The Role of Art at The Zero Hour

The changes that must occur at this zero hour for humans transcend mere politics. We must transition from viewing the world and all of its people, creatures and places as objects to exploited to viewing them as subjects to be listened to. The stories & marvels & gestures of love that comprise art can help us make this transition.

The Artist in a War and Market Culture

Artists are generally despised because the work we pursue does not fit into the logic of the market or the arithmetic of war. Artists pursue the mysteries and the limits of consciousness and seek to make objects of beauty. We explore and advocate for more sensible, more imaginative and more loving ways of existing. These pursuits fall outside of the realm of the salesman and the soldier and are therefore disdained.

We return the disdain. We loathe the lamentable mind of the consumer zombie and the pitiless pisswater brain of the mercenary and the soldier. We pity them and consider them enemies of Life and of the Sacred.

Report from an Occupation in Brazil by Makely Ka. Tr. by Dan Hanrahan

Breaking. Occupations of Ministry of Culture buildings are spreading throughout Brazil, as street level resistance to the government of Michel Temer grows. Here is a report from Minas Gerais.

From the Facebook page of Brazilian musician and activist Makey Ka. Translated from the Portuguese by Dan Hanrahan. May 17, 2016.

I am here at an occupation*, we do not recognize the legitimacy of the Temer government, we are working on a proposal to create a parallel organization to the Ministry of Culture (which the Temer government has eliminated), one created by civil society, we are practicing civil disobedience, and are subject to a police invasion which could occur at any moment.

Here there are people under a diverse range of banners–anarchists, feminists, Black activists, indigenous activists, LGBT’s, the homeless, people practicing all the artistic disciplines, from various sections of the city, the metropolitan area and the interior of the state.

There is an intensive program of the activities occurring – classes, debates, shows, meetings, and performances, film screenings, dance rehearsals, theater and music. There are committees responsible for cleaning, security, food, communication, programming and political statements. We are giving to this National Foundation of Arts space the use it always should have had. This afternoon the FUNARTE headquarters in São Paulo was occupied. FUNARTE in Rio and Curitiba have already been occupied. A hashtag uniting al the occupations is ‪#‎ForaTemer‬ (TemerOut).

But it is striking how the PT (Workers Party of the ousted President Dilma) is able to sabotage all of the resistance initiatives with its lack of self-critique. Is it that they want to maintain the narrative of the coup liberating and, even moreso, incentivizing an alliance with the PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, founded in 1981) in the upcoming municipal elections? It is unbelievable. For these and for other reasons I believe we need an arts organization based in civil society, unrelated to the government.

*of the FUNARTE Center of Brazilian National Foundation of the Arts in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Henry Threadgill

the ghost of buddy bolden

fire in his eyes

floats over the rooftops

of bronzeville june nights

swing a gate open

and follow a line

from the bayou

to chicago's stockyard miles

the second line drop step

of buddy bolden's gone storyville blues

blows a highwire signal

into chase scenes around the el lines

henry threadgill passes easily

into otherworldly states

his songs bloom and push forward

into the fragrant skies

like bumble bees in flight

very very curious

the dreams that grow

as diamonds in washington park

fish ponds

the future is already written

in sky lightning

for those ready to discern

pure sound and power

in breath, each note

must teeter on the tightrope

for the flute to entice forward,

the cello to draw downward to earth

magnetic poles battle

in the balance

heard it all

i heard it all

in the one-bedroom

overlooking the lilac tree

in bloom, the drug deals

on the corner and out

the tiny black speakers

too much sugar for a dime ---

was it poured into porcelain cups

in late-night edward hopper contemplation

or drunk with the dogon—

people of the dog star

who navigate all that celestial space

from red clay earth of malian midnights

eons of heat

burnt into score sheets

each note a dare to eternity

to throw down its gold key

cuz you'll hitch your circus wagon

to her and rise over

the limestone walls

of the hudson ---

east above the atlantic ---

to find a flute glimpsed years ago

in dreamtime

of chicago twilight

the alto sax line

and two tubas cannonball crush

twin guitars

sprung like jet turbines

backbeat breaks down to reveal

the cabinet of many doors:

start with jelly roll reborn

to an orchestra of windmills

whinin’ boy blues of winged antelope

hovers over the land

where the buffalo roam

the sides of nickels found

by junkstore troubadors

iconoclast? eyes the tall grass

for signs of the forbidden theatre

rolling into town

try dancing to this number

we’ll choreograph the eight petals

of lotus light that only appear

on bud billigan parade day

in lily pad revival

it’s showtime on the south side

too soon to know

if this seed will rise

into oak or baobab

let the bass be plural

and play tag with the crash cymbals

the circus wagons are on fire

so much rising up

release elements

to regain old kingdoms

of thrill magic

of the still active

kingdom of birds

risen to harmonize and ignite

what was lost on rolled scrolls

call them down now

with flute and arched bow

between major and minor

we beam in dreamtime

This poem first appeared Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz and Literature

From Whence Riseth Trump?

In mass society, the most cynical, narcissistic and depraved can learn how to manipulate the media and thus, the emotions of the populace. The French Situationists explored this topic in depth and exposed how corporate manipulation functions in mass society via marketing and related tools of psychological molding.

Donald Trump and many other politicians learned the following from the monsters who preceded them: a completely corrupted soul can orchestrate his/her own rise to power through an agile playing of the corporate media and the targeting of an intellectually diminished, bewildered and desperate citizenry.

On the Ruptured Connection to the Infinite

Until we reestablish our ruptured connection to the infinite - whose portal, as William Blake reminded us, may be a lowly grain of sand - we will just be passing through phases of dullness, estrangement, bewilderment & mania. We came to be through the life spark – the animating motherfather force present in all beings, all landscapes and pulsing through the deepest infinity of space. Until we know this again & experience it as we walk through the world, we will remain the lost species - condemned to the solitude of a self-forged exile.

There is a great urge rising up within us to reclaim what has been stolen: our connection to ourselves, to each other and to the other than human world and the attendant knowledge that spirit is infusing all. Occasionally, I am perceived as pessimistic because I don't find hope in the proffering of "solutions" that simply want to tinker with what I consider to be a very obvious death drive system built upon miserablism. To me, such a posture is not pessimistic; it is, rather, not settling for crumbs dropped from the table. And the time for contentment with the crumbs dropped from the mouths of those who care about absolutely nothing has long passed.