Monday, November 24, 2008

Satorism

Last Wednesday I had a productive recording session. We are doing another mix of All God's Children for the soon to be released full length CD titled "Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad." I laid down some heavy guitars and did a football chant in the middle by dubbing my voice 10 times at different vocal ranges.

Sunday I had a rehearsal session with the background singers at my place. I love those girls. They're so talented and fun to work with. We laid down some vocal tracks and built a Choir for the song Brave New Hymn by dubbing them 8 times in different keys. Then we reviewed the songs for the sets that we'll be performing in PA on Feb 7th.

I am also working starting a new artists collective based on a concept I created called Satorism. Based on the word Satori. Satorism is art that inspired personal, political, or spiritual awakening.

My first reason for wanting to promote the Satorism concept is because I feel like much of the art that I see really doesn't say anything. It seems that to most artists, the idea that art is a means of communicating ideas and effecting culture is alien to them. They don't seem to even think of their work in that light.

What I would like to do is find a group of artists in various mediums to work together and support each other. I've always been interested in the moments in history when groups of artists seemed to emerge at once and be intertwined. ie: France in the 1920s, the surrealist, the beat poets, etc. It seems odd that there has not been a movement or a meaningful scene in a very long time.

So far I've been contacted by some really interesting people in the New York City area. I plan to have a meeting date soon.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Spiritual songs abbout killing children?


Recently a Myspace friend who is trying to convert me sent me a bible with my name (spelled wrong) inscribed on it. It has been over ten years since I've studied the Christian Bible so a read Joshua and Judges. Joshua always made a great impression on me. During this time God spends a lot of time telling the Isrealites to slaughter woman and children. One of their tricks is to send a few men to the gates of a city and attack. When the men inside the city come out the Isrealites run into the woods and the men chase after them. Meanwhile the rest of the Jewish men storm into the city and kill the women and children. Once the men see that their families have been murdered they lose the will to fight and the Isrealites finish them off.

It's all very strange and violent material. I can recall singing songs in church about the "walls come tumbling down." It seems bizarre to have such a spiritual song about killing children.