screams, whispers and songs from planet earth

Month: December 2012

Understanding a Tragedy

Now that all of the innocent victims have been sadly laid to rest, it’s time for me to weigh in on the Newtown shooting.

Before I launch into what may be an unpopular perspective on this tragedy, I say a quiet prayer for those whose lives were cut short, especially all the young children who weren’t even old enough to experience hostility, or to hold a grudge, or to feel the need to seek revenge for some perceived wrong. And I say a quiet prayer for all their innocent counterparts in other parts of the world, far removed from the suburbs of Connecticut. The children of Syria, caught up in a civil war; the Palestinian and Israeli children, the children of Mali, of Kenya and Darfur, of Pakistan and Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq, caught in the crossfire of conflicts not of their making. The children in the inner cities of Boston, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles… caught in the crossfire of gang violence, living in the parallel life of the ghetto in America’s third world. For in my heart, there is no distinction between American children and Muslim children and Israeli children and Palestinian children and African children. They are all children. Our children. The future of our species. All of them.

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How will you spend your Last Day On Earth?

It seems like only yesterday I was wandering around Copley Square wearing my 2012 glasses, taking in a spontaneous Hare Krishna First Night celebration and eating strange little packaged treats handed out by devotees. At that time, the long-anticipated, mysterious Mayan Prophesy was this curious notion still comfortably off in the distance. I decided on that heady evening that I would spend 2012 as if the prophesy were in fact true—that everything would end on December 21. We’re often told that we should always live our lives as if each day were to be our last. So, facing what may have been the final year of my life, or at least the last stretch before some sort of cataclysmic event, did I spend each waking moment in the most meaningful way possible? Did I push myself to the outer limits? Did I reach for the stars in terms of productivity and my search for enlightenment? No, not exactly.

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Introducing (to myself anyway) Pearl and the Beard

PearlAndTheBeard-500

I’ve literally just discovered this wonderful little threesome that features brightly colored three-part harmonies, guitar, cello, melodica, drums—and sometimes glockenspiel and accordion. But just because I’m out of the loop doesn’t mean you have to be. You can head right over to the Middle East (downstairs) in Cambridge NOW and catch Pearl and the Beard live, as they’re performing tonight with Boston indie folk duo You Won’t and Brooklyn-based Lucius. If you’re seeing this after the fact, or you’re nowhere near Cambridge, Mass., have a listen and pick up their latest 4-track extended single The Prodigal Daughter.

Pearl and the Beard – “40K” by Girlie Action Media

Who Knew by YouWontMusic

Lucius – “Genevieve” by ilovelucius

Pearl and the Beard: web | facebook | twitter
You Won’t: web | facebook | twitter
Lucius: web | facebook | twitter

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