Inspired by So Many Scintillating Things

May 27, 2012May 27, 20121 Comment

Lordflea and her consort, Carter

I’m reading my first graphic novel: “Are You My Mother?” by Alison Bechdel and suddenly I’m wondering if I could do something as insightful, as complex, as detailed, as … fun! … as this “Comic Drama.” I think I’ll try. It may take me years, but I think I’ll give it a go.

Today the sky is filled with the offshore winds of tropical storm Beryl … and this too, the weather, fills me with the kind of excitement that makes me want to communicate how exciting life is, how many varied flavors of enjoyment we can share, together.

The Charter for Compassion has become a focus of my long-held desires to put my artistic and spiritual overflow of energy toward something concretely useful, and applicable to social change. If you haven’t already, please commit to the Charter for Compassion (commit means you “sign” it electronically and this asserts you are conscious of wanting the entire world to bridge differences, and each of us live from the aspect of being humanly compassionate toward each other, ending differences brought about by nationality, race, religion, politics, etc.).

Art give me goosebumps, it can open the gateway from this world of nuts and bolts into the realm of the mystic and sublime. Here’s the latest discovery that thrills me: the Australian musician Gotye, who combines unique visuals and videos with his Sting-like voice and sensitive emotings. Check him out here: Gotye’s cool arty video I’ve watched this video at least 5 times since discovering it just last night. Gotye was introduced to me via a re-run of Saturday Night Live last night where they did a parody-skit on this particular video. I’m a little slow on the uptake, folks … but wow, I gotcha gotya Gotye! I’m a fan now.

Yoga … ah, how I love doing, sharing, talking about, practicing, exploring, benefiting from, and being grateful that I discovered yoga at an early age. Studying the philosophy has opened my world to mysteries that i thought only belonged to my youthful dreams–but they’re real. The real world, to a yogi and yogini (like me) is the connection with the Inner Self. What else is there? At the moment when everything else dissolves, only the connection to Truth and Love is what counts. Chanting is one of my favorite practices. I do hatha yoga (the physical poses) most days. I try to practice household yoga, which means that i consider my home my temple and respect all people as I would like them to respect me.

Dance: moving the body to rhythms both inner and outer, these are delights of a healthy life. Enjoying others on stage performing structured dance is like watching people erect great architecture–it’s overwhelming in scope and talent, and only a few can do what they do. Aren’t we lucky to have so many diversified people on this glorious planet of ours?

Nature, my great Teacher. The Mother of us all. Whoever says that Nature and God are two different things don’t understand the depth some of us understand the power of Nature. Nature is the seen and felt expression of that which cannot be understood by any other resource but the inner perceptions. And all us humans have been given the gifts to understand Nature. Some of us have a more difficult time with abstract expressions of the Divine, certain forms of God Consciousness that are written about in sacred books. But Nature—ah, now this is something we can observe, merge with, and feel deeply in every pore of our being. There is no difference between God and Nature.

Just a few random thoughts to share with you today, my dear friends.

Your pal sending Love and Light to your heart, from mine,

Lordflea

blessings on our new president!

November 4, 2008November 4, 20081 Comment

hi friends,

no matter how each of us votes today, i pray Great Spirit will guide the best choice (along with each and every one of us…all a part of Great Spirit, too!) to make the best candidate win the necessary votes.

politics on turtle island

who am i voting for? well, that’s an interesting question. but fortunately for YOU this is not a political discussion, here on lordflea’s blog. so…i’ll save that for my book. have a joyous day, and please VOTE!!! your choice should be heard now…because whomever is chosen, and i mean WHO-EVER!!! let’s come together as a nation, as a family of humanity, and heal. let’s stop the whining, the blaming, and the anger, and let’s get busy and heal ourselves.

in the Light, lord flea singing the song of Turtle Island politics,

“politics is poison,” says my hopi friend, Bucky. “nah,” says i, “it just be a dance, and you must move in it to feel the beat.”

VOTE!!! anyone who doesn’t vote is … well, this isn’t a political blog, remember? yahhhhhhh. ahhhhh-men, and ahhhhhhh-women too!

jaZZ and raZ-a-ma-taZZ, TIA-style

October 7, 2008October 7, 2008Leave a comment

friends,

last weekend i attended the savannah jazz festival up in savannah, to honor and support our good friend and world renown congo player, mr. Big Black.

in case you’re wondering, Big Black is very big, and yes, he’s very black.

big black calming for the storm ahead, on his congas

Black, as he’s known to his friends, has played with most of the “old guard” jazz greats, including Miles, Dizzy, and my personal favorite keyboard artist, McCoy Tyner. Black’s brother, an eclectic musician (gone for some years now) named Fish Ray, who played a home-made instrument that looked like a cross between a tin washtub and a broomstick-neck bass fiddle, which he jubilantly played with the original Lord Flea’s band, back in the day when calypso was the true voice of the people. the people i’m speaking of were mostly island-types, but also from all other walks of life (and all races) where, just as today, movement and dance are just as integral with human expression as the sound of instruments, including the soulful one of the human voice, singing the joys of life, as well as its pains. yet when Lord Flea chose to sing about the pain of life, he sang with great joy, still.

the dance and the sound of life's celebration...carnival!

the sound of life's joy, life's gratitude...life's dance

Big Black is practically the only one left of that era, when Lord Flea rocked people’s hearts, and Fish Ray made everyone want to jump up and shout, and Big and Fish’s sister, Becka, that gorgeous nubian princess, caused a sensation with her rendition of the “sand dance,” an erotic slice of rhythm and physical stamina performed, on a patch of sand placed on a shiny stage, to the blood-current-tingling sounds of Lord Flea’s calypso band.

check out you tube’s Lord Flea clip. you’ll know what i mean when you see it. the early ones who knew that music was to celebrate the spirit, and uplift the soul.

we're all in it, whether we know IT or not, so enjoy!

the dance of life: we

black invited us to come and help him celebrate being inducted into the jazz All-Stars, the veritable Hall of Fame for the greats, featured at the savannah jazz festival. we enjoyed hearing him and all the All Stars Band play, and all the other fabulous musicians, including the jazz band of the university of florida, and simone, nina simone’s sensational daughter (oooh, love those neat coppery coily-dreads!), whose lusty voice was strong and will be heard a lot more, i dare say.

jazz festival attendee...with lots of interesting features

meanwhile, back at the flea ranch, mom has suffered a slight set-back. i’ve been busy rushing back and forth to doctor and hospital, and we finally determined she’s had a TIA, a transcient ischemic attack, which is sort of like a “mini stroke” but much less severe than that implies. all of a sudden she couldn’t finish her sentences, was confused, and grew increasingly scared about what was happening to her. terror set in when she tried to pay her bills and numbers just swam in front of her eyes.

the life of the party at her surprise 90th, mom just two weeks ago

life can change…for all of us…in just the blink of an eye.

mom is fine now, thanks, but … she’s been given a clear warning sign from the Great Beyond, that she has to make some major changes (diet, exercise, mindfulness, calming herSelf into let-go-let-God-ness) if she wants to live to her 91st birthday. which we’re all sure she will.

she’s a strong, incredibly self-reliant person, and i’m very sure i wouldn’t be half the artist, writer, and spiritual warrior that i am today, if i hadn’t been raised by this particularly unique, lithuanian-descent woman (well versed in all the pagan-catholic fairytales that that culture embraces)–my mom. i don’t want to lose her, now that i’ve finally found, and accepted her.

thanks, mom. it’s a pleasure and a delight to be able to give you some loving support in your time of need. for years, i couldn’t. now i’m strong enough, well enough, and self-reliant enough, like you, to pay back just a small portion of what you’ve given me all these years. i love you and i accept that i had to be raised by someone so different from me, in order for me to find out who i really was.