Mesmerizing Video

The most mesmerizing video on YouTube:



Music by the gentleman below, incidentally.

The Yin and the Yang

I find this eminently fascinating. So I was journeying through the internet in search of entrancing music for the spirit and came across this site:

http://cdxonline.co.za

... and the album that's previewed there--15 YEARS OF SHANTI MUSIC. I play the sample selections and they are some of the most beautiful music I have heard. Most of the selections are by Oliver Shanti. As this is someone I have never heard of, I do a Google search on the name and find there's a brief Wikipedia entry on him:

Oliver Shanti (Born Ulrich Schulz 16 November 1948 in Hamburg), later known as Oliver Serano-Alve, is a New Age musician. His group "Oliver Shanti & Friends" has recorded several CDs, including "Circles Of Life" - The Best Of Oliver Shanti (1997), "Tai Chi", "Seven Times Seven, "Alhambra", "Listening To The Heart", "Medicine Power", and "Rainbow Way".

Two tracks by Oliver Shanti & Friends were featured in the Buddha Bar compilations: "Onon Mweng (Rainbird)" in the Buddha Bar II compilation produced by Claude Challe and "Sacral Nirvana" in the Buddha Bar III compilation.

Then there is this amazing last line:

In 2002, a warrant for his arrest was issued in Germany (English version), with a €3000 reward offered.

A link provides a PDF of the arrest warrant:

http://www.polizei.bayern.de

Ulrich Schulz, aka Oliver Shanti, aka Oliver Serano, aka Oliver Serano-Alve, a man who is "extreme overweight" at ca. 308-374 pounds, is being sought for... "serious child sexual abuse."

Then there's this:

From the ThinkSpain website, dated April 20, 2007:

Spanish police hunt German 'chill-out' star accused of child abuse

The Fugitives Unit of the Spanish National Police are looking for Oliver Shanti, a 58 year old German musician who is also the leader of a sect believed responsible for sexually molesting over a thousand young children. Shanti himself is accused of abusing over a hundred children during orgies at a mansion owned by the sect in Germany where Shanti used to lived with dozens of minors.

Investigators are focusing their efforts on the south of the Galicia region close to the Portuguese village where the singer now lives. Shanti is somewhat of a local celebrity in Vila Nova de Cerveira, where he has been honoured for his generosity after donating a sculpture and funding several ambulances.

German police have circulated a photo-fit description of Shanti and offered a €3,000 euro reward for information leading to his capture.

And much more here:

Tenerife News

Though the crimes were different, why am I reminded of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh?

The Joy of Writing Liner Notes

I've been writing DVD liner notes for a number of years, and they always are a unique challenge. Somehow, one has to fill up a certain amount of space with text that is informative and hopefully interesting. The past year I've been busy doing liners for BCI's Deimos line of Paul Naschy and Spanish horror DVDs, and as these appear as foldout six pagers, there's much that can be written, if I like. I'm not mandated to write a certain length, but I have a goal of at least a thousand words. The reality is that once I get going, I proceed much further than that, nearing the two thousand mark on occasion. At times, these liners write themselves--meaning, the ideas and background information flow freely. At other times, at the beginning, I wonder how I will be about to write one hundred words, let alone a thousand or two. Both scenarios presented themselves with the liners I am finishing off now, both for Naschy films--HUMAN BEASTS and BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL. It may be a case of burn-out, but I just didn't know what I could write about BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL. I felt that HUMAN BEASTS would be the easier of the two, as I knew I would want to write about Naschy's involvement with Japan and Japanese capital. But even then, there would be serious work ahead. Well, as it turned out, while mulling over the BLUE EYES "angle," I had an inspiration of just what I wanted to do with the piece, and now I've more text on BLUE EYES, the supposed difficult assignment, and less on HUMAN BEASTS. No matter. I am thankful for the burst of inspiration, wherever it comes from, wherever it goes.

Today (Sunday), I managed to get one more detail into my HUMAN BEASTS liners: the English translation of the Japanese title of the video release. I went to St. Mark's Place, here in Manhattan, which nowadays has been taken over by Japanese food shops, restaurants and sushi bars, and many Asian kids, not all of them Japanese. I thought I would have an easy time of it, and with a copy of the Japanese cover of HUMAN BEASTS, I approached several store clerks... to find that none knew how to read Japanese! Either they were almost too young to care about ever learning the language, except maybe in talking it with their parents, or they were not Japanese. Disappointed, I made my way home, determined to stop in one last place--a Japanese restaurant on Second Avenue that was closer to home. I always see female waitresses there, so I was hesitant about going inside and showing the rather brutal and gory video cover. I still wasn't certain I would go through with my intention, when I saw a young Japanese guy cleaning up the floor near the entrance. So I rushed in before he could escape into the back and politely asked him if he would translate the writing on the cover. There was still a chance he wouldn't know either Japanese or English well enough to do the job, but he did it perfectly, adding that the film was in the horror genre, as his translation of the title was rendered with a little amused embarrassment. Thanking him "very much," I left the restaurant, but in turning a corner, I decided to go back and ask him to write down his name, as I wanted to acknowledge his help with a thanks at the end of the liner notes. And so, the translation of the Japanese title will appear in the liners, as will this young man's name.

So it goes. Piece by piece, these liners get filled up with factoids and research and some opinion. And it can take two hours of pursuing someone who reads Japanese, or two hours to translate an article in an old Spanish cinema magazine, for the gift of a single sentence.

Philadelphia Scenes

A city with many dreams for the offering if you walk down the right streets/allies. Photographs can barely hint at quite atmosphere, warm with melancholia and spirits of another time.

The Pan Within

The Waterboys. I believe in the Pan within. Fauny video, too.

Home is Where the Heart Is?

[Written away from home.]

Being away for a longer period of time from what was one's adult home for nearly two decades makes one reflect on what a home is and its value. Particularly after a nasty, but symbolically rich dream in which one was never able to get home. (A dream that would make a splendid, absurdist European movie.)

As a person gets older, the roots are dug deeper into what constitutes home, till finally, it seems, the senior citizen merely dozes in his or her favorite chair by the electronic warmth of a TV monitor. There is contentment to an extent, though shadowed by the anxiety of impending death. We are born into security, seek change and adventure starting in our teens, and then, once past our forties, become ever receptive to being at home, cozy and snug with the possessions that give us comfort by their familiarity and evocation of nostalgia. I don't know if this inevitable fate is the one I want for myself, but I feel these impulses, which are, after all, natural to the human condition. I'd replace the TV monitor with a crackling fireplace and a book resting on my lap--and I'd be set. Still, even in such a passive old age, I'd want some excitement. But would dreams be excitement's only channel?

More to come....

Life Changes

September was a time for a couple of considerable Life Changes. The biggest one was the departure of my son for college in Washington, DC. I was a Mr. Mom to my son, so his departure was emotional for me, and a life passage for the both of us. Though I've been a long-time proponent of independence and striking out on one's own, when you experience the absence of someone you love dearly, someone you have raised and have had great fun with--well, you get a different perspective, and start thinking how natural it is for families to live under one roof or at least in close proximity. And then, if you've had only one child, you also think if it wouldn't have been more natural and healthy to have an extra one or two. Maybe a dozen to make up a sports team. The reality would be, of course, that such a situation would prove very costly and that any goals one might have outside of raising and supporting a family would probably vanish.

Anyway, here's a toast to my son's new adventures in a new life. I know I was eager for the same things when I was in my late teens, and he should enjoy life to the fullest. Youth cannot be, should not be, wasted.