If I’d lived my life by what others were thinkin’, the heart inside me would’ve died

I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity

Someone had to reach for the risin’ star, I guess it was up to me

"Up to Me" by Bob Dylan)

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Three Channels of Original Music

1. Firewheel Studio-Standard P. Wolf Compositions


2. Uncle Gino's Cabin-folk music; guitar duos with Paolo Agostino, recorded at Log Cabin Recordings, Ltd.


3. Crunchkin-Experimental, percussive experimentation, and avant-garde, crunchkin (tm) music 

Friday, December 23, 2016

One of the most beautiful teachings....



The ancient law of the goel said, �If a man died without having an heir, his nearest relative would marry his widow and have a child who would carry on his line, redeeming the barren house. Scripture shows this in the line of Judah with Tamar and centuries later with Boaz and Ruth who had Obed, who fathered Jesse, who fathered David. Later, we come to Miryam; Mary who was born of the line of the Goel intervention. She gives birth in Bethlehem - the same place the Goel redemption happened to Ruth. The birth of Messiah is the ultimate Goel redemption. Adam’s line had fallen because of sin. We were barren and couldn’t produce life; we were headed to death. So God Himself intervened that we might be redeemed and bear fruit. That’s what God does for you. He sees your barrenness, comes and puts His life within your heart and your life miraculously bears His fruit. Rec! eive His life, love, and His Spirit and bear His fruit. Your life will be redeemed and fruitful for God Himself is your Goel.
(Source: Jonathan Cohn) 

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Reflection on Winter Solstice -12/21/2016

Truth
I wish to meditate upon truth. There is perhaps no single topic of greater significance for human beings to consider.

Human beings are born and live in the truth and yet many cannot see this----as such it is a mystery for philosophers to contemplate: why is truth both present and yet hidden to man (woman)? I do not wish to engage in this subtle inquiry in this present essay. I have many other essays addressing this very theme. For example in the blog entitled: "entelechaia": http://entelechaia.blogspot.com/2014/12/essay-from-summer-14.html

Today, I wish to reflect on the truth that is immediate and accessible to all---even now, in this present moment truth is "one step away"---to be honest not even a step---take one deep breath, release it and acknowledge this truth that surrounds us everywhere, on all sides, all the time as though it were the element we dwell in. Like the flying fish who leaps beyond the surface of the sea into the air realizes then and there for the very first time that all of her life she has lived in water. The self-evidency of the water did not appear until the first leap beyond the water. The first step is to let things be what they are for the path of doubtful debating leads nowhere---doubting is the active resistance against the power of truth here and now.

You may ask: with all of this truth surrounding me, why is the world full of lies? A formidable question! And one that is potentially irresolvable----having entered into the fray of this inquiry, one might never depart. And yet, truth is self-evident and immediately grasped here and now. The skeptic
succeeds in ushering in doubt by turning away from the immediately given self-evidence of truth.  Such a thing happens with the use of words---since truth is not a linguistic artifact or a theory. The "suchness" (essential being) of things is not altered by naming them, and no amount of naming can make a thing come to pass in truth.

Is truth on the side of the subject? The object? Or somewhere in between? Or perhaps there is yet another option. Truth, like salvation,  is for human beings---not for God, or nature, not even for the angels. Man alone, searches for truth and needs truth.

If my reader is a veteran skeptic, ready to draw arms at the mention of the mere word 'truth', allow me to say that as a teacher I am ready to show you how to learn to know the truth that surrounds you, step by step. However, one must begin in earnest with the self-evidency of one's own perception, here and now.  I call this "assuming one's own standpoint". This is analogous to the flying fish acknowledging its watery domain as its birthright as it breaks free albeit briefly from the clutch of the surf.

To be honest, the analogy of the flying fish is not entirely univocal point for point. The human being cannot exit the fact of truth and true-being no matter how hard he or she may try! For example, dreaming itself may be the gateway that leads beyond truth, hence upon waking one realizes that whereas I was dreaming and caught up in illusion and untruth, now that I have awaken I see the truth directly before me. Another attempt may be found in telling lies. One may deceive concerning the truth. However, strictly speaking, this is not effective. If I am standing before an oak tree, and I declare: "this is not a tree, " I lie. This lying word in no way changes the truth of the oak tree. The more I look at it---man may run from truth but cannot hide! Not even dreaming and lies can keep the human being outside of the truth.

Let us return to the skeptic: provided that you can assume your own standpoint, that is acknowledge that you are awake and are able to honestly name the oak tree that is directly in your eyesight, I can teach you the truth. Beginning with the self-evidency of one's own perception,  the path that opens to truth is as follows: Beginning with one's own starting point you proceed to ask: How must the universe be in order that this immediately self-evident starting point is indeed true? The quest must begin in earnest. Honesty is the first virtue that is required---honesty, then a sense of wonder---how, indeed, is any of this appearing to me now? For the self-evidency of my being here and now  is irrefutable. It is this truth that we begin with that leads us toward the consideration of how "the universe must be" in order that this immediate fact can be. The skeptical path is futile as is clearly seen---if I accept the immediate evidence of my standpoint but then imagine that the universe itself does not cohere with this truth then I am proposing an impossibility---namely that the one and only truth in the universe is my own standpoint.

In order for their to be one standpoint in truth it follows that the entire universe must be true or at the very least must allow enough truth for this immediate experience to stand before me as it most evidently does here and now. Our question then becomes: how is it that there is truth in the universe?
This becomes the correct method of inquiry, not only in philosophy, but in all endeavors. An allied question is this how can I sustain the truth since it is so self-evidently present to me here and now? As a preliminary I answer that there is truth in the universe because the universe itself is aimed at truth and I can sustain the truth by staying present to the evidence that arises before me here and now.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Reflections At Christmastime-2016

I am feeling more compassionate, by the grace of God, as we enter the twenties of december twenty-sixteen. Ironically, it is not compassion toward family and friends that I consider, but rather, those who from habit or insult are deemed enemies. Each person is one step away from salvation---one step!

Let this be a hardened criminal, a pedophile, a corrupt politician---with Christ's eyes I see a man or woman and I know that, like them, I am but for the grace of God a serious sinner. So I must in all good faith leave my judgement aside, this person is one step away from salvation.

How to explain this? See the Apostles to the Geeks blog: http://apostletothegeeks.blogspot.com/2016/12/i-come-at-this-strange-time-as-apostle.html


Thursday, December 15, 2016

This Performance had Me in Tears

Click for New Yorker article on Patti Smith performing Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall" in Stockholm, Sweden.


http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/patti-smith-on-singing-at-bob-dylans-nobel-prize-ceremony

Thursday, December 01, 2016

Sleeper by Woody Allen-1973

Here is the summary of the film's plot: "Miles Monroe (Woody Allen), a jazz musician and owner of the "Happy Carrot" health-food store in 1973, is subjected to cryopreservation without his consent, and not revived for 200 years.[2] The scientists who revive him are members of a rebellion: 22nd-century America seems to be a police state, ruled by a dictator about to implement a secret plan known as the "Aries Project". The rebels hope to use Miles as a spy to infiltrate the Aries Project, because he is the only member of this society without a known biometric identity."

The genius of this film is more evident in the current time----since it was unclear in the '70s how technical so-called progress would play out. In 2016 we have enough evidence to see that the future dystopic world that Woody Allen shows presents here is pretty close to the world are living in and it is a nightmare. So many of the ideas of progress and science, including artificial intelligence, and bionics are forced upon the citizenry in a a kind of mass-experimentation. Like Sleeper, only a few of the citizens "the underground"---realize that a society fuelled by mass brainwashing and advanced security and hyper-surveillance is anti-human. 

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

You're a Big Girl Now (Bob Dylan) -Uncle Gino's Cabin

I want to share with you...A mysterious song! A most mysterious song!


I offer you a song that has haunted me for years and given me hours of sheer wonder considering the meaning of the lyrics. Here is the link to Youtube so that you can hear this masterpiece of dramatic choreography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9LJkyZU-QM


Al Stewart- One Stage Before  1975

It seems to me as though I've been upon this stage before
And juggled away the night for the same old crowd
These harlequins you see with me, they too have held the floor
As here once again they strut and they fret their hour
I see those half-familiar faces in the second row
Ghost-like with the footlights in their eyes
But where or when we met like this last time I just don't know
It's like a chord that rings and never dies
For infinity


And now these figures in the wings with all their restless tunes
Are waiting around for someone to call their names
They walk the backstage corridors and prowl the dressing-rooms
And vanish to specks of light in the picture-frames
But did they move upon the stage a thousand years ago
In some play in Paris or Madrid?
And was I there among them then, in some travelling show
And is it all still locked inside my head
For infinity


And some of you are harmonies to all the notes I play
Although we may not meet still you know me well
While others talk in secret keys and transpose all I say
And nothing I do or try can get through the spell
So one more time we'll dim the lights and ring the curtain up
And play again like all the times before
But far behind the music you can almost hear the sounds
Of laughter like the waves upon the shores
Of infinity


Guitar solo played by Tim Renwick: Drums: Stuart Elliot
Produced by Alan Parsons Recorded at Abbey Road Studio

Now my commentary:
It seems to me as though I've been upon this stage before self-referential, especially if one is performing the song on stage
And juggled away the night for the same old crowd 

Which gives a clue to the song's title---one stage before.
These harlequins you see with me, they too have held the floor
Harlequins-fellow players.
As here once again they strut and they fret their hour

they too have been here before (deja vu)
I see those half-familiar faces in the second row
Ghost-like with the footlights in their eyes

what a masterful poetic perception! And note its realism, he even desfcribes the lighting.
But where or when we met like this last time I just don't know

Here is a deep mystery
It's like a chord that rings and never dies
tying in the song itself and noting its endless temporality
For infinity



And now these figures in the wings with all their restless tunes
verse two introduces a new cast of characters---not players.
Are waiting around for someone to call their names

spirits of music itself or the tunes which enliven this stage
They walk the backstage corridors and prowl the dressing-rooms
And vanish to specks of light in the picture-frames

these characters are transported on specks of light and vanish in paintings
But did they move upon the stage a thousand years ago
In some play in Paris or Madrid?
And was I there among them then, in some travelling show

Was I there?---the singer reveals himself
And is it all still locked inside my head

Is this all in his head--i.e., hallucination
For infinity


And some of you are harmonies to all the notes I play
Now he addresses those who are listening---calls them 'harmonies' to his notes.
Although we may not meet still you know me well

When I first met Al Stewart in Seattle, I shook his hand and quoted this line. 
But many others who never meet Al "still [may] know him well."While others talk in secret keys and transpose all I say
There are others who talk in secret key (signatures) and transpose these lyrics
And nothing I do or try can get through the spell

This causes a 'spell' through which the singer cannot penetrate.
So one more time we'll dim the lights and ring the curtain up

So one more time-fulfilling the title:One More Stage. Also, "So" as in therefore...And play again like all the times before
To play again like all the times before. Are all stages one four dimensional outpouring?
But far behind the music you can almost hear the sounds

But----behind this song you might hear something else that is almost audible---
it is laughter like wavesOf laughter like the waves upon the shores
Of infinity

Upon the shores of infinity. 

This is merely my "take" on the song, each one may come to his own interpretation. However, remember that the interpretation that is 'optimal' accounts for the meaning of the verses without importing ideas and images that are not literally there.

The Music
The song begins with an eery and hypnotic 12 string guitar strumming in a basic triple meter between Em and C. The beat is a complex meter when you listen to the syncopated hi-hat rhythm. When I met the drummer who played this song for Al Stewart in Seattle the night I met the entire band and partied with them (the same drummer that played for 
the Spencer Davis Group), he showed me how to play the hi-hat figure.

The bass is prominent in the first verse. "For INFINITY" ends verse one-and here the producer adds more reverb to Al's voice which renders an eery feel. And for the next verse a low fuzzy synthesized tone adds an obsessive backdrop to verse 2. "For INFINITY" is sung with yet more reverb, sounding very eery. The cumulative energy keeps building as verse 3 opens. Now the synthesized voice is in a treble register. What an amazing choice.
"OF INFINITY" adds a twinkling bell phrase that ushers in the guitar solo.

THe guitar solo is truly one of my favorites. It is well known that Al stewart has a reputation of hiring many fine guitarists, moreover in the choice of Tim Renwick, who played on Al's previous two albums the familiarity seems to grow until he plays this masterful piece. Alan Parsons also produced the two albums leading up to Year of The Cat, the album from which this song is pulled. The solo is played on a stratocaster, if I am not mistaken.

The solo plays over the chord changes: Em/C/Em/C  [Capo at the 3rd fret---sounds in Gm]
The alternating phrase in the verses is G---D/F#--C--Am  Em/C
The bridge begins in G
G--D--C--G/B--Am
D--Am--Bm
C--G/B--Am--G--D/F#--Em
Am--D--B--Em ("for INFINITY") Notice how the B chord sets up the key phrase: FOR INFINITY

Notice what the drummer plays behind the solo---it is as good as it gets in studio drumming---Stuart Elliot.

The final note of the solo seems to fade into the wind sounding synth production, like "a speck of light into a picture frame."
There is more that I could say about this eery and wonderful song but I prefer listening to music rather than talking about it.

Friday, November 18, 2016

November 2016: Reflections on the Crunchkin Blog

Re: The term 'Crunchkin'

Today, when one searches Google for 'Crunchkin', you will find a whole host of products, services, dog biscuits, chocolate candy and many more. When I coined the term back in the late '90s I had no idea that 'Crunchkin' would be so widely disseminated. It is a flattering thing. This blog presents artwork, music, opinion, and other sorts of "content" which reflects the Crunchkin brand.

The World Today

To my mind the 21st century is a grave disappointment. When I say 'world' I mean the human world, and not nature. Nature strikes me as the closest thing to God and a permanent blessing, no matter how badly lovers of technology deny their destructive impact. Now we have so-called environmentalists attempting to combat so-called Global Warming with Geoengineering---it is truly a case of the blind leading the blind---flimsy science concocting apocalyptic scenarios which are de facto atheistic. Now it is the engineers who must "save" the earth---what incredible blasphemy! And in their know-it-all do-gooder modus operandi they go about seeding clouds with chemtrails and ushering in consequences far more devastating than the symptoms of climate change they seek to ameliorate.

9/11

The american people continue to be in the dark concerning the fall of the world trade centers while 1000s of architects, pilots and firefighters testify to the utterly erroneous account for the catastrophe given in the Official Report. WTC7, the 48 story skyscraper that is circled in the image above fell by controlled demolition at 5:24 PM September 11, 2001. It is called "the smoking gun" by 9/11 truthers and rightly so. Further evidence of controlled demolition in the North and South Towers can be discerned in the form of pyroclastic clouds billowing at a 90 degree angle as the first tower "falls" at 9.8 meter per second per second free fall which physicists have concluded is impossible.

Truth= God

Guardians of political correctness (BTW: this is a Stalinist Term. In russian: 'politicheskii pravitel'nost) warn, cajole, and discourage any mention of the True God by teachers and believers. Talk of religion and spirituality is OK as long as it is buffered by a relativistic philosophy---but should any believer give powerful arguments supporting truth---they are practicing hate speech and intolerance. Such pompous ignorance reigns in all departments of the contemporary university, even so-called Christian universities. The bottomline is that if there is found one piece of truth, then it follows that God exists, for Truth must have an author. On the other hand, when discussing the true God---it is self-evident that this God is 'ONE and TRUE'---there can be no plural of the term "God". Yes, there may be many "ways" to this One, True God---but if the term is to be employed at all it refers to the Creator, the Master of the Universe. A pathetic attempt to refute this is put forward by astrophysicists such as Stephen Hawkings who speak of multiverses. The term is a misnomer pure and simple, medieval philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas already understood that this mention of multiverse ushers in a "regression to infinity".

Judaism, Islam and Christianity all acknowledge the same Creation as described in Genesis---the so-called name of God is a moot point. As Dylan wrote: "You can call Bobby, you can call me Zimmy, you can call me RJ, you can call me Ray, no matter what you say YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SERVE SOMEBODY." So what do I care how the Hebrew or the Muslim or the Christian prays the name of God? No matter what you say each one must serve the ONE, TRUE God!

Did I fail to mention that God is LIVING and PRESENT? To all backwards looking people---when are you going to wake up? The True God is Living and Present (here and now). You see human opinion matters not one whit---GOD IS---this is the ROCK that we must conform---God is no respecter of persons! Let's say that one begins with one's own human intelligence and belief, and yes, at this level we find opinion and relativity. But for the man or woman who proceeds toward the true, living God, opinion, is overcome, then one cannot say: I think God is multiple or has retired (Deism), or is a Higgs-Boson particle---this is literal ignorance. Each people have their own revelation of God---this statement is blatantly false. There is one pure revelation of God, this is the Son of God. The Son of God became flesh and was crucified by politicians and religious leaders. Nothing has changed.

The doctrine of progress is sheer vanity, nothing more. There has been no progress, The Son of God is still routed out and hated by ignorant men and women in power. Power not progress prevails, and this world knows nothing of the power of love and truth which Jesus Christ brought to light in the teachings of his brief life. IBM believes in progress---see the ad above---as I keep pointing out IBM is like the Wizard of Oz---projecting an awesome technological show, but when Toto pulls back the curtain, Dorothy sees that the Wizard is a pathetic charlatan---so too with Watson and those who think that all the apps and computer tricks are somehow better than the tools of the past. They are not.
 Finally, to conclude, I am not at home in the current world---life was better in the 1970s or in many other eras. This is a cold world, America has lost its charm,  Dostoevsky wrote that the average citizen has within their soul the same bloodthirsty tendency to be a tyrant as Zherebiatnikov, the brutal prison guard. Nature alone remains unblemished and proximal to God's beauty and truth. Leon Russell sang: "I am a stranger in a strange land." You keep your Starbuck's coffee, and Spotify, and all of your fancy things, The Lord is my Rock and my Shelter, I will serve Him.



Friday, October 07, 2016

October 2016-Blessed Days of the Lord

Listening to the Moody Blues "Candle of Life"---so many monumental reflections! Thinking of Alan who originally opened my ears to this amazing music. Life has become so epic in proportion, cosmic and amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrWTftmfe6Q

Monday, August 29, 2016

Lillian and Dennis Blalock

 This was an art exhibition of Blalock's work maybe 8 years ago. Strange to think that both of these dear people are passed from the earth. Blalock is one of the most important painters that I have ever met.

Water Rushing Through the Grasses-August 26 Greenwood PA


Olivia on an August Hike


Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Thursday, January 07, 2016

Loss of A Truly Beautiful Woman---Nancy Hobson Wolf (d. 12/24/15)

This is a lovely photo I took of my mother some years ago at the vets with her beloved Barney---She is terribly missed and I am so honored to have been her son!

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty Continues to make Unsubstantiated Claims concerning Watson's AI Facticity