In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to the peaceful pursuit of justice…

Barack Obama

…the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.

MLK

It’s now summer, today being ‘midsummer,’ the dividing point between Spring and Summer. Due to all the rain, some fire was desperately needed in our household, so, since we lack a fireplace, scones were made. Now things seems a little less damp.

Over hill, over dale,
Through bush, through briar,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere.

Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Like a favorite book, this exquisite album by Robert Fripp and David Sylvian surfaces every couple of years for me, to be enjoyed anew. It is, in many ways, the perfect blend of musical elements for my personal tastes:

• great grooves
• interesting harmonic texture - use of dissonance/consonance
• creative, unique guitar playing (and Stick!)
• live performance
• musicianship
• amazing lyrics
• atmosphere

Every Colour You Are

Touched his hand
it burned like coal
I put pay to the devil
and I saw the mountain fall
Fall on

Feel like crying
the joke’s gone too far
you can be anything you want -
every colour you are

A family man
his patience tried
put a torch to his home
and warmed his hands by the fire
No greed, no desire

My road’s uncrossed
white-lined and tarred
by believing in you
every colour you are

Feel like crying
the joke’s gone too far
you can be anything you want -
every colour you are

- Sylvian/Rain Tree Crow (1991)

I’m selling this headphone practice amp/multieffects unit on eBay. A great sounding little box.

Reflecting my current listening tastes (classic hard rock + a dash of early music + a pinch of folk + an indeterminate quantity of miscellaneous eclectica) - it’s Pock/Rop Wadio.

All day long, this has been pulsing through my skull, and doesn’t want to go away.

I’ve been to London,
seen seven wonders.
I know to trip is just to fall
I used to rock it, sometimes I’d roll it.
I always knew what it was for.

There can be no denyin’
that the wind ‘ll shake ‘em down
And the flat world’s flyin’.
There’s a new plague on the land

If we could just join hands
If we could just join hands
If we could just join hands

Traversed the planet
when heaven sent me.
I saw the kings who rule them all
Still by the firelight
and purple moonlight.
I hear the rested rivers call

And the wind is crying,
from a love that won’t grow cold
My lover, she is lying,
on the dark side of the globe

If we could just join hands
If we could just join hands
If we could just join hands

You got me rockin’ when I ought to be a-rollin’
Darlin’, tell me, darlin’, which way to go
You keep me rockin’, baby,
then you keep me stolen
Won’t you tell me, darlin’,
which way to go… that’s right

Oh how I wonder, oh how I worry
and I would dearly like to know
I’ve all this wonder of earthly plunder
will it leave us anything to show

And our time is flyin’
see the candle burnin’ low
Is the new world rising,
from the shambles of the old

If we could just join hands
If we could just join hands
If we could just join hands

(And congratulations to Robert, Allison, and T-Bone, by the way!!!)

Well, we’re past the midpoint now. Despite the extreme cold, the noticeable lengthening of days brings ah, solace.

. Her name is Calia.

…from the Strat-Master himself, Jeff Beck, playing Nadia. No, it’s not Christmas-y, but it is soulful.