The impulse to art is
a universal attribute of intelligence...and the most enduring human value of
all is the tendency toward artistic expression. Artistic expression is
intrinsic to human intelligence…" Jose Arguelles,
GALACTIC TIME
Millennial Thing revisited
2012 seemed far off at the time I wrote and recorded Millennial Thing.
It's gratifying that the music and message of Millennial
Thing is as relevant
now as it was when it was created and recorded with a solid blues backup band and
production team who had the vision to offer up a timeless
roots-rock-Americana feel that will hold up for years without being "dated."
It's receiving airplay that earns me royalties, and I'm blessed to have new
fans discovering and wanting to hear and purchase the music. Thank you!
So, the "End of the World" on 12/21/2012 has come and
gone. The ancient Mayan Calendar captured our mass-
pop-culture-imaginations, and with all the mounting
"apocalyptic" tension in world affairs since the 1940s, and weapons of mass
destruction to make it possible - along with the USAs unprecedented
polarized political climate since the Civil War of mid 1800s --
it certainly gave pause to consider the unthinkable.
Galactic Time
I was hanging with the hippies (brings to
mind my favorite Dixie Chic song) when I was introduced to the
Mayan Calendar and delved into a course of study, which was the inspiration for a number of songs and title of this CD.
I came under the tutelage of "Starroot", a beautiful German-born world-folk
artist who started an artists' community in Floyd, VA, near where I lived at
the time. (One of her "day jobs" was playing the accordian in traditional German
costume at festivals and conventions in the
nearby city of Roanoke where I lived at the time). She and her husband Sparky
(short for "Starsparks")
were students and personal friends of Jose Argulles, an anthropologist and
author who decoded the Mayan Calendar (which I understand there's been some
controversy over, but that's another story which I don't really know).
As of today, all I learned about the Mayan Calender I've mostly
forgotten, and my fascination with things "Galactic" is satiated by having
watched back to back episodes of STAR TREK (I'm a late-bloomer Trekky
- "Make it so, #1"), other newer sci-fi series like STARGATE,
FARSCAPE, and scientific shows like Carl Sagan reruns of COSMOS,
Steven Hawkings series; and, I confess, UFO documentaries.
(If they're on Netflix I've seen them all!)
To me, the End of Time is the official start of a new era of human
evolution. A wonderful documentary series called, ZEITGEIST
(thank you Netflix) offers a vision of where we're
headed (and what it is we're "coming out of").
Below is a poem/song lyrics which I found recently going through
files written during my Mayan Calendar days, and gives a little history
lesson of time (per Jose Argueles).
And, in the spirit of "Zeitgeist". I dedicate this poem to
Galactic warriors and peace-keepers everywhere:
THE STORY OF TIME
Time was never on our side
because it's running out, you see
We've been hypnotized and mechanized
Locked in apocalyptic history
The people never question
They buy into the lie
that time is money, security, a pension
by punchin' a clock and countin' time
AND WHAT WAS ONCE SALVATION
HAS FALLEN OUT OF GRACE
A WORLD OF MECHANIZED SLAVE NATIONS
TO AN ARTIFICIAL 12-60 TIME OUT OF PLACE
The clock began in Babylon
into Rome, then Pope Gregory
said an hour was 60-minutes
for the rest of eternity
And the money barons liked it
And all the kings agreed
the new clock ensured their righteousness
and solidified their greed
AND WHAT WAS ONCE SALVATION
HAS FALLEN OUT OF GRACE
A WORLD OF MECHANIZED SLAVE NATIONS
TO AN ARTIFICIAL 12-60 TIME OUT OF PLACE
But their clock didn't follow reason
of the biological flow
of the 13 lunar seasons
and the cycle of galactic tones
Instead it bred nationalism
and a war economy
where democracy's an illusion
for what's been called equality
But there were Galactic time keepers
known as the Mayan Race
who were branded as heathens
by the soldiers and the priests
The people of learning were put to death
and the Mayan libraries burned
but the temple stones still hold the glyphs
so that to Galactic time we can return
And the stones will not be silenced
what greed did not erase
and the Earth will rise triumphant
out of artificial 12-60 time out of place
AND WHAT WAS ONCE SALVATION
HAS FALLEN OUT OF GRACE
A WORLD OF MECHANIZED SLAVE NATIONS
TO AN ARTIFICIAL 12-60 TIME OUT OF PLACE
(The music for this if forgotten, but probably in a box
on a cassette tape somewhere. Perhaps it'll turn up one of these
days).
