It's Back! (agents of gravity + love)

Okay, Sweet Baby,

Just to let you know I have my news ticker back at FB. Now I can see what's going on, all is back to normal. I like your picture of Morgin; great lighting effects with the rainbows! I agree with what you said, too - you guys make a great team, and she is not only a good model for you but a good friend also. I am glad if she is back in Wisconsin.

I am gonna go for the daytime part of my walk in a few minutes, but I just wanted to check in and let you know that they fixed my news ticker.

I'll write more later on. Enjoy your day!

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

12:25am : Happy Late Night, my Darling. Hey, this is great. Now I can see your posts, like the album art just posted by Lantlos. It looks like you just "liked" it, too, because it's at the top of my news ticker. Much better now that I can see your posts! I like that painting too. I don't know why they call it "awful album art". It looks pretty cool to me.

So everything is back to normal, and I hope your day was good. Hope you're enjoying your new camera, too. I will try to go on a hike soon, and I was gonna go on Friday, but today there was a notice on all the doors of all the units in my building - they are gonna do the Official City Inspections in a couple weeks (which always irritates me because of the intrusion, though I understand why they've gotta do it), so I've gotta get The Pad straightened up, do some dusting and cleaning so I'll be rated as a solid citizen. The city inspection isn't until December 7, but the manager is gonna start coming around to the units on Friday, to check them himself, make repairs, etc.

So I will try to get a hike in, but not guaranteed. But after Saturday morn, I am off for a week. So that will be good for photos.

I am doing The Usual, watching "Walking Dead" - man, what a brutal and unrelentingly grim show (but great!), and I am also enjoying my book. One of the theories posited by Van Flandern is that gravity is caused by a "sea" of miniscule agents (particles), similar to an aether but in motion, that are constantly colliding with larger masses (planetary bodies, etc.) and thus acting as a force to push them toward one another. As the bodies become sufficiently close, they "shadow" each other on the inside, and so the colliding particles cannot affect those sides as they do the outside. There are other factors involved, but what he says makes sense, and as always for me it's a real mindblower.

A few years ago it occured to me - probably after reading a different book - "is gravity a "pull" or a "push"? We are naturally inclined to think it's a pull, because when we jump up as little kids, we are immediately "pulled" back to Earth. Or when an apple falls from a tree, as in Newton, it must fall because it has mass and is heavy (dense), and thus it is being "pulled". But neither Newton nor anyone else ever tried to explain the force of gravity, and in his book (which is well known in the alternative science community) Van Flandern makes his case, and a good one, for the Agents Of Gravity theory, based on a permeating sea of colliding particles, smaller than quanta.

So gravity may be a "push" after all. When you jump up, you are "pushed" back down by an imperceptible force of colliding particles, most of which sail right through the atoms of your body because they are so small. And meanwhile, the Earth - which you are falling toward, is also being pushed toward you (all atoms attract one another), and because it's surface is huge compared to yours, the outside of it's sphere is being collided with by a vastly greater number of particles than you are, and thus it is being pushed with greater force, and thus "attracting you". So you are being pushed toward it, from a particle force on the outside, and it is being pushed toward you, by an even greater particle force because of it's greater mass and surface layer, and thus all bodies attract, with the bigger ones having the most "pull", only it's really a push.

It's a mindboggler of a book, but super interesting. So that was my night, and listening to a cd I have by a modern composer named Geoffrey Burgon, an Englishman who passed away a few years ago. It's called "Merciless Beauty" and features the countertenor vocals of James Bowman, another Englishman and master singer.

So there you have it, Sweet Baby. The up-to-the-minute news.

Sweet Dreams, and I will see you in the morning.

I Love You!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxo  :):)

Hope All Is Well

Hi, my Darling,

Happy Late Night. I hope you had a nice day. I wasn't able to find any of your posts today (on "posts You like") so I hope you are still with me. Man, FB has made it so difficult lately. All I can do is hope they fix it. I hope everything is going good with your photography and video work. Right now, it's just almost impossible for me to see anything you post, except status updates, but I am trying to hang in there. I just don't know how you are doing, is all.

Facebook is so full of people's opinions about what happened in Paris, and there is so much vitriol and paranoia that I have actually had to limit the posts I see from a few people. As I've probably said before, I only actually know maybe two dozen out of my 131 FB friends, and many of the ones I don't know are just fans of one band or another who friended me for that reason. But there are a few who post relentlessly about politics and personal views - I mean just one post after another, all day long. That probably crowds out other posts, and anyway I get tired of all the ranting.

Anyway, I am doing my best to hang in there and keep writing. As always please let me know if there is any change in your life. I feel really cut off right now, and remote, but I am trying from my end.

I Love You, Elizabeth.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)

Happy Monday Love

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Well, maybe some good news on the Facebook front. I got a somewhat better response from the Help department about the problem I reported (twice), i.e. that my news ticker wasn't working. If you remember, the only response I'd gotten previously was an automatic one, thanking me for reporting it. Well today I got an answer that's a little more involved, though it too may be automatic and not personally written by anyone at FB. Here's what it says : We received your report and appreciate your patience as we work to fix technical problems on Facebook. Though we can't update everyone who submits a report, we're using your feedback to improve the Facebook experience for everyone.

So, it sounds as if they're at least working on it. I hope so. I sure miss seeing your posts. The only one I saw today was the Man Bun post from James. 

Oh, man, Sweet Baby.......don't get me started on Man Buns, lol.  :)

And I am sure that's the way you meant it, too. I mean, you did, right? And probably even James means it that way. Because nobody really likes Man Buns, do they? Except for the guys who wear them on purpose?

Aww, jeez..........

The other thing I don't get - and it's all over campus at CSUN - is the Lumberjack Beard thing. Scrawny guys (usually scrawny, whether tall, short or medium) with big 'ol untrimmed beards, like a lumberjack or cave man. But then on top, they have these "fade" haircuts. What's the deal? Are you a Wild Man or are you not? What's with the haircut to go along with the out of control beard?

Good Lordy Moses, please ship in a supply of razors and shaving cream. Or tell these guys to stop with the buzz cuts and let their hair grow, because the combination looks absolutely ridiculous. Especially because the guys who have this style are not lumberjacks but scrawny students. 

Very few people look good with facial hair. A trim beard I can understand. But these biblical-sized things have gotta go. Along with the Man Bun.  :)

Now, your friend James actually has a cool and fairly original rock star hair style. So he should keep that, and make it a trademark look, at least for now. And he probably knows that anyway.  :)

Today was just a regular workday for me, not much to report. I watched a "Walking Dead" episode (Season Four) and I am very much enjoying my book by Tom Van Flandern.

I hope you had a good day and hope we can reconnect here soon. C'mon Facebook, please fix it!

I Love You and will see you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

The Community Of Music

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Sometimes it takes me a little longer to get situated here at Pearl's, when the crew (Pearl & Kobi) wants to stay up late and watch TV all night. At a certain point, I give up trying to suggest they get some sleep and let 'em stay up as late as they want to. That's why the hours get turned around backwards here, cause they become nocturnal. Anyhow, I've still gotta maintain some semblance of regular hours for myself, otherwise there'll be no one running the show.  :)

Today was church and choir as you know. An hour of choir practice afterward, getting ready for Christmas.

I hope your day was good. I only saw one of your posts (by searching "posts You like", the only way I can see anything anymore), and it was one for your friend Justin. That is really cool that his band opened for The Yardbirds. You may know that those guys are legendary on the order of The Rolling Stones; Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin after leaving the 'Birds, and their other guitarists were Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.

You may have seen an FB "like" I posted. It was a photo from Dennis Dunaway of the Alice Cooper group, and it showed Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty reading Dunaway's book, "Snakes! Guillotines!", etc., which I have mentioned is a great rock n' roll book, as I have read it myself. I've read many rock biographies, and this is one of the very best, because there are so many great stories involved with the history of Alice Cooper (always meant in the group sense, not just Alice himself).

And one of the best stories, is of the first time they felt they'd hit it big. They were a club group, playing in Phoenix (they are from AZ), and they were just out of high school.

And they got a gig, opening for The Yardbirds. Almost 50 years ago.

And now tonight your friend and former band member is doing the same thing.

Pretty cool, eh?

They played tonight at The Canyon Club, where I've been several times, mostly to see Eric Johnson who plays there regularly, but also to see Opeth in 2013. It's a supper club, with tables, but a great venue overall, and it's out in Agoura, which is just outside The Valley, inland from Malibu.

It's a small world and it's full of coincidences (which may or may not exist). You may remember that I mentioned my friends from Gram Rabbit a couple months ago, because they were gonna play at High Noon Saloon with Eagles Of Death Metal. Jesika is of course from Wisconsin. Me and Grimsley went to many GR shows from about 2006 until 2013. We wanted to see them recently, when they toured with Eagles, but the show sold out quickly and we didn't make it. Gram Rabbit were not on the European tour.

Music is a community, as you well know. You can be a fan of a band for 40 years, like I have been with PFM, and you may never have seen them but then one day you do. It's a connection between fans and bands, and it forms that small musical world I am talking about, where you can meet somebody, or open for somebody, out of the blue.

It's a good thing to be part of, the community of music..........

I Love You and will see you in the morning. Sweet Dreams!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Protect The Spirit

Hi, Elizabeth,

I'll resume with my normal greeting soon enough, but right now it doesn't seem appropriate to start with Happy Late Night. I mean, I don't know, maybe it is appropriate, and maybe it should always be appropriate, but because we are all kind of in shock right now, and numb, I'll forgo it this time, though of course I always wish you happiness.

I only saw a single post from you today (and this business of having no news ticker is getting old, really screwing things up), and it was via your friend Sarah. "I hate humans". Was that from a Miyazaki? Anyhow, I can certainly understand the sentiment at the moment, if not in the literal sense, then certainly as a means to express the outrage felt.

I don't know exactly how you are feeling, meaning specifically, but all I will say in the long term sense, is to never let the horrors of the world damage your spirit.

You have a beautiful spirit, and the world needs beautiful spirits. Beautiful spirits exhibit the positive energy and good feeling the world relies on to keep turning, so to speak.

All it takes is a quick look at Facebook to see all of the opinions and emotions vented on all sides of the argument over what happened yesterday, to realise that some of us who are strong and stable must remain that way always.

I know you know all of this.

I often think of my parents' generation, and how they lived through the nightmare of World War Two, when thousands were killed on a daily basis, and on top of that was the Holocaust. It's a wonder the human race survived, but it did. 50 million people were killed in the four years of WW2. Think of that number in that short period of time. I myself was born into the Vietnam era, a twelve year war in which 52,000 guys died, and over a million Vietnamese. In America there was long term civil unrest.

The amount of people being killed was greater than today. And somehow we, as a Human Race, made it through.

Still, I totally understand the frustration and horror over current events. For one thing, and maybe most importantly, the violence is spilling over into the civilian sector. Terrorists - whom I, if President, would go after with a vengeance - now use tactics which are cruel, cowardly and ruthless. These acts are carried out, as yesterday, by young guys who have been brainwashed since they were kids, probably, and though they are indeed monsters, they don't even have the capacity or intelligence to comprehend what they are doing.

They are monsters, but there are greater monsters above them, middlemen in their own countries, and financiers in the first world, who wish to cause chaos and who also must be routed out.

To stop terrorism is a complex problem, but not so complex that it cannot be figured out and solved.

Part of why I think think the violence hits home emotionally nowdays, in such a strong manner, is because - in the computer age - the news of violence spreads rapidly, worldwide, in minutes really. And we are programmed by politics to "take sides".

And to be sure - the killers - young guys with double digit IQs and inflamed emotions - have taken a side. They hate, period, anyone they consider an "other". Now, it is also certain that in many cases, a person from the Middle East has lost someone close to them through warfare. What American military men and politicians call "collateral damage" is in reality dead or injured civilians, including babies. When we bomb in those countries, innocent people often get hurt. Not as often as the far left activists might have you believe - our military is not Pure Evil - but it does happen because that is the nature of war.

We shouldn't be in those countries in the first place. We are only there so that the oil industry can keep it's hold over the energy standard for as long as it can, until oil is phased out as an energy source. There may be other reasons we are there as well, but those have to do with esoteric historical subjects dealing with the history of mankind.

I am probably rambling off topic, as usual, but that is because I can think much faster than I can type, and I don't have a lot of patience when I am writing. I always wanna just talk, because I can express so many more ideas more cohesively, and in doing so I can make my point more clearly.

Suffice it to say for now, that it is important to never lose heart. Always remember that there are reasons for all of these rotten things that happen, and if the reasons can be understood - and not distorted by "taking sides" or vented through negative emotion - then we have a better chance at getting to the root of these problems.

Some think violence and war will always be with us, that it is part of human nature. I disagree, even though it is true that war has been part of the human condition throughout recorded history. But I disagree because I can feel that one day it won't be this way.

I know that day is not today, and I know that in the meantime we need immediate solutions which will not fix the problem. One of those immediate solutions is to go after terrorists with everything we've got. And that right there is an emotional response on my part. As I've said previously, if they'd take a 55 year old guy in the Army, I'd volunteer to go after ISIS or the Taliban myself.

But my spiritual side also speaks to me, and tells me that we humans will make it through this terrible period of violence, too. Just as we have survived World Wars. The key is for those of us who are strong in Positive Spirit never to give in to mass emotion without analysis. Instead we must protect, and project, that Spirit.

That's all I know for tonight. I love you and will see you in the morning, before church.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

PFM Concert Tonight (music more powerful than violence) ( a great concert)

Hi, Elizabeth,

The news out of France is horrifying, and knowing that you have friends over there, I hope they are all safe. I saw your friend Valnoir's post, so that's good that he is okay, and of course the guys in Alcest.

I just so happen to have a concert scheduled to attend for tonight, the Italian Progressive group PFM. It's at the Whiskey A Go-Go, on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, and I am gonna go. Nothing is gonna happen and I have been looking forward to this show anyway, PFM are a legendary group from the 70s.

Nothing can stop the force of music, it's far more powerful than violence. The show is scheduled to start at 9pm and it's supposed to run two hours, so I should be back at Pearl's by Midnight, 12:30 at the latest.

I will write when I get back.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

1:10am : I am back, Sweet Baby. I am a little late because my friend Mike B (he's on FB) was there with his girlfriend, and we were talking for a long time after the show. I've known Mike since 1970, and I talk to him on Facebook all the time, but I hadn't actually seen him since 1989. 26 years! So that was pretty amazing, and I knew he was gonna be at the show because we both bought tickets a while back.

The show itself was awesome. There are only two guys left from the original PFM, but they are the two founders, and every musician in the band is an incredible player. Italian Progressive Rock was a specific but small genre in the 70s, and it was some of the first music I got into once I started hanging out at College Records and "graduated" from Top 40. At the record store, they were playing bands like PFM and Le Orme and Banco, and "Photos Of Ghosts" by PFM was one of the first records I ever bought, when I was 13 years old. So to see these guys for the first time after all these years.........well, it's that Time Thing again. Just like seeing my friend Mike for the first time in a quarter century. It's like a long time has passed, but also no time at all.

Music has a lot to do with that. And friendship. Both are timeless.

The guys in PFM just steamrolled The Whiskey. Two hours of smokin' hot playing from start to finish. They did mention Paris - how could they not? - but the spirit of the music carried the night.

I have my own thoughts on terrorism and what to do about it, and it's a complex subject. Still, I hope France will shut these people down, by any means necessary.

Let's hope for better days ahead, and let's Thank God for all the good things in the world, one of the best of which is music.

I Love You and will see you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

CSUN Movie + Love (Welles & Philthy)

Hi, Sweet Baby,

I just wanted to "say hey" before leaving for the CSUN movie, which tonight will be Welles' "Chimes At Midnight". It is said to be his own favorite of his films. The theater will no doubt be packed again. We've been filling the house for almost all the Welles films, something that has never happened before at any of our other retrospectives. It's a good thing that Professor Tim lets me and a few other long-time regulars in via a side entrance, before the rest of the crowd comes in. That way we are guaranteed a seat! :)

I hope you are having a nice evening, and I will see you when I get back here to Pearl's, which will be right around the usual time.

I Love You!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

12:35am : Happy Late Night, my Darling. It took me a little later to get situated tonight because it was a long movie, and also Pearl & The Kobester are up a little later than usual. The movie was excellent, though long. I am used to the 90 minute Shakespeare plays, and my favorites are the lighter themed ones at that : "As You Like It" is my favorite. "Chimes" which is Welles' version of "Falstaff" is all about wars and vengeance and double-crossing, and while that stuff makes good drama, too, the sheer amount of dialogue over two hours is enough to kind of wear down the viewer. Again, with Shakespeare - at least for me - it takes some repeat viewings to fully understand the plot, and I think if I saw this film again in a year or so, it might become one of my favorites by Welles, because it really is great in so many respects. The battle scenes, for instance, I think are up there with the best ever filmed, and in black and white with close camera action, making it look grim and yet like real warfare. So, to wrap up : a great film, but a bit wearing because of length and amount of rapid fire Shakespearean dialogue.

I hope your day was good, and I did see one post of yours : for the I Prevail/Versus Me Holiday Run. The subtitle is "Merry Christmas You Filthy Animal" which I know you must have seen and which was appropos for the day's news. I really used to love Motorhead back in the early 80s. In fact, when "Ace Of Spades" came out in 1981, I carved "Motorhead" in big letters into a newly poured concrete gutter in front of our home. "Philthy Animal" Taylor was the drummer on that album, and on all the best Motorhead albums. I really stopped following the band after Phil and Fast Eddie Clarke left. People think it was all about Lemmy, and he is great in his own crude, brute force way, but Motorhead was a band, not just one guy, and for me it was never the same when he got two replacement players for Phil Taylor and Eddie Clarke. The music was never as good.

But back then, in the era of "Ace Of Spades" and "Iron Fist", man oh man what a band!

Well, my Baby, I am still hoping they will fix my FB. I guess all I can do at this point is keep my fingers crossed. Probably it's an FB experiment, to cut a percentage of users off from news ticker for some stupid reason. I'm certain it's not just a glitch, because I've reported it twice and have gotten no response. So whatever was done was done on purpose, either as a new FB format for some stupid reason, or for some other reason unknown to me.

But, I am hanging in there, and am still able to find a post or two from you on most days.

I Love You and will see you in the morning. Sweet Dreams.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)