Christmas Police Yesterday we impersonated the Christmas Police and busted everybody we could find who was planning to eat lunch alone today. Today we sat down to lunch with Nick Sowicz, Lorraine Odiari, Akiko Edagawa & Safire, Akiko’s brother Yohei and his lovely Thai girlfriend Bow. Still cannot quite shake this ’flu thing, so Miki cooked.
Sweet Madeleine Is everybody raving about Madeleine Peyroux’s album Careless Love after her recent London gig? I know I am. Strong flavours of Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf, jazz and blues, cool and muted. Lovely cover of Bob Dylan’s “You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go”.
» Dance Me To The End Of Love MP3 3.8MB
The Light That Smelled What is it about this Andrew Cohen guy? Ran into his Impersonal Enlightenment Fellowship earlier this year and was puzzled by my own reaction.
Cohen argues our fast-changing world desperately needs the guidance of enlightened people; conversely, where in past ages it was fine to retreat from a stable world to cultivate one’s soul, to do so in the face of impending ecological catastrophes is irresponsible. Today, enlightenment entails engagement.
I couldn’t and can’t fault this logic — except, aren’t we all too mean and stupid to do that?
But is this not the kind of negative thinking that gives ancient philosophies like cynicism a bad name? Is this Christ’s “sin against the Holy Spirit”?
So I popped down to a public lecture Cohen gave near Regents Park. Despite setting out with ample time, I had unusual difficulty finding the hall, and slipped in well after the start. (Was a guardian angel running interference?) And got to hear Cohen speak in person. Again, the words sounded fine, and Cohen manifested a relaxed charisma, but ten minutes in a back row was enough. The air seemed stifled and stifling. Either I was so corrupted I could no longer bear to be around the dharma, or these guys were full of it. No use having an intuition if you don’t use it.
Now 5jt.com reader MarkM has left a comment pointing to active Cohen-knocking blog What Enlightenment? Harrowing reading. Sometimes you should trust your nose. You Have Been Warned.
More goodies I’ve expanded the listings and uploaded more music samples to the Goodies page.
Seeing through believing Spanish-language site www.verparacreer.net is a treasure house of strange images.
Unexpected legacy
Graves, yes, said love, deathNicholas’ death hurt me into writing verse again. I hope the habit stays with me.
and the changing of the seasons
were the unique, the primordial subjects
Marilyn Hacker/“Untoward Occurence At Embassy Poetry Reading”
Nice Enough To Eat A new article, Central Park — Nice Enough To Eat, on foraging for wild foods in New York’s Central Park by Miki Yamanouchi has appeared at AIR Be-Pal. If your Japanese isn’t up to the story, just click the underlined text to see the pictures.
» Wildman Steve Brill
» Recent articles by Miki for AIR Be-Pal
Goodbye, Nicholas We said and sang our goodbyes at Nicholas’ cremation yesterday and at the wake afterwards. Many thanks to brothers Chris & Marcus Battye in Sydney and to Carole, Sage & Harleigh Cole in California for all their support. More on the memorial page.