My partner Lisa and I have been reading aloud ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐๐, the incredible stories of the mountain women of Appalachia in the 1930s who were determined to create a world based upon what we say against the mine-owners who would stop at nothing to make those workers and their families do what they say.
Read MoreAccepting the Nobel Prize for Literature for Bob Dylan in Stockholm, Patti Smith gave one of the most mesmerizing performances that I have ever seen. But the reason for this was not so much her singing per se, but the way that she transformed losing her place part way through into a sudden revelation of her raw humanity that brought the grand audience and the grand occasion into a dawning encounter with the profound truths at the heart of the song itself.
Read MoreDoes just one key unlock both love and fear? Is the other person a threat, or are we the source of each other's completion?
Read MoreAssuming the Republican-controlled Senate refuses to renew CARES Act unemployment benefits due to expire on July 31, millions will simultaneously face poverty, spiking coronavirus risk, threat of eviction, and loss of their health insurance.
Read MoreAs we approach Bastille Day (July 14) commemorating the liberation of the Bastille prison and the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789, let us recall for this week's Friday Music one of the greatest scenes from the great film Casablanca, when Victor Laslo, the leader of the resistance movement who has escaped a Nazi concentration camp in Czechslovakia, overcomes the Nazi Major Strasser's effort to force domination-of-consciousness upon the patrons talking and drinking at Rick's Cafe.
Read MoreOn the eve of July 4th, this week's Friday Music celebrates the great Woody Guthrie, whose "This Land Is Your Land" exemplifies how to turn passive into active.
Read MoreThis week, Friday's music honors ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ค๐ฌ, formerly The Dixie Chicks, who yesterday dropped the "Dixie" in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and in order "to meet this moment," as they say on their website announcing their brilliant new video "March March," also released yesterday.
Read MoreThis week's Friday's music honors the great Paul Robeson, pro football player, socialist activist, Columbia-educated lawyer, fighter for African independence, warrior who confronted and shamed the McCarthyist-inspired House Committee on Un-American Activities, and without a doubt the greatest bass baritone singer in American history.
Read MoreThis week's Friday music lifts us out of our chairs, emulsifies the illusion that someone else is going to save us, and reminds us that it is we ourselves, standing up together, who will enable us and the world itself to see the light!
Read MoreWithin the hope of the present moment inspired by the moral resistance to racial violence spreading across America and the world, let us make room for mourning the legacy of suffering that this movement is trying to overcome: the brutal killings by police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others.
Read MoreThis weekโs musical selection is not drawn directly from ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ but it captures with such pathos one of that bookโs central ideasโthat it is the circulation of โfear of the otherโ that keeps us killing each other instead of loving each other.
Read MoreAlmost everyone knows The Doors' great song "Break on Through (to the Other Side)," but where is "the Other Side"?
Read MoreToday, The Byrds recall for us that joyful experience, alas rare today but not always so, when we are able to come out to the other and remain there, fully present together, not feeling compelled by fear to hurry back inside our guarded shell.
Read MoreThese days walking down the socially-distanced street is an odd experience. It is true that we are isolated behind our masks as we veer away from each other to maintain proper separation; yet because we are consciously doing this together, there remains a wisp of a bond among us, and we may nod as we pass by in recognition of our common situation.
Read MoreWhen we think with our heads without feeling, when we live inside our cut-off minds in everyday life peering out at the world from a withdrawn space of detachment and disconnection, we actually cannot perceive the reality of the longing within ourselves and everyone else to see and embrace one another in the fullness of mutual recognition.
Read MoreFor my first Friday music post, let's continue thinking about music, advertising, and alienation.
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