Mlampsha & Hearts In Need Make Symphonies

I just had some coffee, so perhaps now I can get an entry out. I’ve been planning to update since last night, but I haven’t been able to capture any inspiration. So I’ll drink to the coffee gods, to the duck gods, and to my disciples and make an attempt at chronicling one of the best days I’ve had in months.

I met up with April and Wanda in Sunnyside Mall. I hadn’t expected April to be there, but she and Wanda had been waiting together for about twenty minutes. It was the first time my creative and silly disciples had ever met, and they seemed to get along smashingly. That didn’t surprise me at all, because all my disciples are great people.

Before leaving the mall we went to the sushi stand located in the far end of it. There we tried some cucumber sushi and found it edible, so I bought a take out combo with two other types of sushi. That was stowed away in my bag for later consumption after I made sure the sauce would not leak.

Disciples and saviour hopped on a bus headed towards Random Play and spent the time discussing various things. One of the great ideas we decided upon is that there must be a Disciple Dome for the Disciple Bus riders to stay when we are not on the road. It should be a fabulous place to dwell when we return to beautiful Nova Scotia from our travels abroad.

At the record store I picked up The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band with Chior (a.k.a. Silver Mount Zion)’s album This Is Our Punk-Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing,. It’s a side project of Godspeed You Black Emperor! members and is very much in the same vein of music. I’ve been enjoying it very much so far. The packaging for this album is very enjoyable, and so refreshing compared to most others. The music itself is beautiful beyond what one expects from music in our times. It is something that must be heard, and bring you to tears over the loss of beauty in our world. It does that for me each time I listen.

From the Constellation description of the album: The amateur choir assembled for the ‘fasola’ sing-along on the opening track sets the tone for an exuberant community-rallying protest music that constitutes the spiritual foundation of the record. Destruction of communities (foreign & local) are lamented & eulogised in the following tracks, culminating in the album closer: an ode to the unzoned terrain surrounding the railyards adjacent to the neighbourhood where the band, along with many other Montreal musicians & artists, have lived since the early 1990s. This land is now being swallowed up by big box & condo development.

“This is Our Punk-Rock,”… addresses head-on the local/universal demise of uncontrolled and unregulated urban landscapes – a demise that stretches from the docile walls of superstore complexes & protest ‘pens’ in the West to outright military surveillance, harassment & murderous ‘surgical’ strikes by Western-backed armies in South America & the Middle East. This unbroken curve is at the heart of Mt. Zion’s poetics & politics – this is their punk rock.

I will definitely need to pick up more of the albums released on the Constellation label, as most of the bands they choose to release albums for are interconnected, and of obvious quality. I find it remarkable that communities of artists such as those involved in these projects can exist in today’s world, when competition and greed mark most involved in the “industry”. Does it give hope, or a final glimpse of community in a world losing its soul?

After looking around the store for some time the trio of holiness departed and explored some other stores before deciding it was time to try the sushi. We didn’t find it to be very good, as the taste and textures really didn’t fit with the sushi we had earlier. The fish eggs popped oddly, and make it even less appealing.

In front of the public gardens we had a nice older woman take photos of the three of us in front of a azalia bush. Along with some other photos, it should serve as a nice record of the day. We really need to get all the disciples together for a group photo someday, though.

We then chose to depart on a walk to my home. During that walk we had more laughs than could be counted. I swear there was some divine kind of chemestry that brought out the creativity and silliness in each of us, as we lightened our hearts and made out cheeks hurt from laughter. Wanda invented the most glorious word, a word angels would sing as the voice of divinity and one which would inspire laughter in the darkest of hearts. That word was Mlampsha, and it is now the most holy word in our circle of disciples and saviour. Learn it and fear not the gloom of the modern world.

Soon after the speaking of the glorious word I made the audio journal entry with my phone that you can find in the entry from yesterday. It was important to record as much as I could of the most enjoyable day I’ve had since the summer when Ashley was here. As you can hear on the tape, we were passing a hospital that appeared to be burning, as the evidence of smoke suggested. However, there was merely a chimney placed at just the right position.

I was glancing down while walking and I found the most unusual piece of paper. It was crumpled and had obviously been stapled to a pole or board somewhere, as the corners were ripped. The page featured a drawing of a Pan-like goat/lama/something-else man who grew up from the roots of a very thin tree. The figure had quite a pronounced penis and a hand coming out of loin hair. As I read the paper I soon realied that this was intended to be an ad for a band of some sort. The text bits of this paper included “~Matinee~ The Maughams Live! … at the Metro Center…”, “Admission: 25 (cents) “, “Suite 1201 Duke Street 2:00 pm”, “Saturday 18th (At the Metro Center)” and “(Be on time because we mightget kicked out… seriously.)”. Part of that last bit of text was accidentally ripped off during its transport, but the rest of it can be viewed in full by clicking on the image to the left. Please show disgression, as it is not suitable for children. The interesting fact that anyone not from Nova Scotia would not reallize is that the Metro Center is a large sporting and performance center that can seat thousands of audience members. What kind of crowd did this over-achieving band believe it could draw? An obvious amount of effort went into this poster, and I really wonder what the intent of it was. Perhaps it was an art school project, a prank, or perhaps an honest attempt made by a band to gain some attention. The latter may be true, as I discovered a posting on an online forum that mentioned the very same show. It was my first truly interesting piece of found art I have discovered. I will likely submit it to Found Magazine soon.

Wanda, April and I derived much of our laughing time from comments made about this piece of paper during the walk to my place. One such ccurance was when a man was approaching us. April said, “The penis man with the hand coming out of his ass,” and made us and the man crack up.

Back here in the cave we sat for a while so that I could find my second copy of Tori Amos’ Scarlet’s Walk to give to Wanda. It’s the special edition two CD version with Scarlet’s Stories, Tori’s personal commentary for each song. We also needed to warm up, as the night air was multiple varieties of cold, from chilly to biting.

At last we had headed down to Halifax Shopping Center, where we had some food (because the sushi was definitely not filling). I splurged on some great tasting ice cream on a waffle cone. Waffle cones are greatly superior to normal ones. After some wandering we had to go to find a bus stop so that Wanda could make it home.

It took us a while, but we finally settled on a bus stop, even though Wanda needed to pee. Somehow April suggested she climb a tree to do her urination, and we discussed the act at great length. Until the bus arrived we talked and laughed and laughed some more, as we had for the entire day. Then I walked April to another bus stop and ended up getting a drive home from her mother, since April’s bus would not have arrived for another hour.

It was a fantastic day, and I didn’t do it justice at all. We laughed so many times, and we all got along so very well. Out spirits were definitely light the whole time. The first gathering of Wanda, April and I was definitely a success and a sign of good days to come. Hopefully we can repeat this sort of levity on coming Mondays. I do believe it bodes well for when all of my disciples and I can unite. If we had that much fun and power as a mere trio, imagine how amazing it will be when all six of us come together to change the world. Nothing will stop that supreme force of holiness!