The Bible and Culture Help Everyone

This is a culture and a thinking it all out blog. Sometimes, I wonder what all this culture and education and all the other things I have experienced...well, what do they all mean? Here in my part of Georgia we had rugged weather last evening. I got shook. When the gigantic winds and storms come it makes a soul mighty jumpy. But in the midst of all this it came to me that the experiences I got in my being sure helped me. I know that my religion and my having good literature teachers and history teachers and certainly arts teachers...well all those blessings are so helpful. This is especially true when you are so scared of oncoming tornado stuff and brutal, high-speed straight-line winds. I know that having a lot of passion in my inner soul truly makes me feel better. Having read the skillful and powerhouse writers like Norman Mailer and Philip Roth produced marvelous feelings in me and therefore I was able to deal with the wild parts of life. Also, lately I have read The Bible more and more. And especially beautiful and meaningful in turbulent times is just the act of sitting down and reading The Book of Proverbs. I am so thankful that today....Saturday...is a magnificent and tremendously beautiful day.

Losing Boredom's Shackles

Boredom is a petty ugly thing. The slime of being bored has stuck in me for a long time but when I was quite young and in the mish-mash of being a student the mood of the bored was a hard essence to shake. One thing helped, however. When I was an adolescent I discovered the engaging and remarkable novels of the wily Norman Mailer. I recall reading the bizarre and super-modern novel, 'The Deer Park' by Mailer. It got me all excited because I had never read a man whose words just leapt off the page. The same mood of raw joy struck when I read 'Portnoy' by Philip Roth. It is absurd how some of my so-called friends put me down for liking Norman Mailer and the intense music of Mahler. I find that when we make a good discovery that is pleasing to us then it is best to just leap on the bull, ride it and try hard to have a nice life. It is obvious to me that kind of thinking makes a lot of sense. I tire of all the sophomoric and vapid prattle that has been poured into my head by all the pseudo-minds that I have come across. So let us have our Norman Mailers and Philip Roths. Let's have a dash of meaning and not a swamp of meaningless intellectual garbage to trudge through.

Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Mr. Roth

So many memories do I have when it comes to the sometimes confusing instrument that is the saxophone. When I was a real young guy I started trying to learn how to play that pesky nemesis that is the saxophone, but like a truly brash kid I opted for the tenor saxophone also telling myself I liked the tenor's big sound. I worked and worked but I had a dickens of a time trying to learn all the fingerings and most of all I had a teacher who believed in pounding into folks the importance of tone. I worked and huffed and prayed and moaned and then tried harder and harder. Finally I started to get the hang of it and started playing in a group with some friends on guitar and a mighty fine drummer guy who was one year older than me. Man, he could really kick it on those skins. Well, what I am leading up to is the fact I have a passionate respect for the really boss great tenor s. men like Sonny Rollins and the man of such fantastic jazz soul the one and only John Coltrane. When an individual listens to the super guys, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane it is a magnificent total joy. Today yours truly listened to a vivid sparkling Sonny Rollins rendition of the superior jazz tune, 'St. Thomas.' I just totally love the composition, 'St. Thomas' cause it has such a magnificent kickin' good feeling to it. On this Rollins workout there was also the fascinating keyboard work of the man of deep poignancy, Tommy Flanagan and there was also the tasteful but certainly appropriately feisty work of the sensational Max Roach on drums. What a fine super Friday this is everyone. When I get back to the great gigantic jazz sounds of the tenor saxophone then I feel the same way as when I read a multi-layered work by the brilliant Mr. Philip Roth. Magnificent that is Philip Roth. Saxophones and Roth...what a wonderful world this is as Louis A. used to say.