Once upon a time on planet Earth

humans gathered downtown and welcomed Muslim immigrants. The Muslims brought an imam, and it sounded like this

one human was eerily transported to the edge of the desert in east Jerusalem where from a distance great enough that only the tips of the minarets are visible one hears the calls to morning prayer at 4 am

once upon a time on planet earth humans gathered downtown and welcomed Muslim immigrants and as the sun was setting, they danced to the sounds of a brown skinned kokopelli and a white, bearded drummer and it sounded like this

once upon a time, a blind black man, who could sing any bird song note for note and had the soul large enough to be the soul of many men and women, played his many horns and it sounded like this

On a less lyrical note: Dear Muslims, perhaps this is the place where we do meet each other and do get along. Do bring the band along with the imam next time, and i will rejoyce with you, just as i would in a black baptist church listening to their call and response, blessed-be-jesus prayer and music (more of the latter, and less of the former please).

On yet another, lower, plane, I am overjoyed by the fact that these days the Jews don’t have to run the liquor store in the Diamond in Oakland, or at the corner of Alta Vista and San Francis in Santa Fe, as the (Muslim) Arabs have the dubious honor on this drunken Superbowl Sunday while the Puerto Ricans make arroz con gandules with maduros in the other store corner; and the Koreans tend to the liquor in New Mexico.

And finally, i guess, at the end the rules are simple: separate that church and state, worship that dollar, and all should be well. kapish? habibi

( Credits: Josip Stolcer – the Symphony of the Orient; UN Plaza, San Francisco, live recording Feb 4th, 2017; Rahsaan Alan Kirk – Afro Blue )

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Gallery

some California magic:

driving distance from Fortuna to Standish-Hickey state park ~70 miles. Distance along Eel river btw same two points probably at least double (?). I believe Einstein did a calculation of river meandering factor as a function of gradient (shallow = high meander, and vice versa); but i digress. This post is about anadromous steelhead that makes it up these many miles from the ocean, some several times during their lives. The first eerie feeling that I was in fact in Alaska happened before I got to talking with the ranger about the trout; during a hike in the cool redwoods above the river unsuccessfully searching for the 1200 year old ‘big tree’

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Oakland on fire(works)

A bit like being somewhere on an active battlefield (i suppose). Fireworks shot not a 100 yards away for hours. Loud enough to set off car alarms, to justify ear plugs. Blinding phosphorous white flashes of light preceding the thunder. The street lights ‘see’ nothing but explosion haze; at first I thought it was rain. The smell of a diesel engine depot is probably the most pleasant part of the experience as it puts me back 30-35 years ago to the train stations of Moscow and St. Petersburg. This morning the pavement is littered with paper charge casing confetti with words – ‘Danger, Explosives’ – still intact. The neighbor says only two houses caught fire this time.

 

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