I thought I'd share some of my music today. The following is an album/playlist that's organically came about over the last year or so. I'm recording music purely as a personal hobby these days. So consequently the songs were just written and recorded loosely in the moment as and when the fancy took me. I'm really pleased with how natural they sound. Though as ever it's hard to judge the value of something you have a personal investment in.
Also, it's reached the point where there are so many articles on this blog that I imagine it's getting increasingly difficult for visitors to find their way around. So I think I'm going to start adding tags to posts so people can view the articles that are more tailored to their specific interest. I was thinking of the following categories;
Conspiracy*
Language
History
Politics
Music
Earth**
Social Commentary
Art
Literature
Science
Maths
Animals
God
Obviously some articles will fall under multiple tags, and some perhaps none at all, but it'll at least allow some type of distinction :)
*I'll probably just be using the term conspiracy as a catch-all to signify anything vaguely in that general area - Altantis, UFOs, etc
**Likewise, earth will be flat earth, ball earth, maps, cosmology and so on and so forth...
This is a theme I first wrote about a very long time ago. I remember reading biographies of John Lennon in my late teens and early twenties and being surprised and delighted to find that he seemed to be interested in many of the esoteric or fortean ideas that I myself was. It shouldn't have been surprising really as alternative ideas permeate the work of the Beatles. Meeting the Maharishi, Aleister Crowley appearing on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's, and so on and so forth.
Anyway, I've been reacquainted with the theme recently simply by virtue of the fact that I've been watching a lot of Beatles documentaries and footage on YouTube. Particularly stuff in regard to John's death. So I thought it would be an interesting topic to readdress. Plus my original articles on the theme aren't up online anymore ( they were pretty awful tbf xD ).
There's a fair bit I have to relay today, so I'll try to keep the writing short and trashy. I'll start with the UFO stuff, which is generally fairly well known. Then finish with the more recent flat earth stuff. Cramming everything else in between the two.
John Lennon and UFOs
Lennon claimed to have actually seen a UFO in New York in the summer of 1974. In the sleeve notes for the album Walls and Bridges he makes reference to it;
"On the 23rd Aug. 1974 at 9 o'clock I saw a UFO J.L."
He also speaks about it in the following radio interview, claiming that it was so close "I could have hit it with a brick if I'd have thrown a stone at it".
(Lennon speaking about the incident)
There are also references to UFOs in some of his songs.
In the song Out The Blue he states;
Like a U.F.O. you came to me
And blew away life's misery
And in the track Nobody Told Me he states;
Everybody's smoking and no one's getting high
Everybody's flying and never touch the sky
There's UFOs over New York and I ain't too surprised
The illusionist Uri Geller also claims that Lennon told him of an actual alien encounter in his Dakota apartment. Where he was accosted by bug-eyed men who gave him a strange metallic egg. An egg which Lennon then gave to Geller.
Now personally I'm of the opinion that Geller is a professional charlatan, so I think the story is completely fraudulent. Even from a credible source though such a story would be difficult to take seriously. Entertaining though nonetheless.
Religion, Esoterica and Other Alternative Ideas
I'll just rattle off some of the other topics Lennon was interested in here.
According to the book Lennon in America: 1971-1980 by Geoffery Giuliano, Lennon went through a Christian phase.
John became convinced he was receiving divine communication from the Lord. He called The 700 Club prayer line on several occasions to seek help for his failing eyesight, troubled marriage, and various addictions. Lennon even recorded a tune that he never especially liked, "Talking with Jesus," and was further inspired to compose several other unrecorded Christian songs, including a musical version of the Lord's Prayer, called simply "Amen."
Of course, it's worth bearing in mind that the book was published after Lennon's death so it's perhaps unfair to simply take all this on face value. Plus Lennon's sense of humour is often misread by people. I would guess that his interest in Christianity was sincere and heartfelt, but that writers such as this tend to bend things towards a less flattering lilt. Listening to Lennon speak he always comes across as brilliantly rational, so such portrayals seem a little misleading to me.
The book also states that Lennon took an interest in the religion of Islam too.
John's latest spiritual diversion was a fascination with Islam. He adopted the Muslim tradition of fasting, glorifying Allah, and constantly thanking him for his many mercies. As usual, his conversion lasted only a few frantic, over-the-top days.
Again this sounds like a misreading of someone taking a genuine interest in something.
Lennon and Yoko also dabbled in astrology and used it to help make predictions about their business ventures. Business ventures that were becoming increasingly serious towards the end of Lennon's life. One wonders what plans they had for the coming years?
Interestingly, Lennon also took part in past-life regression sessions as well. He was supposedly regressed back successfully to some of his earlier lives. Including one where he had lived during the Crusades and another where he had lived as a Neanderthal hunter-gatherer in pre-history. Listening to Lennon speak about this in interviews though it appears it was something he went along with more out of politeness towards the practitioner than through genuine belief.
Lennon also enjoyed occult literature. One of his favourite books concerned the Spear of Destiny - the spear used to pierce the side of Christ at the Crucifixion. Again, from the above Lennon in America book;
..Lennon dove head-long into the wacky world of the occult. One of his favourite paperbacks addressed the Lost Spear of Destiny, the lance allegedly used to pierce the side of Christ at his crucifixion. Always fascinated by religious relics, John called on Green to try to divine the location of this coveted article.
Lennon had visions of playing the adventurer and taking a bus tour of southeastern Europe (thought to be the site of the relic) to search for it. When Green asked what he would do with the spear, John responded that he could do anything in the universe. He'd always had brilliant ideas for action, he said, but only lacked the mystical force necessary to put them into action.
Further evidence for this interest in the esoteric comes in Lennon's song Mind Games where he mentions the Holy Grail;
Some call it magic to search for the grail
Also, in regards conspiracy theories Lennon actually gave money to help fund the radio host Mae Brussell, whose work focused on the JFK assassination among other things. From Wikipedia;
An impressed John Lennon donated money so Krassner could afford to print Mae Brussell's work.
John Lennon and the Flat Earth
The links made online between Lennon and the flat earth all tend to stem from his song Watching the Wheels. It contains the following lines;
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball?
I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go
It doesn't contain a direct reference stating the world is flat, however, it's easy to see why people would interpret it as so - no longer on the ball, no longer riding the merry-go-round. Again though, they're interpretations about a song made after the man's death, so it's maybe unfair to overstate any perceived connection.
Digging further though there are a few more interesting avenues to take this down. Firstly, John Lennon and Yoko Ono actually launched a hot air balloon in 1969. It was for a film tilted Apotheosis - meaning the elevation of someone to divine status. Some of the footage was also used in the video for the song Nobody Told Me. Of course, high altitude balloon footage is now a big feature in the flat earth scene. So it's interesting to speculate as to why Lennon and Yoko were so interested in getting a view from above the clouds.
(Apotheosis - John Lennon and Yoko Ono)
Also, Double Fantasy - the album containing the song Watching the Wheels - was released just three weeks before Lennon's death. In fact, Lennon's killer, Mark Chapman, actually recited lines from the song whilst in custody. Chapman also famously carried a copy of the novel The Catcher in the Rye whilst carrying out the murder. A book that has concurrent themes - such as the carousel which features at the end of the book. The imaginary "catcher" in the book also stops children from falling off the edge of a cliff. Something that perhaps has echoes of people being stopped from falling off the ends of the earth. In fact, the following documentary about Lennon's death is well worth watching in this regard. Though the tone of it seems a little creepy and disturbing.
Also, you could kind of say that the album cover for Season of Glass, Yoko Ono's first album following Lennon's death, has allusions to flat earth. It features the horizon, level water and what I'm guessing are John's blood-spattered glasses.
(Season of Glass - Yoko Ono)
Again though, this is all just idle speculation, and it would only be fair to leave the last words on the topic to Lennon himself. When asked by Rolling Stone magazine what the song Watching the Wheels was about he replied;
The whole universe is a wheel, right? Wheels going round and round. They’re my own wheels, mainly, but, you know, watching meself is like watching everybody else. And I watch meself through my child too.
John Lennon and Yoko Woko
Finally, to round things off, I'll provide a few quotes from one of John Lennon's final interviews. It was conducted by Playboy magazine and shows how truly awake John and Yoko were at the time.
ONO: "It's a hard realization. These days, the society prefers single people. The encouragements are to divorce or separate or be single or gay... whatever. Corporations want singles-- they work harder if they don't have family ties. They don't have to worry about being home in the evenings or on the weekends. There's not much room for emotions about family or personal relationships. You know, the whole thing they say to women approaching 30 that if you don't have a baby in the next few years, you're going to be in trouble, you'll never be a mother, so you'll never be fulfilled in that way and..."
LENNON: "Only Yoko was 73 when she had Sean."
(laughter)
ONO: "So instead of the society discouraging children, since they are important for society, it should encourage them. It's the responsibility of everybody. But it is hard. A woman has to deny what she has, her womb, if she wants to make it. It seems that only the privileged classes can have families. Nowadays, maybe it's only the McCartneys and the Lennons or something."
LENNON: "Everybody else becomes a worker/consumer."
ONO: "And then Big Brother will decide. I hate to use the term Big Brother..."
LENNON: "Too late. They've got it on tape." (laughs)
ONO: "But, finally, the society..."
LENNON: "Big Sister-- wait till she comes!"
ONO: "The society will do away with the roles of men and women. Babies will be born in test tubes and incubators..."
Do you ever get that thing where you think you've invented something new, but then when you search on-line it turns out you haven't? Well, I've just had that experience. I thought I'd coined the term beditation xD - meditating in bed essentially. However, unsurprisingly, after looking it up on the Internet it turns out the term is already in use. On-line it seems to be used to describe meditation practices that help you sleep, or alternatively meditation done whilst lying down. My intention for the term was going to be slightly different though.
I use it to describe my own form of "lazy" meditation involving music. Basically I go to bed for an hour or so, put some music on, and then just relax and let my mind wander as I drift in and out of half-sleep. I'm sure other people do this too. Normally I'll put on some experimental music, like the Binaural Beats I mentioned in my last post, or something a little more atmospheric. I really like Kid A by Radiohead for doing this actually. It depends on my mood though. I usually do this beditation in the evening time, when it's too early to go to bed properly, but late enough that I'm too tired to be bothered doing anything else.
I do sometimes do traditional meditation and other more meditative things like Yoga, and can really see the benefit of them, however I don't have the discipline to make them a regular thing. Plus it's not really suited to the British climate, especially at this time of the year. It's one thing relaxing in silence with your eyes closed on a beautiful summers day, but when you're in a wintry Middlesbrough with cold feet and very little daylight coming in through the window it isn't as attractive. Why can't you meditate snuggled up in a duvet? Does everything have to be such hard work? I'm sure there's a lazier way to relieve stress and find enlightenment.
Listening to music whilst relaxing and falling in and out of sleep is something I find particularly enjoyable. Just as your mind relaxes and wanders more freely when you're walking or travelling than it does when you're sitting or standing still it's similar with music. The changing audioscape created by the music is like the changing landscape of a journey. It helps your mind wander and go to new places.
I think I've mentioned this on-line somewhere before, that I've always been interested in the concept of hibernation. We know that some other animals dream just like we do. I wonder do bears dream? Do they dream when they hibernate? It's weird that we spend 8 hours a day sleeping and dreaming. Imagine an entire winter of it. It would be like a spiritual journey into another world.
It's a shame the term beditation is already in use really. Maybe I should just steal it anyway, as I can see my version of it taking off. I can imagine celebrity lifestyle gurus and women's magazines recommending it as the latest health fad in 12 months time or so xD complete with advice about what music to use and which stylish onesies to wear. Maybe I should start selling bear onesies to go with the Northern Lights hibernation theme?
I guess beditation will also be good practice for when I eventually go to Antarctica and have to endure the wintry nights there as well ;)
Thought I'd mention my music/band on here today. I haven't mentioned it before and felt it was time to give it a little airtime. It's going pretty well, but as ever with new bands and music it's a little bit lost in the internet wilderness, struggling for light. So much so that I'm sharing it on a blog that's also struggling for light xD
It at least gives me a chance to explain the band name though. I haven't explained it to people in 'real-life' yet as it seems a little bit off-piste for them. I generally just say "oh, it's just a word we've made up".
The original name was going to be The Tudor Princes - after 'Prince Tudor theory', a theory that holds that Queen Elizabeth the First actually produced children. I was reading a lot about this at the time. However, I got bored with that so it morphed into The Tudahs. The Tudor Princes also sounded a little bit highbrow for an indie band from Teesside.
Of course, on this blog I've mentioned the word Tudor before, and how it's cognate with words like Dieu, Jew, Judah, Teuton (as in Teutonic), Tiw (the god that gives us the name Tues-day), Theo (meaning godly), and even possibly the words David and Druid. They all vaguely mean God or godly, so I guess we're trying to tap into some sense of godly power or royal greatness. The music's a bit more down to earth though I guess.
Of late I've been interested in scales and tuning, and have been reading a lot about the virtues of tuning to 432Hz. The modern convention is to tune A (A4) to 440Hz, but apparently 432Hz has a more natural (or supernatural) feel to it. There are plenty of theories and conspiracy theories out there in Internet-land explaining why this is so. It's the X-Files of tuning.
(The Lute Player - Caravaggio)
Anyway, I was wanting to tune my guitar to 432Hz, but wasn't quite sure how to do it. I think I've cracked it now though (however, if anyone knows better and can put me straight I'd appreciate it). I've done it using this frequencies table I found online;
[You can actually buy tuners that allow you to tune to 432hz, for example the Korg CA-1, which is what I currently use - much easier than all this faffing about :) ~~ Neil, 2018 ]
I should also point out that even though this tuning is 432Hz, it still uses Equal Temperament spacing. There's a whole other argument out there about Equal Temperament vs Just tuning, etc.
I've recently finished reading Music and Its Secret Influence: Throughout the Ages by the composer Cyril Scott. Great book, first published in 1933 and then re-published in updated form in 1958 (Scott was born in 1879 and died in 1970). The basic premise of it is that throughout history cultures have been esoterically shaped by music - or perhaps more accurately that a nations culture is a reflection of the music it is previously exposed to, rather than its music simply being a reflection of its current culture.
So, for example, he states that the mathematical beauty of Bach paved the way for a more reasoned age, whereas the emotional tones of Beethoven inspired an age where man had the ability to feel sympathy for others - eventually leading to Psychoanalysis among other things. In particular he states that England's Victorian values were directly inspired by the English obsession with Handel. The effects of Wagner on Germanic nationalism is likewise elucidated.
All this influence has a semi-supernatural undertone and is amplified by Scott's belief in the hidden masters that have secretly been guiding, and continue to guide humanity's development. In fact, Scott himself claims that he has been in contact with one of these masters, named Koot Hoomi, and that it was this master that suggested to him that he write this very book. The Theosophical influence is quite apparent throughout.
Although some of his beliefs seem quite out-there Scott is very erudite throughout the book and his commentary on the creative process is quite accurate;
One may even measure the greatness of a composer by his capacity for being dissatisfied, for example, with the familiar. Mediocre composers are satisfied with second-hand ideas, great composers are only satisfied with first-hand ideas, and their consistent greatness is partly dependent on their patience in striving to obtain those ideas. To say that genius is the infinite capacity for taking pains is therefore to state only the second half of the truth, the first half being that genius is the infinite capacity for feeling dissatisfied.
I liked this. It reminded me of John Lennon's statement that once you find the formula you've got to rip it up and start again. Or as I would put it - smart people get bored quickly.
I've never been a massive fan of classical music so I had no idea about Cyril Scott's music. However, when I started reading the book I thought I'd check it out and was pretty impressed. It sounds very modern and otherworldly, you can tell he's on the cusp of a new age - maybe he did help bring in the modern musical tide.
In fact, I ended up using the book as a crash course on classical music, listening to the various composers as I went through the chapters. It probably says something about me that I can only listen to classical music if it's washed down with a healthy dose of the esoteric and supernatural. On a side note, I listened to all the music on YouTube - the juxtaposition of YouTube with classical music buffs creates quite a strange world. One I never thought I'd ever enter. Needless to say the comments sections were quite amusing.
I'll just mention a few bits n pieces from the book that caught my attention now. For one thing he mentions that pins and needles is essentially an out-of-body experience for the body part affected - if your arm goes to sleep, the sensation/spirit has been squeezed out and the pins and needles feeling comes when it's reabsorbed. Think about that next time you have pins and needles. He also states that it was music (used to destructive effect) that wrecked Atlantis. Also, as the book was written a good many years ago the word 'gay' is frequently used in its old fashioned sense. Whenever it popped up it made me laugh a little bit - because I'm an idiot.
Finally got some music on iTunes, Amazon, etc. I uploaded a best of (the arrogance of it).
[Dead links now - the album was only available to buy for that single year due to lack of demand :( - - It can all be found and freely downloaded below though :) -- Neil, 2018. - - - - > > > https://soundcloud.com/the-roseberries ]
For the album artwork I used an old Roseberries collage;
1. I Don’t Want To Go To School
2. She Came From Somewhere Far Away
3. What She Sees In Him
4. La Vigne du Rose
5. It’s All Going Under
6. Fall To Pieces
7. Arcadia
8. Something in the Way
9. A Thousand Ways
10. And She Won’t Wait For You
1. Mary Lucifer’s Dead
2. Fortune Teller
3. The Stars Are Outside
4. Dizzy and Wild
5. Frogs Fall From The Sky
6. Hypatia
7. Strange Stories
8. Satellite of the Moon
I've just made a simple video for the song 'The Last Piece,' from the last Roseberries album, 'Breaking Branch.' I used some of the artwork I did to accompany the album to make it.
I also did a video (if you can call it that) for the track 'Apple on the Carpet,' but this video is just a single image on the screen with the track playing in the background. I've gave this treatment to a couple of other songs ('Mary Lucifer's Dead' and 'Fortune Teller'), not for any real artistic purpose, but more with a view to making more of the Roseberries music available on YouTube. As it seems more and more people (myself included) are searching for music on the site - I think this is because MySpace has went downhill and Facebook isn't that great for bands.
I've finally finished recording the third Roseberries album, 'Breaking Branch.'
The track listing is as follows:
1. You Used To Be Young
2. Millionaires
3. The Last Piece
4. Rotting Away
5. I Don't Wanna Kill Animals Anymore
6. Apple on the Carpet
7. Devil Come
8. On The River
9. Tendency
