Art is an Unalloyed Good, Right?

The following is an excerpt of a 5 December 2014 email exchange between Art and Will. It should be noted that, since 1 November 2014, all Art's emails have originated from Farthington's account.

"Norsemen Landing in Iceland" by Oscar Wergeland - Guerber, H. A. (Hélène Adeline) (1909). Myths of the Norsemen from the Eddas and Sagas. London : Harrap. This illustration is the frontispiece. Digitized by the Internet Archive and available from http://www.archive.org/details/mythsofthenorsem00gueruoft Some simple image processing by User:Haukurth.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Art:

I like the lyrics of your song! Let me know if you finish it. It goes along with the Nativity-type elements in "Why Would I Bow to His Majesty?" 

I probably will want to move on from this topic soon, for Yeatsian reasons, but I do think we need to remain as conscious as possible of racial elements that we ourselves have built into this saga. Rock 'n' roll itself--and especially Detroit rock 'n' roll--is fraught with race-related issues by its very DNA. 

I really like the idea ("like" might be the wrong word) of Iceland as a kind of "Heart of Whiteness," a photo negative of Heart of Darkness, but raising similar issues. 

I appreciate the Mad Men approach to race as well. Too many shows set in that time period have tried to sanitize the way characters would have acted. So awkward. Maybe I allowed myself to get too topical. Broke character. Did what I wrote derail things too much? (And were we ever on anything as straight and parallel as rails?) 

But then again, in one sense, it's just another interpretation, another layer of sediment. Certainly got a lot of page views. Maybe our artistic endeavors aren't quite as complicit as I made them out to be. I don't think I'll ever know. As usual, yours seems like the more balanced view. 

Plus, art is an unalloyed good, right?

Will:

With the photo negative idea, is the idea that Carlton Farthington is Kurtz, and that he uses the superstition of the Icelandic natives (they believe in elves and fairies, apparently) to stage the concert on some Icelandic island and is worshiped as a pagan god despite the fact or because of the fact that his methods have become unsound? 

Are Arthur White and Will Witkowski then Marlowes? 

Achebe's No Longer at Ease is my favorite of his books, and it deals with the generation of Nigerians who were Oxford educated so that they could assist the white oppressors in modernizing Nigeria. The irony, historically speaking, is that the Nigerians who were educated ended up getting multiple PhD's while their white employers were usually mediocre students who couldn't make it in England and rarely even had bachelor's degrees, so England abandoned that policy. So there is something Achebean in the notion of Farthington using his Oxford education to hoodwink white people, and something Conradian in that notion of all of Europe going into the formation of Kurtz, or in this case, all of European colonialism fueling Farthington's cult leader status. 

At the same time, I don't think Farthington is motivated by revenge or personal insecurity, as we see with most cult leaders, especially white male American cult leaders. He seems a little more like an Elegba figure: he enjoys messing with people, which I think makes him a little elven or spritely, too. 

Also, I still see the concert, or at least the original concert, as being set in the 70's, à la the Concert for Bangladesh. We're just not living in an era of mega fundraiser concerts.

Glasnost

The following is an excerpt of a 29 November 2014 email exchange between Art and Will. It should be noted that, since 1 November 2014, all Art's emails have originated from Farthington's account.


"Reagan and Gorbachev signing" di White House Photographic Office - National Archives and Records Administration ARC Identifier 198588, courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: Source URL: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/large/c44071-15a.jpg Source page: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/gorby.html. Con licenza Pubblico dominio tramite Wikimedia Commons.

Well, things have been cracking pretty good on the Worldwide Interweb today, thanks to your stirring the pot. Got the highest number of pageviews ever on the blog. I don't understand Facebook stats, but our "Reach" is in the hundreds for each of our recent posts.

This experiment has engendered some new thinking for me, which is exactly what I hoped it would do!

It reminded me of an idea we had early on in the project. It's so interesting that there apparently are no new ideas in this project, only rediscovering the old ones! Ecclesiastes, anyone?

Are you ready? Wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...

TRYOUTS!!!

Yes, that's right. Tryouts. People are trying out for the band. Now, we obviously don't have widespread devotion (I'm thinking Adrien Belew begging Frank Zappa for a second audition), but we could twist a few people's arms into choosing a song to play along with that we can post. This would initially happen through direct communications to musicians we would like to audition.

Then have a voting stage, wherein fans choose between among the different band members! And then, maybe those band members will do a show!

To me, this sounds like a challenge. This sounds like fun. And it feels like it's the missing link, the answer to that critical question: how can we make participating fun for people?

Now, rollout is important. See if the following sequence makes sense:

1. All the Iceland songs should be available on the playlist, which will take some more time
2. We should line up some people, twist their arm into choosing a song, recording it, and having a backlog ready when we make the announcement; they can be recorded alone or with the bare-bones accompaniment of the YouTube video
3. Then we wait a few days and start releasing some of the demos as if they flooded in, hopefully getting some new ones as people get emboldened watching the auditions
4. Finally, you can have people vote on the best demos with videos as choices as you may have seen in Carlton Farthington's latest post

The additional cool thing about this is that there is no lull. Now, our project may very well die for any number of other reasons. People seem to not want to go anywhere near it.

Even in its new glasnost phase, it does little to make itself palatable to anyone!

But lull = death in the zeitgeist and there will be no letdown for this project until we choose to close up shop. Lull will not, in other words, be our cause of death. Blog posts, low-budget online audition/talent show, an ongoing stream of YouTube videos and recordings, etc. No lull.

I guess the final question is, do we need to make it worth people's while? I think the promise of a well-attended show with a decent payout that might be enough. I'm reminded of my algorithm idea for encouraging everyone to drum up interest (15 September 2013 email):

Secondly, I want us to make money on the show.  Here's an idea for that: at the door, in addition to someone collecting money and/or tickets, there would be someone asking whose guest they are. This person would tally the number of guests of mine, of yours, etc. etc. Then, after the show, there would be some agreed-upon algorithm for divvying up the money. I like the idea of a little friendly competition between stakeholders, which would doubtless lead to a larger take. Once everyone has his or her money in hand, we can individually decide if we want to collectively reinvest any of it back into the project. What do you think?

Output-Oriented Endeavors

The following is an excerpt of a 27 November 2014 email exchange between Art and Will. It should be noted that, since 1 November 2014, all Art's emails have originated from Farthington's account.

Clay Shirky

I'm getting ready to do the Basement Songs bit and here's the italicized note I have in mind for the top:

The purpose of Basement Songs is to allow our fans to play and sing along with Arthur's Concert for Iceland songs. We would like to encourage you to send us any recordings of your own renditions to carltonfarthington@gmail.com. Who knows, maybe one day you could be up on stage with Arthur White!

Please revise the wording for that if you can think of anything better.

This, of course, is in the new spirit of (1) making people feel good about participating, (2) giving users autonomy, and (3) keeping the system as open as possible (Shirky). After the note, there's the embedded video of me playing the song, and then after that, there's the lyrics and chords. This is also in the spirit of Matthew 10:8: "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."

I'd like to prime the pump if possible, by requesting that a more inner orbit of friends send in some of these initial videos. That's kind of like the "play within a play" idea, wherein we script ideal audience members to model the desired participatory behavior for the rest. At some point, that wall between the scripted participants and the passive audience begins to break down as the passive audience members become active. And, if their content is posted on the blog, they become the performers as well, completing that circle.

It might be a final goal from the project to be able to walk away from it having created some kind of feedback loop!

So who do you think you could approach about doing this? And what do you think the goal is? Honestly, I don't have a clear goal in mind. I just want to put it out there and invite people. I want to be more inviting and see what happens. So this first step is good in the sense that I'm not just sitting on the songs anymore.

But it hasn't come to fruition until other people get involved.

So I want to get Father involved if possible. I want to get as many people into my basement as possible. And honestly becoming passive in the whole process may be the ultimate goal. I'm open to letting the songs go their own way if someone feels strongly about them. I don't know if that is in the cards but I want to entertain any possibility when it comes to the songs. I think opening up this output when it feels right will improve things on the input side of the equation.

I'm thinking that my resistance to output-oriented endeavors has stifled my creativity to the point where I am willing to consider anything.

Basement Songs: Hey Rome

The purpose of Basement Songs is to allow our fans to play and sing along with Arthur's Concert for Iceland songs. We encourage you to send any recordings of your own renditions to carltonfarthington@gmail.com or share them with us (and the world!) through social media. Who knows, maybe one you could be up on stage with Arthur White!


VERSE 1:
       F/G             E/F#  F/G   F#/G#    F/G              F#Maj7/G#
Hey Rome, you wouldn't    let         my parents stay in luxury hotels
Hey Rome, so I   came in poverty, but you and me, we know well
That wise men still can find me and angry mobs can bind me
But no one can confine me entirely (2x)

Hey Rome, you wouldn't let my parents stay in luxury hotels
Hey Rome, so I came in poverty but you and me, we know well
'Cause here's the Colosseum and here's the Circus Maximus
We die in the arena so tell me why they taxing us?
                                                            G#
Hey Rome, one day I'll make you my home sweet home

CHORUS
F#Maj7                    AMaj7                        Am7
Hey Rome, I would have a moment with you
GMaj7
(How do you react when I tell you that)
Blessed are the poor, and you slammed the door upon me
(How do you react when I tell you that)
Blessed are the mourners; you heaped this scorn upon me
(How do you react when I tell you that)
Blessed are the meek, and you made a monster of me
And all that's left to do, friend I know that you
Gm7                      F/G (verse chords)
Need to keep the peace

VERSE 2:
Stranger in a strange land, I grew up in exile
Like my forefathers before me
We're raising up a new roof in the promised desert
Wasteland that you set aside for me

Hey Rome, wouldn't let my parents stay in luxury hotels
Hey Rome, so I came in poverty but you and me we know well
That I hung out with the fallen and wrong kind of company
But hearts this made of love are a danger to society

Hey Rome, one day I'll make you my home sweet home

Hey Rome, I would have a moment with you
(How do you react when I tell you that)
When I was hungry, you gave me your government cheese
(How do you react when I tell you that)
When I was a stranger, you turned me out in the street
(How do you react when I tell you that)
When I was in prison, you sent me some company
(How do you react when I tell you that)
And all that's left to do, friend I know that you
Gm7                    D
Threw away the key

D                     F#m                            Am                          G
Your cobbled roads are turning to gold in this my northern home
I can see into your soul, the clutter of mopeds under the colonnade
And a golden haired Croatian girl's my only hope for another day
And I met her at a sidewalk café.
I'd pay to see the look on your face
Gm7                                                 DMaj7
When you discover that I hold the key

CODA:
DMaj7, Dm7, Cm7
Dm9/11, Cm7 (vamp and fade)

I See the Unreal World More Clearly Than the Real One

The following is an excerpt of a 18 November 2014 email exchange between Art and Will. It should be noted that, since 1 November 2014, all Art's emails have originated from Farthington's account.


"Fimmvorduhals second fissure 2010 04 02" by Boaworm - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Will:

I'm definitely feeling the Garageband approach right now. Send me more Garageband files whenever you like! I feel like we've got the story in pretty good shape and we're generating lots of nice cultural, artistic, and spiritual criticism for the blog. I'd like to bury myself in the music at least as much as I'm toying with ideas.

Art:

I did some reorganizing in the Dropbox and what a mess! I put some more material in the Concert for Iceland folder--some you've already worked on, other things you haven't even heard. One disclaimer: I play around with way too many harmonies and extra parts...just to, you know, try things out. All the songs are pretty stripped down in my mind at this point, so don't hesitate to mute and drag them down to the nether regions of the multitracking.

Let me know if you are still able to get in. Garage Band is pretty hard to get around to here. I have been pursuing the "Basement Songs" idea, recording and uploading video with my new phone--just to give some ideas about flow. But I think the new approach is just to keep on giving--whatever is available. I say that's the only thing that will generate anything different. There are also plenty of song fragments that I've done on Garage Band...not sure if any of that is worth anything. Letting people see the "sketchbook," as they say (as you say!).

Gosh, I'm all snarled up inside. I see the unreal world more clearly than the real one. 

Maybe I'll be able to swing a couple more sessions of Garage Band during the upcoming breaks. I will try to put as much of that material in your hands as possible, as soon as possible. 

As far as the blog goes, I want us to start thinking about this "direct appeal" thing we've been talking about. Answering questions like What does the project mean to us? Who are we? What are our hopes for the project? Where does it come from? Why is it important or meaningful? What are some future forms that it might take? How can people help? What are we asking for, if anything?

I'm imagining creating an additional page to host our reflections on these topics, an "About Us" of sorts. This would necessitate a basic navigation bar, probably located just above the blog stream. 

The Man Who Was Thursday

The following is an excerpt from an email sent from Will to Art on 14 November 2014.

G.K. Chesterton

I've been listening to the old Garageband files this morning and renewing my love of the music. 

Something kind of cool came to me. I'm stealing from Chesterton here. I'll include the paragraphs from The Man Who Was Thursday at the end.

The Sweet World should consist of seven members. Each one should dress as a different day of creation. The symbolism could be subtle or overt, but Arthur wears white because he is the day on which God said, "Let there be light."  He is creative dynamism: the unfocused, the unshackled, a light in the darkness, the wild and awesome reflection of God, the mysterious and unknowable.

Will should probably be day six, the day that man is made. He could also be day seven, the day God rested (and the Wills of the world got to work). The latter gives us bookends.

Both do, in a sense. Arthur is the creator and Will is the completer/finisher.

Here is the passage from The Man Who Was Thursday.

Basement Songs: The Ladder

The purpose of Basement Songs is to allow our fans to play and sing along with Arthur's Concert for Iceland songs. We encourage you to send any recordings of your own renditions to carltonfarthington@gmail.com or share them with us (and the world!) through social media. Who knows, maybe one you could be up on stage with Arthur White!

Lots of slash chords (many with the 9 in the bass):
- Guitar can usually just play the top part
- Keyboard should play the 9 prominently in the bass
- Bass always hitting the bass note in the slash chord

PART 1:

D, A#aug/F#, D/A, A#aug/Bb (2x)

D                      A#aug/F#

And what they say doesn’t matter

D/A                             A#aug/Bb

When I stand with my hand on the ladder

D                   A#aug/F#

Whether they nay say or flatter

D/A                                                           A#aug/Bb

Had enough of no matter what they may say (2x)

(Second time through, last A#aug/Bb is replaced by Em7b5)

PART 2:

               F#m/C#                       Am/C

And you say that you could see through

                        G/B    Gm/Bb

My perfect disguise

                           F/A  F

So what’s left to do

                                   A  A7

But kiss this bird as I fly

Gmaj7                                 F#m7                                   Gmaj7/E

A lot of people don’t understand the man inside of my mind

D9

What they tried to make up

Gmaj7                                F#m7                                      Gmaj7/E

I’m not a fan of all of this one and done and wondering what

             Fmaj7/C Em7/A                   A/D

Ever became                   of what we loved

PART 3:

    A/D, Fmaj7/C, Em7/A,

…loved

A/D, Fmaj7/G, Em7/A

PART 1

PART 2: This time, after the “…fly”/A7, there is

an added part:

Gmaj7/A                    Gmaj7

To the horizon in my mind

                            F#m7

(We fly high as a bird

                     Gmaj7/E

Above these sundry bounds

        D9

You wonder how we made it

Gmaj7/A               Gmaj7          F#m7

Without having to die and now you come to find

              Fmaj7/C  Em7/A  A/D

Another way         to           love)

PART 3: This time, the A/D, Fmaj7/C, Em7/A (3x),

then the A/D, Fmaj7/G, Em7/A

Basement Songs: Why Would I Bow to His Majesty (Part 1 and 2)

The purpose of Basement Songs is to allow our fans to play and sing along with Arthur's Concert for Iceland songs. We encourage you to send any recordings of your own renditions to carltonfarthington@gmail.com or share them with us (and the world!) through social media. Who knows, maybe one you could be up on stage with Arthur White!



Part 1:

Am7/C          Gm7/Bb     Gm7
Why would I bow to his majesty?
                           C                   Am/F#          C/G    Csus2/G   G
When time after time, we just knew that he had to be...

A                                   A13    A7     F#m7
The phone it rang during dinner time
                                                             F                        G   A
With the voice of a friend saying that it's been some time
                                     A13   A7                   F#m7
Said he saw a star rising in the sky and I said
                                                        F          G
Gotta go, gotta call coming in on the other line and it said

C
You oughta be ashamed of yourself after what you've done
                 G6 no 5      G              F
'Cause for time out of mind, he's been a light to my unstable footsteps
        G6 no 5      G                   C
And now I must fly, remembering

How we promised we would tell him where to find a king
            G6 no 5      G              F
But for time out of mind, he's been a light to my unstable footsteps
        G6 no 5      G                       C/A (C6)
And now I must lie down all the things
                   C/Bb (C7)
A wiseman brings
        Csus4 C5             Csus2                  G
And isn't it time that I questioned why?

CHORUS (2x)
C                  Am/F#      C/G  Csus2/G  G
Why would I bow to his majesty?
C                                        Am/F#
Ain't no one gonna take my place
                               C/G  Csus2/G  G
Take away my own tragedy
                             C/A
A sovereign of our own
                               C/Bb
Will mount up to the throne
       Csus4 C5           Csus2                 G
And isn't it time that I questioned why?

RUSTYY KRYYSTYYLZZ SOLO
Verse chords: A, A13, A7, F#m7, F, G, A (2x, except last A)

C
You oughta be ashamed of yourself after what you've done
                 G6 no 5      G              F
'Cause for time out of mind, he's been a light to my unstable footsteps
        G6 no 5      G                   C
And now I must fly, remembering

How we promised we would tell him where to find a king
            G6 no 5      G              F
But for time out of mind, he's been a light to my unstable footsteps
        G6 no 5      G                       C/A (C6)
And now I must lie down all the things,
                   C/Bb (C7)
A wiseman brings
        Csus4 C5             Csus2            G
And isn't it time that I questioned why

CHORUS (2x)

BRIDGE

AMaj7/B   FMaj7/G  GMaj7/A (2x)
Why?
                 AMaj7
When you bargain with the man, understand
                 GMaj7
You better come with your own plan
                             Csus4/G  C/A  G  Csus4
And stand on your own
                            C/A                  G
Let's return to our land by another road

CHORUS (3x)

Part 2:

Am/F#, C/G, Caug5, Am, Dmaug5 w5, Am, Caug5, C/G, Am/F#, F, E, C/E, Cm/Eb, G5/D, D

D5, D5/F#, D5/G, D5 (3x)

DMaj7, etc.

Basement Songs: Iceland

The purpose of Basement Songs is to allow our fans to play and sing along with Arthur's Concert for Iceland songs. We encourage you to send any recordings of your own renditions to carltonfarthington@gmail.com or share them with us (and the world!) through social media. Who knows, maybe one you could be up on stage with Arthur White!



DMaj7                AMaj7
Iceland, you are melting in the teardrops of an ocean
DMaj7       AMaj7
Volcanic eruptions throwing up their rocks and lave
Am7                 GMaj7    
How can I just stand here in my monogrammed pajamas
FMaj7                      GMaj7
While they witness this apocalyptic panorama

Fm7                                    G
(And) through the island's icy floor
        Fm7                    G              F flat5 w5   G   F flat5 w5   G
Spy frozen shapes of dinosaurs

DMaj7                 AMaj7
Lately, I've been breaking up the pavement in my basement
DMaj7                AMaj7
Finding that it's futile to ignore life's pressing questions
Am7                  GMaj7
How can I just sit here with my rocks glass and my slippers
FMaj7                      GMaj7
When we could be peering over the volcano's lip where

Fm7                         G
You would see the reason for
Fm7               G            
My belief in dinosaurs

F flat5 w5                                                                 G
And I'm waiting on the signs to align, tell me will someone
F flat5 w5                                                                             G
Tell me what they gonna find by the light of the midnight sun?

G                         C                Em           D
Why would you want to get out of this place?
                    G         C             Em   D
Would you ever believe it's a dinosaur?
G                  C             Em              D
One thing I wonder is what it will take
          G                 C                D
To remember the feelings we

Thought that maybe we were above

Feelings of failure and of love

Feeling the danger, all alone like a stranger

On a planet that was gathering snow
DMaj7 #11 w5  AMaj7 (2x); Am7, GMaj7, FMaj7, GMaj7
Iceland!

            Fm11
By the light of the streams of lava
            F#m11  Gm13            Am9
Can      we        dream of our home?

An Open Letter to Philip Glass

Dear Philip Glass,

Years ago, on Friday, October 2, 1998, I saw you perform at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor at the Allen Ginsberg Memorial Concert. 

My poem had won first place in the poetry contest associated with the concert and I sat up front with my good friend, James. Although I don't remember much about the concert, I do remember enjoying the music. Your music, with its endless, cascading arpeggios (blog friends, leave this playing as you read!), was definitely the high point. That night, you shared the stage with Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, and Ziggy Marley. And with the person who had won the grand prize in the poetry contest, who got to read her poem, an homage to some other famous poet. Mine was about hanging out around town on a Sunday. 

James and I were sitting in the front row. We were so close to the stage that Patti Smith almost spit her bottled water on us. Then, she crumpled the bottle and threw across the stage in disgust.

I think she was trying to evoke her punk roots.

The concert also featured REM's Michael Stipe in a rare acoustic performance. A lot of women cried out when, halfway through his show, he took off his V-neck sweater revealing a simple white T. He was totally bald at that point, but baldness really suits certain people. Jeans, t-shirt, and a bald head. And if the audience reaction was any indication, this is a look that really suits Michael Stipe.

Very casual but owning every moment of it.

You on the other hand have always had a very good head of hair. And it suits you. I like how fluffy it is now. Has been for years. Some of the pictures on Google Images showed how you used to slick it in your youth. That was a good look too, but I'm glad you let it do its thing.

Later, I saw Ziggy Marley and his dreadlocked entourage wandering the streets looking a little bewildered. I'm not sure where they ended up. Didn't see him again.

Ziggy Marley also has an excellent head of hair. He wears his in dreads and had it up inside a knit cap much larger than the ones usually found in stores.

That night as we wandered the streets of Ann Arbor, we found you sitting outdoors at a cafe with friends.

And I think James and I had had this planned from the beginning.

We approached you and handed you a copy of our slim book: The Principles of Theory: A Systematic Approach to Ideas. Really it was just a bunch of emails we had written each other, telling the story of the former professor and infamous cult leader, Carlton Farthington. As we explained it, you listened to us like we were the only people in the world. Thanks for that.

You took the manuscript, which had absolutely no contact information on it. When we saw you later that night, striding down the sidewalk flanked by two female companions, I have to confess, we ran.

We booked. 

I'm not sure if you saw us then, but I've never seen you again since. And I'm pretty sure you've never seen us.

So, I want to cut to the chase, because I know you're a busy man. 

I want to know what you thought about The Principles of Theory. And if you liked it or even dimly remember that night, I thought we might strike up some kind of creative relationship. I would be content with a mentor-mentee type relationship, but I'd prefer to involve you more substantively in the project we are working on right now, The Concert for Iceland. 

It's really a long story and I don't want to get into it, but we'll have plenty of time to Skype or talk on the phone at some later point if you decide this is an opportunity you just can't pass up.

Sincerely, 

Arthur

All Saints

The following is an email sent to Will on 1 November 2014. It should be noted that, after this point, all Art's emails have originated from Farthington's account.


"Allen ginsberg 675" by Michiel Hendryckx - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Hi Will!

On the Solemnity of All Saints, I wanted to contact you and make a ever-so-slight change in our communications.

From now on, I'd like to try communicating with you via Carlton Farthington's address. I think it will streamline things from the standpoint of opening up the single account that I use to blog, upload videos, etc., hopefully consolidating my electronic "identity" in the process.

Of course, I realize that this sudden move may cause some to wonder whether it really is Arthur or Art who is writing these electronic missives or Carlton Farthington.

Some may point out the malproportionisms Farthington is known for using.

Others may spot the presence of a glaring hapax legomenon not found in Art or Arthur's larger oeuvre.

Any sudden change in direction causes anxiety, controversy, and upheaval.

Maybe even you are feeling some of these things. Allow your eyes to turn inward: what do you see? Many people describe colors, usually green and purple shapes.

Not the rectangular one: that's the computer screen!

Now, open them. I hope you read ahead because otherwise your eyes are still closed! I'm screaming at the computer screen, laughing of course because you cannot hear me. Will! Will! I'm "willing" you to hear me, Will! Ha ha, whew! Whoops!

Whew!

Rest assured, everything will go back to normal and fans will continue to find the sure source of inspiration and edification they have come to expect from "The Return of Arthur White."

Gotta run, but one last thought. The Concert for Iceland "tour" will likely occur in Summer 2017, 20 years after Carlton Farthington's ill-fated pilot program ran at the University of Michigan. If not then, Summer 2022 at the 25th anniversary. If not then, Summer 2047 at the 50th anniversary. So on and so forth...75th, 100th, etc. depending on how healthy we all are.

More details to come.

Cheers,

Art

P.S. If nothing else, I'd like to hold a 24-hour film festival of all those great movies that came out in 1997: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Event Horizon, The Apocalypse, Men in Black, Cube, Volcano, Flubber, Spice World, Free Willy 3: The Rescue, Gozilla (okay, that one was 1998!), and, of course, Cool Runnings (okay, that was 1993!), etc., etc. Gotta go!

P.S.S.What is the meaning of these so-called "gauzy green and purple scarves drawn across the backdrop of eternity"? Why is black synonymous with nothingness? Why not white? Why not drinking-water color sans background of trees or someone's circus-mirror face? Right now, my ice water has a bright yellow lemon stranded in its arctic ice. And its backdrop is the blacktop of driveway paved with asphalt, faultlines fissuring its surface from an overexcess of winters. How inadequate are these words when confronted with fathomless wonder!

P.P.P.S. Whoops on the last P.S.S.--what's that stand for?

P.P.P.P.S. Note to self: Will need letters both to Philip Glass and to the reincarnated Allen Ginsberg, whoever he is...would be about 20 years old by now.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Thinking he would not have made it into Nirvana because he was a latecomer to Buddhism and I don't think any self-respecting Buddha would be a member of NAMBLA. So he would actually be a teenager now having died in 1997.

A Sun-Like Self-Centeredness

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Art to Will on 26 October 2014.


"Blake jacobsladder" by William Blake - William Blake Archive   Location Digital Collection hosted on servers at UNC Chapel Hill Established 1996 Website http://www.blakearchive.org/ http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=but438.1.wc.01&vg=biblicalwc&vcontext=biblicalwc&landing=object&titles=short&java=no&mode=vcopy. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Confused, lost, and in pain for stupid reasons (don't even ask). I know how God can bring me through what are relatively dark times for me--not dark at all compared to what so many people suffer! So many things to be grateful for that I'm embarrassed to call it suffering.

But these dark times are, even in some earthly ways, good for me.

As Creon says, "The riddling Sphinx had made us let dark things go, and was inviting us to think of what lay at our doors."

Funny how success, especially the vicarious kind, can make us focus outward and not on important things, like contrition, contemplation, equanimity--in a word, interiority.

That focus ultimately leads to the inner core, but since what I'm talking about is a ridiculously outermost orbit, just about anything would qualify as more interior!

Writing can be a powerful practice in this regard. Heck, even God moves back and forth Jacob's Ladder-like by means of his Word. Word is a critical aspect of our religion, not just some unfortunate accretion or necessary evil.

This is something God seems to be willing for the project.

Not eliminating the outer orbits, but focusing on one's inner core, starting with a sunlike self-centeredness that, paradoxically, radiates out even more brightly and effectually.

And this heliocentricity is not just self-centered: there is another Person waiting for us in that core of cores.

Perhaps the solar system metaphor breaks down at this point, but we also know that the universe is accelerating, which suggests some dark, unexplained, innermost reality that feeds the outward movement continuously.

Is this what Paul means when he boasts?

I know how to live in humble circumstances;
I know also how to live with abundance.
In every circumstance and in all things
I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry,
of living in abundance and of being in need. (Phil. 4:12-14)

Surprised to see this smaller world open up with all its condensed unity and richness.

Of Course!

The following is an excerpt of an email sent from Art to Will on 4 December 2014.


"Eric Garner Protest Chicago Dec 4 2014" by Samantha Lotti - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Probably going to lay off a little with everything happening in the news lately.

I was honestly confused about the whole Ferguson thing, but this Eric Garner thing has got me messed up. Seems pretty tone deaf to be a couple white guys singing about Iceland. This stuff is turning me into a prolife liberal, two things that belong on the same side of the ideological spectrum (#blacklivesmatter). With all due respect to our police, our country still can't help but show its true character. Maybe the more educated among us are better at covering it up. But collectively are we still channeling the spirit of the slave owner, the klansman, etc? At the very least we are living inside some powerful narratives.

And here we are: a couple white guys singing about Iceland. But is our message at all relevant to any of these particulars happening in the world today? I'm not doing this out of a sense of guilt so much as a desire to engage a conversation of consequence. Like Marvin Gaye sang, What's going on? What's happening brother? What's been shaking up and down the line?

Like Yeats' "Easter 1916," I'm not interested in writing rallying cries for some movement, however valid that movement may be.

Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.

I want life in all its richness and complexity. But the project can become involuted.

Does it matter that Arthur White's name is White? Does it matter that he's attempting to play black music? Does it matter that we invoke the history of Detroit, its industries, its white flight, its riots? Does it matter that Stan paved over Blackbottom?

And do any of these things reflect on the current state of America today?

Like Heart of Darkness pre-Chinua Achebe, we've primarily interpreted this story through an archetypal/psychoanalytic lens (Nietzschean, Jungian, Campbellian, etc.). Our non-white, non-male characters have been underdeveloped at best. I'm honestly not sure what they are at worst--I'm sure Chinua Achebe could tell us.

But is the Iceland fantasy some kind of definitive white flight?

Is Arthur White postcolonial literature?!

As a country, we see ourselves bringing human rights to the people of the world. But how can we do that on the foundation we've built, paving over people and cultures in the process?

As Claudius prays in Hamlet:

My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder...
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?

Can we be pardoned when we are still the beneficiaries of our crime? Of course we'll stop doing it once we've accomplished the goal--taking over the land and becoming the world's superpower.

We are still "possessed of those effects."

I think I have a pretty good idea about what Chinua Achebe would say about Carlton Farthington, the Burmese-born, Oxford-educated, Dionysian figure! He's Arthur's encounter with that inarticulate wildness, of course! He helps Arthur get in touch with his own inarticulate wildness, of course! And break free from the whitewashed, Apollonian tomb represented by Will Witkowski, Western Civilization, the American Dream, Manifest Destiny, of course!

And helps him see the fiery heart of that iced-over reality, of course! And descend into the primordial abyss past prehistoric monsters, of course!

It's the only way Arthur can face up to these realities, of course!

And meanwhile, people are dying in the streets of America, of course.

Of course!

Basement Songs: Iceland (Last Part)

The purpose of Basement Songs is to allow our fans to play and sing along with Arthur's Concert for Iceland songs. We encourage you to send any recordings of your own renditions to carltonfarthington@gmail.com or share them with us (and the world!) through social media. Who knows, maybe one you could be up on stage with Arthur White!



DMaj7 #11 w5   AMaj7 (2x); Am7, GMaj7, FMaj7, GMaj7
Iceland!

           Fm11
By the light of the streams of lava
        F#m11  Gm13             Am9
Can we         dream of our home?

Outro:
G, C, Em, D (2x)
D

DMaj7 #11 w5
Iceland!

            Fm11
By the light of the streams of lava
            F#m11  Gm13            Am9
Can      we        dream of our home?