Reflections
The Little Prince
“The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry has been in my top five books since I was roughly the same age as the Prince himself. I have long been an admirer of Saint-Exupéry and have marvelled at the fullness of his brief life. But I discovered many wonderful things that I never knew about him or the background to his writing of that book in the Wikipedia article about it. This is a fine piece about the book — very detailed and inspiring. Follow the link below to read it. I recommend it wholeheartedly to you and hope it will put you on the edge of your seat, in flight, with joyful tears, as much as it did for me…
If you want to know my Heart, look on my Sleeve
THIS IS MY MONTH FOR LAYING EVERYTHING ON THE LINE — for letting it all hang out, holding nothing back, risking the lot, wearing my heart on my sleeve. Life, art, visions, dreams, heart, love, future, everything. Solar and lunar eclipses at new moon and full moon. Sun, new moon and Jupiter in opposition to Neptune in Pisces (my sun-sign). Life-changing stuff. It’s make or break time. Could go either of two ways. I’ve closed doors which needed closing. I’ve opened doors with nothing but a precipice outside. I’ve done my bit. Now it’s up to forces beyond my control. I am calm and inwardly standing to attention. Whichever way it goes, I am ready to act and do what has to be done. I am the Dice Man.
Jealousy is the Tribute to Mediocrity pays to Genius
RECENTLY, SOMEONE WROTE TO ME SLANDERING A FRIEND and working colleague with some very serious accusations but offering no evidence to back them up. I hope I don’t have to tell you that to accept someone’s slander of another human being without any hard evidence is a serious betrayal of their humanity and your relationship with them. People very often slander others for despicable reasons of their own and a little investigation shows that it was all just hot air with no genuine substance. Due diligence and substantiation are the least you can do for someone who has been slandered.
Music is a Beautiful Medicine with Healing Power
I TAKE A VERY DEEP VIEW of music and its workings in this world. That is what I am contemplating in this photograph. I believe that music, in common with other arts (though even more deeply), works on and in people in ways which go far beyond entertainment. As an artist, I am aware of my responsibility in this. (In fact, I wrote a short paper about this whole subject, entitled “Follow your (He)Art“. So when I’m writing a song, I am aware of how it will affect the heart of the listener and also that it will make a measurable difference in the world.
Music is a kind of beautiful medicine with healing power. Thus, I always ask the Muse to work this healing through my music and out into the Universe. Along with all other genuine artists, I am an instrument through which the Muse plays the more hidden aspects of music into the world.
Last Night I found the Girl of my Dreams
LAST NIGHT I found the girl of my dreams. She was smart, svelte, sorted, funny, curious, quirky, unconventional, endlessly interesting, comfortable in her skin, mature but youthful, resourceful, fearless, courageous, faithful, loyal, talented and she played alto viol in a consort of viols. Yes, last night I found the girl of my dreams. Only thing is… it was literally in my dreams! Yet, it was so real. The setting was the late 17th century when I was living as a fugitive poet and had been offered sanctuary in the house of an off-beat nobleman near Pau in France. It was midday and I was shown into a room full of people discussing music prior to an evening of concerts. In the corner by herself, quietly studying drawings of viols in various states of repair and manufacture (I discovered that her father was a luthier) was this girlofmydreams. I was drawn to her like a magnet and, feeling shy, I sat down silently near her. She looked up and I was burnt to a cinder in an instant. That’s the only way I can describe it. Next thing we were lying on the grass outside surrounded by music partitions and talking about everythingunderthesun. It was a conversation that I wanted to last forever. Her smile! Her laugh! Her searing expressions. I had arrived. I was at home. That was where I belong. When I then awoke (due to neighbours moving furniture upstairs at 7am!) it was as if a whole world had been wrenched from me. It was the most vivid dream I have ever had. All day long I have had the mixed feeling of a yearning ache within and a consummate fulfilment. It has all been very strange. And wonderful. The End.
Mercury Retrograde
I LOVE MERCURY RETROGRADES! There. I said it. So here we are again with all the drama from people about how their lives are falling apart and everything is going wrong, simply because it’s another Mercury Retrograde period. This is when — for three weeks, three times per year — Mercury appears to be going backward in the sky from an earthly standpoint. (Currently it is the period from May 19th till June 11th). All over Facebook right now you can see comments like: “OMG!!! When will this retrograde finish! Can it get any worse?” or “Help! Merc Ret! Think I’ll just stay in bed!” To read all these remarks, you would be forgiven for thinking that the entire universe was involved in a conspiracy against humans (and pets, according to some folks!) in order to destroy them each time there is a Mercury Retrograde! Headlines on astrology articles don’t help, such as “How to Survive Mercury Retrogrades”. What in hell is going on? Are we so under threat from the Universe that we have to have some kind of survival plan?!? The question I have to ask is “Why do people zone in only on the potentially negative aspects (and selectively too) of this astrological phenomenon instead of seeking with wisdom the beauty in the event”. Yes! The Beauty of the Mercury Retrograde! For that’s how we should think of it. Now there’s an idea to scupper so much popular thinking on this issue!
What a Difference a Guitar makes!
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A GUITAR MAKES! For as long as I have had a guitar in my hands, I have had a lover. To put it simply, my guitar is my mistress. I use that word not in the sleazy connotation of a man’s extra-marital woman-on-the-side but according to the 6th meaning of “Mistress” given in the Oxford English Dictionary: “A woman, goddess, or thing personified as female that has control over a person or is regarded as a guiding influence”. To say that my guitar is a “guiding influence” in my life is an understatement. When my guitar sounds and feels wonderful in my hands and ears (which can change according to many variables, such as humidity level, the strings used, even the material of which the saddle pins are made, etc.) it makes me feel wonderful too. My guitar is an integral part of, and an extension of, myself. The sounds which come from her vary according to my mood; but her very presence in my life fills a vast hole where there would be one. Just as much as is my body, she is like the Graphical User Interface between my soul and the world. Just as much as in passionate lovemaking, she is a conduit for my soul’s creative expression. With my guitar close at hand, I am never alone. I am fulfilled. (I even have a sneak peek at her each night and sigh with gratitude before I go to bed 
🙂 ).
On the Beauty of having Fun
ON THE BEAUTY OF HAVING FUN. I learn a huge amount from music — not only from composing and performing it but also from listening to it. One of my greatest teachers through listening to music has been the composer, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). From his symphonies (nine completed and one unfinished, in which he proposed to catalogue “the whole of life”) I have learned so much about joy, angst, heartache, irony, ecstasy, tragedy, beauty, hope, horror, love, death, oblivion, life-force, demons and angels — not to mention how much he has taught me about counterpoint, harmony, melody, orchestration and conveying philosophy through music. But there is one of his works which I had, in a sense, avoided throughout the many decades during which I have listened to his music. His 7th Symphony. Decades ago, I had heard some of the last movement and had recoiled at what seemed like the enforced crassness of it. It seemed so uncharacteristic of his depth that I counted it as an aberration in an otherwise amazing repertoire. That is, until I found out a couple of months ago that it was going to be performed by the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra (one of the best in Spain) on June 19th, in a concert hall less than an hour away from where I am living. So, since that discovery, I thought I would revisit this music and see if it had something new to tell me. What a journey that has been!
How to say “Goodbye!” to your self
THREE DAYS AGO, I put one of my poems on here, entitled “Today, I Bid myself Goodbye”. I then received a message saying: “Hey, Alan, are you depressed? Why would you want to say goodbye to yourself. That’s weird”. So I have written this article as a form of reply. Although I am grateful for this guy’s concern, I must say that I am not at all depressed. On the contrary! I can, however, understand why some may be unfamiliar with the idea of saying goodbye to one’s self. So this is a kind of commentary on the poem designed to show what I meant by it.
1. WHAT DOES “SAYING GOODBYE TO YOUR SELF” MEAN?
Firstly, I should say that saying goodbye to your self does *not* mean that there will be no ego whatsoever. One would cease to exist if that occurred! One does actually need some healthy aspects of ego purely in order to survive in this world. Neither is it a reference to any kind of suicide, which some might think on a superficial reading of the title.
Lord Greville protected from Prosecution
The Naked Troubadour 