Merry Christmas from Germany — by NormanB (“Deviations from the Norm”)

Berlin artist Jonathan Meese performs at the unveiling of his sculpture at Amherst College Museum of Art. Videotaped by my partner Rachel Neulander, and posted two years ago today at her YouTube channel medicinesocks. Performance Art is hard work, but it’s worth it, if you stick it out to the end, to the punch line:

Six weeks ago we ten awaited our candidate for Governor in an Amherst living room. At a Northampton community hall meeting a month earlier, all persons present had donated up to their respective limits, so none of us had money to give to the campaign this time. I didn’t give either time. No money. I may look old with my long gray beard, but most others in the campaign are older yet. I’ve been a fan of Jill Stein since she spoke in Northampton on her 2002 Massachusetts Gubernatorial run. And now she’s the Green-Rainbow Party nominee again.

“How can we get Jill Stein to speak at UMass?” someone asked. “I wrote a Rock Opera;” I said, “I think I could get it presented at the University of Massachusetts, and she can speak at the event.” People were surprised. Those most familiar with my political activities stared suspiciously at me. “Does this have anything to do with Marijuana?” one asked. “Yes. I work with the UMass Cannabis Reform Coalition (CRC). They would sponsor it.”

“I don’t know if she’d want to associate herself with the Marijuana movement,” my suspicious friend said. “But it’s one of the Te–” “I know it’s one of the Ten Core Values [of the Greens], but I still don’t think she’d want to.” At the same time, someone asked a brilliant lawyer (an avowed Socialist elected to the Governor’s Council as a Democrat) about the sitch. He said “Well, she could, if she gets an official invitation from a campus student organization, like the Cannabis Reform Coalition…” I waited for him to say “…but…” but he just trailed off…

When Dr. Stein got to the meeting, she walked across the room to shake my hand and say “I want to associate myself with the Marijuana movement.” She’d begun associating with our movement in April when I invited her to speak at Extravaganja, Amherst’s annual Marijuana-legalization hemp rally, on 4/20 weekend. I asked “Do you want to speak at next week’s event in Boston?” referring to the upcoming [September 18] Boston Freedom Rally. “I’m going to speak at the Boston rally,” she said, both of us remembering that I’d introduced her to its organizers at 4/20. I told her about my Rock Opera idea. She said she’d do it, and that I should talk to her Campaign Manager about scheduling it. Both her Campaign Manager and Field Director are veterans of large Democratic campaigns, but this third-party run is a different animal altogether.

Two days later I floated the idea at the CRC meeting: “I wrote a Rock Opera. It’s called ‘Protest PG.’ I’d like to present it at UMass. Jill Stein said she’d speak at the event.” The words were out a scant second from my lips when the roomful of students erupted in a spontaneous roar of consensus assent. The club president immediately shouted “We’ll do it!” then quietly added “It’s already written, right?” Soon UMass rejected our proposed date for the event, and told us that the room we’d requested, the Cape Cod Lounge, could never be used for political events. They offered two alternative dates, in the Student Union Ballroom, only one of which was workable for Dr. Stein. So, two-and-a-half of weeks after the idea was hatched, we had our date, our auditorium, and not much time left to plan and promote it. Now, to be fair, we invited all four Gubernatorial candidates to open for my Rock Opera sponsored by the CRC. Casino-backed Democrat-turned-Independent State Treasurer Tim Cahill, casino-backed Republican Charlie Baker, and casino-backed conservative incumbent Democratic Governor Deval Patrick all politely declined to take part.

We issued press releases. I printed 700 fliers and personally posted or handed out 500 of them, getting help with the rest. The CRC also printed fliers and distributed them. I emailed hundreds of similar (yet individually personalized) letters to professors, arts professionals, environmental organizations, and student groups who might be interested. Everywhere I went I enthusiastically told everyone who’d listen about Jill Stein and the Rock Opera. I gave many of them fliers.

It seemed that God and/or the Goddess and/or the synchronicity of the Universe and satellite TV wanted me to pull this off: Suddenly, they’re showing Hair and Pink Floyd’s The Wall, neither of which is called a “Rock Opera ” in the encyclopedia, but they kind of are. Then came a special about the Kinks (including Rock Opera composer Ray Davies). Next the brilliant Zeb Buffman production of Webber’s Joseph. Finally, the special about the Who and its leader Pete Townsend, whose Rock Operas are important to me. I am still vibrating from the time I saw the Who live, decades ago. At the University, for a dress rehearsal before the event, I walked into a nearly empty cafeteria, and student radio played Cannonball Adderley’s Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. His brother Nat Adderley was the first Ybor City artist to write a Rock Opera. I may be the third one. Ybor City is the artists’ ghetto of Tampa, also its Latin quarter and entertainment district. God(dess)/Universe Does want this to work! I couldn’t help it, I began to dance, with glee and enthusiasm. Cannonball wasn’t even to his first lyric and I was already gliding across the floor. Within seconds the food workers were dancing too.

How I love Rock Operas! People who’ve seen only television and movies (but no live theatre) can’t even imagine the thrill and spectacle of actors, musicians, singers, and dancers, all treating me like I’m royalty, bringing the poet’s message directly to me, the audience member, filled with the composer’s music. We the audience transcend our superficial differences and become one. People leave awestruck, and remain so for days. By the end of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, my face was bright red with excitement. I was sweating and crying and laughing and smiling so hard that the corners of my mouth pushed my red cheeks up into my teary eyes. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout!

Then the day before the opera, Governor Patrick decided to come to UMass, and speak two-and-a-half hours before our event. And where did the University put him? In the Cape Cod Lounge. I guess he’s not all that political. Actually, he’d requested the Student Union Ballroom, but the CRC had already rented it for $200. As I reached campus I saw what looked like a gaggle of Mormons walking down the University sidewalk. Probably the Governor’s entourage, seven guys in black suits. I’m not stereotyping here: Mormons really do dress in black suits, and people dressed like that on campus usually are Mormons.

It seemed like the Governor was trying to upstage us. But his appearance actually drew attention to his opponent being at UMass the same day. So their photos shared the front page of both the student newspaper and the town paper. The student paper shows the survey at UMass wherein the morning of the twin events, Governor Patrick led Dr. Stein 43% to 16%, with Stein polling much higher at the University than she does in other parts of the state. Now that their appearances have sunken in and taken effect, she’s gained 5 points on him, and now it’s 40%-18% in the four-way race. A UMass employee who attended both events said ours had 30% more attendees. And there was a huge enthusiasm gap. As you can see by watching video of the Patrick event, the students look bored. The suits try to get applause going, but it doesn’t work and they give up.

But at our event, Jill Stein was interrupted for applause several times, and so was I. She spoke about single-payer healthcare, about Marijuana legalization, about industrial hemp, about banks and insurance and drug companies. She told us of how, when Exxon deforested a patch of Brazilian Amazon rainforest the size of Rhode Island, causing extinction of one tribe and permanent displacement of four others, that Exxon then hired “civil rights lawyer” Deval Patrick to get them off in court. (I hope to get video of Jill Stein and my Rock Opera uploaded to YouTube and FDL.)

With our audience, we bridged the generation gap, from elderly lefty ladies to the freshest freshmen. Friends came from afar to watch the show and meet the candidate. A friend of mine, a visual artist and bicycle athlete older than me, told me on the way in that he was going to vote for Governor Patrick. The candidate took questions from the audience after her 50-minute speech. One woman said she’d never heard of Stein before seeing the fliers, but now intended to vote for her. Neighbors I’d met on the bus showed up, and left carrying large Jill Stein signs for the neighborhood. When my artist friend left, he said he’d be voting for Jill.

My Rock Opera “Protest PG” laments the fact that people aren’t protesting the Pashtun Genocide. The Pashtuns are the people American warriors are killing in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They call themselves the “Children of Israel.” Their national hero is Moses. Their national symbol is the Star of David. They are pleading with the US to end its Genocide against them. Most Americans don’t know who the Pashtuns are. The PG I’m protesting also stands for the Pariah Gases, Prison Guantanamo, Prohibition of Ganja, and Pinocchio Government. A reporter becomes an actor, then uses the actor’s characters to draw attention to the newsman’s reports.

The Rock Opera begins with a scene I’ve been performing for 26 years, the anonymous English-Scottish border region poem The Laily Worm and the Mackerel of the Sea. And I’ve performed two of the songs from the show and told one of the jokes at each of the last two years at Extravaganja, so Tommy Devine’s review notes that he’s heard some of the material before. Tommy Devine shot the photo of me above, in my work clothes. The student techmaster who was to set up the screen for the video part of the one-man multi-media performance didn’t set it up. So I had to do major revision at the last minute, cutting a scene, cutting out characters. With the video playing, I’d have had time and cover (behind the screen) to change costumes. Now, the monk, Osama bin Laden, and Uncle Sam could stay in, but Crazy Al and the newsman were suppressed, ironically.

The room burst into uproarious applause late in the show when I sang “The honored US Military is dressed in baby blood and khaki,” and again seconds later, when addressing the President, I sang “You’d not’ve got a goddam vote if you hadn’t lied, if you’d told us you wanted private armies and Pashtun Genocide.” Democracy Now! had revealed the fact that Blackwater/XE is Monsanto’s private army the day before. The Pashtun Genocide news bite hasn’t made the US media yet.

In most major media, Jill Stein has been ignored: She’s experiencing a “brown out” (named after the good press coverage Jerry Brown gets, nearly none). Here’s a UMass Daily Collegian editorial endorsing Stein. Independent Amherst/Granby State House candidate Dan Melick introduced Jill Stein. He’s a member of the CRC, a recent graduate from UMass, and a longtime cannabis activist. CRC organizer Terry Franklin introduced me. In the days approaching the performance, he advised me that students would relate better if “George Bush” were mentioned rather than my original lyric, “Oliver North.” He was right. He also told me that a former CRC officer had given me unbeliveably glowing praise during my absence from a meeting, and that she had called my work “life-changing.”

After the performance, one student tried to buy a CD from me, but I had only been joking about selling them. Another ran up to me and shook my hand, saying “Your Rock Opera was fantastic! Life-changing!” If you added the ages of the two women who used that term, I’d still have a few years on them. I knew the second one must have heard it from the first one, but she was sincere: Her face was red, she was sweating and laughing and crying and smiling so hard her red cheeks were pressed up into her teary eyes.

I called Jill’s Field Director to tell him about her rise in the UMass poll, and he shocked me by telling me that this Rock Opera was her most-attended campaign function. What?! Why didn’t I do ten times as much? Why didn’t ten people do ten times as much? One person with no money writes some poems, and that’s the biggest event? I don’t get it.

Weekend Art of the Economic Collapse: Racoon sings Dumpster Diver: Garbology 101 — posted by NormanB ("Deviations from the Norm")

Racoon is holding a large white crystal in one of the photos.

Video by Rachel Neulander. The music by her friend, our late Rainbow brother Racoon, is public domain.

Weekend Art: Greek Mythology: Melampus — by NormanB ("Deviations from the Norm")

More fun with Classical Literature! It is mythology, but Melampus seems to have actually existed, as historians listed below attest.

Melampus was an early doctor. Dr. Mel was like a superhero: He had a superpower: He could understand the language of animals: He was especially good at interpretting the language of birds, like King Solomon and Sigurd, the Norse national hero of the VolsungaSaga and the Eddas.

Many ancient authors told tales of Melampus, or at least gave details of his career: Apollodorus, Ovid, Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, Hyginus, Pausanius, Diodorus Siculus, Apollonius of Rhodes, and others. Two books, both titled The Greek Myths, give excellent modern re-tellings of the myth based on Greek and Latin sources: One by Robert Graves, and one by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire.

The title character’s name is sometimes in English transliterated/spelled "Melampos" (Between You and Me and Melampos). Dr. Doolittle was VERY loosely based on this myth.

Video by Rachel Neulander:

For further reflection and study: The story of Melampus and his brother Bias marrying the two Mad Cow Disease victims subliminally tells the story of the Indo-European-speaking lighter-complected patriarchal Greeks supplanting the earlier matriarchal royal lines of the darker Mediterranean peoples, who presumably spoke a different language, before the arrival of the Indo-outdo-Europeans.

(p)(c)2009,2010 Norman Schulerud Bie, Jr. All rights reserved.

Weekend Art: How Local Hero Sam Lovejoy (& his Lawyer Howard Zinn) Toppled the Nuke Plant — by NormanB ("Deviations from the Norm")

Western Massachusetts singer-songwriter tells the story of his neighbor Sam Lovejoy, whose dedication, direct action, and legal action through Howard Zinn, stopped attempted construction of a nuclear power plant. As Rob rants toward the end of the song, you’ll hear him assail Yankee Rowe and Virnon, two nearby nuclear power plants. (Our area recently experience Tritium leaks and other radioactive leaks from our nearby plants.)

Rob & Jim in the house!

sam lovejoy was a farmer in the new england tradition and yes he chose organic it was quite a wise decision and he lived by his principles of caring for the earth, as he grew his cucumbers he implemented the birth of something larger than himself…
sam lovejoy was astounded when he found out the news that a nuclear reactor was planned for his woods, and like a local ghandi he toppled a weather tower — by disengaging guidewires he stopped the sinister power from choking the local health… he was countering the forces of bottom-line local wealth (i.e, the electric company) the people in the mill towns they said he was a crook with a disrespect for property in the stand that he took but slowly he convinced them to see it his way: that he truly sought safety for the people of the valley, twas a moral rationale, he said
sam lovejoy was astounded when he found out the news that a tiny technicality would free him from this ruse but in the interest of principle and through the course of his trial, sam lovejoy spoke with eloquence, kept a courteous smile, inspiring smalltownfolk worldwide to develop resistance to the nuclear tide!
sam lovejoy was astounded when he found out the news that a nuclear reactor was planned for his woods and in an act of bravery, craziness and zeal, he put a stop to the company, he derailed their deal by making a terrible noise, and staking a claim for the little man’s voice…. thank you sam lovejoy and who’s gonna be next?

Nuclear Power?
No Thank You!

Better Active Today
Than Radioactive Tomorrow

Ask The Cows Of Hershey,PA~ Got Rads?
Remember Three Mile Island!
Remember Chernobyl!?!
KIDZ:
GET EDUCATED! Read up everything you can on the history of the nuclear industry in america and the world. citibank, chase and the other major backers promised the cleanest, safest, most inexpensive energy by 1984- they lied! it’s filthy! it’s way overpriced! the cost overrides for the construction of nuke plants went way past all projected budgets, lining huge corrupt and unaccountable pockets of wealth at the top, while the plants were built in haste with substandard materials and shoddy workmanship, setting off an apocalyptic series of plant breakdowns and predictable but unprevented crises that were hushed up or vanished from the press record… the issue of what to do with the toxic, deadly, cancer metastasizing waste these things generate that lasts for ages to come is still unanswered, and there’s no such thing a safe evacuation plan if one of these things gets blown up, say, by a passing hijacked passenger plane.

A couple of generations ago the protest movement against this insanely dangerous and corrupt industry effectively got the word out and put a moratorium on further development. the epa actually began shutting down some of the most problematic and now obsolescent old nuke plants. but wouldn’t you know, the bush admin’s already started the rolling out the propaganda for a refreshment of and reinvestment of our already stretched dollars into yet another surge of nuclear plant construction- I hear they want to build 30 new plants, or more????

WTF!?????????!!!!!!!!!?????????????

WAKE UP AMERICA!

FORM AFFINITY GROUPS
GET NON VIOLENT RESISTANCE TRAINING
WRITE YR REPS!
ORGANIZE!
RESIST!
SHUT EM DOWN!

"Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead

Weekend Art: Art of the Economic Collapse: Prophet of Doom vs. Triumph Over the Banking Blues — by NormanB ("Deviations from the Norm")

Consensus reality, as dictated by those few corporations who dominate the mainstream media, told us around Election Day 2008 that the world’s economic system was collapsing, and we’d better invent more money and give it to the biggest banks, who got us into this mess, or … or our politicians won’t get a cut of the spoils.

Well, whatever their story was, they sprang the economic collapse story on us right when it would have its most effect on the election and its aftermath.

But I reported it on March 7, 2008, nine months earlier. I was responding to a thread about the economy from a Dutch YouTube vlogger called "sickliberal." It’s the ultimate I-told-you-so: Here’s me publishing to YouTube, explaining that the economy has already collapsed, advising my small audience to go ahead and admit it. And the big media conglomerates, politicians and economists knew it just as well as I did. But the straight news kept silent on it until they could use it to manipulate the election. On second thought, you may not want to listen to it. Maybe you just want to listen long enough to confirm that I reported the collapse long before straight news did.

A better idea is to just skip straight to the second video, of Massachusetts singer-songwriter Rob Skelton from November 15, 2008, the free-fall part of the collapse. As the US Government was stuffing a few more cards into the house of cards, giving Bank of America all that money; but, of course, BOA deserves it, for supporting Joe Biden’s political career all these years. Now that we, the US have helped out the Bank of America, and let them use our name, maybe they could help some of us out? Or at least be civil? No? You’d better watch yourself, or somebody’s going to write a song about you!

Musical video Directed by Rachel Neulander, who sings back-up.

March 7, 2008: Norman B explains that the Economy has Collapsed:

November 15, 2008: Rob Skelton reacts to Bank of America’s check-cashing policies:

Weekend Art: Homeric Hymnal: Fun With Homer and Herodotus — by NormanB ("Deviations from the Norm")

Highlights from HOMERIC HYMNS #1, 3, 7, 16, 21, 25 & 26, PLUS – HERODOTUS: The Histories 2:24

The busts shown are of Homer and Herodotus, respectively. Most modern scholars hold that the Homeric Hymns were not actually written by Homer, but by the Homeridae, which means "sons of Homer," but refers to poets who learned in the school Homer founded.

The episode with Arion was told by Herodotus. The rest were told in the Homeric Hymns. Arion was a poet and musician who invented the Dithyramb, an ancient Hymn form. It gave rise to our word "Ditty."

Philadelphia is often mistranslated as "The City of Brotherly Love," when, in fact, it means the "Delphi of Brotherly Love." Delphi was considered the center of the Earth, actually considered the belly button of Mother Earth [Gaea, or Gaia]. Delphi was the place of pilgrimage, so its spiritual meaning is actually much more like "Mecca" than merely "City." But as you will hear in the video below, the word "Delphi" does have a meaning, and that meaning is not "City."

The Homeric Hymns hold some of the most impressive, exciting and spectacular adventures in all of Greek mythology. The Histories of Herodotus, on the other hand, are mainly dryer reading, but the Arion episode is the exception.

(Those of you familiar with Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of Apollonian vs. Dionysian may have something to think about here.)

Lyrics below.

Directed by Rachel Neulander

HOMERIC HYMNAL — Norman B ("Deviations From The Norm")

HOMERIC HYMNAL — Norman B "Deviations From The Norm"
Highlights from HOMERIC HYMNS #1, 3, 7, 16, 21, 25 & 26, PLUS – HERODOTUS: The Histories 2:24

Cretan fishermen, normal human bein’s,
Were castin’ the’r net in the Southern Aegean,
When, suddenly, they were goin’ West,
And suddenly they were goin’ fast!
They lowered the sail, tried to put in to shore,
Ship wouldn’t respond to rudder or oar,
B’cause the’r boat was not bein’ blown about by a wind,
It was bein’ pushed by a giant dolphin!

The Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
The Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
"I’m just givin’ your ship a little friendly shove,
I’m the Dolphin of Brotherly Love!

"I am LightMusicMedicineProphecyPoetryApollo!
I am the one whom, from now on, you’re gonna follow!
Your home and your family,
You’re nevermore gonna see!
Now, you’re priests, and you’re workin’ for me!
You’re gonna build a great city.
Name it after me:
Call my city Delphi,
‘Cause I am super strong,
I can do no wrong.
You’re gonna get down and swab the deck
But first, you’re gonna sing me a song,

"’Cause I’m the Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
The Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
Many are called, very few are shoved
By the Dolphin of Brotherly Love!"

In West Asia Minor, on the Eastern Aegean,
A great city is named for this powerful bein’,
You can probably figure it out for yourself. For your
Information, it’s Philadelphia!

The Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
It’s the Dolphin of Brotherly Love:
Delphi means Dolphin; Phila means Love.
Dolphin of Brotherly Love!

Yeah! Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
The Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
DelphI means Dolphin; PhilO means Love:
Dolphin of Brotherly Love!

On the island of Lesbos, near that great city,
Lived Arion the poet who invented the Dithy(ramb).
He was sponsored to compete in a contest by a King,
Who sailed him off to Sicily to play guitar (kithara) and sing,
Yeah, he won the contest, won a pot of gold,
But pirates spotted it, and got a hold,
They got a hold of his prize!
They took him out to sea, but no anguished cries:
Bold Arion sang out a loud proud call-O,
A sweet swan song sung to Apollo!
Yeah, he sang his song, and then he walked the plank,
But he landed on a dolphin, and he never sank!

The Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
"I’m The Dolphin of Brotherly Love!
I’ll be skimmin’ the surface, keep your head above
The Dolphin of Brotherly Love!"

Obviously drunk in rich red royal robes
Slunk Dionysus.
"Such an easy target! Must be worth a King’s ransom,"
Schemed the pesky pirates.
They threw him on their ship, and they drew on out to sea,
But then he grew into a giant!
From his body sprouted vines
That soaked the sail with wine!
Like a lion Dionysus roared!
The pirates all jumped overboard,
But fear not for the fate of these men:
The god took pity on them:
Dionysus showed them mercy:
He turned them into merciful beasts:

Now, they’re the Dolphins of Brotherly Love!
The Dolphins of Brotherly Love!
Mercy for the Mermen. Stop their squirmin’.
Dolphins of Brotherly Love!

Dolphins of Brotherly Love! (Yeah!)
Dolphins of Brotherly Love! (AAHH!)
Mercy for the Mermen from Above!
The Dolphins of Brotherly Love!

(p)(c)2008,2010 Norman Schulerud Bie, Jr. All rights reserved.

Busts of Homer & Herodotus, respectively.

Drug-Oriented Suicide Art with Bad Words in it — by NormanB {"Deviations from the Norm")

Norman B – Deviations from the Norm Read the rest of this entry →