The Vietnam War In Pictures

In this world the only things which make any sense are the things which are usually black and white, often when things are black and white the message is usually understood and the point is delivered.

One of the acts in society which often has an abundance of black and white realism attached to it, is the act of War.

War is NEVER a good thing, especially  wars with no  real enemy?

The recent wars in the middle-east  are not a new story (or new type of warfare) by any means, the said story is a sickening one where innocent men, women and children are being murdered and sacrificed for horrible and pointless causes, causes which ultimately profit no-one or nothing except the Capitalist greed machines, the Western Governments, The Media and the banking and oil cartels. These savage tidings of war are not old nor will they ever change for the better. You have to understand that Wars make the fat cat imperialist richer whilst confused young men kill children and help smuggle Heroin across borders for their countries' so-called freedom and pious pride, people are dying whilst these suited business men are safe in their ivory castles as the dollar and pound signs build up in their accounts and the rest of the world subsequently suffers.

One of the more stupid and pointless wars in history aside from the recent war in Iraq or as I like to call it 'The Invasion of the Middle East' was the war in Vietnam; a reign of terror which lasted from 1955 - 1975, almost twenty years of confusion, bloodshed and murder, a war where two sides managed to lose equally as bad as the other and the loss of lives for both sides was extraordinary.

For the Americans many young men, who had futures ahead of them perished whereas those on the other side were simple families who lived off the land; many families were killed, there was no enemy, there was no communist threat, there was nothing!!! Yet human lives were totally tossed aside and wasted away?? for what?? Vietnam was a pointless war where many people died, and just like the recent war in Iraq, was totally irrelevant and unnecessary.

The Vietnam War for me is something I am highly interested in for a number of reasons, I would like to honour these reasons by putting a few pictures of Vietnam up on this blog, I also wish to honour the millions who died during this tragic war. Some of the images may cause you distress, they continue to cause me distress and upset me quite deeply, however they are important and I feel represent the message I am trying to portray here.

As I said in the opening sentence to this blog post.... Black and White is where the truth lies, the pictures below should relay the message I am trying to convey.

War Sucks, it's as simple as that, the troops on the battle field know that, the families at home know that, even the politicians know it, yet we still send young men to act on behalf of a cowardice elite who would rather murder than mediate.

Seek Peace!

Paul 

Beyond Jazz - La Monte Young

Most folks who know me, know that I love music and that I am forever searching for music that will evoke strong feelings and raw emotions in my soul, even to some degree take me above the mundanity of every day life and out into the astral realms beyond the reality of body and mind.

Music which challenges my consciousness is the music that intrigues me the most and within a contemporary setting I have found that Rock 'N' Roll,German Krautrock and Psychedelic music has moved me and my mind in such a manner as expressed above, beyond the contemporary music genres such music as Jazz, Classical and various traditional world music's from the Far-East and India have really bended my mind, infact most indigenous music's do have very mind altering scales, patterns, instruments and sounds which are hypnotic and other-worldly in their nature.

I have a huge love for such Jazz musicians as Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor and Thelonious Monk (more posts to come of these guys' at some stage later), what these Jazz musicians did in their music was magical, they used rhythms and sound textures to create a vibration and mood which alters the listeners mind set and head-space, to some degree's it even has the power to control it.

Experimental music is also a huge musical genre which I am interested by, the genre is the bridge between jazz and classical music, one of the pioneers of minimalism within the Experimental music field was La Monte Young.

I adore the pieces of music that La Monte Young composed, they are really very interesting and in my opinion are some of the best and most honest experimental pieces of music out there, also some of the most wonderful and mind expanding stuff I have thus far heard, to put it poetically, I consider it to be like being kicked in the head by an angel.

La Monte Young has taken influences from prior experimentalists such as Stockhausen mixed it with the jazz of artists' such as the ones mentioned above, mixed in a bit of indigenous traditional music influences from all over the world and also added a bit of mind altering substances and you pretty much have what La Monte Young's vision in music and sound was.

Like Picasso and his paintings, La Monte Young brought music back to it's most barren, barest and most primitive essence, he brought sound back to the zero point, he brought it back to drone, and inside that drone many wonderful worlds opened up, many textures eclipsed and danced around with each other, creating some of the most brilliant and some of the most perfectly human music in the world. If Blues music was an aspect of the soul of man and if early Gospel was the soul of a people and community.... then La Monte Young's minimalist experimental music is the soul of vibration itself.

Young has composed music since the early 50s and continues to make music to this day, during 1960 Young moved to New York and became a pretty known figure on the avant-garde scene which was happening amongst various sects of artist and musicians. The Early 60s saw the birthof what would later become La Monte Young's defining and most notable works. Around this period Young wished to create what was donned the 'Dream House' a potential haven in New York where musicians could come each day and create music twenty-four hours a day. In wanting to create the 'Dream House' Young formed 'The Theatre of Eternal Music', this group featured Marian Zazeela, Angus MacLise, Billy Name and later featured Tony Conrad, Terry Riley and future Velvet Underground member John Cale (please see picture below of 'The Theatre' with Cale pictured far right playing viola)

Since 1966, 'The Theatre of Eternal Music' has had an ongoing line-up of people who come and go, just like the music that is being played there appears to be no beginning, middle or end.

The Search for the 'Dream House' has never ended and La Monte Young and fellow musician Marian Zazeela have had their 'Dream House' featured as an art installation in various semi-permanent locations around New York including The Guggenheim Museum.

La Monte Young's music and sounds will forever be important and that is what is far out, his sounds will never get old, never be considered new, never lost in time nor dated, because it is forever NOW and forever EXISTENT. I guess that is what is magical about experimental music... I guess you called call it Living Sound (whatever that may be??)

I found the music of La Monte Young via The Velvet Underground during my teens, reading books as a teenager on the Velvets and reading the ever so tiny bit of information about this endless drone music that John Cale was involved with prior to the Velvets was enough for me to go instantly searching to find the music that I was reading about, it wasn't until a few years ago around the age of 22 that I finally 'got' it and really started having a greater appreciation for the music that experimental musicians create, I can now listen to the likes of Stockhausen (even though his work scares the shit out of me), John Cage  etc and various traditional music  from around the world such as Gamelan, Gagaku, Middle Eastern and Indian Raga music, with an open and enjoying mind... In fact I crave to find even more traditional music's from around the world, which may blow my mind and send my consciousness to new levels.

Please see below a few of my favourite pieces by La Monte Young, prepare for your minds to be blown to shreds.

I still don't own any La Monte Young items purely because they are so goddamn expensive and have never really had any real cd reproductions worth any creedance.... thankfully I have known a few switched on individuals over time who have 'taped' me stuff and obviously Youtube has been a great help in hearing more La Monte Young which would otherwise remain in the hands of collectors or the extremely rich.... be warned even CD's have gone for hundreds on ebay.

Drone On......

Paul Messis

Mad Comic Covers

Anyone who is stuck on the fringes of society should recognise the smiling face of the boy above, why yes it's only Alfred E Neuman, the boy mascot of cult American satirical comic book magazine 'MAD'.

'MAD' was launched in 1952 by editor Harvery Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines, heavily rooted in leftist ideals, 'Mad' magazine is lovingly accepted by the few who hold a disdain towards the mass culture which through the ages included and continues to include such tripe as politics, celebrity culture and vain entertainment culture. The magazine humorously attacks this majority using the art of humour, parody and satire.

I personally feel that 'MAD' magazine is the best form of ironic humour still left in society and for me is a brilliant form of anarchy waving earnestly right in front of the faces with whom it attacks and condemns, it is amusing purely because the said "victims" (to use a phrase lightly) don't even 'get' that the magazine is taking the piss and busting their balls.

'MAD' magazine will always be there as the annoying brat who continuously annoys the hell out of the Big Brother.... that will ALWAYS be a good thing to have in a crazy society like the one we live in.

Please see below some of my favourite 'MAD' covers, the cover art usually is the best form of attack and these ones are certainly to the point in more ways than one, my personal favourites are the Michael Jackson and George DUBYA Bush covers.

above are three copies of Mad that I own.

Enjoy Folks

Paul Messis

Reuben Bell & The Casanovas - It's Not That Easy b/w Hummin' A Sad Song (Murco Records - 1967)

Reuben Bell with The Casanovas quite possibly produced one of in my opinion best 'Soul' 45s in existence, 'It's Not That Easy' b/w Hummin' A Sad Song was released on cult Soul label Murco records and I feel it is a real double-sided killer of a record.

What I love about this gem, is that it is a Jekyll and Hyde of a record each of the two sides is equally great for the same reasons yet they are totally different, quite often I find the best 45's to be the ones in which both sides work well against each other and are both equally good in their own right (I have tried doing this with my own).

The A-side of this 45 (personally one of my all-time favourite Soul and R&B songs) 'It's Not That Easy' is a slow-paced heart wrenching tear-jerker with an extremely cool organ line snaking in the background behind the vocal. Complete with totally lonesome and desperate lyricsm, the song for me instantly gets put up there high in the musical genius territory. 

The song is very special to me for a number of reasons, once again (like the Five Bucks 45rpm below) it came to me at a point in my life where it seemed the emotions on the grooves were mirroring my own life and therefore acted as a comfort to me. I particularly love the warm guitar sound on this side, Reuben Bell sings his heart out and means every word he is singing and forces every emotion out of his very soul and being by singing such lines as "I know I'll always think about you, I've grown so used to you, I just can't make it without you, It's not that easy.... Forgetting You"

Check it...

If the A-side was Dr Jekyll then the B-side of this wonderful 45 is  definitely Mr Hyde, a fast paced floor-filler. The B-side perfectly mirrors the sadness of the A-side by in itself being totally fed-up, frustrated and somewhat pissed off... Dig these lyrics "These Memories I just can't forget, I wake up in the morning, my pillow's soaked in sweat, She up'ed and left me, she didn't say good bye" ... then to top it off there is an amazing saxophone break in the middle which is meaner than a howling dog in the dead of night, it's a really cool song and you'd be foolish not to want to dance to it.

Check it...

There are a couple of cool Murco compilations out and about, the most recent being on the Kent Records label which is easily to find, the comp is a really good investments if you're into 60s soul or more importantly regional sounds Murco being particular to the South, if Cd's are not your bag, why not try and find the 45rpm vinyl.... the above record has varied in price over the years and has sold around the $100 mark but  over the last year or two has be found around the $40-$50 price range on Ebay.

Enjoy

Paul Messis

Suicide - Self- Titled (1977)

Suicide in my opinion are one of the most important bands to emerge from the 70s New York Punk scene, in fact I'd even say Suicide are the most important group of that decade and also one of the most important during the 20th century.

Suicide formed in 1971 out of the New York bohemian art scene, the band  consisting of Alan Vega - vocals and Martin Rev - Keyboards/Synths, originally formed more as an art project rather than a band, they were in the traditional sense more of a performing arts duo than a live musical band, however their stage show presence and powerful live performance, confirmed their place as an important New York City Rock 'n' Roll band and they are now considered to be one of the pioneers of the blossoming 70s New York Punk Scene - in fact Suicide were one of the first bands, if not the first to describe their music as Punk.

During 1971 through to 1973 Vega and Rev each lived in virtual poverty, they were the freaks of their social landscape, they were true outcasts who came  together to create the most raucous, most frightening, yet most genius noise. They also created a very pure art not seen or felt since the Dadaist in the early 1900's. As a performing duo during this time they played shows at New York's infamous Mercer Arts Centre alongside glam-rockers like The New York Dolls. From 1973 onwards the group played the famous New York Clubs including CBGB's and Max's Kansas City again alongside early incarnations of New York punk bands which would later be more well known, these included Television, Richard Hell, Patti Smith, The Ramones etc.

Suicide continued as a live performance group and still perform together to this day however the year 1977 saw their self -titled debut album  released and subsequently from that point on the history of popular music was changed slightly.

I purchased the Suicide album when I was about 14 years old, I remember the day well, it was sunny and I rode on my bicycle from my home at the time in Uxbridge (West London) all the way up to a small suburban town in North-West London called Eastcote, there used to be a rather cool record shop called Sellanby's (an axiom of  the term Sell and Buy) which I went to and procured much of my early record collection (on cassette ironically). The Suicide album was one of these albums I purchased purely because of the front cover, with its mad insignia of the words 'Suicide' splashed across the front, seeing something like that as a young child is paramount to seeing the swastika, the intrigue of such a symbol draws you in instantly.

When I got home, what can only be described as an attack to my senses took place, I knew instantly what I had picked up by chance was an important musical creation and Suicide's album was not only important in that it influenced future music genres such as Electronica, Techno, Drone Rock, Neo-Pysch etc but it was also important as it literally tore to shreds what music was all about at the time, In Suicide's world, music was minimal, bare absolute nothingness, primitive, scary and industrial, it was the sounds, energy and feelings of New York during the 70s and for me on a personal level to me it was the sounds of my suburbia and my own living-hell; the council estates, the bus depots, the train station, the factories, the schools, the narrow-minded people, the drunks, the boredom and the isolation. I still occasionally visit the place I grew up from time-to-time and every time I do re-visit, the soundtrack always in my head is Suicide.

For me the album also spoke to an inner version of me, it was the version which couldn't express itself and struggled to express itself and upon listening to Suicide's debut LP, I felt that within Alan Vega's crazy Elvis-like spasms of reverbed echo that there was a guy who was equally like me angry about the world around him and in Martin Rev's droning two-note keyboard there was a guy who was happy to escape in sounds and textures which is something I enjoy doing too... making Suicide therefore a huge influence for me and my life.

Below I am going to play three of my favourite songs on the album, even though as an artistic piece the whole album is genius and should be listened to throughout, I would recommend that it should be listened to as a whole piece of art and not as a rock 'n' roll album.

ROCKET USA is the track which kinda got me hypnotised, I love how the lyrical context is portrayed in such a minimal yet forceful manner.... I love the lyrics in Rocket USA ..."tv star riding round, riding round in the killer's car", "It's 19 hundred 77, the whole country is doing a fix".... these are pop-art slogans, they are art manifesto's in themselves and a great condemnation of the then unforeseen horridness which would later become our own modern society, comparing a tv star to a killer is genius in my opinion. Suicide were totally on the ball and ahead of their peers by at least 20 years.

GIRL - This track in its primitive and minimalist genius pretty much expresses the thought form in every red-blooded teenage boys' head. This song has the raw sexuality that Rock 'n' Roll had, but because it's been stripped back to its most primitive and raw, it makes it that one bit more real and honest. In 'Girl' Alan Vega  just tells it as it is "Ohhh Girl touch me soft.... you know how I feel" . As a counterpart to the extreme desperation of the track, the repetition of drum machine and vox organ create mesmeric waves of joy underneath... the song is pure trashy sex and that it what is so genius about it.

FRANKIE TEARDROP - if one song could express the ill feeling, the dystopia of society, the horribleness in modern living, the absurdity in the world today, then it has to be this. During my first few listens of this track in my early teens, I genuinely was scared, it scared me deeply, it frightened me to my core and if music can do that, then it is pretty damn powerful... The only other music which has scared me in such a manner since, has been Stockhausen. I actually can't listen to Stockhausen purely cos I'd end up doing a Frankie Teardrop myself. I feel that every human being on the earth needs to hear this track at least once in their life, because it does speak to that part of our natural human nature that wants to kill, that wants to hurt, that wants to escape, that wants to scream, that wants to rape, that wants to set fire to shit and wants to put the gun to the head and make the blood hit the walls and ceiling. 

Alan Vega again proves his genius right at the end of the song where he proclaims "We're all Frankies - we're all lying in Hell".... which we are, just take a look around you, it ain't all smiles and rose tinted glasses.

Anyway; I can't speak about how great this album is, you'll just have to trust me so please do yourselves a favour and purchase this amazing album.

Thanks

Paul Messis

The Five Bucks - No Use In Trying b/w Now You're Mine (Afton Records - 1966)

Every so often in a record collectors life (and dreams) does the time come when they pick up a 45rpm single which they have been searching high and low for what seems a very long period of time, when that day comes however and the music fan places that lone-piece of vinyl onto their record player deck, all of lifes worries, concerns and stresses cease and for around three perfect minutes you're in bliss (unless you're a collector of rare German Krautrock LP's in which case you're looking to at the very least experience thirty-three minutes of bliss)

In my case one such record did come my way and it was The Five Bucks - No Use in Trying b/w Now You're Gone (misspelled as 'Now You're Mine' on the label) released on the Afton label in 1966.

The Five Bucks formed out of the meeting of a group of young guys who had each met one another around the Michigan & Ann Arbour University campus' in 1965. The line-up which recorded this classic Garage 45 included the members Bruce Kerr, Chris Rose, Jerry Daller, Bauchman Tom & Steve Hearn.

I personally would like to thank the band for creating one of the long lost gems of the 60s garage music boom and for making one of my all-time favourite records.... The B-side actually brought tears to my eyes.

I record music myself and will be attempting to record  (fingers crossed; faithfully) a cover version of 'No Use In Trying' next month in July, I have thus far practised my parts and feel that I can do this song justice and look very much forward to recording it and finally hearing the end result.

My Own Copy of The Five Bucks 45rpm single.

What is magic for me in regards to this record is it came to me at just the right time and moment in my life, both sides speak to me and I relate with both sides of the grooves as they relate to my, at the time, current life circumstances and I guess that is why the 45 means so much to me and means a great deal to me emotionally.

'No Use in Trying', is full on angst-ridden despair and a reflection on the sad realisation that a relationship has ended and there is no coming back.The b-side is even more apt and heartbreaking, 'Now You're Gone' is a sullen moody ballad about the realisation that the girl has gone and he the protagonist can't do anything about it and has to just accept it, but is still sorry - its total teen trauma, which makes this record alongside other records of the time, pure genius.

I guess the same scenarios/head-space of the records was happening to me in my own life and I guess in the best traditions of things, music is the best healer, especially for crazy half-mad, slightly switched-on people like myself, music, I guess has always been a healer and I suppose has always been the best of friends to me, this blog will include a great deal of music over time and I suppose each thing I will write about will be apt.

So I will leave you with the A-side of the 45 (Although I would have loved for you to all hear the B-side, however I haven't the technology to transfer 45rpm to computer nor is it on Youtube unfortunately)

So anyway here we go... a real piece of extra-ordinary 60s garage punk from a group of teenagers from Michigan.

Enjoy,

Paul

Picture and initial band info taken from www.garagehangover.com

Introduction - Welcome To The Transparent Radiation Blog

Hey Folks,

Welcome to Transparent Radiation, this is my new blog site which delves deep into exploring and expressing some of the things which I love.

Transparent Radiation will be a web based resource for all things relative to music (mainly), art, literature, society and culture which I enjoy and like. I am going to be writing the blog in a personal and down-to-earth manner expressing why I like the various things I am posting about and what they mean to me and my life and thus I hope that in doing so I can turn people onto an abundance of cool things.

What is Transparent Radiation? I hear you ask?

Well, for me Transparent Radiation is what the Internet is all about, a mass of invisible energy hitting the soul, perception and psyche of a person without them even really knowing, sensing or seeing it; Transparent Radiation isn't feasible, it just IS, it's all around you and all within you, it's the vibrations you pick up from people, the way a shade in the sky makes you feel, it's what I attempt to do in all my creative outlets, be it my own music (which some of you may know?) for an example or even what I am writing here on this blog, I hope overall that the small bit of Transparent Radiation that comes from me will go to you and in turn shared to another and so on and so forth, may it in turn make you want to have a go at doing a blog yourself, or writing a song, or buying a record or book and then spreading that knowledge.... who knows??... tap into it and see what and how it makes you feel... it's kinda neat.

Transparent Radiation itself was a song written and recorded by 60s psychedelic Texas based group 'The Red Crayola' and featured on their debut album 'The Parable of  Arable Land' released in 1967 on the infamous International Artist label, however  for me personally I was first introduced to the song via Spacemen 3 way back in my early teens, it's an important song to me and was a mainstay during my formative years of teenage frustration, subtle recreational drug experimentation's and summer times which were actually enjoyable and pleasant (whereas now for me at least, they are just a huge goddamn bum-trip)

So here goes.... take a deep breath... welcome aboard my trip... enjoy the ride!

Thanks

Paul Messis