The State Of The Music Address
Always a way out
more than one key inside you
unlock the goodness
Another night at Ama’s House with the blues jam band and other jammers; another departure feeling dissatisfied with the scene. What started out as a pretty good experience, and a nice (very) little reunion with Jom, another Thai guitar player whom I haven’t seen in over three years, turned into a sloppy, ear busting, blaringly loud guitar duel among the three guitarists, leaving no space at all for the more subtle harp presence, along with the usual drunken participation of some local would be singers.
Storms come and go here
What appears moves through skyspace
Don’t rely on forms!
Add to this the overly serious ambitions of Johnny, the other, Western, guitarist, in the direction of rehearsals and gigs and arrangements and orchestration……….Johnny and I have had our differences in years past, and they haven’t changed. My approach is casual (but not sloppy), pure enjoyment, no rehearsals at all, no ambitions, spontaneous, improvisational, working it out on the spot, practicing in public. Returning after three years and sitting in with Boi and his bass man and drummer without missing a beat, so to speak, speaks to what I find enjoyable about all this.
This morning I Line’d Boi to say I’m not interested in rehearsals and outside gigs and playing at Ama’s House, a venue I’ve now not liked in three or four attempts, and have decided that I’ll come to jam one night a week at Mali Blues, a venue I do like.
At this point in my life I’m not much inclined to invest myself in things that I don’t enjoy, given the choice. If I live long enough I suppose a time will come when there might be any number of things I won’t have a choice about and I won’t enjoy that I’ll need to be involved with, but that time isn’t here yet. And surely……you must agree that it’s surely ?…….accommodating someone else’s agenda that clearly conflicts with my own (that’s not to say there aren’t differences that could be negotiated), cannot even be on a list of considerations.
I have a belief
that your beliefs aren’t valid
let’s meet for coffee
Again, moving forward into an unknown, in process of establishing a new homeostasis, always the dynamism of balance and grace. This must have something to do with the oft suggested strategy of “letting go”. What was is no longer. Flow and movement and change, though not always apparent, though sometimes seeming to have been arrested, are nevertheless always the truth. And what better base to create a life on than that?
(Tilopa was an Indian Mahasiddha yogi of the 11th century, nobly born, monastically/tantrically engaged, earned his post monastic living as a sesame seed pounder, seminal figure in the Karma Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The above pith instructions were, it is said, given to his principal student/disciple Naropa, another seminal figure in the same lineage.)
For the rest of us……..that is, us ordinary householder types, engaged in the world in various ways……..a translation of these essential instructions that is meaningful, and effective, at various stages of worldly life is no doubt needed. Without losing the value, without sacrificing the impact, a richer language, broader contextual references and perhaps a practical application of core truths would be helpful.
Have fun!
No need to resist
Let the divine winds carry you
sacred adventure
