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I CHING DIARY: AGGRAVATION WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH AN ANNOYING PERSON? It is a fact of life that irritating people are everywhere - at work, showing up during your leisure activities, maybe even in your own family…  I’ve heard the theory that when you’re annoyed by someone, what you’re actually seeing is a reflection of what you hate in yourself. Hmm….. My personality is non-competitive - I’d rather let the aggressive person win the argument, or grab the coveted spot, as opposed to putting up a fight, and, (as I see it), degrading myself.  I find this ironic given the fact that I spent my peak earning years in a profession in which only 5% succeed, but, there you are!  Many times I’ve flagellated myself for not standing up for my rights, or not stating a controversial opinion because I didn’t want to “rock the boat”. It seemed easier to bide my time and live to die on another hill… one further down the line. If there was a brief shudder of shame, I was usually able to swallow the bitter pill without choking on it, and keep the parade moving.  However, getting older is making me reevaluate that strategy - I guess because older folks are already discounted and overlooked enough as it is. You may have to make a stink just to get your basic needs met - screw holding on to your dignified sense of self-regard. So, today I’ll ask the oracle: WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH AN ANNOYING PERSON?  ANSWER: HEXAGRAM 35 (PROGRESS), with moving lines 1,2,3 &6 HEXAGRAM 34 (POWER OF THE GREAT)

We’re gonna “swing it, shake it, make it, shimmy til the break of dawn,” with the hard charging women of Rockabilly. Join us as we celebrate the status quo busting accomplishments of Wanda Jackson, Laurie Collins, Janis Martin, Charline Arthur, and others - women whose expression broke with convention and made people rethink rock and roll music  in general.

I CHING - CO-DEPENDENT RELATIONSHIPS Stephen Pressfield, in his self-help manifesto, “The War of Art,” cites “resistance” as the devil - a destructive force (personified as Satan), that emanates from within, seeking to thwart whatever positive motivations you have to create art, or to even to live a better life through self-improvement.  In a list of potentially positive actions that resistance targets Pressfield includes as #10: “any act that entails commitment of the heart. The decision to get married, to have a child, to weather a rocky patch in a relationship.” This resonates! But, what if said resistance stands in the way of ENDING a toxic, co-dependent relationship - one in which you’ve invested years of work, love, passion, and friendship? Lately you’ve been looking longingly for an escape hatch, because what was once a mutually satisfying partnership has devolved into a stasis, a grind of hellish endurance.  Will the I Ching say that it’s ok to admit defeat, or exhort us to fight on? Will it advise us to go into couples therapy, or to simply cash in our chips and cut our losses? Ah, but, It’s not so simple. For one thing fear of the unknown is palpable; maybe you don’t want to go solo and become cynical, even if being part of a couple feels like a strangulation of your soul.  Perhaps the Oracle can advise? The question posed before the Oracle today is stated thus: CO-DEPENDENCE: CUT YOUR LOSSES, OR REDOUBLE YOUR EFFORT?  THE I CHING’S RESPONSE: HEXAGRAM 64 “INCOMPLETION” with moving lines 2 & 3  HEXAGRAM 56 “JOURNEYER”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Pride of Man" is a 1964 song by Hamilton Camp. It is Camp's best-known composition.[1] Rife with apocalyptic imagery and religious language ("Can't you see that flash of fire / Ten times brighter than the day... Shout a warning to the nations that the sword of God is raised / On Babylon that mighty city, rich in treasure, wide in fame... Oh God, the pride of man, broken in the dust again"), the song was written shortly after Camp's initiation into the Subud spiritual movement.[2][3] "Pride of Man" debuted on Camp's 1964 album Paths of Victory, but achieved more notice when covered by Gordon Lightfoot on his 1966 debut album Lightfoot!.[1][4] "Pride of Man" was the opening track on Quicksilver Messenger Service's eponymous 1968 debut album and was released as a single on the B-side of "Dino's Song";[5][6] Rolling Stone described this version as having been "carr[ied] off admirably".[7] Quicksilver Messenger Service regularly performed the song in concert.[1] Gram Parsons' cover was included on the album Another Side of This Life: The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons,[8] released in 2000 but recorded in 1965 and 1966. The song has been covered by other musicians, such as Tony Rice on Church Street Blues[9] (1983), Ted Quinn on Help Wanted,[10] and Punch Brothers on Hell on Church Street.[11] Camp's version of the song was re-released on the 2006 five-disc compilation album Forever Changing — The Golden Age of Elektra Records - 1963-1973.[12]

Sunday Morning, the opening track of the seminal, self-titled VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, written by Lou Reed and John Cale, and produced by Tom Wilson, was originally created for the Teutonic Chanteuse, Nico, but ended up being sung by Lou. The theme of the lyrics: - "paranoia" - credited to a suggestion made by Andy Warhol, and then realized in dreamlike images by Reed, was brought to shimmering life by the last minute addition of the celeste, played by John Cale.

All it takes is one good idea; one spark of Promethean fire to ignite a life-long, multi-generational success. For Ross Bagdasarian Sr., it was a sped up tape recording of a nonsense scat phrase: “Oo-ee-oo-ah-ah; Ting-tang Walla Walla Bing Bang…” Taking inspiration from “Duel with the Witch Doctor”, a volume sitting on his bookshelf, Ross bought a tape recorder and set about creating a silly rockabilly tune, featuring a duet with himself. By overdubbing his voice singing slowly, recorded at 1/2 speed, and then speeding up the tape, he created a high pitched character that charmed the world. The resulting novelty record pulled Liberty Records out of near bankruptcy, selling 1.4 million copies and landing at the pinnacle of the Top 100 and R&B charts. He used the same technique to create the world wide Alvin and the Chipmunks craze which he then parlayed into a number of big records and an animated tv series. After Ross’s untimely death in 1972, the franchise was shepherd by his son, Ross jr. into a raft of hit, live action features running all the way up to 2015. 57 years of popular commercial product from one zany idea. Not bad.

I had a reunion with my box of Oblique Strategies cards today. When I opened the pack the first card that confronted me read: “Don’t be frightened to display your talents.” This started my head to spin with the question: IS IT MODESTY, OR FEAR OF BEING MEDIOCRE THAT GUARANTEES INACTION? “Nothing ventured, nothing gained-“ we’ve all heard this expression. It means that if you don’t try, you won’t ever get what you want. Talent be damned - salesmanship is what gets results. Being mediocre is not a detriment to success, but a lack of determination and audacity is. Chutzpah…. This is the quality that’s necessary, not only for survival, but victory. Be the little engine that could: “I think I can, I think I can…” I guess I’ve been lucky, in spite of my natural tendency towards reticence. The women in my life all approached me first because I was too timid to risk rejection. Getting acting work was the same: I figured my talent would be enough to convince the gate keepers to give me the job, in spite of the fact that I never had a decent agent to set up the big meetings.  No regrets, but what’s next? People have been encouraging me to “get back out there,” professionally and romantically, but, I’m ambivalent, and struggle with my anti-zeigeist desire for modesty in this age of hype and self-promotion. Let’s see what the Oracle has to say? HEXAGRAM 49 (REVOLUTION) with moving lines 1 & 5 HEXAGRAM 62 (SMALL EXCESS)

The Agony, Inspiration and Exultation Of Charles Allan Rich -   December 14, 1932 – July 25, 1995.  Never Forget To Remember Such Brilliance.  Enough Said.  Listen In Friends.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islands_in_the_Stream_(song) RIP DOLLY

QUESTION: HOW MUCH SHOULD I BE CONCERNED OR WORRY ABOUT MONEY? HEXAGRAMS: 35 (ADVANCE) / Fire over earth Moving lines 4,5,6 > 8 (SUPPORT} / water over earth I had a friend, Brendan, who used to say when faced with the prospect of being broke: “Money is simply a medium of exchange.” He explained that money is an agreed upon social construct that places a numerical value on various goods and services, thereby simplifying the process from a barter system -  (I’ll trade you some of my chickens for you to paint my house, etc) - to one where you can easily carry pieces of paper, or, computer digits on your phone, that represent your worth. Maybe so, but this theoretical cup and balls illusion will only take us so far. CAPITALISM has run amok, enabling only a handful of billionaires to call the economic shots for everyone. The bubble of ballooning debt for the middle class to achieve even a modicum of financial security has popped, and the multitude of serfs that have, until now, been stoking the billionaire’s coffers, are about to be replaced by a cadre of uncomplaining robots. So, I ask: “What’s a peon to do?  ’Tis a puzzlement,” as Yul Brenner used to say.  Brendan was always broke, but somehow managed to live lavishly, traveling the world on his impish smile and keen wits,. Of course, he had to rely on the kindness of strangers, as well as long-suffering friends for his daily ration of single malt scotch and fine cheeses. But, behind the devil may care pose, there must have been many sleepless nights on the various couches along the precipitous road. So, today, I ask the oracle: How much should I be concerned or worried about money, or the lack thereof?

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/arts/music/prince-buster-trailblazer-of-ska-dies-at-78.html   Cecil Bustamente Campbell was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on May 24, 1938. He performed with teenage groups in Kingston; he also became a boxer, taking the name Prince Buster. In the 1950s he began working for one of Jamaica’s top producers and sound-system disc jockeys, Coxsone Dodd. By the end of the decade he had opened a record store, Buster’s Record Shack, and was playing street parties with his own sound system, the Voice of the People. He decided to start producing songs as well as spinning them. Jamaicans were listening to, and imitating, the American R&B that reached the island on radio stations from New Orleans and Miami. Prince Buster’s productions were more deliberately Jamaican. His production of the Folkes Brothers’ “Oh Carolina,” recorded in 1959, meshed the traditional Nyabinghi drumming of a Rastafarian musician, Count Ossie, with what would come to be known as a ska beat. That beat, in songs like Eric Morris’s “Humpty Dumpty,” made for huge hits in Jamaica and also had an impact in 1960s Britain. Prince Buster’s instrumental “Al Capone” was a Top 20 hit there in 1965. By the end of the 1960s ska had given way to the slower rocksteady beat, a closer precursor of reggae. Prince Buster adapted, notably with his series of singles using his Judge Dread character. But in the early 1970s he gave up producing music and concentrated on business ventures, including record stores and a jukebox company, and moved to Miami.

I’ve been watching THE PRISONER, Patrick McGoohan’s ground-breaking, dystopian fantasy television series (showing currently in its entirety on the Criterion Channel), and it has set my mind reeling. The 1968 British production tells the dream-like allegory of Number 6, a Secret Agent -  (McGoohan was already identified in the public’s mind that way, having starred in the successful spy show ‘Danger Man”),- who tries to retire, but is kidnapped, whisked away, and held prisoner, under 24/7 surveillance inside a charming little seaside village (called “The Village”), which is populated by a group of cheerful, brightly dressed zombies who’ve all been assigned numbers.  The person running the asylum is #2 (the actor rotates every week) -who is trying to get number 6 to tell them why he wanted out, but 6 is defiant, refusing to comply, and every week tries to escape. Inevitably, he always ends up back where he started - no matter how elaborate the attempt. The identity of number 1 is a closely guarded secret, revealed (or, is it?) in the final episode. The production design is Mediterranean-Disney outside - Ultra modern inside, and reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange - another monumental, late sixties confection of paranoia.  McGoohan himself was a prickly, no nonsense, anti-authoritarian who produced, wrote, starred in, and directed several episodes, and this opus still stands as his masterpiece.  In this story, as in many others, the rugged individual is often held up as someone to be admired and emulated. Unfortunately, they also often end up crushed by the system they refuse to bow to. I certainly identify with artists who have carried on with their passion, despite public indifference, poverty, and self doubt: the agony of Van Gogh, the isolation and penury of Henry Darger, and the dyspeptic Charles Bukowski come to mind. They all persisted, against societal scorn, creating work that endures.  But I believe that most people (although TikTok might belie this) want to live quietly and peacefully; not to make waves, not to be disdained; but just to make a living for their families, and die having been loved and remembered by their circle. But, then again, if one has opinions about wrongs being committed by one’s government, and one doesn’t speak out for fear of arousing unwanted attention, can one live with oneself?  So today’s question for the oracle: QUESTION: IS IT PREFERABLE TO MAINTAIN ONE’S INDIVIDUALITY, OR TO CONFORM TO THE GROUP? The oracle’s response:  HEXAGRAM 3: “RETRENCHMENT” (MOVING LINE 2) HEXAGRAM 60: “FRUGALITY” OR “LIMITATION”

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/the-strangest-hit-songwriter-in-history

THE JOKER / STEVE MILLER, (CAPITOL, 1973) “The Pompatus of Love,” a nonsense phrase that Steve Miller cribbed from “The Letter,” a doo-wop song by the Medallions from 1958, entered the popular culture lexicon in 1973, when this Apostle of guitar consistency applied it to spread his Joker gospel, and ascended to Rock n Roll Godhead. It’s been used for the title of a movie starring Jon Cryer, and is included in the writings of Dave Barry, Steven King, and Michael Ondaatje - even though its meaning remains obscure. We all sang along knowingly with: “I’m a Joker, I’m a smoker, I’m a midnight toker…”, and when the leering slide goes “Woop Woo,” we all played air guitar right along.  It’s a rudimentary 1-4-5 chord sequence like thousands of other songs, and it’s filled with references from other tunes, such as Ahmet Ertegun’s Lovey Dovey, and Miller’s own Space Cowboy and Gangster of Love, but no matter - The Joker is original gold and unforgettable.  The guy is ornery, and has a right to be. I think Miller, a blues man since his teens, is underrated because of all the pop records he sold. I saw him twice - 50 years apart - and he’s still as rock solid on his axe and voice as he was back then - a master at his craft. And, although he was inducted into the Rock n Roll hall, they only gave him one ticket to attend, and he rightfully blasted the institution to the press. Respect must be paid to The Joker.

I have a secret; should I tell? Maybe you have secrets too. What might be the impact of inflicting personal information on unsuspecting receivers? In AA they say: “You’re only as sick as your secrets,” and there may be some truth in that. They say that once you’ve aired your dirtiest laundry, you can begin to heal, unafraid, with nothing to hide. On the other hand, you might be opening a pandora’s box, as a result of your selfish need to expiate your guilt. There may be consequences and repercussions you never anticipated; hurt feelings, bewilderment - a loss of trust, ironically, just when it should be getting earned back. So I’m asking the oracle. Let’s see what it advises…..