November 1st – As an adolescent of the 60’s I, along
with every second person I came into contact with was searching for a reason, a
meaning for the life we were living…
There, that’s got your attention hasn’t it, a statement of
such magnitude? I bet you’re thinking;
Blimey, he’s gonna give
us the answer to life, the universe and everything in a second.
Sorry to disappoint but, no, I’m not. I’ve been baptised into,
researched deeply or generally dabbled in Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism,
Catholicism, Protestantism and Anglicism and can say, hand on heart, that all
have come up short when it comes to describing a life-tenet that attends to the
human condition without equivocation.
All of this life-questing I did through the 60’s and 70’s (we
all did, I’m nowt special in this) led me to only one conclusion; organised
religion of any sort is not an answer to the problems that have, are and will
beset the human race. The answer, solutions and means to tackle the ills and
wrongs will come from within. Not a god, not prayer to an inanimate deity, not
by paying some preacher for your soul’s salvation but from us; humanism. I
class myself as a christian (small ‘c’ is deliberate) and a humanist (small ‘h’
is deliberate) and to arrive at this much of my personal beliefs have been supported
by one main source.
Frank Zappa in his various incarnations but particularly in
his first big-break band, Mother’s of
Invention has always been a firm favourite of mine. I know, I know;
He was considered to be
a selfish, self-centred control freak that used musicians as stepping stones to
fame.
Yup. Some truths there. Difficult guy in many respects, but I
think musically and politically he’s right on the money…I can hear your head
right now;
What, you pray to the
god, Zappa!?
No, you dope, ‘course not! What it is, is that much of his
output, both musically and politically, rings true to me. He’s not afraid to
tell it like it is and he’s also not afeared to say it the people who could do
him the most harm; the politicians and money-makers who threaten us daily by
planting silent fears for our safety or our sanity, but that’s not the point of
this personal note of mine.
In amongst the band member’s of Mother’s of Invention was a drummer, one Jimmy Carl Black, who died
this day in 2008. An excellent drummer and perfect foil for the band’s
oftentimes totally individual musical presentation, Mr. Black had a trademark
line that is heard often in the recording of their breakthrough album, We’re Only In It For The Money (as an
album title released into the 60’s counterculture you’d buy it for the name
alone). In that recording a voice can be heard saying;
Hi, boys and girls, I’m
Jimmy Carl Black and I’m the Indian of the group.
Hailing from Cheyenne heritage he had every right to
pronounce his racial credentials, and he also knew the right buttons to push in
order to give gravitas to his history, being credited on other albums as;
Playing drums, vocals
and poverty.
As a jobbing muso his career path is worthy of note. He
played with Captain Beefheart, was gainfully employed as a doughnut maker,
fronted a band called The Grandmothers,
ran a decorating business with, wait for it, Arthur Brown (of Crazy World of… fame; that’s one
decorating business I’d like to have experienced) and said;
Watch MTV and you can
see what the music scene is like in England
Got my vote right there. Mr. Black.
Why? Well, the wider issue here for me is that, in the scheme
of things human, the North American Indian has been a constant reference point
for me, pretty much since I read (although devoured
would be a better word) Dee Brown’s book, Bury
My Heart at Wounded Knee back in 1971. Not read it? Why? Get on it now!
Talk about an epiphany moment. I can’t think of another
factual book that has so devastated, enthralled, liberated, destroyed and re-created
me in equal measure as this work. Tears come easy to me (I’m the guy the word wimp was invented for) and this book
brought them a-plenty, as well as a surging anger and feeling of total
bewilderment and loss. This is what started me out on my trying to understand
the American Indian philosophy (still just a beginner) and their/our place in
the story of things. Yup, they were not a perfect peoples; they committed some
terrible things on others (and, of course, we never did) and by way of
introduction I can offer no better testament to their view of white Americans
than that said by Red Cloud, chief of the Oglala Lakota tribe:
The white man made us
many promises - more than I can remember, but he never kept but one: he
promised to take our land - and he took it.
The Seven Philosophies
for a Native American Man is worth a read as is their Native
American Code of Ethics and, can you indulge me a little? Good. I leave
these two short quotes as a teaser.
Treat the Earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents; it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, be borrow it from our children.
Honour the sacred.
Honour the Earth, our
Mother.
Honour the Elders.
Honour all with whom we
share the earth, Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, winged ones, swimmers, crawlers,
plant, rock, people.
Walk in balance and
beauty.
Nightnight. X!
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