Forgive my dissertation, Richard, but your mix has inspired me... and you of all people can't really accuse me of writing too much, can you? ...

Some Lovin - Why am I not shocked you'd start us out right in the middle of a gay club?! This sort of music is not something I'd listen to as a matter of course, but who can resist how liberating it is in its forward-lookingness? This is the music of survival! Good stuff!

Desert Song - "The desert is god, the desert is god! " What a striking lyric. Of course you know any such language will pique my attention ... and I think Alice speaks to a notion that's laid bare in Exodus. God is revealed -- not discovered, but self-disclosed -- to the Jews in their long, arduous desert travail, because the desert -- like God -- belongs to no one... and also because its in this spot of utter isolation, scarcity, unknowing and peril that we most rely on faith ('cause it's all we have at that point) and might most fluidly receive God's grace! Part of me is sorry you had to find yourself in that desest, but part of me is so grateful you did -- it has contributed to the shining soul you are now.

Anyway, this is only the second song I've heard from Alice now and it's 2 for 2! That settles it: I'm gonna have to give up some money for this gal.

To the Open Spaces - "This song is every freeing moment. It is thorough abundance. It is every ounce of hope. It is expansive, expressive and vast just like the sky. It is True L. O. V. E. "

Perfect. I couldn't add more. (Except that the whistle solos are darned cool. )

As You Do - This song doesn't move me, but it's a treat to see how it so moves you.

Badang - Terribly sexy in its simplicity and vulnerability. This is the soundtrack to good old-fashioned love making... which, when you are with the right person, is perhaps the simplest (in the sense we can just let go of measured thought and just engage spiritually and physically with abandon) and certainly the most vulnerable we'll ever be. All the more cool (and sexy) that while this song is total eros, it's not at all prurient.

Don't Give It Up - This song may be my 2nd favorite. It'd be easy enough to just say "it sounds good." The lyrics are decent enough, it's got a chill downtempo beat and the chorus is downright infectious, almost in the vein of a favorite hymn. (And the keyboard line in the chorus almost reminds me of "The Love We Make.") But I think what I most like about this song is that it could function as a statement to several different audiences -- as a note to self or kindred spirits it is imprecation to be strong and forgive oneself; as letter to erstwhile loved one, it is an explanation of a relationship failed; as prayer it is somehow confessional, cleansing. And, in keeping with your theme, all look forward to a better day.

Hurry on Now - The music here is decent enough. And I must say the lyrics fascinate me, though I'm not sure if they make me like or dislike this song.... or even if my merely liking them is necessary for my appreciation of them. Here's where this song takes me...

There's a French philosopher named René Girard who has an interesting take on who/what "the devil" is. In a WAY oversimplified summary, he submits that the devil (whom/which he calls "Satan") is a sort of interior human processing through which we find ourselves in situations of mounting tension until some breaking point. (He calls this "scandal.") At the point of scandal someone or something must be scapegoated for our relief. The process works beautifully, but only for a short while -- for a new scandal will inevitably mount and we will find ourselves relying on the scapegoating process again and again. In this way, the power of "the devil" to oblige us to suffer in exchange for temporary relief is not unlike the underlying philosophy of "Hurry on Now." It's a vicious cycle... and one from which we can escape, Girard says, through real faith.

This song stands out for me in that it is a thematic break. Where the songs to this point are hopeful, this one strikes me as pessimistic. Not a criticism... just an observation.

(NOTE: I'm not saying, by the way, that you scapegoated your boyfriend for your misery. I don't know the situation well enough. I just saw parallels in the song to Girard's theory.)

Geez, I feel like HiinEnkelte now. Moving on...

Jibril - Deep! I adore Meshell and "Jabril" is one of the brightest moments of COOKIE, though it's not a song I can listen to all the time. It's just so heavy! Musically, it's just a gorgeous wash of sound... and Cato's guitar wails in perfect illustration of the song's lament. Lyrically, it's too important to ignore: How do the faithful, under an Abrahamic conception of the universe, reconcile the beneficence of God with the reality of evil and suffering in the world? It's a question we've been wrestling with since the writings of Job and Ecclesiastes.

And yet if the song would be an indictment of God, I've always wondered to what extent we -- in a corporate sense, not necessarily individually -- might be complicit in a world that would find the subject of this song dying alone in vain. Might we at all be screwing ourselves, then looking for deliverance by a flawed, vindictive, put-upon (read "false and too human") conception of deity -- perhaps even vis-a-vis Girard's "Satan," which will ever hate and fail us -- in lieu of the God of light, love and life anew? This angle is left to question here in "Jibril," but it's ground that's at least tangentially covered elsewhere in Meshell's work.

Makes for great discussion, but I better move on...

Placement for the Baby - I'd never heard this song. It's beautiful... and, as your write-up recognizes, it shores up the dilemma posed for me by the prior two songs. We needn't suffer through life with expectation of future failure or God abandoning us to our ultimate destruction. We will fall. We will live and love imperfectly. We will eventually die... but there is ever hope. The coolest thing about this song, I think, is that it seems to acknowledge that hope, even as it doesn't sugar coat the very real environment of pain we occasionally find ourselves in. The song is gorgeous and optimisitc, but it is also heartbreaking. You can't get much more genuine than that. This is my favorite song on the mix.

The Sea - Gorgeous closer, all the more given what it has come to mean to you. After this long, tough journey that you've taken us through, this is a perfect track to bliss us out. I'd say this is tied with "Don't Give It Up" as my 2nd favorite song on this mix.

...This was extraordinary, Richard. I can feel the heart that went into this project, and I'm grateful both to understand you better and to now know some artists I very much need to check out. Thank you.

Now I'm off to explain to my professor why I won't have read my material for tonight. Oh well, I feel God has been present in this project, so maybe that'll be good enough an excuse for her. Canadians are pushovers.
[Edited 10/9/08 18:09pm]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Supa!! I adore you, and I'll gladly wear the title of Frankenstein's monster being on this site has changed so much of my musical tastes and just the way I hear things as a whole...Before I met my friends here I basically choose my music based on what was fed to me through mainstream radio, but over the last few years it's been like a light has come on and the room I'm in is full of so much more than what I thought was there

paligap said:

I am moved that you were moved

I know some people feel very put upon or forced in this kind of situation and I appreciate that you took the time to engage it the way I presented it If you notice, I didn't vamp on love the way I think I could have And believe it or not, I cut a lot of this down to size

Losing part of the audience that cannot get through a presentation this size was something I was willing to risk considering exactly what this mix has become for me. I didn't want to ever look back and feel that I cheated myself or the audience from the full experience. It's my art and it would be like painting the Mona Lisa without the smile.....




Imagine that it's the actual soundtrack of your life It's a shattering experience backed against ultimate hope. You felt the exact intent of these tracks, especially their sequence in the mix




If you felt this was powerful and inspirational I feel like I've been to Mecca!

Again, I hope you didn't feel forced I tried to make it easy for folks with the Blue subtitle if they didn't feel like reading the lyrics and I did present the lyrics so people didn't have to guess where I was coming from with each song. I have quite a few mixes that are generically approached from a musical style/sound aspect but the majority are thematic in nature and read like stories, such as this mix.

Not sure if you saw this in your thread but I wrote:







Well.....

From what I can tell, I don't think Shannon Lee Continued with "Medicine", which is Mechanical Forces of Love. I thought that was the band name but it's actually Medicine And Lowpass was a one off project. You can still check out Jennifer Folker with the current band she's with which is "Dahlia". As for Siobahn, I'm still a newbie so I can't really give you any advice outside this song




Coming from you I am THRILLED to hear it!

oops! Wrong thread
[Edited 10/14/08 11:58am]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

A shameless attempt to bump your thread, no doubt.

sextonseven said:

I was trying to bump my B-side thread All that work better not be ignored!

Heyheyheyhey!

So much to read, so much to hear, so much to take in! Phew, but I'm ready now!

* 01 Liberty City (Murk) / The Singles Collection - "Some Lovin"

Nice track. Funky bass muttering. Not so fond of the singing...

* 02 Alice Smith / For Lovers, Dreamers and Me - "Desert Song"

I really do think I need to go look out for her. She might just be three cool! Just put her on my 'want' list!

* 03 Maria McKee / High Dive - "To the Open spaces"

Huh? I did not expect this one. Happy song! Good fun. After all these listens I am still looking out the window to see who it is that's whistling at me!

* 04 The Mechanical Forces of Love / Medicine - "As You Do"

Rollercoaster on whether I like this song:
1) First beats:
2) First line: it makes me think of Proud mary. No like.
3) Weird stereo voice: makes me fuzzy and spaces me out
4) Reading your liner notes: L.O.V.E
5) Oooohh oooooh hhooooh: Floating away
6) Fuzzy lead line: ...
7) Phased/stereo oooh hhoooohhh: As you said, it does sound a bit like a new love.

So, I must say I like this song

* 05 Lowpass / Spinning in Infinity - "Badang"
* 06 Siobhan Donaghy / Ghosts - "Don't Give It Up"

Round about here I guess I know what kind of music you're into.
Especially Siobhan made an impression. I like the verse more than the chorus. Great piercing song. On your notes. Wow, you really are open about your trials and tribulations, but somehow it always has a moral or a positive message about it! Good on you!

* Alice Russell / Under The Munka Moon - "Hurry On Now"



* Me'Shell N'Degeocello / Cookie: The Anthropological Mix Tape - "Jabril"

That Guitar! This is still that Cato guy on guitar isn't it! Wow. I love Me'shell's first two albums and haven't really been satisfied with her later ones, so I'm grateful you put this one in there. I know I'm missing out on some great songs, even if I don't like the entire albums they're from!

* N'Dea Davenport / N'Dea Davenport - "Placement for the Baby"

Her voice is sonic comfort! Whatever is wrong, when N'dea sings this to me, everything is alright again! Sigh, instantly refreshing. A breath of fresh air.

* Morcheeba / Big Calm - "The Sea" (this version on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic)

I have some Morcheeba albums. They were cheap though! What I'm trying to say, something about the music draws me in, but there's something in her voice that puts me off! Regardless: quality song!


What's really great about this mix/thread is that you made a 'grand progression' from track 1 to 10, that wouldn't have been clear without the liner notes. Nice piece of work to let the music, words and life-experience collide together into this mix!

>>>PS - I decided not to post a hidden track to keep to the 10 song limit, out of reverence for Sextonseven's insanity but there is a bonus thread exclaim
arrow arrow arrow http://prince.org/msg/8/284251 <<<

You stayed within the limits!

Miss Russell as my fave!

01 Liberty City (Murk) / The Singles Collection - "Some Lovin

I'm not the biggest house fan here. I like the minimal/micro stuff, but I never really got into the diva soul vocal house. Not bad, but…

02 Alice Smith / For Lovers, Dreamers and Me - "Desert Song"

another Alice Smith tune. yeah. Um. I really want to like her, I really do. I guess I need to listen to her album in it's entirety.

03 Maria McKee / High Dive - "To the Open spaces

I kept trying to find something to hold on to in this song, but couldn't grasp anything.

04 The Mechanical Forces of Love / Medicine - "As You Do

Now this is one I like! I like what they do with the mix in the beginning and chorus. I think that's a distorted bass I hear in there, love it! Reminds me of Bootsy.

05 Lowpass / Spinning in Infinity - "Badang"

Wonderfully sticky/gooey groove! It sounds like they sampled Andre3000's voice from the beginning of Gasoline dreams.

06 Siobhan Donaghy / Ghosts - "Don't Give It Up"

Gorgeous track. Feels like the sun is rising when I listen to this.

07 Alice Russell / Under The Munka Moon - "Hurry On Now

YEAH! Now this is one cool and funky track. I can just imagine being in a small club on a hot night checking out something like this. Love the horn lines, strings and vocals. Classic!

08 Me'Shell N'Degeocello / Cookie: The Anthropological Mix Tape - "Jabril"

Despite her faults, I'll always love this girl. That guitar line always dig into my bones whenever I hear it. The tone reminds me of P's late 80's guitar sound. I really wish they would work together, but it'd probably end up a mess. And that Oboe! now who does shit like that?

09 N'Dea Davenport / N'Dea Davenport - "Placement for the Baby

I've been hearing about N'Dea for years, but never took the time out to listen. I could get into this. I was never a fan of the Brand New Heavies stuff, but I'm digging this.

10 Morcheeba / Big Calm - "The Sea" (this version on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic)

Yeah, I owned this album when it came out and traded it a week later, I never got what the big deal was about Moorcheeba, besides them being a trip hop group. I did like the cover of their debut. this track is ok.


Over all, this was a cool mix. Alice Russell was the stand out for me.

Ahem...

Sander said:

I'm still working on my reply to lammastide I'll get to ya

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

that was over 11 days ago!

magnificentsynthesizer said:

I've had to marinate!

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Nono, I meant:

You know, as in:






Get it?
[Edited 10/21/08 12:37pm]

Sander said:

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I can't believe you forgot our code already.

sextonseven said:

Well S*cough*ANDERomeone obviously did not check my orgnote when my mix went up because I pre-emptively to everyone including wildheart and the other missing orger who's name escapes me.

Thought he was talking about something else!

Sander said:

Must be the g0y in me Am I the only person who likes this chick's voice?




Another recruit!



I can't believe it's only now during this mix that I even notice the whistling and it's only because you guys did



Early in the project I told you I had a bleepy blippy kind of song. This was it I know you have a fondness for that kind of sound and was hoping you'd be plussed by it. OK.....what do you mean "Proud Mary". As in Tina Turner????! Please clarify cuz I have no idea what you're hearing there



Thank you Sandybaby I'm into the sound of this absolutely. It's a total bonus that there is some meaning attached The way I feel about speaking openly about my pain is that there are those out there who aren't able and I serve as a messenger for more than just myself. I just think it is so important that those who can speak on their pain do so for those who can't.







The only album I ever had any problems with is Bitter because I craved that straight up funk. I wasn't in the right mood when it dropped but I now think it's fantastic like the rest. I can't ever applaud enough her work and what it means to me. Just an absolute hero for me



Yeah, this is so different than the stuff she did with the heavies. Her whole solo album is. You should check it out if you don't already have it. Amazing stuff.



I can't believe anybody could say anything negative about her voice! Can you boil it down, this objection you have? I can't even imagine.



Well imagine this being revealed to me after the fact. I was for months over it I knew I had to put the notes like I did because it would have just been a collection of songs vs the revelation it became. Revelations are better



But look what it spawned! My B-side thread



glad to see her get some love. I thought that maybe she would be the one to receive universal praise but not everyone cares

Lammykinsland You have NO IDEA how much I anticpated your review!

Lammastide said:

Um, this is a small poem compared to the novels I write. I will not accuse





Well I hadn't even thought of it like that Me at a gay club?! Like I said earlier, the main motivation for choosing this song was to provide as varied a musical experience as possible and since nobody put anything very dancy on their mixes, I thought I would drop a house song on y'all I'm thrilled to see that a few purveyors of my mix knew it. Of course they are all gay

It just so happened though, that this fave of mine also has incredibly powerful memories behind it and to simply put a dance song for the sake of variation while ignoring its role in my life would have been criminal The thing about the first 2 songs is that musically, they fit with the first half of the mix. As you can see, the message of the songs are serious in manner, but as a matter of musical sound, it's not hard to transition from these songs to the Love Trinity

And yes, I love the way you characterized this song as forward looking, liberating and survivalist in nature. Agree completely. This song unleashed the survivor in me.



So Interesting, that this lyric:

My mama said, life is for living
If you’re unhappy honey
Go out and reinvent yourself
The desert is god, the desert is god!
I've got to go away, Said I’m going away

was the one that struck you.

I must confess here. As you have correctly perceived, I have issues with traditional Christian notions of God, sin and salvation. My first impression, even coming into this project, was that the declaration of the Desert being God was a negative. This of course based on my skepticism of Abrahamic constructs.

The song, to me, represented the crushing force of the Desert and the extremity of the elements it possesses and that they are the epitome of "omni". Not until you gave your thoughts about the Jewish struggle did I consider the opposite. To actually wander in the desert without destination is one of the most severe forms of exsitence. One that reduces the vast majority to pieces (shards in valises...) in a matter of hours or days. This is true of the physical desert. It's also true of the spiritual and emotional wasteland that many wander in.

This point in the song is the "light bulb moment"!! Alice remembers words her mother had said and it strikes her that reinvention is her salvation. But that realization would not have come without the struggle. The declaration "The Desert is God, The Desert is God" is thankful in nature as she recognizes the power and the benevolent force of a place and a territory that many perish in. It brings new ideas and ways of thinking. A birth of sorts.

You have caused me to see this song a new way! I love duality in music and this new discovery can easily sit alongside my original perception as the positive wouldn't have come without the negative. Like a battery that would not be able to conduct it's power without the negative terminal.





It's extremely encouraging and heartening that you recognize my struggle in the way that I experienced it. That it made me a better person. It did. My choice of this song isn't chronological in nature but it absolutely represents the wandering I did. Seeking without finding, thirsting without quenching, hunger without satiation. Going through it was hell and something I could never have seen as positive while I was in it. But I have become so thankful to God that I was allowed this experience(s) because I have been given so many gifts I never could have received otherwise. Gifts which I am charged to share




Some people aren't feelin her but I'm glad you are! If you have the chance, really you need to see her live




Ok, until they were mentioned, I never noticed them!



I really REALLY wanted to showcase electronic music in my mix. I imagined this beforehand, and largely I'm right, that people would have issues with this track I guess that's because there isn't anything traditional to cling to here.

The "Love Trinity" is really the only time in the mix where you can kind of let go of thinking and just be.



THANK. YOU So it must be that only quasi gay dudes, chicks trapped in gay men's bodies and chicks get this song. Sexton thinks of this as unfinished and I couldn't disagree more.

This song begins in bloom, develops a pulse, finds its voice, engages in faith, changes seasons and doubles down on love. All of that is just merely unfinished??...

You understand exactly the nature of this song because I couldn't have said it better than you! This represents the deepest part of love where 2 become one in that experience. God is that connection




Again, duality I think songs like this are genius when the message is one that can actually reach and affect the most amount of people even if their experiences and perceptions are so different. No interpretation is wrong.

For me, this song is just perfect with the philosophy I have developed about forgiveness, in that we must begin with ourselves and understand why we do the things we do. I find that Self forgiveness is missing in the larger discussion of forgiveness but I feel it all begins right there.




OK, before I get into the philosophy of this song, I want to tell you about Cliver Barker’s “Everville”. I love how music interacts with other art. Often when reading a book I will think of songs or will be reminded of stories when listening to music. Music always is the inspiration for what I write.

It’s the spring of 1848 and 83 people, led by Mr. Harmon O’Connell, leave Independence, Missouri on their quest for Utopia. What began as a trip to an ideal home turns into a nightmare as the people are wore down slowly from travel and quickly savaged by the elements when winter comes.

Of the original 83 settlers, 32 were children. Before reaching their destination only Mr. O’Connell’s 12 year old daughter, Maeve, was left of the children and 31 total remained alive. The survivors become increasingly restless and suspicious against Mr. O’Connell and this peaks when Mr. O’Connell’s medallion is discovered. Charges are lobbed against him as being of the Devil but a riot is averted by some of the saner survivors. But not before threats are made on Mr. O’Connell and his daughter.

They come upon a mountain with wooded areas at the base and there is a loud sound of trumpets. The men, including her father grab their guns and go to see what the source of this sound is. Maeve, unable to control her curiosity, ventures towards the sound and the sound of the trumpets is so fierce that she begins to lose conciousness:

“Borne by invisible hands, she was ushered beneath the canopy of trees and there, where the snow could not come, and the ground was soft with pine needles, she sank down onto her knees and drew a dozen heaving breaths while the sound of trumpets touched her in every part”.

She is come to by the shouts of men yelling her shared last name. Spotting her, one of the men points his gun at her and told her to come over. Having no choice she did and was held as a pawn for her father to come out of the shadows of the woods. Her father comes forward and he is shot. She runs to him and hears confusion from the trees and turns in time to see something swoop from the branches and snatch one of the men.

His carcass falls to the ground and someone shoots up into the trees and strikes the creature. She hears a howl and looks up to be struck in the face by the creature’s blood but it is sweet like honey and after one drop meets her mouth she opens wider to be fed by the lifesource of this creature which resembles demon or angle but is neither..

Another shot is fired and this time the creature swoops down with the quickness. Giant branches fall before Maeve and she brings her arms up to protect her face but what she took for giant brances were the feet of the creature and she is snatched up and away through the trees and clouds to the top of the mountain.

There is so much more story to be told about these two but I will leave it to you to explore the book yourself to find out how the story ends.

Anway, the point of me telling all that is that this song reminds me of that scene in the woods. In the face of death she is snatched in the night by her salvation.

He stole my sorrows from the morning
He ripped them from the night
And you best believe I'll keep singin
to make my wrongs so right

I could not find the lyrics to this song online so I transcribed them myself and I think this lyric:

Hurry, to catch the morning
You got to, Hurry on now
And the night, how it has my sorrow
And it, no, won't be long now
Hurry

I believe now, that it's:

And the Night how it hid my sorrow






OK, I've never heard of this philosophy but I really agree with that take on this song. The beginning of the song speaks of sorrow, sung and spoken to the night, and as a price to be paid. Later the song speaks of sorrow being ripped and stolen and slayed. So there is a path to "salvation", though the struggle within the song points to it being attainable but not easily so.

That is perfect for my life and experiences and perfect for the context of how this song was personally experienced and for what came next. This song is chronological in nature, in that part of my obsession with this song was recognizing the failure of the relationship I wanted like nothing else in this world and finding peace where I felt none. This song, namely the ability to slay through words, whether spoken/written/sung was the thing that spoke to me the most. The Philosophy you speak about ties in exactly with my ideas behind the song that precedes it.

So the way that I see Gerard's belief, as it applies to myself, is that forgiveness begins with the self and "True Salvation", is acheivable through the act of forgiveness. Forgiveness is something that is extremely difficult for most people to find in themselves and therefore the failure to find it is the vehicle for which a new "scandal" arises.

You have never forgiven yourself, therefore you never feel forgiven or open to receive it. Very much like an abused person who's feelings of unworthyness only lends to their acceptance of abuse. It isn't until you unlock that one door, find that specific road, believe in different possibilities that you are able to find salvation itself. Easier said than done!




Well I will tell you this. That relationship fast-tracked me at least a decade in my personal growth. I was forced to face all my demons, all my weaknesses and come to terms with my personal choices in a way I probably wouldn't have done without the singular focus of dealing with all those things through a failed relationship. Why was I there. Why was I not strong enough to say no? All the whys.

If I spread the dealing of them out over time, it probably would have had less of an impact than facing them head on the way I did. I have a deep reverence for this relationship, not so much because of how much I loved him, but because where it took me in my life. There is a certain sense of righteousness even in its failure because it was the imperfection of the relationship itself that caused me to continue searching.....

I see this song as a personal statement. Writing my domestic article was my way of singing my sorrows to the night and absolutely the way in which I faced that demon from my past. Forgiveness was the way that I slayed my demon as forgiveness led me to finding my gifts and learning how to use them. Combining those 2 things together gave me the will to figure my way out of my relationship with Greg.

I was coming to real terms with that relationship and towards the point of leaving but it was at the point where I felt like I was secure in my growth and that I was leaving my past behind. Slaying my sorrow so to speak. Then my cousin died and I was slapped in the face with the one thing I thought I was burying once and for all. Abuse.

This leads me back to the notion of "scandal" in an even different way. What if there are different levels of scandal. That even though one has attained “salvation”, that there can be a bigger Scandal (Devil) to face even within salvation itself?



This song, actually, is still quite a mystery to me. But I'm so glad you gave your perspective because it fleshed out my own ideas about it




NO. COMMENT!






Well this certainly is a pandora's box isn't it? It is my opinion that if the Biblical depiction of the "fall of man" is true, that it was the most unfair fight EVER. That a God created these innocent creatures and then pitted himself and a temptor against them with rules only he had control over is just pure wickedness. He might as well have been Mommy Dearest in a swimming match against baby Christina

It’s not fair, you’re bigger than I am. It’s not fair to win twice!

Ah, but nobody ever said Life was fair, Eve. I’m bigger and I’m faster. I will always beat you.



But seriously, my issues with the Abrahamic constructs of God begin with Genesis itself. Let’s examine the notion of sin and the fall of man.

Genesis 3: 1 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Would you agree that God created man with the drive to learn and to know?

Genesis 3:6-7 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened

Later the Bible depicts Adam & Eve hiding from God when they hear him in the garden. God asks why they are hiding and they say it's because they are naked.

Genesis 3: 22-24 22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.


"The man is become as one of us, TO KNOW GOOD AND EVIL".

What does that mean that their eyes were opened? Doesn’t a lack of Knowledge, imply ignorance? If they only knew the difference between good and evil after they ate the fruit, how could they know they were sinning before they ate the fruit of knowledge? People say they knew it because God said so but again, how could they truly know if they have no true knowledge of the difference between Good and Evil? They didn’t know the difference until they consumed fruit. Without knowledge of Evil, how can you know sin?

When I have pointed this out to people I get this bizarre analogy about a baby walking into the street and how in order to teach them a lesson you spank the baby so they know it's not good to go into the street. The equivalent analogy is that the baby walks into the street and as a means of teaching right from wrong you throw them into the path of an oncoming car

Why even have free will if the only option is blind obedience or punishment for exercising that free will? And even though he created them with free will and a right to choose, God throws a temper tantrum and dooms billions of people for the acts of 2? Back to the analogy of the baby going into the street. The equivalent argument is that you spank the baby every day until it dies and then spank his children and his children's children and their children and grandchildren. Somehow we are supposed to be convinced that X number of descendents deserve "the punishment" for what a baby did so many generations ago. This whole scenario sickens me quite frankly and will be the closest you'll ever see me in offering an argument against abortion.

Man was doomed from the very beginning. God, all knowing, created man despite his knowledge that we would fall. The "fall" was disobedience and the result was KNOWLEDGE of good from evil, just like God. The Bible says that God made man in his image and if man is sinful, then God is the original Sin




The first time I ever heard this song I was held captive by the absolute rawness of it so when this lyric came:

I was blind
Now I see

I was all set for there to be some kind of revelation, a "god is good" moment and then this:

That your words are fucked
There are no more angels left
To comfort thee

It certainly summed up my feelings about the vindictive and Evil nature of the God of the Old Testament. Collective responsibility aside, of course my cousin has individual responsibility for the circumstances that she died under (slamming drugs with her friends), however I could not resist coming back to the idea that it was God who damned us all for the actions of one man and one woman. For without placing humanity under original sin, she and the rest of us would have been born into paradise.

This lyric:

Forgive me lord
As I die in vain
You have no angels to comfort me
Say
I forgive you lord
As I die

holds special meaning for me in that I feel this is flipping the script so to speak. As images of God, that we turn the other cheek and forgive the creator. It's like the Steven King story "Thinner" where the gypsy woman curses the man with her touch. By assuming responsibility for the act of forgiveness, you are touching God in the way that we normally think of him touching us and are delivering God into the very game he forced us to play.....






You will probably never fully understand how deeply moved I am that this is your favorite song and that you recognize that I recognize the real greatness of God. Originally my connection to this song was in facing my own mortality. It was that context in which I reached out for this song and accepted the help of the Angel. I remember laying in my bead, sicker than you can imagine and listening to this song and accepting that invitation.....being open to receive the next phase of life.

The Next Phase of Life..... Obviously I believe in one, but why would all the rules be placed on us in our mortality? So many people in this world are victims of an imperfect world. Some people simply never have a chance at greatness. None of us have a choice in the circumstances we are born into. Some hit the lottery by coming from the right vagina. For others it is a death sentence.

Why would our eternal existence hinge on the failure, or success, of the only life we are allowed to live? We are bound by our flesh. What sense does it make that when we are finally free of it, we are continued to be bound by the imperfect choices and decisions made in it? The flesh is obviously imperfect, flawed, suceptible to corruption. The flesh is not our essence. The flesh is just a vehicle for containing what is otherwise without limit.

I wouldn't doubt that most, if not all, who knew her think of her death as the ending. I'm not saying that many don't believe in an afterlife but that they believe that her destination on the otherside is already determined on March 15, 2006 when she died. No more choices can be made in the flesh.

I might be the only one who feels there is something beyond that day for her, more choices to be made. After having been able to digest this mix for the past 4 or 5 months, something came clear to me about this song. I am the angel to my cousin. The invitation to the next phase of life is being brought to her by me. This is so beautiful and so perfect. By daring to believe, I am able to pass the offer forward to someone else who really needs it.....





The last 4 years for me have been an awakening. A self discovery of monumental proportions. I am coming into my healing and my true faith in ways I could never have imagined. My cousin's death was something I never pictured as part of this journey. It's hard to explain how much it has destroyed me. One minute I'm living my victory and the next I am facing a horrifying reality.

It has hurt me so bad to be coming into my own and never having had the chance to share any of the things I have learned with her. Each person has their own race to run and we cannot impose our path on another but who knows what she could have done with the information. I can only guess at this point.

Originally I named this Mix "Portal" because I was going back in time and telling the story of my adult life. But this song, The Sea, has become an actual portal. Let me explain.....

In my original write up I talk about the meditation that brought me to my Garden . Part of this project for me has really been me thinking about my garden and my gifts and how music is such a big spark for what helps me to create but now this song has become a tool for me to use along with my gifts.

As you know, a part of this mix is very relational to my cousin who was killed and as I have been listening to this song, I have been led to plead on her behalf to ask that my grandmother and my aunt be on the watch for her arrival at my garden.

A couple months ago, I was on the bus on the way home listening to this song and I decided to meditate on that very idea. The song started and I began meditating and seeing/being at my garden and the way that I explained my meditation to someone, they said I was using my 8th chakra. I have a loose idea of what chakras are but I have no real knowledge as to what they are and how they are used or how to use them.

When I meditate, it is almost like doing a backflip in a pool. I send myself up above my head, over behind me and then come through the center of my back. This is where I have my visions and where I dream my lucid dreams from. It is not seeing through my head or my eyes, it's seeing from my middle. I don't know if that makes sense or not. It's like having a reverse periscope.

So when I was listening to the song and meditating, I specifically went in search of my grandmother/aunt to tell them that my cousin will be making her way there and to watch for her and I experienced something I never have before. I really don't even know how to explain it with words but it was like mainlining emotion.

I felt something that literally stole my breath and I had the sensation of tumbling forward and down but being caught at the same time and I honestly feel that I felt the presense of my grandmother/aunt inside me. It reminded me of that scene in Poltergeist where Carol Ann's spirit passes through her mom. It was so like that. It was a feeling and an emotion so pure and it hit me so hard. But it was so beautiful. It kind of scared me actually how strong it was.

I have done this meditation about three times and each time the feelings are something I've never felt before and they feel like they are getting stronger. It almost feels like if I leave it uninterrupted, I would be taken out of my body. I have stopped it from happening fully as I am almost afraid of feeling something that pure. I'm an emotional person and I have never felt anything like this. This song has become a sword and a shield, protection and guidance. Amazing considering that it used to remind me of the end of the world.....

Fishing boats sail past the shore
No singing Mayday! anymore....

In the original dream the water was on fire. Pure and utter destruction. Now that world is transformed. Imagine the boats on the water and what happened when the ocean caught fire. Mayday Mayday!. The new world this place has become has no place for maydays. It's a new day, new life. Metaphorically it symbolizes the destruction that is my cousin's death and the new life she may now have.




I'm so grateful for our friendship Lammy. You have no idea how much I really look up to you. That you would not pass judement on my beliefs but be open to discuss the fullness of them. It takes a strong person to do that. I love you very much



I feel God has touched me through this mix. This was such a special thing to be involved in. It really touched me in so many ways....

Oh, now you know why it's taken me almost 2 months to craft a reply

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[Edited 12/3/08 11:40am]

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

On a PJ kick again...?

MikeMatronik said:

These are placeholders in case my thread closes down before huey, moonsongs, tron and others review it

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Your thread will be locked by the end of the week.

I think you need to give Nathan a good kick in the butt if you want him to review your mix.

Herman never reviewed it? I'm shocked.