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Posts tagged ‘Crossroads’

May 9

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NOW: Chaos, Karma & Choice all rolled up into one big Neil Young mule kick… (Part 1)

I’m not big on holidays and birthdays or anniversaries.  I just turned thirty-eight last month, but honestly I might as well have turned zero. I am much more concerned with “now”.  Right now, I am banging out my 200th post on this blog. Is that something to celebrate? No, not really. What it does tell me is that right now, the last 199 posts were worth the effort. 

Damn straight.

I like to live life for the now. I’m not taking all that “live today like its your last”, bullshit.  That is an excuse for not taking responsibilities for your choices. If I’m twenty-one or thirty-eight, I’m still now.  I like that perspective. It is liberating and motivating. 

Chaos, karma and making choices…that’s my gig (now). This, my 200th post on The 6149, is about a collision of chaos, karma and choice. 

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“Through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars“.  

Fuck me. I can’t tell you how many times I have listened to that lyric before. These words are hidden gems in an treasure chest of symbolism, hidden meanings and stone-cold truths found within Neil Young’s, “Thrasher”

Thrasher. Ohhh, Thrasher. How many times have we seen the sunrise together? How many times has your lonely harmonica coda trailed off only to reveal the even lonely sound ice cubes clanging off one another after the whiskey’s run dry? How many times have I asked you tough, life questions? How many times have we shared tears and beers until we shrugged shoulders and flashed knowing smiles?
 
Many.

Why then…why have you held out on me?!  Was it for my own good?  Or was it to remind me to always keep my nose to the ground? Ok: same difference.

 “Through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars”.  Now I get it. 

(you might want to listen to “Thrasher” before reading any further)


http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf

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I didn’t want to go to work last Thursday. I wouldn’t have except for the fact that I couldn’t think of a lie believable enough to tell. Not a lie that my boss wouldn’t believe, but one that I couldn’t. I am not a liar; the truth is easier (thank you, HST). So instead of an aimless lie, I opted for a truth: Thrasher.

As I got ready for work, I dropped the needle on “Thrasher” off of a used vinyl copy of Neil’s “Live Rust”.  I wasn’t paying attention to the lyrics; I had heard them so many times before. 
 
This is right up there for me…it jockeys for the coveted position of my fave song of all time. Neil has always been on a solo trip. Even when he has led bands or stood in the shadows of them…Neil knows where his North Star points. Thrasher is a song about Neil…turning in his keys to the museum and walking out towards galaxies. He has always his own hoe to row...

You listen to a song so many times that sometimes words and the meanings walk past you like people in a grocery store; not until you stumble upon what you are looking for does the object come into focus and you grab it. Hearing a song for the umpteenth time causes a knee-jerk, sing-a-long reaction in all the right places…and then…WHAM! Like a mule-kick to the temple, you get knocked sense-full….not senseless.

“Thrasher” has been prodded for meaning and symbolism by many, many, many a Neil fan over the decades. If you haven’t given it the once over before, have a read of the lyrics and couch-session over on my fave Neil site, Thrasher’s Wheat. They do a great job of picking it’s bones. 

“Through libraries and museums, galaxies and stars“

Where the vulture glides descending 
On an asphalt highway bending 
Thru libraries and museums, galaxies and stars 
Down the windy halls of friendship 
To the rose clipped by the bullwhip 
The motel of lost companions 
Waits with heated pool and bar.

I hadn’t thought of this one line in this way before: “libraries and museums”…the past, stored knowledge, the finish line: “galaxies and stars”…the future, discovery, the starter’s pistol. Yes! This makes sense! You see…I have an itchy trigger finger. 

Long story short, my now is “this close” to happening. Through a mix of chaos, karma and choice, I am this close to galaxies and stars.  Fuck me. I don’t want to jump the gun (the starter’s pistol), but I feel ALIVE.

It is a fucked up thing to feel all of your passions and loves colliding, crashing and cajoling one-another into a lightening strike now.  My passion has always been about music, music, music, people, connections, friends and the love for my woman and the music we make. Passion does not sit on the shelves of libraries and museums. It is a living and breathing and blood-pumping now. 
 
Chaos, Karma, Choice…this is The 6149 in living color. I’m in no mood to strike deals with the devil, but I am walking up to a crossroads. It is here I will make my bones…make a bona fide decision that, good or bad, I will own up to. On the other side of this crossroad cum decision will be my own row…

I’ll be honest…it is 2:24 am on Sunday morning here in the UK. I’m haIf-drunk and full-on…and drowning the early morning hours in a goblet of red and earfuls of song. I am on the edge of my seat for tomorrow. Tomorrow…the breeding ground for now…“galaxies and stars”.

Should I go to bed or should wait to greet the sun? HA HA! Does it  matter? No…it does not. Not when now  is in the room.

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This ends part one of this post. Now is over, for now…

Soon enough, now will happen again. When it does…I’ll get full-frontal, full disclosure, guts-spilled, galaxies and stars…and tell you all about it then…which, will be now, then…

Ok, time to put he cork back in the bottle…

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In the meantime, here is Neil performing “Thrasher”:

Mar 20

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“They say sing while you slave and I just get bored…” (I’ve got my own row to hoe and it ain’t gonna be on Maggie’s Farm)

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When I moved to Australia in 2005, I took time off from work and went back to school to take on a full time MBA program. A lot was learned, but one of the courses I took had deep impact on me that made a fundamental change in my thinking: “Foundations of Management Thought”. Forget about all the management and business bullshit for a minute. The gist of this course was about exploring centuries of philosophical theories and applying them to management practises (Blah, blah, blah…).

I was the only American in a group of twenty-two. American schooling is not like European or Eastern when it comes to learning about different world philosophies. The emphasis is just not there. It was never more evident to me until I took this course. Pretty much everyone else in the group had a much deeper knowledge of the philosophies we discussed, debated and challenged over the twelve week course.

The course itself was extremely well done. The link to the “management” was strong and well thought out. I wasn’t all too concerned about how I could apply it to business as much as I was trying to grasp how this was effecting me personally. One of the philosophies we focused on was existentialism. This one grabbed me by the balls and hasn’t let go since. 

I wouldn’t even think about trying to get into all of the different perspectives on existentialism from the different philosophers here and now. Shit, I still don’t understand them all.  That being said, I have done a lot of reading on the subject.  My process for exploring this subject is this: read…read and learn as much as you can…you don’t have to understand it all…instead, pull out the bits that are relevant to you and apply them to your process. That is what I do. 

Existentialism, for me, boils down to this: live in the present, make choices and own the responsibility of the consequences (good or bad). Use the facticity of your life, combined with your personal values, to make these decisions and, if you act in good faith, enjoy the freedom that comes with being an individual. OK, that’s enough of that here in this format. I love to talk about this stuff…but, it is best done over a few-four bottles of red, some good music and willing participants. 

Back in 2007 when I was living in Sydney, Australia, I did a lot of reading about this subject. One of my fave things to do is to go to pubs, have a few beers and read. I find it to be so relaxing. Reading is a very solitary action, but it doesn’t have to be a lonely one. I love the idea of sitting in a busy pub and being a character in the scene and reading: social and solitary in one go. 

I take a lot of notes when I read. During my exploration into existentialism, I spent many a Saturday in pubs reading, leaning, building monuments, jotting down notes and putting back pints of my fave Aussie beer.  I was reviewing those notes today. I thought I would share them here. These are the bits that mattered most to me at the time of my reading and research. Have a sift through them and find any nuggets that interest you…be they fool’s gold or real deal Klondike truth. 

If you have any thoughts, ideas or sparks you want to strike…leave them in the comment section below.  In the last page, you can see the germ of something that I have been thinking about for a while: the “American Dream” and how Thomas Jefferson and Hunter S. Thompson are joined at this hip on this. 
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Another aspect of “Juddlosophy” that is part of The 6149 is…the Individual or the Original. This subject itself is an entirely different post for a different day, but I’d like to touch on a few key things relative to what this blog is about.  In the sidebar, I describe The 6149 to be about “making choices, being curious and challenging conventions (oh yeah…and a whole lotta music, too)”. The title to this blog itself is a play on “choice”. I am a blues man. I love the blues because of the music, but also because of the stories and legends that live within the music. There is no legend (whether you consider it timeless or worthless) more identified with the Blues than the legend of the Crossroads. The Crossroads: choice personified. 

Here are three people who have helped me sing the song of The 6149: Neil Young, Hunter S. Thompson and Bob Dylan.

Have a look at the subtitle to this blog. It reads: ‘I’ve got my own row to hoe”. That is adapted from a line in a fave Neil Young song, “Thrasher”.  In the sidebar there are two quotes: one by Hunter S. Thompson and one by Bob Dylan. These two quotes, plus the line from the Neil song, mean the world to me:

“Got my own row left to hoe” - “Thrasher”, Neil Young (full lyrics)

“To see life clearly, to live it like a champion, you have to develop your own set of rules.”- Hunter S. Thompson

“I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more…” - “Maggie’s Farm“, Bob Dylan (full lyrics)

I think about these three lines every morning when I pull my bones out of bed. I also think about the list of people on the “Honour Roll” (found in the sidebar to the right). These are the people that I admire most and who have made an impact on my life. 
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Neil Young…he is my hero. The ultimate individual. “Thrasher” is one of my fave Neil Songs. When I hear it, I want to break molds and blaze trails. 

http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf

In 2007, Hunter’s window put out a book called, The Gonzo Way. This book is about Hunter’s “wisdom”. Have a read of a previous post about my thoughts on this book and how I came to make this video (below) and the reach it had (I got a tip of the hat from Hunter’s widow for this on her blog and from the publishing company put it on their website to promote the book). 

Maggie’s Farm: have you ever really listened to the lyrics? Yes? Ok, then…you know where I am coming from. No…well then, listen again…(waiting)…Ok, you got it now?  Excellent. Listen here to Maggie’s Farm played by Bob and his “electric band” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The impact of the song and scene it was played cannot be understated. 

http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf