Brain fog…  At least that was my condition upon waking this morning.  It is gray, windy, a day chilled with winter’s retreat.  The disorientation, as if my senses were obstructed by a old exhausted filter, continued until I arrived at Starbucks.  Now I am into my second cup of coffee. 

I watched the 1970 film Five Easy Pieces staring Jack Nicholson last night.  The story, a time capsule message from the late 60s was persuasive.  It is a story of existential rootlessness.  Everyone in the film in his/her own way is un-tethered.  Each rendered by respective personal histories unable to connect with those closest to them, —  with a co-worker-friend, with a girl friend expecting a child, with a father invalided and mute, and with siblings.  The story does not end with the conclusion of the film.  Bobby, the leading character deftly portrayed by Nicholson, catches a ride on a passing logging truck, yet a further bid to escape “life” as he knows it.

I dreamed early this morning.  The dream was of a missed a call on my iphone.  The voice mail when checked, was from the police department, requesting a callback.  Any voicemail from the police has ill portent.  What does the dream mean?  How can I not speculate? 

This morning I read a sliver of the New York Times report of President Biden’s visit to Poland to see firsthand the refugee crisis.  This is what Reuters had to say:

“Hundreds of thousands of people are being cut off from help by Russian forces and are besieged in places like Mariupol,” Biden said in a reference to the port city in eastern Ukraine which has been under siege since the war’s early days.

“It’s like something out of a science fiction movie.”

— CLICK HERE to retrieve the Reuters article

One comment seems necessary.  The physical needs, the emotional trauma suffered primarily by women and children fleeing devastated towns and cities is nothing like any science fiction movie.

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There’s always a song is there not?  Music helps us survive the mayhem by which all of us find ourselves a victim.  The tune by Emerson, Lake and Palmer works:  Karn Evil 9 1st Impression, Part 2.  The title sounds like “Carnival” does it not?  We are reminded our experience of life in the 21st Century in the West can easily be compared to a carnival-like atmosphere of endless offers of amusement, of entertainment.  That’s all that one needs to know in order to understand the perspective of the lyricists.

1st impression, Part 2 received the most airplay, and is only a segment of the entire extended anthem, a requiem to our post-modern age.  I will post the lyrics in their entirety after the youtube video.

Karn Evil 9

[Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 1]

Cold and misty morning, I heard a warning borne in the air
About an age of power where no one had an hour to spare,
Where the seeds have withered, silent children shivered, in the cold
Now their faces captured in the lenses of the jackals for gold.
I’ll be there
I’ll be there
I will be there.

Suffering in silence, they’ve all been betrayed.
They hurt them and they beat them, in a terrible way.
Praying for survival at the end of the day.
There is no compassion for those who stay.
I’ll be there
I’ll be there
I will be there

There must be someone who can set them free:
To take their sorrow from this odyssey
To help the helpless and the refugee
To protect what’s left of humanity.
Can’t you see
Can’t you see
Can’t you see

I’ll be there
I’ll be there
I will be there;

To heal their sorrow
To beg and borrow
Fight tomorrow.

—

Step inside! Hello! We’ve a most amazing show
You’ll enjoy it all we know
Step inside! Step inside!

We’ve got thrills and shocks, supersonic fighting cocks.
Leave your hammers at the box
Come inside! Come inside!

Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
See the show!Left behind the bars, rows of Bishops’ heads in jars
And a bomb inside a car
Spectacular! Spectacular!

If you follow me there’s a speciality
Some tears for you to see
Misery, misery,

Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
See the show!

Next upon the bill in our House of Vaudeville
We’ve a stripper in a till
What a thrill! What a thrill!

And not content with that,
With our hands behind our backs,
We pull Jesus from a hat,
Get into that! Get into that!

Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
See the show!

[Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2]

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside
There behind a glass stands a real blade of grass
Be careful as you pass, move along, move along

Come inside, the show’s about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
Rest assured you’ll get your money’s worth
Greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth
You’ve got to see the show, it’s a dynamo
You’ve got to see the show, it’s rock and roll, oh

Right before your eyes we pull laughter from the skies
And he laughs until he cries, then he dies, then he dies

Come inside, the show’s about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
You’ve got to see the show, it’s a dynamo
You’ve got to see the show, it’s rock and roll, oh

Soon the Gypsy Queen in a glaze of vaseline
Will perform on guillotine, what a scene, what a scene
Next upon the stand will you please extend a hand
To Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Dixieland, Dixieland

Roll up, roll up, roll up
See the show

Performing on a stool we’ve a sight to make you drool
Seven virgins and a mule, keep it cool, keep it cool
We would like it to be known the exhibits that were shown
Were exclusively our own, all our own, all our own

Come and see the show, come and see the show
Come and see the show
See the show

[Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression]

[instrumental]

[Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression]

Man alone, born of stone,
Will stamp the dust of time
His hands strike the flame of his soul;
Ties a rope to a tree and hangs the Universe
Until the winds of laughter blows cold.

Fear that rattles in men’s ears
And rears its hideous head
Dread… Death… in the wind…

Man of steel pray and kneel
With fever’s blazing torch
Thrust in the face of the night;
Draws a blade of compassion
Kissed by countless Kings
Whose jewelled trumpet words blind his sight.

Walls that no man thought would fall
The altars of the just
Crushed… Dust… in the wind…

No man yields who flies in my ship
Danger!
Let the bridge computer speak
Stranger!
Load your program. I am yourself.

No computer stands in my way
Only blood can cancel my pain
Guardians of a nuclear dawn
Let the maps of war be drawn.

Rejoice! Glory is ours!
Our young men have not died in vain,
Their graves need no flowers
The tapes have recorded their names.

I am all there is
Negative! Primitive! Limited! I let you live!
But I gave you life
What else could you do?
To do what was right
I’m perfect! Are you?

Lyrics by Emerson, Lake, Sinfield