Through contemplative wisdom, consciousness realizes the illusion that is self.
On a story told…
In her secret garden I lay, wishing she would say Of the ancient story, When Israel’s glory Was to Egypt sold. The story she told, of a vibrant luxurious coat, Soaked in the blood of a goat And of a father’s heart broken With naught but a crimson token. On Genesis we reflected And of the covenant rejected, Wondering if we would have made The choice for knowledge forbade, While in the secret garden I laid.
The Initiations Of Orpheus: To Musæus and Hecate
From Thomas Taylor’s translation of The Orphic Hymns (1792)
To Musæus Attend Musæus to my sacred song And learn what rites to sacrifice belong. Jove (Zeus) I envoke, the earth (Gaia), and solar light (Helios), The moon’s (Mene) pure splendor, and the stars of night; Thee Neptune (Poseidon), ruler of sea profound, Dark-hair’d, whose waves begirt the solid ground; Ceres (Demeter) abundant, and of lovely mien, And Proserpine (Persephone) infernal Pluto’s (Hades) queen; The huntress Dian (Artemis), and bright Phœbus (Apollo) rays, Far-darting God, the theme Delphic praise; And Bacchus (Dionysos) , honur’d by the heav’nly choir, And raging Mars (Ares) , and Vulcan (Hephaestus) god of fire; The mighty pow’r who from foam to light, And Pluto (Hades) potent in the realms of night; With Hebe young, and Hercules the strong, And to whom the care of births belong; Justice and Piety august I call, And much-fam’d nymphs, and Pan the god of all. To Juno ( Hera) sacred, and to Mem’ry (Mnemosyne) fair, And the chaste Muses (Mousai) I address my pray’r; The various year, the Graces and the Hours, Fair-haired Latona (Leto), and Dione’s pow’rs; Armed Curetes (Kouretes) household Gods I call, With those who spring from Jove the king of all; Th’ Idæn Gods (Olympians), the angel of the skies, And righteous Themis, with sagacious eyes; With ancient night, and day-light I implore, And Faith, and Justice dealing right I adore; Saturn (Cronus) and Rhea, and great Thetis too, Hid in a veil of bright celestial blue: I call great Ocean, and the beauteous train Of nymphs, who dwell in chambers of the main; Atlas the strong, and ever in its prime, Vig’rous Eternity (Aeon) and endless Time (Chronos); The Stygian (Styx) pool, and placid Gods beside, And various Genii (daemon), that o’er men preside; Illustrious Providence, the noble train Of dæmon forms, who fill th’ ætherial plain; Or live in air, in water, earth, or fire, Or deep beneath the solid ground retire. Bacchus (Dionysos) and Semele the friends of all, And white Leucothea of the sea I call; Palæmon bounteous, and Adrastria great, And sweet-tongu’d Victory (Nike), with success elate; Great Esculapius (Asklepios), skill’d to cure disease, And dread Minerva (Pallas), whom fierce battles please; Thunder and winds in mighty columns pent, With dreadful roaring struggling hard for vent; Attis, the mother of the pow’rs on high, And fair Adonis, never doom’d to die, End and beginning he is all to all, These with propitious aid I gently call; And to my holy sacrifice invite, To Hecate The pow’r who reigns in deepest hell and night; I call Einodian Hecate, lovely dame, Of earthly, wat’ry, and celestial frame, Sepulchral, in saffron veil array’d, Pleas’d with dark ghosts that wander thro’ the shade; Persian, unconquerable huntress hail! The world’s key-bearer never doom’d to fail; On the rough rock to wander thee delights, Leader and nurse be present to our rites; Propitious grant our just desires success, Accept our homage, and the incense bless .
Photo Essay: Mushroom Hunting
“Judgment Night“ (soundtrack) a review and an incomplete history of the rap-rock genre
Spotify Playlist: Judgment Night… plus
The use of genres to categorize music, much like the use of taxonomy for the classification of organisms, provides a handy framework but is not without its faults. The shaky scaffolding buckles under the strain of classifying musicians and music that defy or destroy classification with no regard for external constraints.
Those of us coming of age before the commercialization of the internet, in that twilight period when the tape cassette passed into shadow and the CD ascended , movie soundtracks served as a playlist of sorts.
One need look no further than a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack to find some of the best playlists ever created. But where Tarantino movies are both visually and sonically part of my cultural fabric, the movie “Judgement Night” (1993) has all but faded from my visual memory banks. But the soundtrack, that is a different story.
The “Judgement Night” soundtrack was an experimental collaboration between rock and hip hop artist who largely kept to their overarching genre with a few exceptions. It is one of the jewels in the crowing achievements of rap-rock
As stated earlier tracing the lineage of any genre in music is fraught with challenges. But one of the earliest known fusions of rap and rock can be found listening to “Year of the Guru “ (1968) by Eric Burdon & the Animals.
Over a steady bassline, Burdon does not so much sing but speak his lyrics :
Now here I sit in a state-run asylum Limitless, friendless but much more together I decided to do some good book readin’ About the art of people leadin’
The following year The Stooges released their debut single “I wanna be your dog” off of their self-titled debut album. The song features Iggy Pop as he walks the narrow line between traditional singing and the rhythmic speech delivery that defines rap:
And now I’m ready to close my eyes And now I’m ready to close my mind And now I’m ready to feel your hand And lose my heart on the burning sand
The Stooges contribution to the rap-rock hybrid are arguably minimal but they were part of the burgeoning garage-rock/protopunk scene and they along with their peers (The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, MC5, The Sonics ) undeniably pushed rock toward more experimentation, smashing rock into its fundamentals components and ushering the eventual emergence of punk.
Punk and early rap shared a common ethos that of being raw, emotional, and honest. Music was the weapon of choice for the masses and it was more accessible then many had realized.
Rap would appear in New Wave with songs like “Crosseyed and Painless” by the Talking Heads and in the Post Punk scene in “Wedding Song” by The Psychedelic Furs. The hard rock band Kiss would use rap in “All hell’s breaking loose.”
Meanwhile hip-hop artist were experimenting with rock in rap. The year 1984 smashed the walls of genre-binding with the release of Run-DMC’s “Rock Box” which utilized rock infused guitar rifts. The Beastie Boys dropped “Rock Hard” sampling AC/DC’s “Back in Black.” LL Cool Jay went heavy, merging hard rock with his lyrics and scratch. That year also saw The Red Hot Chili Peppers release their debut self-titled album, they would go on to push the rap-rock envelope infused with funk in subsequent releases.
The following year, 1985, an Aerosmith and Run-DMC collaboration, “Walk This Way,” essentially a rerelease of an Aerosmith song , exploded into the mainstream. It is considered the first rap-rock song to reach the “top ten” of the Billboards.
From there, Sugar Ray would merge rap-rock with nu-metal on several songs and collaborations. The sound would fuse with thrash-metal in “I’m the man” (1997) by Anthrax.
On the rap-front Public Enemy were dropping anthems of the genre with “Bring the Noise” and “She Watches Channel Zero” On “Bring The Noise” Flavor Flav and the crunch of heavy guitar and driving drums, provided by Anthrax, promise to bring the noise and Chuck D does so with some of the slickest delivery regardless of genre:
Never badder than bad cause the brother is madder than mad At the fact that's corrupt as a senator Soul on a roll, but you treat it like soap on a rope Cause the beats and the lines are so dope Listen for lessons I'm saying inside Music that the critics are blasting me for They'll never care for the brothers and sisters Mow, cause the country has us up for the war
The tag-team battle-royal raged, and the alternative metal band Faith No More (which “paved the way for Nirvana” according to Nirvana’s own bassist Krist Novoselic) pushed the sound even further .
And then Rage Against The Machine dropped their bombshell, their self-titled debut (1992). Fronted by poet and activist Zack de la Rocha, Rage pushed the sound even further but also inherited the raging rebellious spirit opposing oppression from which rap had emerged. rap-rock categorically declared itself as a force to reckon with. And it manifested as sonic energy in songs like “Take The Power Back” by Rage Against the Machine:
Step back, I know who I am Raise up your ear, I’ll drop the style and clear It’s the beats and the lyrics they fear The rage is relentless We need a movement with a quickness You are the witness of change And to counteract We gotta take the power back
And so we have come full circle and back to “Judgment Night.” Rage collaborated with the metal band Tool for the soundtrack and produced “Can’t Kill the Revolution.” Unfortunately, the song fell short of the expectations from both bands and was never officially released.
But what we did get was an album of historical significance in rap-rock, rock and rap. The album itself broke through the top 20 on the Billboard 200 and four singles were released . And at the heart of the genre (rap-rock), at the heart of the album “Judgment Night” and at the heart of the song “Judgment Night” by Biohazard and Onyx. Perfect summation:
Onyx! Watch me wreck shit as they exit But yo I keep em hollerin', screamin' out for mercy Minds of a lowest of enemies, ghetto mentality So blast it as I hit your head you're dead not disbelievin' Got the toxic rock, to bring a nigga biohazard!
As warned this is an incomplete history but we cannot close without acknowledging the contributions of the genius producer Rick Rubin, not only to this genre but modern music production in general.
You can hear many of the songs and albums discussed below:
Spotify Playlist: Judgment Night… plus
Beastie Boys – Rock Hard (Youtube)
Tool & Rage Against The Machine – Revolution (2014 Remastered) (Youtube)
“Judgment Night” tracks:
| No. | Title | Artist / Performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Just Another Victim“ | Helmet and House of Pain | 4:23 |
| 2. | “Fallin’“ | Teenage Fanclub and De La Soul | 4:28 |
| 3. | “Me, Myself & My Microphone” | Living Colourand Run DMC | 3:10 |
| 4. | “Judgement Night” | Biohazardand Onyx | 4:35 |
| 5. | “Disorder” (Medley of 3 Exploited songs: “War”, “UK ’82”, and “Disorder”) | Slayer and Ice-T | 4:58 |
| 6. | “Another Body Murdered“ | Faith No Moreand Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. | 4:24 |
| 7. | “I Love You Mary Jane” | Sonic Youthand Cypress Hill | 3:52 |
| 8. | “Freak Momma” | Mudhoneyand Sir Mix-A-Lot | 4:00 |
| 9. | “Missing Link” | Dinosaur Jr.and Del the Funky Homosapien | 3:59 |
| 10. | “Come and Die” | Therapy? and Fatal | 4:27 |
| 11. | “Real Thing” | Pearl Jam and Cypress Hill | 3:33 |
WOA: A Sailor’s Sunset (A Short)
The sound of his board slicing through the water in harmony with the sound of the wind in his sails and the feel of the boom in his hands. The currents of the ocean below, and in the wind above flowing as one with the currents in him. All powered by Phateon of the heavens above. A singular force of oneness, it seemed, propelled him forward.
The crystalline clear blue waters of the shallow sea grass and white sands below his sea-skipping board receded into the unfathomable azure of the ocean deep. Thenea ever falling below the horizon behind him.
“If I could choose my final sunset…” he thought. “… these could very well be my final hours on E’ricle.”
Tomorrow he would ascend into the heavens to take his first command of a Stellar Patrol Boat in the Space Fleet. And he sped forward as if to outrun the many voices in his head.
“Have my experiences in the surface fleet prepared me for what is to come?”
“Am I prepared to take command?”
“Were we really at war with Ced’-a-meon?“
“How could we ever think to defeating them, on their home world?”
“Are we not leaving E’ricle unprotected with so much of the fleet deployed?“
“Patrol Boats have never been deployed this deep before, what would be our ultimate assignment?”
“Could they reach us here?
“Could we lose this war?”
“Will I ever see home again?”
To calm the voices, he sped with the speed of the wind to the calmest place he knew, deep out in the ocean of his quiet mind.
With Thenea no longer in sight nor even sign of her lights and as Phateon slipped into the ocean, he slowed the boat to a still. While perfectly balanced, he sat crosslegged on his board and so drifted. Calmed.
Long into that dark night he sat. Any other would be panicked to be so far out to sea alone and without means of navigation in hand. But he knew exactly where he was. The heavens told him.
As the waxing crescent of the First Sister, called Carnas by her inhabitants, rose he wondered if he would ever see her full again.
The voices asleep, he picked up his sails and dipped them into the wind. He felt the wind fill the sails and he channeled that energy flow from his steady hands, into his arms, into his body, his legs and finally into the board as he skated over a black ocean leaving a phosphorescent wake behind.
Looking back he wondered, if he had known then what he knew now, would he have sailed back to shore that night. Or instead would he have followed his heart and sailed deeper into the blue.
As the powerless hulk of his patrol craft drifted so far from home and with no hope of rescue he knew without doubt he would never again see his beloved sapphire ocean.
He suppressed those many voices and their existential questions..
As the dead ship spun without control in the black of space he was saddened at being closer to Ced’-a-meon then to home.
Entombed in the ruins of his first command
destined for eons hence to orbit great Phateon out between the worlds, he came to peace with the thought that from here the sun would never set.
In stark contrast…
Multicast: Voices from the Crossroads. Episode 2: Sophia, Ian, Charlie and later Tyler
“Episode 2 of Voices from the Crossroads” keeps it close to heart for the interviewer/author. Unlike Episode 1 which was a one-on-one conversation, this time around the subjects participated in a conversational round-robin. Thank you, Sophia, Ian, Charlie and Tyler.
As all perceived things also exist in transcendence, you can learn more of the transcendental versions of our conversation by reading: Tales of The Crossroads, Introducing the Band
Ode to nature’s forgotten children
These simple lines, When combined, Into complex thoughts, Simple phonemic symbols, Ancient poets wrought, With power to make one tremble. Epics lyrical, Conceptual miracles, Tales of dawn’s hero’s, Arjuna of old, Achilles so bold. Through time, We forgot, The lessons they taught, Reverence of nature, from whom’s bosom we nurtured. When childlike, In virgin-woods we hiked. We explored, And the first-children adored. Before we self-reveled, And great mountains leveled. For what? For naught. For paper gold, Our mother we sold. To the muses I pray, For the eloquence to say, Of the pains I see, That we make be, With the felling of so many a tree. In the glades, Under canopy shade, Is where I would have my relics laid. Forevermore, These earthy remains, In the bosom I adore.
Tales of the Crossroads: Fearlessness and tranquillity
A review of God’s V’s concert from planet Moriah. By GBb music corespondent, So Kirk.
There comes a moment in a person’s life when immediacy requires a higher form, when it wants to lay hold of itself as spirit. Last night was such a moment.
Having difficulties of admission regarding my press credentials, I was a tad late to the show. Unlike the long awaiting fans who were treated to a gradual turning up of the metaphoric lights, arriving with the show already underway, I was thrown straight from darkness into light. A light that assailed all the senses.
Sonic wave after sonic wave washed over me. echoes of the fundamental forces of creation. I understood now why they held the top three spots of the Galactic Billboard. (GBb).
Bound by duty to cover the night’s event but transfigured by self in self, with personality wanting only to stay conscious of the eternal validity in the moment.
But that moment was halted, repressed in the depression of fear and loathing that pervaded the outside world. Duty bound I began recording and photographing the event in the vain hope of capturing the real magic of the moment, the magic of being there.
While documenting the night’s events I came to a conclusion, “I just want to enjoy the music. So… Fuck this. I quit.”
Along with this story I am also submitting a brief audio clip and a few images. Consider this my resignation, as I only plan on following the band and tour.
Next stop, Florida!
GBb Editor: We at the GBb are saddened by So Kirk’s recent resignation. We hope to hire a music corespondent replacement soon. Meanwhile, we are pleased to announce the recent hire of So Kirk, he joins the GBb as our newly created position of dedicated correspondent to God’s V for the GBb.