Beyond the Clouds

The word is out that Radiohead is to perform at the Grammy's.

Elle serait 93 aujourd'hui mais son esprit est que 20 ans

La Vie en Rose - Edith Piaf



Hymne a l'amour

When things are given from the heart, for the benefit of all, they are called gifts.

Mercury Rev have recently produced two albums, Snowflake Midnight and Strange Attractor.

Strange Attractor is an added bonus, a gift which you can download for free!

I've not listened to all of the songs yet, still trying to make the adjustment from timeless Chinese Buddhist chantings (a strange combination of the sublime with the mundane) to a completely different style of music, so far all instrumental: dreamlike in quality and using modern technology to produce songs that are of this electronic, digital, and synthesized era.

You can listen to:
02 Taken Up Into Clouds, Changed And.mp3

Micah P. Hinson's I keep having these dreams is a beautiful song.

Tom Waits is still going strong - his voice deeper and gruffer - here he is on his Glitter and Doom Tour!
Join him and sing along:

It's such a sad old feeling
the fields are soft and green
it's memories that I'm stealing
but you're innocent when you dream

Here's something cheerful for all of you

Tomatsu and Watts have recently published Never Die Alone in which contains papers presented by a fantastic group of scholars and Buddhists alike at the Thirteenth Biennial Conference of the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies (August 2007)
Never Die Alone: Recreating Communal Structures for the Dying from Buddhist Traditions

The timing of its delivery to TBH couldn't have been better as I was looking for a book to study with our group during our Monday evening Sutra Study classes. And the subject matter is one that I consider the most important in life and so needless to say I'm half way through it. So far, the essays that I've read are fascinating. It looks at how the collective can be transformed through witnessing and participating in a 'good and peaceful' death and equally how the dying person can be supported by the collective. It covers cultural, historical and traditional beliefs about the continuum from this life to the next and how death is percieved and experienced mainly in the Far east but not exclusively so.

I suppose the one thing I got from this book so far and would like to highlight and emphasise is the importance of practice in Buddhism. Practice as preparation for that moment when we are on death's door for it only takes a split second to cross that threshold. Life is full of many surprises but if death catches us unawares then will we see and feel welcomed and loved by Amida Buddha and his retinue or will we be too pusillanimous and cling to the miserable self?

But if you insist then fine - cling away. Amida still loves clinging fools

Here's a great album that fits this post really well This Fool Can Die Now

I first heard of Frightened Rabbit on Captain Obvious' blog and then found this video on Youtube (not quite what I was expecting), it's an upbeat melodic piece - good pop music.

What struck me as particularly interesting in the post was that 'most of the lyrical content on the album's 14 tracks stems from lead singer Scott Hutchison's recent break up'. This may be taking advantage of his pain and may sound unsympathetic to those suffering from a broken heart but it struck me that there is so much energy that suffering generates - why not do what Scott has done and make an album, why wallow in one's sorrows and waste it? When something is lost there is always something to be gained. This is the paradox of life.

There is so much creativity that springs from love, but, in my some what limited experience, what is more poignant and moving is what one creates with a broken heart.

For those who like Radioheaad check out Sixeyes MP3 Blog
for Radiohead live at BBC Radio Theatre, London, April 1, 2008.

They won't be up for long so download them now!