Wonderland

"I knew who I was when I woke up this morning but I seem to have changed several times since then." - Alice, Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

This morning I watched a documentary on Roky Erickson. Apparently Roky was one of the musicians who created a new genre of music from Austin, TX that he named psychedelic music. I am thinking that most would give San Francisco's music scene credit for this genre but Roky was one of the originals. I listened intently because I don't recognize his name. Like Janis Joplin, he helped put Austin on the music map. Unlike Janis, he is still alive. Turns out he has been diagnosed with a form of schizophrenia. ugh Genius and self torture - do they always walk in the same soul?

The story of Ram Dass - Be Here Now- came flooding back to my mind. Those days of psychedelic experimentation behind locked doors under the guise of science...then the days and journey of an entirely different discovery. I was not part of them - I was a kid but they happened around me. Whatever you call it there are some artists that are still here sharing their new creative genius and some whose genius is shared only through old recordings or covers and new interpretations.

Made me remember walking through the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris - the cemetery where Frederic Chopin, Jim Morrison, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Oscar Wilde, Isadora Duncan, Victor Hugo all laid to rest in the same few blocks of Paris. We walked from the lip stick imprinted monument of Oscar Wilde's grave to Poulenc on to Chopin....I felt like I was having a melt down in my brain trying to bring the artist timeline into one moment, one walk. Chopin and Jim Morrison. And thinking about Gertrude and Alice and their time in Paris. All these artists - writers, composers - all progressive at their own time - all on the pique of some genre - all peers with other great people. Think about it - Mozart and Chopin both so broke and broken down after writing all the incredible music - their funerals were but minimal ceremony.

According to the documentary Roky is creating music again now thanks to his younger brother, research and much better treatment options, and Roky's ability to seek out treatment that actually helped him. Roky was awarded 2007-2008 Musician of the Year at the Austin Music Awards.

It is just interesting to me how things change, times change and we pull them through into our time - many times history repeats itself but with musical genres we do continue to move forward - the day John Cage died I marked it privately - no one around me had any idea who he was - and while I didn't necessarily find his music easy to listen to, I had been fortunate enough to be introduced to his concepts in high school and college. He moved us on - when Schoenberg introduced an idea and will always remain a part of musicologists intellectual study, Cage opened up an entire genre - electronic music that once started could not be contained in a classroom or lab.

Well - I have gone too far away. I am not looking for any genius in our pets but I will say with each addition to our family another genre began and we could never go back. I cannot ever imagine getting enough time with any of our pets. Right now we live with two 19 year old kitties...and it still seems like yesterday when they arrived. It is only when I think about what has happened since they have been a part of my life that I add incredible depth to our relationship of time. I do not think our cats or dogs go back and review things. One thing I adore about our dogs, is that they don't worry a lot about bringing anything to the present they are in the present. Hungry, tired, or needing a good belly rub - those are the options! Oh maybe retrieving a ball?? yeah, yeah, yeah!!

So I have wondered once in a while what catalyst makes the ever being in the present look different to them. Like why all of a sudden did Gromit start barking at men? He has lived with my brother, we have men next door, he visits with my dad, it isn't like we don't have men for friends - what changed for him? And why does our cat Tiace suddenly after years of sleeping on our bed start sleeping on Kristin's computer? Or why every 4-5 years has she decided for a week or two that she prefers some place other than the litter box for her business - one time it was the dog dish, another time the shower, and once she chose to walk down to the basement from the second floor to pee on concrete - what the heck? Upstairs she has an entire litter box room! Silly cat, each time we could redirect her, but what changed that all of a sudden the litter box wouldn't do? At the age of about 5 Rowdy Ann started to be afraid of thunderstorms. At the age of three, Chewie started swimming - why then? Or, when did Gromit decide it was okay to jump the child gate?

I like the genre we are in - the one Chewie started - when he arrived we became a balanced house - 2 people, 2 cats, and 2 dogs - everyone had someone - no one was alone. Chewie brought a sense of the earth and grounding to us. Gromit brought air, I can think of no other way to describe it. Tiace and Schmadios - they do a lot of channeling - however, it is difficult to figure out what they are channeling - just such intentional comfort they seek - in a lap, on a pillow - and then they start purring - energy, light energy everywhere. Sweet cats.