http://saucepanbach.com/news.html Saucepan Bach: News Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:54:24 -0700 http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#235
Israel benefited - no-one else benefited. Well ... military/industrial complexes notwithstanding.

How did Israel benefit?

The sad truth of ”˜false flag’ operations - designed to mould public opinion - is evident for those who have the time and inclination to look.

I loath the word ”˜sheeple’ which has become a code word which is supposed to indicate a greater awareness of reality - by the writer - than that shown by the masses. More bullshit peddled by those who need an excuse to hate.

Judaism - whilst waiting for a Messiah - cobble together a system of thought absolutely alien to the message of both the Ten Commandments and the message of Christ. Not compatible at all.

Islam degenerates into factions who ... kill each other ... over the honour of God or some such tripe. Talk about blasphemy ... shame on you, vile extremists... how can God be insulted? Not possible. Can you insult the rain and make the slightest difference to its effect? Idiot believers, empty of substance and full of ceremonial niceties.

Meanwhile the Vatican isn’t inviting the Gypsies thrown out of France to take up residence in its manicured enclave.

I don’t care whether or not Christ existed. I respond to the message. I love the IDEA of the Christ. I don’t need a reward to entice me towards the understanding that there’s sod all difference to a peasant mother in China or Paris ”˜silly bloody’ Hilton.

Laugh and cry? Show me someone who doesn’t.

Ho hum .... I’m not so much angry......I’ve a garden to cultivate and Winter is as valid as Spring.

I wish I could express in song the mix of emotions I feel and express readily within a garden.

Back to wheelbarrows of soil and ..... pentatonic and blues scales and the dum dee dum which goes with that.

My next door neighbour’s child has a birthday tomorrow and the finest gift I can give is a poster showing nine hundred plus -yoga positions. I trust it will bring balance...... it’s laminated because we’re all so slow to learn about that which nourishes that, usually, we need a lifetime just to get a glimmer.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#235 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#234
Transplanting a tree-fern turned into major landscaping job, with about eighty barrows of soil moved to the garden bed into which the tree-fern would be planted.

Two vagrant trees occupy the far corner of the garden. Their name escapes me but they are a variegated leaf variety which look quite handsome as a hedge but grow vigorously into tall trees. If I leave them they will compete with a grove of tree-ferns for diminishing supplies of water.

I get the bow saw and two handsaws. It’s wretched job. The wood is sap heavy and the saw sticks. As frustrations grows I can hear echoes of my dead dad’s voice, “ Let the tool do the job.” and it spirals me back to childhood efforts with a hand saw and with too much force being applied to the job in hand.

Dad was an engineer by profession. “ The right tool for the job.” was another folk lore saying. I persevere with the three saws. Family members wonder why I don’t get a chain saw but I don’t like whirling sharp things and they scare me. Anyway, I don’t have enough trees needing removal to warrant the expense.

I make middle-aged noises like “Dearie me.” and “Golly Gosh.” as I pant for breath and regret my smoking. Then the thought comes to mind, ”˜There’s more than one way to make a cut.”

By using the portable drill - in combination with the saws - the five thigh-thick, twenty foot high, trunks of the two trees took a few hours to fell but fall they did. I’ll pay someone to take out the stumps and plant a pear tree among the tree-ferns.

Another few weeks of early Spring and I’ll plant Petunias - the brightest and most cheerful of flowers.

Making the trees disappear is fairly easy. I don’t have a branch chipper but I do have a mulcher mower and some secateurs. A few more hours and the lawn has a new surface of mulch and a small woodpile exists - courtesy of a circular saw which also has whirling sharp bits but is relatively safe for me to use.

Gardens are a wonderful arena.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#234 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#233
Instead of reaching sixty by repeating the years twenty onwards - in one year steps without changing - without learning anything constructive, we, instead, spiral out with each decade displacing what was useless with what ... works.

The heart of this lies in attuning oneself with ”˜The Way of Heaven.’ - and this, in turn, brings me back to paedophilia and the harm that that practice can bring.

To be in tune with ”˜heaven’ implies ”˜Do no harm’ as a guiding precept. Easier said than done.

Sexuality has to be the most potent of forces - the most mis-understood of desires from which - the lack of - does not make us die - but may as well for the scars it leaves.

There was a time when conditions within the ashram that I attended mirrored, faintly, my own circumstance.

The local head of the ashram was handsome, virile, charming and astute. He was also the recipient of masses of nubile female desire - much of it not ”˜spiritual’ as most might understand the term.

He ”˜fell from grace’ and died in jail. Disgraced in the eyes of many, I felt more than a twinge of understanding. How many of us are ever faced with being placed within a situation where temptation is everywhere and there is so much opportunity to abuse power. Particularly true if no coercion need be applied.

Why the problem with depraved priests, with networks of child pornography, with the Islamic - somewhat poorly thought out - notion of hiding the female form? The hideous practice of genital mutilation

Desire forms within us regardless of convention, and, perhaps, we cannot help what drives us. We do, however, have the choice on whether to act on those desires.

That’s the point.

How noble a life is possible by denying those desires which do obvious harm. No ”˜reward’ .......which makes it even better.

If you’ve never been a junkie then you have no idea of what is involved in losing an addiction. You get no ”˜divine credit’ for never having been a junkie. Why should you get credit for something for which you had no desire?

Spring comes softly bearing gifts of warmth and longer days. The Magnolia starts to flower its creamy, dreamy glory and bunches of daffodils flourish within the Tree fern beds

The Clarendon’s singer songwriter night went well with ”˜Medicine Woman’, ”˜So Happy Birthday’ and ”˜Hick it up.’ being my offering. I really enjoy playing with ”˜Wild Man Bru’ from ”˜My Hearts Dezire’ and I’m very happy to have him agree to play with me at the Darling Harbour Songwriter day in November.

Meanwhile, I don’t give a stuff about playing my songs but am making progress with turning scales into blues...... a very much pale blue but there’s a glimmer of darkness approaching. Wonder if that's also a silver lining.

Yoo hoo and off to transplant a tree-fern.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#233 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#232
I’m as clumsy as hell but Griff Hamlin’s backing track to his ”˜4 note blues’ works a treat with each of the blues patterns. What a joy to just play notes which are harmonic.

I did suggest to nine year old grandson, a year ago, that he and I are both at an age where - if our interest is engaged - that we can both devote large amounts of time to music. Somehow, for me, it’s a question of ”˜What else am I doing that is of greater importance ?’ now that family responsibilities are not so immediate. That makes it sound like it’s been ”˜sacrifice’ and ”˜put on hold’ where the truth lies closer to having the space and time to do almost anything which requires no money.

I have no partner. I have limited interests. Grandson is - by age definition - engaged in countless activities.

The Magnolia buds are swelling as Spring approaches. Today was glorious. Still and warm. A world away from counties swamped with flood waters, swamped with war, debt or collapse. I practised my scales and found Irish jig sort of patterns.

Israel builds ”˜settlements’ overlooking the concentration camps in which the Palestinians suffer and wonder why they - Israel - are seen worldwide as utterly untrustworthy.

America fights a nonsense war with real casualties in the twin names of both terror and democracy and we, in Australia, have been dragged into a lie from which we cannot extricate ourselves as our leaders are incapable of admitting mistake.

Meanwhile the Federal Reserve - a private concern - continues to print money and charge interest to the government which gave away the obvious right of any country to control the issue of its currency.
It’s a mind boggling world.

Off to do a night shift. Work is undergoing radical changes, none of which look promising however I’ve got ten weeks leave on the horizon.

I trust that I’ll play as much as possible and, thus, enter my sixties on a promising note.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#232 Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#231
The cream and crimson Magnolia, living in the front garden, is heavy with bud but running three weeks late with flower. Spring is near but, as yet, no warmth in the wind.

I take guitars. My Godson - who has had a deeply troubled life - bounds into the farm an hour after my arrival - bottle of scotch in hand and prepared to share a drink.

I’m wary of drink. Hmm... wary of drinkers is closer to the truth. We share a drink and I’m struck by how much ”˜lighter’ he appears. Great recent trauma has revealed that he was sexually abused as a child.

The unburdening has lifted a weight of such magnitude that the prism of intense inner conflict through which he has interacted with the rest of humanity is almost - dissipated.

I was sexually abused and too many of the few I know have suffered similar fate.

I’m sure that there are paedophiles out there who kid themselves that this behaviour is of little harm. It is a hideous lie to pretend that an adult child relationship - however dressed up with overtones of friendliness - can have a sexual content. It is the adult that has the ulterior motive. It is the adult who manipulates.

Godson and I don’t discuss fine detail. It’s enough to know - for the moment - that we both know. We play some music and the practice of blues scales that I’ve been working on pays dividends inasmuch as we don’t have to play songs - just music. Very liberating even amidst the stumbles. I get shown a walking blues which is a stretch for the fingers but very cool.

I’m back home and been a few days back to work. It’s cold but daffodils bloom. Hyacinths smell gorgeous and I’m off to work out what to play tonight at the Clarendon’s singer/songwriter night.

I haven’t played much in the way of songs since my last performance....... echoes of my Roman Catholic childhood and confession.

So Hell’s hot - Heaven’s cool. Perhaps Purgatory is just pleasantly warm. Must be Paradise.

POSTSCIPT: The Clarendon is NEXT tuesday. sO....to the club, next door, for dinner and home to the Simpsons. Perfection in winter.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#231 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#230
The daffodils don’t give a damn about such fripperies and they flower regardless. There’s something cheerfully counter intuitive about flowers blooming in winter. A reminder that growth continues underground when conditions are indifferent above.

Played at the Clarendon last Tuesday without anything in mind apart from ”˜Nota Bene’. A very cool side benefit of playing and practising blues scales, for the last few months, is that my chords are now clearer - more precise. This makes huge difference to both my degree of comfort on stage and my ability to leave space for Bruno to drop in his sweet lead guitar. We followed it up with ”˜Volcano burning’ and ”˜Hick it up.’ Went down well.

The phone rings. It’s my friend whose son is on his way to court. Life can be a hell of a struggle when you’re ”˜young, dumb and full of cum.’ From a distance, I can only offer ”˜Remain as calm as you can.’
We’ll talk later.

If I allow my eyes to go soft focus across the garden beds then the groups of Tree Ferns - with the sugar cane mulch gone cream/grey over winter - become tiny tropical islands surrounded by sand. At the moment I can only dream of sweating through the humidity.

Back to blues scales and small groups of notes. It’s not that I’ve become a fluid musician but more that I’m taking delight in the process of becoming one. Of course it will take years - so what.

Huge thanks to Griff Hamlin of www.bluesguitarunleashed.com who inspired this interest with his video showing how to play blues with four notes - five if you include a bent note. The video is still there and is worth watching whether you’re a musician or not.

Looks like snow and my fingers are cold...... well ...... blow me down! A few flecks of snow drop on cue.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#230 Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#229
Sick in body, sick in heart and madness beckons. How I feel is reflected within society and the world body itself.

The first of the daffodils have flowered through the recent frost and clusters of promise are pushing up through the soil. Amid the devastation wrought by frost - the burnt and damaged foliage - new growth. Thankfully there are forces not within the control of man.

I pick up the guitar again......an absence of months. Back to blues scales and ”˜over and over’. If ten thousand hours of practice make a musician then I haven’t reached the first hundred so it’s just as well that it isn’t a race and there’s no competition.

”˜Have faith.’ echoes in my mind. ”˜Faith in what?’ echoes back.

A moment of fierce joy. Don't know why.... no reason required.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#229 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#228
Chinese ”˜lore’ suggests that it’s perhaps ”˜wise’ in matters of Empire to kill the leaders of a revolt but to spare the followers. The premise being that the leaders of a revolt aren’t ignorant and, either way, present an unacceptable danger precisely because they are leaders. The followers have been led astray and made ”˜mistakes’. They will be very grateful to escape death and see it as an act of mercy rather than a weakness shown by ”˜the powers that be.’

”˜A hard rain’s gonna fall’ and ”˜You don’t know what’s going on - do you - Mr Jones?’ rise from subterranean memory along with the memory of my own unease, all those years ago, as I felt too close a kinship with Bob Dylan’s ”˜Mr Jones.’

Ignorance isn’t bliss for any length of time. Applied to personal life it invites disaster from both within and without because you cannot be prepared, mentally or otherwise, without some knowledge of prevailing conditions.

A hard rain is falling across the Gulf of Mexico and the failing purity of that water corrupts growth and withers the vegetation across the land. ”˜Whose land? Which land?

Take your pick.

Donkey’s years ago, I vividly remember driving a cab across Sydney Harbour bridge with a passenger who, in the course of conversation remarked that he really didn’t give a fuck about the world and that he’d be long dead before the shit hit the fan. A ”˜well-heeled professional gent.’ Perhaps he had no family, no future generations with whose fate he need be concerned. It caused the conversation to falter which, in retrospect, may have been his sole intention.

In what can you trust when words lose their meaning.

Can you really apply the word love to things? I love the World Cup Soccer Games. The transient unity which it inspires - inspires me. I’m not by nature cynical, not even sceptical in my approach to life. I am easily moved and, like most of us, am uplifted by witnessing excellence in action.

This isn’t the bread and circuses of ancient times though those who rule the Empire may see it thus. Blood isn’t shed and the players aren’t usually threatened with death at a World Cup match. It’s the perpetual war on ”˜terror’ and ongoing natural and manmade disasters which are the real circuses of our time.

The idea that there is an agenda in place leading towards ”˜One World Government’ isn’t the stuff of conspiracy. Globalization - ultimately, the process of relinquishing all sovereignty and national independence - and the idea that bankers and corporations are ideally suited to ruling the world is the nightmare future manifesting now. I suppose a one world government might well be asked for by the peoples of the world if prevailing conditions become unbearable. Hmm.....that’s right this moment for many.

I don’t know that buying an extra bag of rice or putting in a rain water tank is going to help very much but unlike the passenger of long ago, it ALL matters to me and for those of us who feel human connection.

So where’s the light, bright spark? Where it’s always been. Here, there and everywhere.

”˜This’ isn’t all there is.

And while I’m blithely ignorant of any specifics, it’s ”˜Hooray’ for the existence of the rest of ”˜it’!]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#228 Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#227
I’ve been sick with a long lasting cold which has hit most of my co-workers. We’ll probably all survive and meanwhile the Gulf of Mexico pours oil on troubled waters, dying food chains and the land itself. If the methane contained within the undersea chamber - all at a pressure of 100,000 pounds per square inch - were to explode through the existing well - designed to withstand all of 2000 pounds per square inch - we have a dreadful scenario which will impact the whole of the world. This information isn’t hard to find but doesn’t make our local news except with superficial comment.

Then to Greece, Spain, Italy and as their economies crumple and the effects ripple across Europe, now is not a good time to be a tourist.

While sick I watched a program about Krakatoa. Again a dreadful disaster building through the ”˜Son of Krakatoa’ which started rising from the sea in 1930. This isn’t an ordinary volcano ( if there be such a thing ). The ring of fire which marks the boundary at which the north moving Australian tectonic plate dips under the tectonic plate on which Indonesia sits, has a kink - a v-shaped distortion which lies beneath ”˜Son of Krakatoa’. This is becoming, again, a gigantic volcano fed by molten rock from two tectonic plates and already belching and rumbling for all to see.

Enough of disaster. I now have a rain water tank and a light drizzle sends a quiet trickle off the roof ...yippee. The Daffodils, Hyacinth and unknown bulbs are already showing new life notwithstanding the frosts. The slow growing tree-ferns are tough and appear unconcerned and unmarked. The fast growing variety are browned off but o.k. There’s something valuable about slow and steady growth.

Music has been far from my life for awhile but as we’re past the shortest day I expect my interest to pick up - just because the processes of growth which apply to nature apply to me in equal measure. There’s hope for all of us and it’s just as it ever was - no certainty.]]> http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#227 Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#226 http://saucepanbach.com/news.html#226 Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700 saucepanbach - Saucepan Bach - News