Great piece as usual. Beat me in the robbed while driving a cab, 3 to 1. Also when we took a meal break and smoked some weed everybody was up and ready to drive a few hours more, but I was ready to call it it a night
Hey Clark. In that era, holding up cabdrivers was a rite of passage.
Where did you eat? I met your brother at Steve's, on 25th and 2nd Avenue. One of those places that attracted cab drivers. Like the Bellmore Cafeteria on 28th and Park, or the Market Dinner, at 11th Avenue and 43rd Street.
Many nights I stopped at Steve's to eat, get high and hit the road for a few more bucks.
Depending on your perspective, past decades can be regarded as golden, as with the mythic Golden Age, a classical concept. Shakespeare sang of "golden boys and girls" which must finally turn to dust. Other people write of old age as golden. Joan Chittister, a Benedictine spiritual wise woman, has a book, *The Gift of Years*, which says that if one accepts the diminished state of elderhood, beautiful things can still come about. Both she and Bret Primack encourage me to find and use the creativity I have to make something not just fine but worthwhile for me and others I care for.
The male commentator, at the end of the recorded Deep Dive, uses the word "transformative" as an ultimate gift to a creative person. This word is slightly different from "creative," in the schematic terminology of Matthew Fox, a spiritual writer with a scholarly bent. He writes that one can find fulfillment through any of four life paths: negative, positive, creative and transformative. I have found it true for me. It chimes with the concept of evolution spiritually developed by the paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin and Ilia Delio, a contemporary exponent who finds harmony between deep science, especially astronomy, and mystical religion. Personal growth, with the wisdom gifted to many explorers and artists, brings many seekers to find that they are part of a greater reality, human, cosmic and transcendent.
I love your descriptions, like of New York and what it was like compared to today. As my childhood neighborhoods are burning to the ground, it is especially hits home!
I love reading you. While I'm reading you at this moment and listening your post of the sound clip of Miles and Trane doing their last dance in space and sound. Thank you. Early 70's I was living in The Hotel Mayflower at Columbus circle and working there to develope my career as a chef while heading downtown to hit the music clubs and also listen to my highschool pal Bill Laswell working to develop his musical career. Hard times, great times. Change is the essence of living in this life.
I long ago spent sixty plus days in bardo meditation retreat with a Tibetan lama. Of course the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal was its own kind of bardo during the sixties.
Though I wasn’t living in New York during the 70’s, this powerful piece spoke to me with on several levels.
And, a timely reminder that there’s certainly some really powerful medicine at our fingertips when we crank up that Lee Morgan. Trane, Joe Henderson, and so many more masters!
Thanks, Steve. Living through the ’70s, I wasn’t focused on the historical significance of the culture—I was just trying to navigate my own life. Now, looking back half a century later, I’m blown away that I was right there in the belly of the beast. What an incredible trip!
Your piece today was excellent. I remember that NYC..it help me create who I am today..those memories will never fade..The Fillmore,Cafe Au Go Go, Village Gate, Rays Pizza and others..how lucky was I to be a part of that
Bret,
Great piece as usual. Beat me in the robbed while driving a cab, 3 to 1. Also when we took a meal break and smoked some weed everybody was up and ready to drive a few hours more, but I was ready to call it it a night
Hey Clark. In that era, holding up cabdrivers was a rite of passage.
Where did you eat? I met your brother at Steve's, on 25th and 2nd Avenue. One of those places that attracted cab drivers. Like the Bellmore Cafeteria on 28th and Park, or the Market Dinner, at 11th Avenue and 43rd Street.
Many nights I stopped at Steve's to eat, get high and hit the road for a few more bucks.
I love your writing and film work. You have probably written about this before, but if not can you share any experiences you had with Sun Ra?
https://open.substack.com/pub/bretprimack/p/the-heliocentric-worlds-of-sun-ra
Depending on your perspective, past decades can be regarded as golden, as with the mythic Golden Age, a classical concept. Shakespeare sang of "golden boys and girls" which must finally turn to dust. Other people write of old age as golden. Joan Chittister, a Benedictine spiritual wise woman, has a book, *The Gift of Years*, which says that if one accepts the diminished state of elderhood, beautiful things can still come about. Both she and Bret Primack encourage me to find and use the creativity I have to make something not just fine but worthwhile for me and others I care for.
The male commentator, at the end of the recorded Deep Dive, uses the word "transformative" as an ultimate gift to a creative person. This word is slightly different from "creative," in the schematic terminology of Matthew Fox, a spiritual writer with a scholarly bent. He writes that one can find fulfillment through any of four life paths: negative, positive, creative and transformative. I have found it true for me. It chimes with the concept of evolution spiritually developed by the paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin and Ilia Delio, a contemporary exponent who finds harmony between deep science, especially astronomy, and mystical religion. Personal growth, with the wisdom gifted to many explorers and artists, brings many seekers to find that they are part of a greater reality, human, cosmic and transcendent.
Well said.
I love your descriptions, like of New York and what it was like compared to today. As my childhood neighborhoods are burning to the ground, it is especially hits home!
What's happening in LA is painful.
I love reading you. While I'm reading you at this moment and listening your post of the sound clip of Miles and Trane doing their last dance in space and sound. Thank you. Early 70's I was living in The Hotel Mayflower at Columbus circle and working there to develope my career as a chef while heading downtown to hit the music clubs and also listen to my highschool pal Bill Laswell working to develop his musical career. Hard times, great times. Change is the essence of living in this life.
Embracing changes makes for a happier life.
I long ago spent sixty plus days in bardo meditation retreat with a Tibetan lama. Of course the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal was its own kind of bardo during the sixties.
My goodness, sixty plus days in a bardo meditation retreat? You must be a very patient mind.
Hey if Trane could practice his art like that so can I. Now I’d like a sixty day retreat to polish my trumpet chops.
Though I wasn’t living in New York during the 70’s, this powerful piece spoke to me with on several levels.
And, a timely reminder that there’s certainly some really powerful medicine at our fingertips when we crank up that Lee Morgan. Trane, Joe Henderson, and so many more masters!
Fine work Bret!
For sure Richard, that was, is, and always will be, healing music.
An inspired piece. A vivid picture of an era that defined so many.
Thanks, Steve. Living through the ’70s, I wasn’t focused on the historical significance of the culture—I was just trying to navigate my own life. Now, looking back half a century later, I’m blown away that I was right there in the belly of the beast. What an incredible trip!
Your piece today was excellent. I remember that NYC..it help me create who I am today..those memories will never fade..The Fillmore,Cafe Au Go Go, Village Gate, Rays Pizza and others..how lucky was I to be a part of that
Hello Lisboa. Yes, those memories will never face because they're part of us, so deeply. And, also, thankfully, we still have that music.
And I still listen to the music! It still keeps me connected
Exactly.
I just listened to The Work Song by the Butterfield Blues Band from East West..still miles ahead of f so much of today’s music…Blue Trane as well
Keep on rockin’ in the Bardo World!