12 this year, (which yours truly is performing at) so set your calendars. We’ll get a full nomination and performance list up for ya next week.

                This week’s album to check out: Wilco A Ghostis Born. It’s going to be a cold week, so throw on some of these chilly, but groovy tunes and mellow out.

(the following was written by Frank Cutie and is an excerpt from his latest installment in the Saint Rose Chronicle)

Top Three Tools for Understandment

I'm reading Autobiography of a Yogi and Paramahansa Yogananda brings up some interesting differences between Sanskrit and English. The most notable stems from Sanskrit 55 letter alphabet. He writes that words spoken in this language exemplify exactly what they mean.

When I think of language, the first thing that comes to my head is misunderstanding. Between tone and words being galaxies apart from others' definition, I find my self strictly using totally out of context words in order to relay and exact meaning, without the hesitations of incomprehension.

For example, the other day I was describing a trip to London to some new Study Abroad kids. The instructor asked me to retell my best piece of advice.

"You're not putting anything on hold while your away, because you'll find that whereever you are should be the place that's happening."

Maybe that sounds abstract in itself, but basically, when wrapping my rap up, I said , everything was strobe lighted.

Is that an out there adjective to describe something? I dunno, I was the one who said it. It seemed perfect to me, until I replayed the moment an hour after the event and took note of the expressions people made.

The expressions: Understading. I understand languge ennough to know that when one makes the face of understanding, true gasp-awe-stricken understanding; that it's not normal. People don't understand each other.

I knew the description was out there because people did understand it, more-so they exactly understood me.

Strobe lighted: The flashes. The brief moment of unknowing, and then the awareness of something new.

So here we are Top Three things to help get across your point in America, or at least pretend like your trying too.

3) "Ya know what i mean?"

Although this is a cliche one, it fits on a "quick fix list." It implies that the speaker is aware he is being abstract and wants to make sure the listener is on board. Mostly I find the listener "knows what I'm saying" regardless of if they do or not, but every now and then they call me on it. I take great pride in the fact that whenever I'm asked this question in the half-assedly "I assume you know" way...and I don't, I TELL 'EM SO!

2) "It's like.."

A simile may take time but it mostly works if you reverse the example to include the speaker.

     example: A friend's friend broke the house bong. He told me he would just give me some substance, but we rather of had the money to fix the piece. It's like if you broke my car and just gave me a Hess gift certificate.

It'll be great once I get the car fixed, but who needs fuel when you don't have the vessel.

1)  Sanskrit

Apparently that's were it's at. With 50 letters that carry an invariablied pronunciation, everything sounds exactly how it means (similar to the French's multiple-words-with the same meaning).

In the end it comes down to tone, and based on how Americans where raised, voicing will always be a variable.

However...I only communicate via brainwaves anyway.

Verse void

Synapsing Reflections

Timeless vision is growing in decision

            white lilies force themselves through concrete.

While hollow trees met with the precision

of a flight of a thousand leaves

            moist soft sounds surround

            the galaxy of space within the

            confounds of time.

Clear pristal pool with loud voices,

            echo back and forth in my veins.

Visualizations of eternity are swirling

And the crystal ball conceives to sink.

            saturated noise resounds

            the nothingness of love within

            the unmatter of time.

I am alive for only a single second a day

One second I, grey azure white, embody the present

            Embodied/Embodying/Embodies existence

            But resistance is present

            Resistance of the present dismal, insistful decision?

A vision!

Run like fire to the toad’s treasure

            find the eye in his mind,

            wish for a hundred days that have past to be replayed again

            wish for the crystal ball revived.

Run like fire to the funeral pyre;

            flowers burn and melt in the flame

            petals are splattered along the ceremony.

            flowers defiled and frayed.

Petals are burnt; petals and dirt

Unmatter

To the sane

The insignificance of eternity

Swallow inside of me

            And fountains from a crystal pool.

Like the tundra in pristine icicle deliverance

            The morning rolls

                        towards

                                    mountains of time

Along the savannah the present slowly wakes

And casts a shroud over the eternity I create

The Soul: Living Rooms, Television Sets and Reporters (the aftermath, pt 4 of 4)

 (Contiunation of The Soul: Living Rooms, Television Sets and Reporters pt 1: the body; pt 2: the soul; pt 3: the union)

It is impossible to discuss and analyze what an object of study is without the knowledge of where it came from. Alfred Whitehead spent a great deal of time introspecting on this matter. “Why would God place us down here?”

Well the answer becomes quite simple, because God must need us for something.

Like with any human, we do not create something without purpose, even in the event of art, the meaning becomes the reason for creation. Possibly God is stuck in a similar type of karma cycle in another universe. In other words, God is trapped in an innately alien universe similar to the human soul, leading to the assumption that God created us to help him break out of his own entombing universe. So while humans strive for nirvana to be free of this reality of time, God is seeking the same form of enlightenment to get out of his prison.

Whitehead’s theory merges remarkably flush with the definition of the human being introduced in this paper. Thus, having knowledge of the human creator helps to understand the human itself.

The human being is composed of three unique identities in the war zone of this universe. Through the interaction of these organs, one can be defined as human.

The soul is the eternal part. Created out of time and entrapped in a foreign place. In the soul, one has the gift of eternity but fettered to this reality, eternity is enchained to merely watch television in the broken living room of the physical.In unison is the terrestrial, ephemeral body, which allows interaction with the present reality; a field reporter traveling amongst the chaotic abyss of the visceral, in constant transmission and journalism.
The third, the deity of consciousness, the television set which mediates and converts the alien gravity of time into subtitles for the restless soul. Consciousness as the television set, broadcasting the celestial to the earthly. The human being a combination of the actions of the body, the awareness of consciousness and the eternity of the soul.

Verse void

Conversation before a Departure

Where are you going my

love? to the ends of the

                                world

dear. Why?

Because I am cardboard

and I float. I think

                                you

are mistaken. No,

the air is drowning me.

The Soul: Living Rooms, Television Sets and Reporters (the union, pt 3 of 4)

 (Continuation of  The Soul: Living Rooms, Television Sets and Reporters; pt 1: the body; pt 2: the soul)

One can agree that the soul wants to get out of time, because basically, it is a hassle, the soul needs a translator and it is stuck in a foreign dimension. With this soul trapped here in time, one assumes the soul wants to get out. This is where nirvana and eastern spiritually appears.

Nirvana is ultimate balance and transcendence from the physical world. So my theory is, the soul is constantly trying to escape the body, but there are not many available moments.

Since time is a constant, the soul is constantly affronted by time. The point of interest comes during the experience of death. At the exact moment of demise, the physical body, constrained by time, dies, so only the identities of consciousness and the soul are present. In this second, it is consciousness which perceives the moment of death; where the body that was trapped by time is no longer in existence. At this moment, consciousness must relay the message to the soul (since the soul is completely oblivious of time). If a human is aware of this moment, the soul is able to recognize the freedom from the capsule of the body and transcend out of time.

This does not happen very often however because there are still millions of souls roaming throughout our universe. If consciousness is unable to comprehend the moment of freedom, the soul will be ignorant of being unchained, so rather than transcending into eternity, consciousness will transmit time to the soul and rather than freeing itself, the soul will jump to another body encased by time.

In this way the cycle continues.

Through looking at this concept, the idea of karma comes to mind. Karma interprets these same theories in relation to nirvana, ergo; one has to break out of the karma cycle in order to achieve transcendence. So why an eternal God would create the soul in his realm but banish it to a universe of time becomes the question of choice.

The Soul: Living Rooms, Television Sets and Reporters (the soul, pt 2 of 4)

 (Continuation of "The Soul: Living Rooms, Televisions Sets and Reporters part 1; The Body)

The trait that makes a human being human is the soul, but what is the soul? In order to understand the soul, one must examine the religious aspect of it.

According to Christianity, the soul is an eternal being. With this in mind, one must dissect this idea of eternity, especially when it relegates to existence in a time constrained universe. So one must agree the soul is an eternal identity, which means that a human has eternal qualities existing within. The question then arises, what makes our soul eternal?

As Socrates states in Phaedo, the soul must have preexisted before it was attached to the body and it is difficult to believe that one’s parents had the power to create an eternal being (or entrap a preexisting eternal being) during copulation. So this meaning epicenters the notion that our soul had to have been in existence before being ensnared by a body. Since the soul is eternal, it must have been created in an eternal universe. In this eternal universe, God must have created our souls without the restrictions present in a mortal dimension.

With this concept, one is left with a God in an eternal universe creating eternal souls. So that explains where the soul was created and from this standpoint, the human being begins conception. The soul is an infinite being that was created out of time and was forced into time embodied in the physical body. A very interesting aspect of this is the difference in time. The soul is immortal, created out of time, and the body is a physical thing, obviously stuck in a dimension ruled by time. Assumedly, the soul should not be able to interact and function with the body, since both essentially speak different languages. This difference in language is resolved with the entity of consciousness.

The Soul: Living Rooms, Television Sets and Reporters (the body, pt 1 of 4)

“What is a human?” is a question asked abundantly enough. For centuries, philosophers have explored the infinite possibilities of the difference between a human and an animal. One of the most interesting of these concepts emerge from the metaphysical realm.

Human beings are these physical creatures with some innate knowledge which allows us to be aware of a spiritual atmosphere. The soul is the essence of a human being as well as the spiritual identity which makes a human being unique.

The soul is a mysterious organ, and since we do not know much about it, assumptions must be made. In this light, the human being can be examined through three aspects which transcend that of other creatures. These three items are the soul, the physical body, and consciousness. In this desert of reality, the interaction between these elements allow for human vitality; similar to watching the news in a living room, each part plays a role.


Being a human consists of a combination of three things acting together, the body, the soul, and consciousness.

Each of these aspects, even in isolation, provides an infinity of insight towards the human, so let’s begin with the section of humans which is most indisputable, the physical body. The body is an obvious part of reality and nature because it is directly involved with it. A human body is able to perceive and interact with the world. This physical side allows the soul to interact with the environment. In this way, the physical body can be seen as a transmitter, or a reporter.

The body functions as a medium that allows the soul to perceive and interact physically through consciousness. Since the body is a physical thing within this reality, the body is subject to time. This is interesting because while the soul is argued as an eternal identity, the question arises of how it is stuck within a physical body. The other question is why it was first placed in a physical body. Before answering these questions, one must have an understanding of the soul in relation to the body in order to understand how they become connected.

COME ON JETS!

tomorrow we'll be doing some soul searching

 

Just stumbled on these

Grace potter and the Nocturnals rock and are touring round New York. They're playing at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock and my old ska scene of the Westcott in Syracuse.



but i wish this guy would go on tour with 'em



i could rave to that.

Friday rounds

Lets get up to date.

Dear state Governors, you are powerful.
Please start using your power.

More TSA, why doesn't the government privatize airline security? Let the planes be in charge of their own safety, less funding and much much more efficient.

Grass

Grass grows unevenly in high places. Often, while my mind wanders, I conjure up oceans of green. The shades, the steady flow of the land, the contour of the blades form slideshows along my thoughts. There are some specific landscapes that linger more than others. I remember lying on the beach a couple summers ago, before clouds of war and unrest, when only driftwood ventured to foreign lands.

Things are always more beautiful when reminiscing, I recall the sun having a white halo about it, reflecting the translucent glow of a summer moon. The ocean was wild that day, it wasn’t warm, but a gnarled wind tore at the glass sea. There were only a few spots of grass growing amongst the sand, far up from the tide’s stretch. The grass there was not green, but brownish yellow, like rust. The wind would snap at the reeds, bashing against the copper blades. I stared at this for a while, the movement and anger the wind forced onto the tranquil environment. A single force cannot move mountains; it cannot uplift the earth, nor pollute a mind. Rather, force is empowered through minute details scattered along its path. Reeds don’t crash and whirl into their grass cousins, but the force of wind breeds hate amongst family.

                I stood up from my mediation drunkenly stumbling, as one does after pristine awareness, to the patch of rust. The wind slashed at my back and stole my hat, but I suppose that is the extent of forces when unaided by others; magpies. Sitting on a fallen palm tree I gazed out at the ocean, with the patch of grass acting as an alter to the citadel azure. Standing, I walked reverently up to the copper grass like Communion. I wanted to walk on it, the colors were so rusted and gray they almost looked soft. The blades of grass were coarse and sharp.

 Walking barefoot allows for a unique perspective for it utilizes two senses. Both seeing and feeling one’s path is a beautiful thing. There is an innate a sense of unity with the environment when one allows feet to be connected to the earth. Even on concrete, the absence of a sole buffer reminds me of collective consciousness, everyone rooted to the same flower bed. I walked around Paris in bare feet, on broken wine bottles and garbage, Paris is a very dirty city, but my mind wasn’t absorbed by the grime, but rather, the heartbeat of the city. The subways pumped and shook the city’s paved skin like veins, the lights strobed as blinking eyes.

                Landscapes often remind me of citadels. Primrose Hill is equivalent to Notre Dame in every way. When sitting on the mount, stretching over London, the shining green grass seems to have a higher resolution in contrast to the muggy sky. When looking over the cranes and structures of the city, the grass leading up to the urban ziggurat brings life to the architecture. It is a dragon that sleeps and lies at the foot of Primrose Hill, with wings stretching as steeples and fangs glaring as radio towers. The grass provokes mysticism, a certain hex of peace amongst the smog of a city.

               

Some room cleaning

So, the name has changed and the background is a little different and i'm not collecting cans on the street anymore...deal