ODE TO JOY.1

Something has to be done about my addiction to the black hole/rabbit hole that is the computer/internet. Once I turn it on, who knows what will follow.


I've started, by way of diversion, to stop at the stereo on my stumble toward coffee. This rather helps tear me away from the tyranny of the screen (oh, go ahead and blame the inanimate). Yesterday, it began and ended with Peter Gabriel's Secret World Live (mostly disc 2 and n.b. that most of the reviews I have seen GREATLY underrate the musicianship).


Today, it was Aretha Franklin.


Where are all of you? Do you know realize the magnitude of this talent? Come over. I'll school you. There's a moment, actually 2:30 in her recording of I Say A Little Prayer (this isn't that version. I understand that someone else had a hit with this song, but once you hear Aretha's version, you'll know who owns it) that is an/the essence of transcendence.


Let's talk transcendence.

tran·scen·dent

 adj \-dənt\

Definition of TRANSCENDENT

1

a : exceeding usual limits : surpassingb : extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experiencec in Kantian philosophy : being beyond the limits of all possible experience and knowledge

2

: being beyond comprehension

3

: transcending the universe or material existence — compare immanent 2

I'm with Kant here. Aretha's voice, her joy, her command of her voice, her piano, that band all combine to take my being away from the mundane experience of my life.  And shit, it feels so good. Nirvana. (A place or state characterized by freedom from or oblivionto pain, worry, and the external world.) When Aretha sings that note, that's where I am.

I am at Home with her. (I wonder if Aretha practices yoga.)


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