Missing link 1: The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves by Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams (1998) - https://amzn.to/3ZRTI94
Yes! More local troubadours and serendipitous back-ally serenaders please! So damn grateful for your posts Jay, especially the Pran Nath drop. Such a breath of fresh air.
I wonder if larger scale human gatherings can ever truly be symbiotic with a healthy intact wilderness. It seems all one can do is try to minimize damage done. Even the most well meaning gatherings still disturb animal behavior, trample wildflowers etc. In Utah we still have vast stretches of cryptobiotic soil destroyed from a peaceful Rainbow Gathering from over 20 years ago...
And yet, it is in our true nature as humans to need this ancient connection of wilderness/music/art/ceremony. To me, re-wilding our own neighborhoods still feels like the safest bet for sustainable mass spectacles to coexist with nature. I still remember watching an arthur blog post with No Age at the LA river restoration gig. I don’t really recall if it was strict “leave no trace” affair or not, but I still feel we desperately need more of those kind of primal, communal interactions in the wild, minus the cops.
Oct 11, 2023·edited Oct 11, 2023Liked by Jay Babcock
There was a real-deal jazz saxophone player (I wish I could remember his name) who used to practice at night in a parking garage in downtown Sacramento. It was wonderful. The acoustics were great and the sound carried for a few blocks. If you were out and about near the area when he was playing it was like being in your own private film-noir movie.
Also, I agree. If animals dig your music you've got it made in the shade. I used to strum gentle cowboy chords on my guitar for some horses across the fence-line from my house where I grew up. They would always come over to the fence line and graze contentedly whenever I played. It made me feel good. I like to think it made them feel good. Makes me want to go back and do it again.
Thanks Brian. I think I knew about that doc but haven't seen it... I guess it's like I wrote, the romance of this stuff is gone for me after living in JT for all those years. I see a quad racing across open desert and I feel sick/angry, y'know?
I can understand…easier for me as a kid in Ontario Canada romanticizing about that scene, but the toxicity filtered through friends that’d interacted with at least one of the most well known members.
This goes on my top ten list of beautiful substack posts (full disclosure: I created the list just so I could put it there). Next, I'm going to build a fire under my own substack, The Familographer, and become a paid subscriber to Landline, because it's so full of the kind of ideas and words and descriptions of others whom I love, myself. Thanks, Jay
That Harvey Dickson piece in the NYTmag brought me here to say that most of what's great that's happening in local New York music at the moment has its roots with people playing music on the city streets and parks during lockdown. Especially once the BLM protests began. So much improvised music, musicians finding each other, DJs with small portable soundsystems, audiences both invited via social media and passers-by. And some of that energy continues both in that context, and in the community clubs.
It just proves that it is all about getting off-line and having those real-life, organic interactions and community isn't it? The internet is death--just a simulacrum of life.
Missing link 2: Desolation Center documentary (2019) - https://www.desolationcenter.com/
Missing link 1: The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves by Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams (1998) - https://amzn.to/3ZRTI94
Yes! More local troubadours and serendipitous back-ally serenaders please! So damn grateful for your posts Jay, especially the Pran Nath drop. Such a breath of fresh air.
I wonder if larger scale human gatherings can ever truly be symbiotic with a healthy intact wilderness. It seems all one can do is try to minimize damage done. Even the most well meaning gatherings still disturb animal behavior, trample wildflowers etc. In Utah we still have vast stretches of cryptobiotic soil destroyed from a peaceful Rainbow Gathering from over 20 years ago...
And yet, it is in our true nature as humans to need this ancient connection of wilderness/music/art/ceremony. To me, re-wilding our own neighborhoods still feels like the safest bet for sustainable mass spectacles to coexist with nature. I still remember watching an arthur blog post with No Age at the LA river restoration gig. I don’t really recall if it was strict “leave no trace” affair or not, but I still feel we desperately need more of those kind of primal, communal interactions in the wild, minus the cops.
https://arthurmag.com/2007/11/19/scenes-from-saturday-afternoons-la-river-beautification-meeting/
There was a real-deal jazz saxophone player (I wish I could remember his name) who used to practice at night in a parking garage in downtown Sacramento. It was wonderful. The acoustics were great and the sound carried for a few blocks. If you were out and about near the area when he was playing it was like being in your own private film-noir movie.
Also, I agree. If animals dig your music you've got it made in the shade. I used to strum gentle cowboy chords on my guitar for some horses across the fence-line from my house where I grew up. They would always come over to the fence line and graze contentedly whenever I played. It made me feel good. I like to think it made them feel good. Makes me want to go back and do it again.
Love this, all of it. Thanks Jared
Nice one bud. I'm sure you've seen the Lo Sound Desert doc about those Mojave generator parties? https://youtu.be/Sq-3bmO8_I4?si=Csm5VTRHU8NSKgMK
Thanks Brian. I think I knew about that doc but haven't seen it... I guess it's like I wrote, the romance of this stuff is gone for me after living in JT for all those years. I see a quad racing across open desert and I feel sick/angry, y'know?
I can understand…easier for me as a kid in Ontario Canada romanticizing about that scene, but the toxicity filtered through friends that’d interacted with at least one of the most well known members.
This goes on my top ten list of beautiful substack posts (full disclosure: I created the list just so I could put it there). Next, I'm going to build a fire under my own substack, The Familographer, and become a paid subscriber to Landline, because it's so full of the kind of ideas and words and descriptions of others whom I love, myself. Thanks, Jay
!!!
That Harvey Dickson piece in the NYTmag brought me here to say that most of what's great that's happening in local New York music at the moment has its roots with people playing music on the city streets and parks during lockdown. Especially once the BLM protests began. So much improvised music, musicians finding each other, DJs with small portable soundsystems, audiences both invited via social media and passers-by. And some of that energy continues both in that context, and in the community clubs.
It just proves that it is all about getting off-line and having those real-life, organic interactions and community isn't it? The internet is death--just a simulacrum of life.