Happy Friday! Today brings an extra *smiles* as Bev Zizzy, an artist I interviewed for my music journalism internship, released her new album Standing on a Platform of KINDNESS on iTunes. Click HERE to purchase, or follow the link provided in the interview. Click HERE to read the interview “Reclaiming 13 and Supporting Compassion: Bev Zizzy Slides Societal Issues with Acoustic-Soul” (Punchland). Thank you to Mr. Taron Cochrane for introducing me to Miss Bev, she is the most interesting of individuals! To any of my you DearReaders who are also TalentedArtists – click HERE to view Taron’s twitter and connect for entertainment relations.
13 is a theme of the album that Bev noticed afterwards, and I add my own notice of 13 here. The article has been ready-to-print minus the music till today when the tracks released. It was then that I noticed there were 13 revisions. In a tweet, Bev said:
The experience is enlightening — hashing out philosophical fundamentals through discussion and music. At one point, one has to let language go and let the brain accept music’s message. Here, we can learn lessons even language cannot capture. Truths we cannot tell but may absorb, and in turn, express.
More Truths can be found through culture and more culture. However one was raised is one’s culture, but let’s get more. The act does not have to diminish the original, but can be used to better understand internal motivation, which presents awareness. Yesterday, Dr. Bob helped me to better understand and face ugly historical happenings. We must be brave and bold, courageously confronting truth.
Funny you should ask, I’ve been rolling through theory for ten weeks. I am evolving, twisting turning. Shedding old skins that no longer fit my season. Its weird, to say the least…but we like weird. And the further I crawl in evolution research – the more I begin to see that we are all a little weird in our own right {not just the “us-es” that live in me, all those “you-s” too}. And that’s not even opening the can of “species” in which one is indeed many different things. Most recently, I’ve considered transcending dualism…you know, asking “What is next?” Are we really two? Or a form of one with multiple expressive components. A large, flexing plurality micro-sectioned into millions of individuals. Creepy, I know<>. If there were a choice, to be be all body or all mind, which one would you select? Here, I see the need for unification. What would be the point if action held no meaning, or if thought could not experience? The two go hand in hand. We must have both.
Anyway… The rest of my Grad School update – I’ve constructed a reviewable rough draft! The original, rougher-rough draft, is a sprawling beast. However, when I began the cuts I could not bring myself to really “throw the draft out.” I saved it, and – as recommended by my peer – will possibly look into book form once my degree is attained. Really, this is a bonus – now there will be a paper and a book possibility for the future. That is not to say that I am not nervous as all get out that the paper will bomb from the heavy cuts. O Fortune! smile upon this wayward researcher. Motivation is for the degree, but also… I’ve grown to love my topic, and I see much truth in the words – I hope that publication is possible because I want others to read my discoveries. I think it will help with real-deal life. I know that the research and writing helped me with my daily issues. This thesis led me out of the valley of despair. I want to lead others out, that valley is not good for the genes – much pickling and souring goes on there.
What else…?
My music journalism internship was officially complete 27 May 2016. A hectic day – my SweetJane graduated High School and James Bobin’s Alice Through the Looking Glass released. Exhaustion seized me, and I went to sleep around ten p.m. What a day!
I use the term “officially” because I still have one music assignment waiting to complete. An amazing interview with Bev Zizzy will be published 17 June 2016 – in conjunction with her new album release. I say “amazing” because I am the one that interviewed her – she is hands down the most interesting woman I have met in my physical life.
Followers of this blog will note that I am not a “believer,” but I am a “seeker.” Unfortunately, my MO in the past has been “seeking” to shatter “belief” with “truth.” Ultimately, a lesson I learned nearly a decade ago resurfaces: truth is subjective. I know this, yet seemed trapped in that terrible Pursuit of Truth. I broke free, and switched it up for the Pursuit of Optimism – but positive living is dependent on will power and forcing the good. Needless to say, it takes work and effort.
I went through a stage where I thought “signs” were pointless, or rather, imaginary. A trick of the mind, leading to delusion. Now, after the internship, after speaking with living, breathing artists…
After the strange Tibetian Monk approached me in New Orleans with a message… After I randomly met the YouTube TruthTalker I once followed online and danced with him in the street… After I philosophized with a new friend of Middle-Eastern culture… After much contemplation of “the egg”… After Bev Zizzy released “Stay Soft”… I am not certain.
Embedding issues :-< apologies… Watch for the interview on 17 June 2016. MTF
“Stay Soft” by Bev Zizzy. Click HERE for preview and purchase on iTunes.
I am curious again, maybe not fully “curiouser” yet, but I see my own purpling underway. I’ve come to the point where I am seeing more and more signs, but I am trying to ignore them. Trying to cling to science, reason, and the physical world. One thing – I am reminded that I am an Artist. Whether I am a “good” one or not is to be determined, but I am one. Not a musician or songwriter, not a painter or sculptor…but an Artist all the same. I am an Artist because I look at reality and see more than other people do. Sometimes, I see more absence where there should be presence, but that is still more than meets the eye. Mundane life is not enough, there is more if we make there be more – juice it up like a turkey.
I am an Artist, and life can get thick.
My canvas is the mind, my brush dripping in consciousness. I wrap words and break down complex situations. We Artists see the beauty most vivid, and we relate that to others. We Artists see the horror in thirty-three tints of terrible, and we relate that to others. We see
the “good” and the “bad.” We share awareness for altruistic encouragement. Artists revive other Artists, reminding them of the meaning hidden behind it all. Artists bravely look in reality’s face and demand more. Recognizing this makes me monitor what I share, say and side with – I am an Artist, and others will follow. Careful then, as to where we lead them.
Artists are a light, guiding species through evolution… We may not know the answers, but we are brave enough to explore possibility. #RageOn fellow Artists. There is much to be revealed.
Researching Darwinism and the Alice texts this week, I came across a slang terminology that applicably embodies half of my theory<>…so very exciting. Also reading Alice beyond Wonderland ed. Cristopher Hollingsworth and The Selfish Gene by the great Richard Dawkins, but today I need to do a lil research assistance for a fellow scholar. The topic is political {gnashing-of-teeth} so I approach with caution – timidly toting Max Weber’s Essays in Sociology. The Capstone is progressing, and I am enjoying the process. Again, I apologize for not disclosing these amazing concepts I’m working, but I cannot take my info public until the end of session (August).
Interview with Earl Pereira from The Steadies
My editorial internship with Punchland.com proved positive this week with an exciting opportunity to chat with Earl Pereira from The Steadies. Click HERE to read the full interview, “Silver Lining Sensation: Love Revolution by The Steadies,” and listen to their contagiously-happy tracks. What brings me extra <smiles> is that The Steadies incorporates positivism with music. As followers may note, my #PursuitofOptimism research has been lacking since the project was rejected as Capstone theory. Picturing positive vibes pinging off Pereira recharged the authority of optimism. I’ll make sure to visit the group today with an up-lifiting update, inspiring poem link, and band website. Listening to this album invokes reggae-beach-happiness. My fav track: “Phoenix.” Check out The Steadies latest video below to energize your weekend.
“Take Me Home” by The Steadies from Love Revolution:
“I Took a Pill in Ibiza” by Mike Posner from At Night, Alone.:
Looking for Meaning…
Song Interpretation:
I am so busy with research, but I cannot get this song out of my head. Nor, can I think of anything else until I unburden my mind of this flexing metaphor. There’s not time for a lyrical breakdown, but I’ll return to expound.
Philosophical Bend:
I feel Faustus lurking. Once one knows too much, they can never go back. Posner says, “You don’t wanna be high like me, never really knowing why, like me. You don’t wanna step off that roller coaster and be alone. You don’t wanna ride the bus like this, never knowing who to trust like this…” University and individual research presents more, and often conflicting, information as to what a person learned during their childhood and adolescence. Learning can enlighten the mind, but one must lose their innocent understanding in the process.
Sure, he’s referring to singing and his life devotion to music. Same concept applies to diverse artistic expression. High Philosophical Art questions and prods at reality, consciousness, meaning, and purpose. What happens when the “rules” are really figments meant to ensure group delusion? Philosophy demonstrates subjective and objective truth, reaching for but rarely attaining universal implication. Break that down:
nothing is real, nothing is true
amounts to feels, what can one do?
Well…once you kneel, then you must stew.
{read that last line in a deep baritone, just for snickers}
Posner’s chorus: “All I know are sad songs…” – When one has searched for knowledge, toyed around with epistemology, learned to bend fact to one’s purpose, innocence is lost. Not sexual innocence, deeper than that – fundamental understanding. All that is left of personal experience is “sad songs” or a seriously hollow existence. Philosophically, there is a sense of false comfort that cushions the harshness of reality for those who accept “belief” or conform to society. Once one “knows” the rampant delusions, meaning is lost.
Man, the meaning…it has to come back. See…I feel that we can create meaning. Mount up, Artists. Lady World, she needs creative spin.
Time to address new music via my philosophical lens. Thanks to Punchland.com for providing me the opportunity to look closer at what popular-culture expresses.
I’ll be checking out SoundCloud.com for tracks, but I would love to receive recommendations or requests to enlarge my test groups as I’d like to experience multiple genres, not just what I personally am attracted to.
As per my nature, I am truly interested in Underground – I want to know who is coming up, who did you see at a small dive bar that made you go hmmm…? What band has been living out of their tour-van, giving it there all across country?
Methinks this internship will be interesting… Now onto the music.
Sia’s words shake me, resonating personal truth. I’d love to post a video of her piece, but I can’t seem to get my wordpress video to upload one. Words are way more important to me, so I’m thankful for the lyrics being on the Internet — age is a signifier here, lol…anyone who sat next to their tape recorder rewinding pausing rewinding to figure out the words can relate. However, I’ve noticed recently that a few modern pieces suggest a different direction to me before I look up the words. Often the lyrics lose meaning when I can see them and note my perspective was way off.
Sia’s song makes more sense now that I’ve seen the lyrics. Upon reading the words I achieved my ah-ha! moment. Many thanks to Sia for her creative genius and modern approach to the theatrics of music. Also kudos for the inclusion of interpretive dance – the first time I heard “Elastic Heart” was on television during one of my husband’s late night shows. Beautiful performance! There are postings revealing the meaning behind Sia’s song, but before I read any of them, I want to get my subjective interpretation down in efforts to dislodge the song from my mind.
Elastic Heart
“And another one bites the dust
Oh why can I not conquer love
And I might have thought that we were one
Wanted to fight this war without weapons…”
Relationships refuse to follow stable systems, and the one we recognize as our celestial match or soulmate fail to live up to the constructs inside our personal designs. The horror of mistaking someone as a contender for one’s heart is disarming.
“And I wanted it, I wanted it bad
But there were so many red flags
Now another one bites the dust
Yeah let’s be clear, I’ll trust no one…”
Consciously one sees the tragic flaw in the relationship, that the “one” is not who one thought him to be as he fails to match up to the image subjectively created in the mind. Warnings abound that he is not the “one” and one is left feeling nobody should be trusted…How to ever trust again? No, only fools follow.
“You did not break me
I’m still fighting for peace…”
One is not broken by the reality and must continue searching for the soulmate created my one’s imagination. The journey for contentment must continue.
“I’ve got thick skin and an elastic heart
But your blade it might be too sharp
I’m like a rubberband until you pull too hard
I may snap and I move fast
But you won’t see me fall apart
‘Cos I’ve got an elastic heart…”
The struggle for love is a life-long obsession, and one must develop impregnable resiliences in self-defense. A constitution strong enough to repel sharp words, insults, and feelings. A heart that is not fleshy and wet with emotion but resilient and able to snap back like nothing shook their soul. A plastic manufactured thing, created to withstand outside attacks and shortcomings. Advancement from the natural in which reality failed to live up to the ideals of a transhumanistic spirit.
“And I will stay up through the night
Let’s be clear, won’t close my eyes
And I know that I can survive
I’ll walk through fire to save my life…”
One might have been foolish enough in the past to rest safely next to their intended, but no longer will one place the value of life on another. One will do anything to continue life’s journey, no obstacle will conquer the will.
“And I want it, I want my life so bad
I’m doing everything I can
Then another one bites the dust
It’s hard to lose a chosen one…”
One refuses to settle, but every attempt made is thwarted. Love is gone. The ideal and the real did not match up. Deep pain to realize reality, one’s delusion shattered.
curiouser contemplations 
