From the Sun. . .

. . . Ra organization

(from wikipedia.com)
Marshall Belford Allen (born May 25, 1924) is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EVI (an electronic valve instrument made by Steiner, Crumar company).

Allen is best known for his work with eccentric keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra, having recorded and performed mostly in this context since the late 1950s, and having led Sun Ra's Arkestra since 1993. Critic Jason Ankeny describes Marshall as "one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era."

He is best known for his mastery of pyrotechnic effects on the alto - he has said that he "wanted to play on a broader sound basis rather than on chords" (1971 interview with Tam Fiofori cited in[3]). The opportunity came through his long association with Sun Ra, with whom he performed almost exclusively from 1958 to Ra's death in 1993, although he did record outside the Arkestra, notably with Paul Bley's group in 1964 and with Olatunji's group during the mid-1960s. Critic Scott Yanow has described Allen's playing as "Johnny Hodges from another dimension".

Since the departure of Sun Ra and John Gilmore, Allen has led the Arkestra, and has recorded two albums as their bandleader. In May 2004, Allen celebrated his 80th birthday on stage with the Arkestra, as part of their performance at the Ninth Vision Festival in New York City. Allen gave another performance on his birthday in 2008 at Sullivan Hall in New York City.

Allen often appears in NYC-area collaborations with bassist Henry Grimes and has also participated in the "Outerzone Orchestra" together with Francisco Mora Catlett, Carl Craig and others in an appreciation of Sun Ra's music.

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Good Grief! ! ! . . .

. . . Charlie Brown. . .

(from http://www.newser.com/story/158804/up-for-auction-charles-schulzs-forbidden-love-letters.html The Associated Press)
'. . . The late Peanuts creator Charles Schulz was once so infatuated with a young woman 23 years his junior he sent her dozens of romantic letters and drawings of his beloved cartoon characters. Many of the themes of that correspondence made it into his daily comic strips at the time, and now those love notes from 1970-1971 are being offered for sale at Sotheby's in New York by the family of Tracey Claudius, who the auction house says is ill at her home near Philadelphia. It's estimated the notes will fetch $250,000 to $350,000 at the Dec. 14 auction. Claudius met the cartoonist on March 16, 1970, while accompanying a friend on an interview assignment, ostensibly as a photographer but really for a chance to meet her idol. She was 25. The married Schulz was 48. There are 44 letters totaling 56 pages, including 22 original drawings of some of the characters, primarily Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Lucy. Many are signed "Sparky," a Schulz nickname. Sotheby's says it the most significant collection of correspondence and drawings by Schulz to come to auction. . . "

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Dust. . .

. . . and gas (yes, water too). . . that's what they're made of. . .

. . . that come once a year, quite a show of fireworks when you're there to see them. . . shooting stars fantastically glow. . . all too soon, no one can say where they are or gone to . . . back on earth, we average reside. . . most of us will never know such adoration. . . so I go my ordinary way, do my job and feed my kids in this world and wonder. . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . why all the fascination?

Fabulous, they'll take your breath away. . . they will dazzle with their style and their savoir faire. . .  improvise, they make their own rules. . . all the cattle follow close behind from the pasture. . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . why all the fascination?

Why couldn't I be one among these many millions?. . .why can't someone see my astrological worth?. . . what causes the sea of heavenly bodies to glow like they do; show off so brightly for me and you? . . . sooner or later they burn themselves out but oh, so beautifully. . . beautifully.

Meteors have nothing to fear. . . from their distant firmament, they shine for the masses. . . safe above, removed from earthly life, from uncertainty that lines the cloth of our mortal existence. . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . dust and gas, that's what they're made of. . . why all the fascination?


Meteors
from For The Ride
© 2008 Raymond M. Jozwiak





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Whew! ! ! . . .

 (from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/newly-discovered-small-asteroid-just-misses-colliding-with-earth-next-up-is-much-bigger-121212-asteroid/2012/12/11/51048aae-43a4-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_blog.html By Steve Tracton)
". . . (The) 4179 Toutatis asteroid (is) expected to pass within 4 million miles of Earth. As the author of this story puts it, “On the scale of the cosmos, that is a very close shave.”

But if you think that’s too close for comfort, how about an asteroid passing within just 140,000 miles (only 60% of the distance between the Earth and moon) of our planet? Guess what?... already happened earlier this morning.

Discovered only two days ago, XE54 came about as close to crashing into Earth as an asteroid can without actually doing so - close enough to be “eclipsed by Earth’s shadow, causing its shadow to ‘wink out’ for a short time,” according to Universe Today.

With a diameter of just 72-160 feet, XE54 is a far cry from the over six-mile wide asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs (and about 50% of all life’s species) 65 million years ago. But, while it’s possible an asteroid of this size would produce nothing more than a brilliant fireball as it disintegrated after entering the atmosphere, a direct hit by remaining rock chunks on a populated region could be disastrous.

Believe it or not, a surprise near miss of this sort is not especially unusual. In June 2011, an steroid estimated about 30 feet in size (“2011 MD”) passed by Earth and missed a direct hit by only 7,500 miles. An even closer encounter occurred earlier in 2011 when another small asteroid missed Earth by just 3,400 miles.

Asteroids coming this close cross through the zone of geosynchronous satellites (such as the GOES series). The chances of an asteroid-satellite collision are extremely small, though not zero.

Small asteroids such as these are difficult to discover, usually detected within a week of their closest encounter, and that’s much too little time to do anything but issue a warning about the likely locations of impact. In most, but not all cases, impacts would focus on oceans or relatively unpopulated regions.

Fortunately, asteroid strikes by ones of the size that wiped out dinosaurs are few and far between. An impact with more common intermediate-sized asteroids - dimensions larger than about 500 feet – would explode with the power of a large atomic bomb. However, large and intermediate-sized asteroids can be detected and tracked years before any close encounter with Earth. . . "

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Old. . .

. . . but worth reflection . . .

(from The Nation, Ryan Devereaux, September 29, 2010. . . )

". . . As a candidate, Barack Obama opposed the Bush administration’s embrace of the state secrets privilege as tactic for deflecting litigation as part of his argument for greater transparency in Washington. He maintained the position, at least rhetorically, following his election. In a memo discussing the Freedom of Information Act in February 2009 the president wrote, “A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency.”

In an 18-month review of President Obama’s record on human rights, national security and civil liberties entitled “TheNewNormal,” Jaffer and Wizner praise the early accomplishments of the administration—including its release of crucial information regarding the Bush administration’s torture regime—but they also warn of a potential pitfall on the horizon. “There is a very real danger that the Obama administration will enshrine permanently within the law policies and practices that were widely considered extreme and unlawful during the Bush administration. There is a real danger, in other words, that the Obama administration will preside over the creation of a ‘new normal.’”

The Obama administration has invoked the state secrets privilege for the second time in less than a month—most recently in an effort to shut down discussion on the targeted killing of a US civilian who has not been charged of any crime—the new normal may have just arrived. . . "

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Who. . .

. . . is the asshole????

Visiting a local vineyard/winery this weekend which presented a show by a local Shakespeare repertory company (The Shakespeare Factory-  a professional non-union ensemble company who employ the staging conditions of Shakespeare’s time as closely as possible for each production- see http://theshakespearefactory.com/).  Wine tastings were offered as well as stews and artisan bread to enhance the 'period' atmosphere.  I was 'tasting' the wines with the three, lovely ladies accompanying me for the production at one of the two, heavily attended tasting stations and attempting to allow the limited staff to attend to the willing tasters by grouping ourselves at the corner of the bar, myself at the bar and the others branching outward away from me and the bar and passing four glasses back and forth in attempt to allow the four of us to taste all six wines offered while leaving the remainder of the tasting station free for other tasters. 

In the midst of an extremely enjoyable wine tasting experience (and the wines were quite good too) I noticed a rather sour looking gentleman at the far end of the crowd, the number of which I am not quite certain, who appeared to grow more perturbed as time passed.   

Finally he stepped forward and said to ME, not to the person operating the tasting station,  that 'you have monopolized this tasting' and not allowed others to partake and . . . (not really sure exactly what else he said) but he was clearly unhappy that he had not gotten HIS WINE!  Guess you could say he was whining about his lack of wine.  I responded only by stating the obvious fact that this was a 'wine tasting' and that I and three others were together tasting our allotted six samples of wine.

The obviously conscientious caretaker of the tasting station quickly spoke up and asked the gentleman what he would like and assured him that it would be served forthwith.  The man, still clearly unhappy, took a glass (maybe two, I didn't really pay much attention to the details) and began to depart the station but in his befuddlement about the process of wine tasting and a possible desire to maintain his imaginary upper  hand, he made it a point to mumble unmistakably in my direction. . . "ASSHOLE."

Who do you think was the asshole????. . . . (and do you think this tragic situation left him 'heartbroken'?)

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Slough. . .

. . . coughs as he ploughs the dough?? (Dr. Seuss)
No. . . it's OHO. . .

(from John Bunyan's allegory The Pilgrim's Progress and courtesy of wikipedia.com)
'This miry Slough is such a place as cannot be mended; it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run, and therefore is it called the Slough of Despond: for still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there ariseth in his soul many fears, and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place; and this is the reason of the badness of this ground.'

Slough of Despond  
© Copyright - OHO Music, BMI



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