Re: [Harp-L] Re: Zen Harmonica (Be here now)



Yeah, I remember that book. I remember reading a lot of Watts, or maybe what
little I read of his writings just seemed like a lot, since it was so dense
with deep thought.

Anyway,,here's a story about "Be Here Now",,(not that I am,,but maybe back
then I was,,,?,,)

Okay,,my wife and I had just left a communal-living-type cult we met in, and
were hitch-hiking from Pennsylvania to California. We were in Missouri, were
penniless, in the middle of "nowhere", and waiting for someone to pick us up
on our way out West. I remember an apple stand, and how we wished we had
enough for an apple,,

This guy pulls over and lets us in his little something-or-other car, and
after introductions, he begins telling us about this book he'd been
reading,,"Be Here Now",,and how interesting it was,,

I suddenly get the idea,,

I start singing.

My wife starts singing with me.

He starts singing.

We were "Here",,"Now",,right there in that guy's car,,

Somehow the music did it for us.

I forget what we were singing,,but it was the DIRECTNESS of song, that made
it "now" rather than "when".

That's being "in the moment", musically speaking.

Plus,,the guy just happened to have three sandwiches in his cooler. He drove
us all the way to Denver.

In Denver, mid-morning, he let us out on the freeway, and said good-bye. We
looked around, and saw a Howard Johnson's Inn nearby, walked there, thinking
maybe they'd have mercy on us and let us catch some z's in an unused room.
Nah,,

I see a couple plates of food on the desk, right there inbetween the night
receptionist and myself,,I say,,"Hey,,who's food is that?". He
says,,"Yours".

We walk into a nearby conference room to eat,,and find it full of leftover
fresh fruit, bananas, etc.. from a meeting held that night. Only thing we
didn't take were the tips left behind. Bad karma.

It was like that all across the states. Things just happened. Sometimes I
forget that, begin to get too complicated, worried, trying too hard,,and
things quit "happening".

It's still the same.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 11:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: Zen Harmonica (Be here now)


> It's interesting how Larry's comments about listening while not active
> in a performance situation has morphed into discussions of stage
> antics/theatrics and of personal grooving preferences/habits.
>
> Those are both valid discussions, but Larry's very cool message (we
> finally got past the noise about the messenger to the signal of the
> message) was about listening and interacting with the music itself.
>
> Those of us who are old enough to remember the 1960s and actually do
> remember at least some of it (didn't take enough drugs, I guess) may
> recall a guy named Alan Watts and a book he wrote called "Be Here Now."
> Genius, that. The entire message of the book, which was a pretty slim
> volume, was conveyed in the three-word title.
>
> Be here now. With the other musicians. With the audience. And with the
> music - that's what's comnnecting everything together. If you're here
> now with the music, nothing else matters and everything else will
> follow (unless the building catches on fire or something like that -
> then being here now will mean finding yourself and everyone one else
> safely outside in short order.)
>
> Winslow
>
>
>
>
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