Let’s talk about me…

[ornoth]

I agreed to play this meme, so now I have to post.

The idea is this: Ask me, and I’ll pick three of your listed interests and three of your userpics and ask you to talk about them. Express your interest in a comment on this entry.

Here are the ones greatsword asked me to talk about:

Interests: bentmen, hand_drumming, vipassana.
Images: Righteous, sunglasses, puggle

Bentmen:

Back in the early 90s, shortly after my wife and I separated, I started hanging out with friends in Boston’s music scene. There were so many great local bands back then, and we managed to make friends with a few players, including an absolutely amazing guitarist named Eddie Nowik. Usually he played with a band called Crisis of Faith at the Plough & Stars, but he also played occasionally with a band called the Bentmen.

The Bentmen are hard to explain. They play rock with disturbing, eerie overtones. There’s some MP3s on www.bentmen.com and they’re also on iTunes. But the spectacle is the live show. The stage is decorated in the most bizarre fashion, and the band members come out in the most disturbing, scary outfits they can devise. They spray the audience with shaving cream and tempura paint (sic). They hook beanbag chairs up to leafblowers and spray the audience with feathers and little foam pellets. They toss out ice cream sandwiches, severed Barbie doll heads, and anything else they can procure. The venue gets utterly trashed, left knee-deep in refuse.

But beyond all that is the music; they’re all gifted, prominent musicians. They play very rarely, but when they do, it’s chaos, and quite a spectacle. You can see a few pictures I took at their most recent show (last October) here.

Hand Drumming:

About the same time as I started getting into the music scene, I developed a passion for drums. I bought a drum set and spent a lot of time playing around, despite knowing that I have an absolutely horrid sense of rhythm. I later replaced that with an electronic kit, which I still have. And the music store gave me a credit when I bought the e-drums, so I spent that on a set of bongos, although I’d already gotten into hand drumming by then.

I’m not sure when I picked up hand drumming or how. I guess I must have gone to a Cambridge Drum & Dance and liked what I saw, because I picked up a Remo “klong yaw”, which is sort of like a djembe, only taller. You can see it here. I also took a hand drumming course with Inna. Now I’ve also got Inna’s djembe at home, and some miscellaneous stuff, including a rain stick, claves, Boomwhackers, a bottled water jug, a didgeridoo, a cheap goatskin drum a friend brought back from South Africa, and probably some other stuff I don’t have readily in memory. But I’m still just a wannabe in every way…

Vipassana:

Vipassana generally refers to “insight meditation”, a sort of non-sectarian form of meditation derived from Theravada Buddhism, which itself is based around the Tipitaka, aka the Pali canon, the oldest, seminal Buddhist texts. The other Buddhist schools all include other texts which were developed later. Theravada itself seems pretty inocuous, without a lot of the saints and mythological and ceremonial stuff and hierarchy that you get in other sects. But Vipassana is even one level removed from that, which is why “insight meditation” is more generally accepted in the west, where people are all skitchy about anything smacking of religion.

	Righteous: This shot was taken during the 2002 Dargon Summit in Scotland. We were taking a group guided tour of Sterling Castle, which was awesome, and here was this pulpit kinda place in the Great Hall. So while the tour guide was talking, I stood atop the pulpit while my buddy took the picture from below. The shot of someone (especially the editor) on a soapbox, pontificating, is a Summit standard, and I thought that’d be a good icon for when I’m feeling opinionated.
	Sunglasses: This shot was taken at the 2003 Dargon Summit in Austin, Texas. The shot was taken by my Assistant Editor as I was piloting our rented party boat near Mansfield Dam on Lake Travis, while we looked for a swimming spot. That was the largest Summit gathering of all, and the inception of DargonZine’s immense “Black Idol” story arc, the biggest collaborative story we’ve ever written. I use this photo mostly when I wanna be like Joe Cool…
	Puggle: That’s the Puggle! My kittykat! Puggle came to me along with two other cats and a four year-old when ailsaek moved in. When she moved out, I expressed the desire to keep the Puggle, and he and I lived together for a dozen years in great happiness and joy. He was a very important companion for me until his death of congestive heart failure on Christmas Eve 2005. The photo is cropped from this photo, whose caption is: So what if it’s a formal sitting? My foot itches! I used to use this one when I talked about the Puggle or cats in general.

Okay, so who wants in?

Comments

[f-l-i-r-t.livejournal.com]

activism:
I believe in actively living and making a difference in one's world. Whether it means getting involved with a group and protesting, writing letters, calling your congressman etc, or just making a difference in your immediate world. I think nothing will change unless as individuals we make it change, demand change, 'actively' work toward making change.

led zeppelin:
Ever since I was little I remember led zeppelin playing somewhere in the background - sort of the theme of my life. My dad used to play zeppelin in his trans am while I jumped up and down in the back seat. I could hear the bass of 'black dog' through the floorboards as I tried to sleep and my parents entertained friends. The last song in the high school dances was always 'stairway to heaven' and this was always the moment to steel that long late night kiss from your boyfriend while the teachers looked away. As I have grown, zeppelin remains in my day to day life, it brings back memories and gives me comfort and smiles.

wind:
The wind always soothes me. Again, this goes back to my childhood. I spent lots of time by the sea/ocean, and the wind/breeze always soothe me, took me away. There is something about the feeling of it on your skin, especially during a warm day when the breeze is cool. The wind allows you to fly kites, sail, etc. The wind can also be invigorating, like during a storm, it is edgey and dangerous and strong. I am not sure there is one tangible reason for my like or fascination of wind, it just has always been there with me, for me - it gives me peace and comfort.


retro icon:
I love the 1940's & 1950's, often feeling I would have felt more at home then. It was when women were breaking out of the mold, embracing their femininity. I love the fashion, the curvacious, full-figured pin-ups. To me they were some of the most beautiful women ever. They managed to be sexy and wholesome all at the same time. They were strong and fragile at the same time.


cop'er:
Me wearing an official Metropolitain Police 'Female' Bobbies Hat. A girlfriend of mine works for them and gave me the hat, I also have the male version as well. Not a lot to tell about this icon, just liked how it looked and use it for my 'justice/injustice' posts.


stairs:
This is just one picture out of one of the sets of photos I used to take. I liked the composition. I am sure you have seen um, sets of my photos, so you know the origin. I just like something about it, can't put my finger on it.