Attention Defecit Reduction, Love, and How War Weds Us Forever.

I wanted to write Charlie Krafft, though we have, only met once, and exchanged, a letter or two; Last August I heard, that he had caused a rue, with an article from a Seattle author, which was rather critical of him. Trusting my sources that “a disturbance in the Force” had indeed been perceived, and wanting to presume innocence, I resolved to look into it. I still haven’t communicated with Charles. I am not mad at him, I don’t think he is evil, or ill. He is a lot smarter than me, for sure, and funnier. I am not trying to Deny anything. I believe the nightmare was real,and I think it’s not over. The Hollow Cost. We need to remember, and we all need to heal.
I don’t know if it is legal to communicate with him, or even ;what I can write about the subject. All I told my Partner, was I wouldn’t want to debate history with him, especially WWII, and Europe. I know some people who can, and one, who is a mutual friend of Charles, and myself. I will bring “it” up next time we meet, though I don’t like talking about it. The last time I saw either was at MONA in La Conner, as part of the Readings of the River Rats, featuring Alumni of Fish Town on the Skagit. This was in 2009 as I recall.

After his reading, Charles approached me, and said, “what do you do?” I explained Construction, working with Live Sound, and Recording. I think I asked him about Ed Sanders (an Artists from the Fugs, a Historian and Private Investigator!). He was very nice, I think he asked about my travels, how I came to be at the Reading. I really like stories about Fish Town, the Scriptorium below the Bridge, accessible mostly by boat, much of the year. I am interested in Intentional Communities. I lived in one, west of Bellingham from 1988 through Fall of 91. Seems like a long time ago, though certainly life changing. Although I did write frequently during this period, as did several community members, Farm Life seemed closer than the Art World. We were doing theatre, and I helped with Sets, Lights and Sound during these years, I thought of myself as a carpenter.
  A lot of why I was wanting to write Charles, was to share some poems from my best friend.  Beyond reasonable doubt, I know he would like some of them.  My friend has never been published, though he is gifted, intelligent, and got me into writing over 30 years ago.

Rick K is working on an anthology of sorts, a best of, or introduction. He writes by hand, has never owned a computer. The notebooks are well organized, each bearing his Moniker, Psychedelic Oblivion Enterprises (POE). He has gathered some older poems, though he didn’t include Tommy Tomorrow, which is a ground breaking Time Travel Poem, 8 pages long, and is hand written, as is all his work.& I estimate 30 spiral notebooks, all named, kept in a milk crate last I saw them, he was living on the Campus of a company that makes Operating Systems for personal computers. He got away with it for years. May He Live Long and Prosper!
It was good to see him, last week. We didn’t do much, perhaps? We went for a drive at noon, up Stevens Creek, and up Hwy 9. Hung out at the Park a bit, laughed about growing up. The time I got left behind on a YMCA field trip, for a Epic maybe 20 minutes, guess I was 8 or 9. I can still recall the 2 women, playing cards, and drinking canned beer. They gave me a can of Soda (!) and let me feed ice cubes to their dog. I think they handled the situation no better than angels could.
Rick always has some stories about his dogs, Jessie and Kona, which though dearly loved, lead a checkered path, for a pair of Pit Bulls, worthy of a book, or two. Rick lost the dogs to the State of Califonia, which ordered their deaths. He did break them out of prison, giving them several months more life, before, the James Gang, as they were known, were captured, and he never saw them again. He later named his only child, after Jessie (now 17). She was the first dog to ever communicate with me, and it has only happened a few times in my life.
I understand a few words of Bird, though don’t try to speak with them, except for an occasional polite caw with the crows in the neighborhood. The most common word, for song birds, is of course, “Me, me, me”! This is followed by, “you, you” and “Cat, Cat” is the 3rd most common song, I hear. I have a lot to learn.
Rick gave me a 8 Gb SD Card (these small Chips, which for us born in Silicon Valley, still are the epitome of Science Fiction, no longer fiction!)of recordings and Interviews he made, with my old H2 Digital Recorder I gave him last year!!! I am looking forward to some funny moments! He came up with 20 questions, Yes, or No, called Are You A Criminal? He recorded people in several bars. I have only recorded him a couple of times.
Once, he performed The Gates Motel, The Gates Of Hell, for the 1st emancipated Minor in the State of California, and yours truly, at the place it was composed! I later recorded it in 2006, before the Authorities confiscated his RV, named Beggars Tomb, which was home for near a decade. I didn’t talk with Rick about Charles, other than to say I planned to send them to a poet I know, or the Subject of the fore mentioned. Neither have I talked with my trusted legal advisors, though I will communicate with them. Inshallah.
Maybe Semantics,rather than Semetics, is the Gist of the dispute. Most people don’t want to talk about “it”, I certainly don’t like talking, or thinking about it. Though it is important to be remembered. And work at preventing again!
My Country, changed the rules, during the last 20 years. I have studied war, since childhood, asking about Viet Nam War I watched on Black and White TV. We were watching color TV by the end of that war. In every text book, or battle map, which attempt to describe the Metrics of War, some reckoning of Dead, Wounded and Prisoners was made, in written form. For reasons unknown to me, neither President George W. Bush or Barack Obama, do not want to know, who dies, is harmed. They ordered the Military, to not count, those it kills, or harms, or wither they were Civilian, or Enemies. This is unlike all previous Presidents. Not wanting to know, is the meaning of Sin, in the Gospels I read, and was raised with.
At least Charles has tried to count the dead, and numbers them in Millions, though, it is forbidden by law, to say how many. I think it is more than the article mentioned, yet if my Government doesn’t count those killed, neither casualties, nor how many detained in War, why should Charles Krafft? In fairness, he wasn’t given much space to explain himself, and listening is in rather short supply, even in Seattle.
I think there are 167 (158 as of 12/31/13 NPR, I don’t know how many are being forced fed) prisoners in Cuba, currently held by the USA, at Camp XRAY. Over half, are from Yemen, most were not adults, at the time of 9-11. Fortunately, few of these men, are likely to be able to get into my favorite Pubs and clubs, or even buy booze, should any escape, so thank God, we don’t need to worry about that!
So I want to talk more about Music, Community and Tech in 2014. There is a lot of noise in the world. I am trying to not add to it. I have. Working with Music, and poetry, and Artists, helps me feel I am working at improving our community. It gives me hope, it helps me feel useful. Dharma.
I remember that Sir Richard Burton encountered a Culture, during his early travels through the Middle East to Afghanistan and India nearly 150 years ago, which had no concept of truth. I have forgotten their names, though I know I can find it, for some reason, I so love these people, that I want to let them remain anonymous.
Okay, I realize I mentioned Attention Deficit, and Love. What do they have to do with each other? The Problem and the Cure! The trouble, is attention, and love. They are related. If the term love doesn’t work, what about that which is used in describing the behavior of Primates, by Biologists, and anthropologists,. Grooming? I ain’t joking, folks need more attention. I understand there might be too much of a good thing, though some fates are worth risks.
I don’t know what my life could have been, except, that my son, has less violence in his life, and better video games. Every year of my life, until my mid 20’s, I got attacked,punched, kicked, stuffed in dumpsters. That isn’t very unusual. I learned a lot. I have always tried to learn. Many of the people were those I went to school with. One teacher in Middle School shook the hell out of me for going talking to a friend outside metal shop. A principal twisted my arm for not picking up confetti, got 3 days suspended too, at the age of 18. After graduating, got punched by my a Youth Group Leader, while in Australia, didn’t like something I said. The next few years involved Punk Rock, so it was somewhat in the turf, and it got easier to handle, and talk my way out of Intense Cituations! So I let you know how it goes. I was able to do a great deal in my life so far, as an adult. I found love. I learned to work with people. I got better at when to talk. I did have guns pointed at me several times, though only by a Girlfriends EX, a couple times, once getting picked up hitchhiking, and all 3 visits to Northern Ireland. I am proud of standing up when the Army Sniper was pointing his rifle at some young children, and the squad leader got them out of the Square in Derry. At the time I wished I said something, though years later, I reminded Kath, that our being there, changed what they did.
If your a Buddhist, I might say Meditation, and the Dharma, or Meditation and less Medication! Christians remember, Sin, as the opposite of being watchful (A-MARTYRos) and LOVE (or A-GAPe in Greek). I have written about this in previous BLOGs. There is much, We don’t know! I don’t know enough to say more, except, there is an awful lot of pain, misunderstandings, and wounds on this world, this blue jewel in vast space. Thanks for working at peace.
Blaiming Genes, doesn’t make as much sense, as once thought, as the rise of Attention Deficit Disorder seems to be concentrated in the United States, perhaps it is something in the water? Maybe. I have studied the subject for 40 years. Maybe it is genetic? I used to think it was, however, I think Culture is too.
When I was born, babies were separated from their mothers, often over the whole night. I have yet to find the names, of the people who started this, the Statute of Limitations may have expired, though the effects and Kharma, are still causing Harm to billions, you name it, it is effected! I can cite my own experience, though improvements in Civil Rights, technology, especially very small such as Physics, Computers, and genetics, the very BIG, has also changed inconceivably. Less than a century, since the discovery of other Galaxies, Andromeda was recognized among the Heavens again, by the astronomer, Edward Hubble.
My father worked on the Hubble telescope, which proved that the number of Galaxies, is at least between 10 and 200 Billion. My wife says, that doesn’t really work for her, as a source of inspiration, though when I say, how lucky we are to know each other, how many more places, we each could have been! She likes this. So we are back to Metrics, means of Measuring. The Hubble Telescope, furthered our vision, with a myriad of Images, not only DATA, was beamed back to Earth, beauty and wonders, the Heavens Declare Glory!
And yet these awful wars, in the very period since these discoveries, Millions of people, billions of mammals, and ecosystems… How many trillions of $ went to weapons of Mass Distruction, and as the pun goes, Mass Distraction too!
I don’t have the fortune, of getting to speak with Moslems, very often, and my Government, isn’t excactly fostering cultural exchange. I am trying not to drone on. Maybe the Drones will stop, though the President thinks they are too fun!
I want to wish everyone a good year. What are my plans? I hope to publish several CD’s from local Artists. I’ll mention Names, next Blog, as I am trying to protect the Innocent. I have more to do on my house… I hope to play my ukulele more. I want to write a poem about killdeers. I heard one, when I was with Rick. Though I didn’t mention, I have been musing about them for months!
I am looking for work, especially less in rain coats. However, I am open to offers, pitches and proposals.
Try to pay attention to each other, I think it is good for everybody. Peace.