"If you don't believe in yourself, how can you expect anyone else to do it?"
- Lord David
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Letter to the President
Really.
It is.
I get emails from barrckobama.com from time to time, as many of his election supporters do, I imagine. Today's message was encouragement to contact my local government administrators about Health Care Reform.
Instead, I responded. In fact, I sent this through the White House web site and printed out a hard copy, which I signed and mailed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
That's the White House, for all you chatroom twitter junkies. The actual physical address....
I hope he reads it.
I hope somebody does.
Because we're getting run over like the villagers after a coup, down here.
We don't even seem to matter anymore, and they don't even try to hide it.
Anyway, here it is.
Dear Mister President:
While I applaud your efforts towards unilateral health care reform,
I suggest you take a closer look at what is happening in Louisiana,
particularly New Orleans.
Our Governor is closing the only juvenile mental health care facility
in New Orleans, as junvenile violent crime skyrockets off the charts.
Our Superintendent of Police, Warren Riley, is on an extended trip to
Australia on 'police business' while almost a quarter of a million
dollars in cash has been looted from Police Evidence under his
supervision.
Murder rates make us the Murder Capital of America, yet he is
unable to keep track of his own evidence, or be aware that these
things must reported to State Officials. He claims ignorance of
the law, and no serious investigation is under way.
Five NOPD officers conspired to dangerously beat a city RTA
worker, only because he is black, further conspiring to plant
a stolen weapon on him, and coerce a civilian in to filing a
false report. The District Attorney's daughter, also a N.O.
Prosecutor, is dating one of these officers, was on the scene,
and said nothing. Only the civilian came forward, causing formal
charges to be filed against the NOPD officers in question.
Mayor C. Ray Nagin has urged US citizens to commit fraud on
their 2010 census reports, so that the City of New Orleans can
"get more money" as a result of their false claims to living here.
He, too, is under federal investigation.
Sir; I live in a city run by a corrupt and racist regime,
looting the city coffers and even police evidence lockers,
stealing city vehicles for their own use, and hiring each
other under shallow corporate disguises to attain rich city
contracts that then go unfulfilled.
When I see signs that this deplorable and feudal System by
Regime is brought to a close, I will consider turning my
attention to the problems of National Health Care you mention.
Until that time, I put it to you that we have been excluded
from The American Dream you hold in such high regard, and been
left to founder like a small Third World nation, tossed about
on the whim and profit of racketeers.
Best Regards,
Lord David
New Orleans
It is.
I get emails from barrckobama.com from time to time, as many of his election supporters do, I imagine. Today's message was encouragement to contact my local government administrators about Health Care Reform.
Instead, I responded. In fact, I sent this through the White House web site and printed out a hard copy, which I signed and mailed to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
That's the White House, for all you chatroom twitter junkies. The actual physical address....
I hope he reads it.
I hope somebody does.
Because we're getting run over like the villagers after a coup, down here.
We don't even seem to matter anymore, and they don't even try to hide it.
Anyway, here it is.
Dear Mister President:
While I applaud your efforts towards unilateral health care reform,
I suggest you take a closer look at what is happening in Louisiana,
particularly New Orleans.
Our Governor is closing the only juvenile mental health care facility
in New Orleans, as junvenile violent crime skyrockets off the charts.
Our Superintendent of Police, Warren Riley, is on an extended trip to
Australia on 'police business' while almost a quarter of a million
dollars in cash has been looted from Police Evidence under his
supervision.
Murder rates make us the Murder Capital of America, yet he is
unable to keep track of his own evidence, or be aware that these
things must reported to State Officials. He claims ignorance of
the law, and no serious investigation is under way.
Five NOPD officers conspired to dangerously beat a city RTA
worker, only because he is black, further conspiring to plant
a stolen weapon on him, and coerce a civilian in to filing a
false report. The District Attorney's daughter, also a N.O.
Prosecutor, is dating one of these officers, was on the scene,
and said nothing. Only the civilian came forward, causing formal
charges to be filed against the NOPD officers in question.
Mayor C. Ray Nagin has urged US citizens to commit fraud on
their 2010 census reports, so that the City of New Orleans can
"get more money" as a result of their false claims to living here.
He, too, is under federal investigation.
Sir; I live in a city run by a corrupt and racist regime,
looting the city coffers and even police evidence lockers,
stealing city vehicles for their own use, and hiring each
other under shallow corporate disguises to attain rich city
contracts that then go unfulfilled.
When I see signs that this deplorable and feudal System by
Regime is brought to a close, I will consider turning my
attention to the problems of National Health Care you mention.
Until that time, I put it to you that we have been excluded
from The American Dream you hold in such high regard, and been
left to founder like a small Third World nation, tossed about
on the whim and profit of racketeers.
Best Regards,
Lord David
New Orleans
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Truth & Other Lies
From time to time, someone asks me what this means, usually with a nod & a wink, as though they understood some secret covert agenda that I, too, was aware of, and dared to expose here, on this unfettered and easily available site. This always unnerves me a bit, as I'd hate to think there were some shadowy revolutionary group, waiting for ME to offer guidance. There are days when it's a challenge to drink water without spilling it. So much for Fearless Leader.
The Truth is, and I can say this with all honesty and conviction, because I've seen it, that everything we know is a lie. Everything.
Now I'm quite sure that there are those who find this humorous, and are breathlessly waiting for the punchline to the joke. I'm not kidding.
I'm equally sure that there are those who find this irritating, and are wondering just who in the hell do I think I am, telling them that their own beliefs are lies.
I'm still not kidding. But these people are closer to the answer. Or maybe not.
Think about that statement; Everything We Know Is A Lie. The first problem is the 'we'. There is no such thing. Then of course, there's knowing, which is probably the realest concept in the bunch, but not in the way this statement intends it.
So please allow me to offer an explanation, a differing viewpoint, if you will, about THINGS IN GENERAL....
On close inspection, I am not a human. That title accurately categorizes me in to a group of animated objects that others can recognize and associate with preformed thoughts and expectations, and that group of animated objects can be reduced to a smaller set by adding 'male' and 'American' and 'Caucasian' and even 'musician' (although their humanity is often questionable, I'm told).
What I am, just like everything else in existence, is a collective of sub-atomic particles, (protons, neutrons and electrons for those who slept through science class)in motion, suspended in a field of energy. These thin out as we move from one field of mass to another, but the collective field of energy is, how shall I put this, the Fabric of the Universe, the canvas on which these particles are painted, so to speak. There are those who even say this Unified Field has it's own consciousness, and rules for our behavior and punishment in a hot place if we break it's rules. I have my doubts about all that, but not here, not now.
I tend to gravitate towards the belief system that this collective energy does have an awareness, and that awareness is plugged in to multitudes of collective particles, and gleans perception out of each and every one of them, to make up the entire collective awareness. Except most of these collectives of energy & sub-atomic particles start to believe that THEY are the begin & end all of awareness and perception, and then they start to make up rules as to how everybody should behave, and la dee daa, that's how we wind up in this mess we're in now.
Here's a thought, next time someone says something ridiculous like, "We're the only intelligent life in the Universe!" We're fucking blind. We can't even see other objects, never mind other lives.
All we see is light reflected. That's right, like in magician's show, or images coming out of a TV set, light from the Sun, or some artificial device, bounces all over the place, finally hitting some object or surface, and bounces in to our retinas, gets received by the brain and recognized by our trained monkey of a mind set to be accepted as what we're told to believe it is. But all we really see is light reflected, like bats use the bounce of their own high pitched squealing to learn where walls and openings are.
And in this perceptional state, we see light bouncing off a collective group of sub atomic particles in motion, and call it Jack. Or Jill, whose particles are much more appealing to Jack & myself.
We are trained from birth to believe in these images, in things like Death, as the particle collective dissolves back in to the universal energy and matter pool, and as the perception we receive is shut down and returns to the collective consciousness, to observe a greater consciousness on a different level.
There are a multitude of these trained beliefs, like that people of different colors or languages are 'from out there', or that some of these collectives are more deserving or more pious than others. How very silly, you say, I know, but somehow, it does happen.
From time to time, these ideas catch fire with one mindset or another, and they give it a name, and hold up some representative particle collective with a name, and declare this person The One & Only who can perceive this entire concept at work. Yeah, I know, that's even more ridiculous, but it happens, too. A lot.
Sometimes, these different mindsets will try to prove that they, and only they, really see how connected we all are by killing some of the collective off, and proclaiming it the Will Of The Everything. I wonder how my foot would feel if my hand shot it for not being a hand, all in the name of making me a better human. I'm guessing the ensuing limp would not be the results I was looking for.
Anyway, my alarm goes off in the morning and sings a little song. It sings that we are all the same great spirit, dreaming that it is billions of planets and solar systems and people and a whole bunch of other stuff. It looks out through as many eyes as there are that day, and answers to as many names (except the mean bad ones. Nobody answers to those, I hope) as there are, and continues to Spin The Great Wheel around the Great Magnet, or whatever self contained universal consciousness does all day.
I get up from my soft pile of molecular pillows, and drag my representative collective of sub atomic particles to the bathroom mirror, and look at a reflection of a reflection. The mirror shows me light bouncing off of a bazillion collective particles that some have come to know as Lord David. I stare at this and review the thoughts and beliefs that I've trained my mind to accept since birth, the ones I learned along the way, and the ones I'm going to encounter today, which may change the whole shootin' match. I struggle to recall the Book Of Lies that we use as our guide posts through life, and wonder if that day, like many other days, I can carve a bit more of that book loose from my thoughts, and let some more light in, make some more room, remember a bit less, and believe a bit more.
I often think of returning to my molecular pillows, to dream of free floating in the Universe, watching galaxies spin and explode, stars burning in different colors of light that go shooting through space for millions of eons after they cease to exist, of concepts so grand and wonderful that they could never fit inside our tiny human heads without pushing out all of the lies that we tell ourselves we know to be true.
And I think that might not be such a bad thing, after all.
The Truth is, and I can say this with all honesty and conviction, because I've seen it, that everything we know is a lie. Everything.
Now I'm quite sure that there are those who find this humorous, and are breathlessly waiting for the punchline to the joke. I'm not kidding.
I'm equally sure that there are those who find this irritating, and are wondering just who in the hell do I think I am, telling them that their own beliefs are lies.
I'm still not kidding. But these people are closer to the answer. Or maybe not.
Think about that statement; Everything We Know Is A Lie. The first problem is the 'we'. There is no such thing. Then of course, there's knowing, which is probably the realest concept in the bunch, but not in the way this statement intends it.
So please allow me to offer an explanation, a differing viewpoint, if you will, about THINGS IN GENERAL....
On close inspection, I am not a human. That title accurately categorizes me in to a group of animated objects that others can recognize and associate with preformed thoughts and expectations, and that group of animated objects can be reduced to a smaller set by adding 'male' and 'American' and 'Caucasian' and even 'musician' (although their humanity is often questionable, I'm told).
What I am, just like everything else in existence, is a collective of sub-atomic particles, (protons, neutrons and electrons for those who slept through science class)in motion, suspended in a field of energy. These thin out as we move from one field of mass to another, but the collective field of energy is, how shall I put this, the Fabric of the Universe, the canvas on which these particles are painted, so to speak. There are those who even say this Unified Field has it's own consciousness, and rules for our behavior and punishment in a hot place if we break it's rules. I have my doubts about all that, but not here, not now.
I tend to gravitate towards the belief system that this collective energy does have an awareness, and that awareness is plugged in to multitudes of collective particles, and gleans perception out of each and every one of them, to make up the entire collective awareness. Except most of these collectives of energy & sub-atomic particles start to believe that THEY are the begin & end all of awareness and perception, and then they start to make up rules as to how everybody should behave, and la dee daa, that's how we wind up in this mess we're in now.
Here's a thought, next time someone says something ridiculous like, "We're the only intelligent life in the Universe!" We're fucking blind. We can't even see other objects, never mind other lives.
All we see is light reflected. That's right, like in magician's show, or images coming out of a TV set, light from the Sun, or some artificial device, bounces all over the place, finally hitting some object or surface, and bounces in to our retinas, gets received by the brain and recognized by our trained monkey of a mind set to be accepted as what we're told to believe it is. But all we really see is light reflected, like bats use the bounce of their own high pitched squealing to learn where walls and openings are.
And in this perceptional state, we see light bouncing off a collective group of sub atomic particles in motion, and call it Jack. Or Jill, whose particles are much more appealing to Jack & myself.
We are trained from birth to believe in these images, in things like Death, as the particle collective dissolves back in to the universal energy and matter pool, and as the perception we receive is shut down and returns to the collective consciousness, to observe a greater consciousness on a different level.
There are a multitude of these trained beliefs, like that people of different colors or languages are 'from out there', or that some of these collectives are more deserving or more pious than others. How very silly, you say, I know, but somehow, it does happen.
From time to time, these ideas catch fire with one mindset or another, and they give it a name, and hold up some representative particle collective with a name, and declare this person The One & Only who can perceive this entire concept at work. Yeah, I know, that's even more ridiculous, but it happens, too. A lot.
Sometimes, these different mindsets will try to prove that they, and only they, really see how connected we all are by killing some of the collective off, and proclaiming it the Will Of The Everything. I wonder how my foot would feel if my hand shot it for not being a hand, all in the name of making me a better human. I'm guessing the ensuing limp would not be the results I was looking for.
Anyway, my alarm goes off in the morning and sings a little song. It sings that we are all the same great spirit, dreaming that it is billions of planets and solar systems and people and a whole bunch of other stuff. It looks out through as many eyes as there are that day, and answers to as many names (except the mean bad ones. Nobody answers to those, I hope) as there are, and continues to Spin The Great Wheel around the Great Magnet, or whatever self contained universal consciousness does all day.
I get up from my soft pile of molecular pillows, and drag my representative collective of sub atomic particles to the bathroom mirror, and look at a reflection of a reflection. The mirror shows me light bouncing off of a bazillion collective particles that some have come to know as Lord David. I stare at this and review the thoughts and beliefs that I've trained my mind to accept since birth, the ones I learned along the way, and the ones I'm going to encounter today, which may change the whole shootin' match. I struggle to recall the Book Of Lies that we use as our guide posts through life, and wonder if that day, like many other days, I can carve a bit more of that book loose from my thoughts, and let some more light in, make some more room, remember a bit less, and believe a bit more.
I often think of returning to my molecular pillows, to dream of free floating in the Universe, watching galaxies spin and explode, stars burning in different colors of light that go shooting through space for millions of eons after they cease to exist, of concepts so grand and wonderful that they could never fit inside our tiny human heads without pushing out all of the lies that we tell ourselves we know to be true.
And I think that might not be such a bad thing, after all.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Skull Club & SCADNOLA - Saturday Night, 6/13
It’s the 2nd Saturday of the month this weekend, kids. That means it’s Open Gallery Time in the St Claude Art District. Check it out at www.scadnola.com, or just come down and get started at the St Roch Tavern or the Yellow Moon. They’ll tell ya where it’s at.
Joining the festivities this month are the newly showing Bywater Art Lofts, who just delivered a smashing opening, featuring the work of many residents and other contributers. Their compound is at the intersection of Burgundy & Pauline Streets. From 6 to 9pm.
After you’ve made your complete tour of the 6 to 9 gallery spaces, stop by the Skull Club, at Spain & Rampart, in the Marigny. Doors open at 9pm, for an after show Art Show. Cheap cash bar and DJ included. Some great stuff by local artists. Well, just read the flyer below, and it will all become clear.
As clear as an unmuddied lake.
As an azure sky of deepest summer…
You Are Invited!
Lord David
Joining the festivities this month are the newly showing Bywater Art Lofts, who just delivered a smashing opening, featuring the work of many residents and other contributers. Their compound is at the intersection of Burgundy & Pauline Streets. From 6 to 9pm.
After you’ve made your complete tour of the 6 to 9 gallery spaces, stop by the Skull Club, at Spain & Rampart, in the Marigny. Doors open at 9pm, for an after show Art Show. Cheap cash bar and DJ included. Some great stuff by local artists. Well, just read the flyer below, and it will all become clear.
As clear as an unmuddied lake.
As an azure sky of deepest summer…
You Are Invited!
Lord David
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Something Beautiful in a World Full of Ugly...
It’s true, New Orleans has many problems. And many critics, including, at times, myself.
There is a tendency to bitch about the bad, because, well, it’s bad, and to not talk so much about the many great things that happen here, because, quite honestly, we’re too busy enjoying them. Or at least, I am.
Never in my life, which is a long, varied and checkered marathon of mad experience, have I seen so much music, art & creative spirit spilling over the top in just one place. It’s simply amazing.
In celebration of that, The Skull Club joins the St Claude Art District in the Second Saturday of the Month Gallery Shows, with a Reception, this Saturday Night (May 9th) from 9:00pm until Midnight (at least) after the others have closed down.
Please come join us for a few cocktails (cash donation bar) and unwind among other creative minds, surrounded by the works of local artists. They may be sitting right next to you, for that matter. It happens. A lot.
While many great American cities host galleries and art shows, music and theater, New Orleans is unique in that the writers, performers, artists and actors are among us, all the time. The line between creativity and existence here is long gone. Each and every one of us is part of the endless pagent that is New Orleans, perhaps the Greatest Show On Earth. How can you not love it?
I hope to see you there.
Your invitation follows.
Lord David
Skull Club
New Orleans
Click on image to enlarge.
There is a tendency to bitch about the bad, because, well, it’s bad, and to not talk so much about the many great things that happen here, because, quite honestly, we’re too busy enjoying them. Or at least, I am.
Never in my life, which is a long, varied and checkered marathon of mad experience, have I seen so much music, art & creative spirit spilling over the top in just one place. It’s simply amazing.
In celebration of that, The Skull Club joins the St Claude Art District in the Second Saturday of the Month Gallery Shows, with a Reception, this Saturday Night (May 9th) from 9:00pm until Midnight (at least) after the others have closed down.
Please come join us for a few cocktails (cash donation bar) and unwind among other creative minds, surrounded by the works of local artists. They may be sitting right next to you, for that matter. It happens. A lot.
While many great American cities host galleries and art shows, music and theater, New Orleans is unique in that the writers, performers, artists and actors are among us, all the time. The line between creativity and existence here is long gone. Each and every one of us is part of the endless pagent that is New Orleans, perhaps the Greatest Show On Earth. How can you not love it?
I hope to see you there.
Your invitation follows.
Lord David
Skull Club
New Orleans
Click on image to enlarge.
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