Someone needs to update these lyrics.
When you gonna get to me, get to me
It is just a matter of (time Corona)
Is it…
The Corona Diaries – Day 1
I know this isn’t technically day 1 but it is the day of the first reported case in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
It feels a little like we are coming out of a hiatus. Covid 19 Corona Virus has not seemed like a major problem. We have watched the events in China, Italy, Korea and Iran with disbelief. It did not seem real. It’s a disease that kills 1% – and they are the old and have underlying problems – not us.
Except that now it feels more real. It kills 1% but it puts 10% in intensive care. That could affect 6 million people in the UK. That’s when the numbers start to ring bells – we don’t have anywhere near enough beds. The Health Service has been underfunded and run down for a decade. That means a lot more people are going to die.
The other point is that we realise, by age and Liz’s asthma, we are in the vulnerable group. It makes it real. One feels one’s mortality. We are not going to live for ever.
The economic hit is going to be enormous. The workforce are going to be knocked out or in isolation.
Certain industries are already being affected – the whole travel industry, sport and entertainment.
We could be on shutdown for three months or longer!
Today they shut down sport and universities. Will it be schools tomorrow? Or concerts, all public events?
We are having a debate on how much we should isolate. Should we see family? Should we see friends? Should we still do our social events – writing group, yoga, fitness classes?
Then there’s post, shopping and neighbours.
Should we cancel family get togethers in May? Or wait?
At this moment, with just one case in the area (though a number undetected) perhaps it is a case of still doing it but taking care! Not too close to people and hand washing.
Or should we isolate completely?
Poetry – Synergy
Synergy
The synergy of gasses;
The synergy of life –
Expressed in droplets
That glisten in the sun;
A beacon in the universe.
Fine droplets,
Creating rainbows
Of delight;
The essence of love.
Every wave that crashes on the shore,
Every stream that trickles,
Every raindrop that falls,
Is an expression of that mystical essence.
For within us all
Lies that iridescence
Of spiritual rainbows,
That flow and sparkle;
Born of a synergy
From which
We are its greatest expression.
Opher – 13.3.2020
Poetry – The Last Gasp – A poem for the rebirth of nature
Poetry – The Last Gasp – A poem for the rebirth of nature
The Last Gasp
I have been thinking of writing a novel about a world to come, when mankind has had his day and the planet passes out of the Anthropocene and into a new age.
Without man it would not take long for all our structures to crumble away, for the plants and animals to reassert their presence and for the world to once more teem with life.
Without man the air and water would be pure and the soil cleansed so that balance could be restored.
Without the artificial farming of the most fertile land it would soon return to its natural climax and become rich in habitat and possibility. It would rapidly reassert a new harmony and balance.
It would provide impetus for a new burst of evolution as mutation threw up new possibilities to fill the gaps that mankind has wheedled out. Unchecked new species would emerge to exploit the abundance and changing ecosystems. The planet would soon recover.
Within the brief expanse of a million years or two it would be a rich new world of possibility, and there, buried in the rocks, would be the bones left to tell a terrible story of desperate days when a savage beast ravaged the land and relentlessly tainted and destroyed – a beast of intelligence, imagination and skill who proved himself none too clever, had his day and departed the scene.
I could not think how to write that novel with no characters to focus on, no survivors at all, so I condensed it into a poem.
The Last Gasp
With the last desperate gasp
She slumped back on to the floor and was still.
Outside the birds sang in the pruned apple trees,
The spiders span their webs in the trimmed hedges,
Rabbits nibbled grass in the field at the back
And mice slipped through the foliage of the hedgerows – unseen.
Inside the house it was still, as if holding its breath in disbelief.
The car sat in the drive and everything was as neat and tidy as normal.
Except this was a new normal.
All over the world it was the same story.
Creatures hesitantly tested the extent of their jurisdiction
As they warily adjusted to the new world,
Keeping one eye on the look-out for man.
But there was no man to be seen.
In time they would forget.
In time the boundaries would disappear.
It had been so quick.
One minute there were lawns being mown, roads being laid and trees being felled –
One minute the world was full of cars, chainsaws and guns,
And the next it was quiet, holding its breath, before exhaling a new song of joy.
It did not take long.
The roots and spores soon set to work.
Concrete cracked, wood rotted and plants grew unchecked.
No more herbicides and pesticides –
A plethora of weeds, trees and insects –
A profusion of creatures large and small –
Without hindrance or cull
The predators had food a-plenty.
The seas unfished and freshened;
The air clear and scented;
The soil reinvigorated.
As grey turned green and life teemed
Evolution worked overtime to plug the gaps that man had hollowed out –
The mega-beasts, the balance and harmony, the variation and abundance.
And over a million years the bones
Compressed in rock
Were the only reminder of the days of disaster.
Opher 22.10.2016
My books are available on Amazon in paperback and digital formats. They are world-wide!
In the UK you might like to browse through on my link below: For overseas visitors please refer to your local Amazon. You’ll find me there.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1475747471&sr=1-2-ent
In the USA:
In the USA – https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=opher+goodwin
Here’s a few selected titles:
Rock Music
- The Blues Muse – the story of Rock music through the eyes of the man with no name who was there through it all.
2. In Search of Captain Beefheart – The story of one man’s search for the best music from the fifties through to now.
Science Fiction
1. Ebola in the Garden of Eden – a tale of overpopulation, government intrigue and a disaster that almost wipes out mankind, warmed by the humanity of children.
2. Green – A story set in the future where pollution is destroying the planet and factions of the Green Party have different solutions – a girl is born with no nervous system.
Kindle & Paperback versions:
The Environment
1. Anthropocene Apocalypse – a detailed memoir of the destruction taking place all over the globe with views on how to deal with it.
Education
- A passion for Education – A Headteacher’s story – The inside story of how to teach our children properly.
There are many more – why not give them a go! You’ll love them!
Country Joe and the Fish Electric Music for the Body and Mind – 537 Essential Albums number 12.
Country Joe & the Fish Electric Music for the Body and Mind – 537 Essential Albums number 12.
I wrote this book to attempt to crystallise my thoughts on the best Rock albums of all time. Having lived through it all – from the fifties right through to the present – having see nearly all the major acts live (most in small clubs) – and having run the country’s first History Of Rock Music class and written books on it – I felt that I was in a unique position to express an opinion.
Country Joe and the Fish were one of my favourites. This is an extract from the book.
- Country Joe & the Fish – Electric Music for the Body & Mind
I can still remember the first time I heard Country Joe & the Fish – Barry Melton’s unique West Coast Acid guitar sound completely blew my skull off. On top of that was Country Joe McDonald’s smooth crystal clear voice. Mike played it to me in his tiny room and I instantly knew that this was something completely different. It was a toss up between this album and the follow up ‘I feel like I’m fixing to die’. They are both equally brilliant in my ears. I went for this one as it was the first one I had heard and it made such an impression on me. It epitomised San Franciscan Acid Rock with its political edge and super tripped out music that sent your mind soaring.
I was introduced to this by my friend Mike who worked in the same bread factory as me. He was in to the whole West Coast scene and was attempting to grow his hair as long as he could. I remember that he refused to brush it because he was certain that would create split ends and the hair would break off and not get so long. Country Joe and Captain Beefheart were his favourite bands.
The stand out tracks for me were ‘Not so sweet Martha Lorraine,’ ‘Flyin’ High’ and ‘Porpoise mouth’ but I loved it all. The long trippy sound they created on ‘Grace’ and ‘Bass strings’ was so redolent of the times with Barry Melton’s spacey guitar. For a time they were my favourite band.
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9 thoughts on “Country Joe & the Fish Electric Music for the Body and Mind – 537 Essential Albums number 12.”
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Reblogged this on Opher’s World and commented:
I thought I’d put this out with the gig review.
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I always thought Country Joe and the Fish were a notch above the rest.
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One of my favourites too – though I think they ran out of ideas!
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A measure of greatness is longevity. Ella Fitzgerald, Sir Paul, Sir Paul Simon – continuously brilliant.
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Yes you are right! Many fall by the wayside.
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Loudon Wainwright with Chaim Tannenbaum at York Barbican – photos
Loudon Wainwright with Chaim Tannenbaum at York Barbican
Loudon has a long history of working with Chaim that goes right back to the early 1970s and Kate McGarrigle. Chaim played on Loudon’s Grammy winning album – The Charlie Poole Project – which I love. They only played one track from that album – which is a shame – I would have liked to have heard more.
The duo worked well together – not just musically – there was a lot of humour and appreciation between them. The repartee and theatrics was very good. I’d like to see a lot more of them.
George Carlin – Outrageous, plain speaking comic – religion and society
George Carlin – Outrageous, plain speaking comic – religion and society
This is George Carlin – a remarkable man. He says it as it is. He speaks about taboo subjects like religion and politics. An incredibly intelligent man.
This is George talking about the planet and the inevitable demise of humanity and how the planet will heal itself in the next few billion years.
He’s right. But in the meantime I feel sorry for all the creatures being slaughtered while we are busy messing the planet up.
John Fowles – Quote from The Tree – the real tragedy of the destruction of nature.
John Fowles – Quote from The Tree – the real tragedy of the destruction of nature.
I have just finished reading The Tree by John Fowles (writer of the Magus and French Lieutenants Daughter and one of my favourite writers). It was a splendid little book. It encapsulated his feeling of oneness with nature and trees – the wild – something that cannot be captured by science or art but that is a state of being.
While reading it I was particularly struck by one paragraph that resonated with me and would like to share it with you.
‘There is a spiritual corollary to the way we are currently deforesting and denaturing our planet. In the end what we must most defoliate and deprive is ourselves. We might as soon start collecting up the world’s poetry, ever line and every copy, to burn it in a final pyre; and think we should lead richer and happier lives thereafter.’
That sums up the grief and anguish I feel inside at the constant cruelty and destruction we are wreaking around the world. Each tree and creature is a poem in my world – a poem lost forever – and one that makes me all the poorer.
What we need is a new, positive zeitgeist!
What we need is a new, positive zeitgeist!
Every age has a prevailing zeitgeist. I believe it is created by the conglomerate mindset of the people and we all swim in its flood.
The sixties was a time of deep distrust of the establishment and its war machine. The counter culture set about leaving the breadheads to one side and producing a more spiritual community based on sharing, harmony and love. It was a time of great optimism, fun and happiness. It was great for a while until everyone woke up to find they were merely being ripped off and exploited in a different way and that the war machine and environmental destroying machine were still churning away.
This present zeitgeist has been born out of despair at austerity, runaway capitalism, inequality, hopelessness, joblessness, terrorism, mass migration, low wages, frustration, fear and helplessness. People have lost all faith in the establishment but are turning to extreme politics to vent their frustrations. They see that we are definitely not all in it together and the politicians are not making a jot of difference; they are pawns in the game. The right-wing and fascists, with their black and white rhetoric, easy answers, fear induction, racism and xenophobia, offer up easy solutions. What everyone wants is to believe in easy solutions.
I think the zeitgeist is one of fear, despair and a need to change. It’s the mass psychology of the age. The right-wing are exploiting it. It is what they feed off. In many wayus there are analogies to be drawn with the 1930s.
Hence we have the rise of right-wing politics, the Tea Party, UKIP, Trump and Brexit. On the continent the ultra-right parties are gaining ground big time.
I believe this needs opposing in every way possible. There are no easy answers. Belligerence and war do not solve problems. Isolationism is in nobody’s interest. Racism and xenophobia create problems.
The future is global cooperation, global laws, global rights, global enforcement of laws. The imperative is the protection of the planet.
We need to jettison the mad capitalist system with its mantra of growth and profit, which is destroying the planet and creating mass inequality and war. Greed is not the answer. Selfishness is not a solution. Compassion, empathy and love are much better.
There are better ways for us to live on this planet. For the sake of nature and our great grandchildren we need to create a different zeitgeist.
Poetry – Dreams are Real – we share our dreams
Poetry – Dreams are Real – we share our dreams
Dreams are Real
I often play with this idea that consciousness is someone else’s dream. The reality we appear to live is an illusion. The more science discovers about quantum physics, subatomic particles, black holes, quasars and the big bang the stranger it all becomes.
All we know is that life is a lot weirder than we ever imagined.
I like the idea that dreams have a life of their own and travel between our minds in sleep – out to the stars and into the minds of other life-forms on planets light-years away.
Better to communicate and induce smiles than to remain apart and induce fear.
I’m a hopeless romantic.
Dreams are Real
Maybe dreams are real
And live forever
As expanding bubbles
Of imagination –
Expanding at the
Speed of thought –
Exploding through space
And time
Like ripples of surreal fantasy –
Passing through minds
Like beams of magnetic stimulation –
Caressing the sleeping senses
Of alien dreamers
And inducing smiles?
Opher 22.8.2016
My books are available on Amazon in paperback and digital formats. They are world-wide!
In the UK you might like to browse through on my link below: For overseas visitors please refer to your local Amazon. You’ll find me there.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1475747471&sr=1-2-ent
In the USA:
In the USA – https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=opher+goodwin
Here’s a few selected titles:
Rock Music
- The Blues Muse – the story of Rock music through the eyes of the man with no name who was there through it all.
2. In Search of Captain Beefheart – The story of one man’s search for the best music from the fifties through to now.
Science Fiction
1. Ebola in the Garden of Eden – a tale of overpopulation, government intrigue and a disaster that almost wipes out mankind, warmed by the humanity of children.
2. Green – A story set in the future where pollution is destroying the planet and factions of the Green Party have different solutions – a girl is born with no nervous system.
Kindle & Paperback versions:
The Environment
1. Anthropocene Apocalypse – a detailed memoir of the destruction taking place all over the globe with views on how to deal with it.
Education
- A passion for Education – A Headteacher’s story – The inside story of how to teach our children properly.
There are many more – why not give them a go! You’ll love them!
Do you know the story of “Bass Strings”?
Remind me. It doesn’t ring a bell.
Guitar player, so tripping stoned, could only see these really fat strings in front of him.
That is funny. I’ve never heard that.