Ok, many moons since I last posted. Truth is that two years on, the ‘Fingers Crossed’ post (below) continues very popular, and what with its wide sweep and evidence-based predictions, I hesitate to replace it.
We’ll get back to the serious stuff in 2026, but meanwhile here’s something a little lighter.
I recently came across a family band out of the Philippines called ‘Missioned Souls.’ Dad Secan, mom Sheena, and their four kids, Naces (16), Neisha (15), Stacey (14) and Isaiah (‘Ice’ 11) produce stunning, near-flawless covers across an astonishing variety of genres.
‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ featured in the photo above is one such. It sure is a lot of fun, but conveys only a fraction of this family’s talent.
So here’s just a small sample of that massive, joyous talent, culled from the Missioned Souls YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@MissionedSouls)
First up, the whole-family cover of Bon Jovi’s ‘Bad Medicine.’ Tight ensemble performance, Stacey’s vocals sharp, Neisha’s lead guitar ditto, little Ice having a ball on drums.
To give some idea of their vast range, here’s their version of Abba’s ‘Take A Chance On Me.’ The beautiful layered harmonies are testament to dad Secan’s engineering and production mastery. Stacey’s great vocal range evident, much smiling gets done.
Deep Purple were very much the soundtrack to my adolescence, in particular their iconic ‘Machine Head’ album. Here’s the stunning kids-only version of ‘Highway Star.’ Not a weak link in this jaw-dropping performance . . .
Nor are they afraid to tackle even the most difficult material. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits has an almost unique guitar-picking style, which Neisha seemingly effortlessly reproduces here. Naces doubles on bass and keyboards, Ice fluidly metronomic, while Stacey perfectly captures Knopfler’s laconic vocal style.
Much much more on their channel: Carpenters, Adele, Beatles, Twisted Sister, Bill Haley, Finch, Elvis, just some of the myriad artists covered. And with 100+ studio and onstage performances there, chances are you’ll find something you absolutely love.
Finally here’s something a little different. Story goes a Missioned Souls supporter/benefactor gifted the girls with a ukulele each. Within minutes they’d cooked up this version of ‘Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head).’
Here’s a name you probably won’t know: Peter Zeihan.
His speciality is analyzing the meeting-point(s) between geopolitics (the “where”) and demography (the “who”). In his four books (details below) he extrapolates from that nexus not only the “what,” but also the “when” and the “why.”
The books meticulously slice-and-dice the world in all sorts of ways, e.g. by country, by sector, by product, by process.
Quite impossible to compress all this into one short post.
But here’s the core of the Zeihan thesis:
After World War II, there remained two hegemonic superpowers—the (apparently) implacably-opposed United States and the Soviet Union/Russia.
The 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement, building on the achievements of the 1941 Atlantic Charter, saw many nations signing up to what amounted to a security- and financial Pax Americana.
The upshot of these agreements was that the War once won (the Bretton Woods talks started a scarce month after the Allied D-Day invasion of Europe), the USA pledged that signee nations would be able to, in Zeihan’s words, “go anywhere, anytime, interface with anyone, in any economic manner, participate in any supply chain and access any material input—all without needing a military escort.”
The USA felt able to stand by this guarantee because it had vast reserves of capital, and the only remaining navy capable of global reach.
So . . .
Pirates? No problem—the US navy will shut them down for you;
Soviets trying to penetrate your government? No problem—the USA will vote you more reconstruction funds (the “Marshall Plan”);
Money issues? No problem—your currency can be converted into American dollars, which are backed by all that gold in Fort Knox;
Energy issues? No problem—the USA guarantee of shipping safety will ensure you can import coal/oil/gas from anywhere in the world to fuel your industries;
Food issues? No problem—ditto the above for the fertilizer you need to feed your expanding populations;
Nowhere to sell the stuff your industries produce? No problem—the US market (well, pretty much any market) will be open to your exports.
We call the resulting process “globalization,” and for many nations it made the years from 1945 onwards a golden time of economic expansion and social development.
However, with the 1989 failure of the Soviet empire, the USA no longer had a superstate enemy.
And so began a long course of American withdrawal from its previous global commitments: No more guaranteeing of safe shipping lanes, no more unfettered(ish) access to the US market, no more strings-free(ish) aid to governments.
The Bretton Woods system had meanwhile formally ended in 1976, and thereafter all industrialised nations began using floating (“fiat”) currencies—not backed by gold.
World trade—in everything from pineapples to Porsches to particle accelerators—depends on myriad suppliers in myriad countries being able to do their bit and then ship either an intermediate product to somewhere else for continued processing, or a finished product for end-use (the “global supply chain”).
Why is modern shipping so important?
In a word: cost. Shipping enjoys huge cost savings over land transport. According to Zeihan’s reckoning, “the practical ratio of road to water transport inflates to anywhere from 40:1 in populated flatlands to in excess of 70:1 in sparsely populated highlands.”
And again: “Combined with bigger, slower ships, containerization has reduced the total cost of transporting goods to less than 1 percent of said goods’ overall cost. Before industrialization, the figure was typically more than three-quarters. Pre-deepwater [sailing], the figure was often north of 99 percent.”
But now, the withdrawal of the US guarantees of shipping safety and market access makes it virtually certain that the shipping part (i.e. the majority) of the global supply chain will sooner or later be disrupted—by piracy, if by nothing else.
This could take the form we’re already seeing, of small boats attacking large ships; but also—as things unravel—by state-licensed privateers, and eventually even by states themselves, in places where shipping lane pinch-points are susceptible to a “pay-up-or-else” protection racket.
Much of this is graphically (in both senses) illustrated in the map at the top of this post.
The result? Shortages. Of pretty much everything . . .
Thus far the Zeihan hypothesis.
But there’s worse to come . . .
Zeihan also deep-dives into the demographics of pretty much every country of note. And the picture he paints is far from rosy.
See, every nation has its own particular percentage mix of babes (no, not that kind), young, middle-aged and old. Each of these sectors brings something different to the economic table: babes are the adults of the future; young adults work, spend and reproduce; older adults work, accumulate capital to invest, often pay plenty tax; while retirees cost in pensions and health.
Zeihan reckons that with the combination of the vast post-war baby-boom generation now or soon heading into retirement, and with birth-rates having plummeted worldwide, demographic disaster is barrelling head-on towards any number of countries.
Reading the demographic charts, he concludes the greatest immediate threat is to China, with its combination of incredibly fast industrialization and a ruinously low birth-rate.
However, according to him, Russia, Japan, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Ukraine, Canada, Malaysia, Taiwan, Romania, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria are also at risk sooner rather than later. As he puts it, “All will see their worker cadres pass into mass retirement in the 2020s. None have sufficient young people to even pretend to regenerate their populations.”
In the 2030s and 2040s, Brazil, Spain, Thailand, Poland, Australia, Cuba, Greece, Portugal, Hungary, and Switzerland will all face the same problem.
And so on . . .
Country (France) with a healthy demographic profile. Not too many older inhabitants costing in pensions and health; plenty of young and older wage earners contributing to the nation’s coffers; and plenty of youngsters to fill their shoes in due course.
Country (Japan) with an (extremely) unhealthy demographic profile. Many older inhabitants costing in pensions and health; so-so numbers of young and older wage earners contributing to the nation’s coffers; but dangerously few (and declining numbers of) youngsters to fill their shoes in due course.Charts of this type are known as “demographic pyramids.“
And here’s the demographic pyramid for China. Compare the enormous x-axis numbers with those of the previous two charts, and draw your own conclusions . . .
Zeihan notes that precious few countries have managed a high degree of development while simultaneously avoiding a collapse in birth rates. “It is . . . a painfully short list: the United States, France, Argentina, Sweden, and New Zealand. And . . . that’s it.”
So far demography . . .
Then we come to food.
Almost all the food grown worldwide is dependent on inputs of fertilizer. The various types of fertilizer (nitrogen, potash, phosphate) all come from a limited number of countries, many of which Zeihan believes are about to implode because of their demographics, never mind any supply-chain interruptions.
This won’t impact those food-secure nations with sufficient in-country supplies of fuel, finance and fertilizer. Problem is, says Zeihan, “France, the United States, and Canada are the only countries on the planet that check all the boxes.”
Other countries—he lists New Zealand, Sweden, Argentina, Australia, Türkiye, Nigeria, India, Uruguay, Paraguay, Thailand, Viet Nam, Myanmar, Italy, and Spain—might equally pull through, but only if they can find local partners to remedy their shortfalls.
Otherwise, any country that relies heavily on food and/or fertilizer imports to feed its people is going to be seriously impacted by any interruptions in the global supply chain.
Lack of fertilizer ➔➔➔ lack of food ➔➔➔ FAMINE.
Food (in)security worldwide. Hatched green means a net exporter of food; green means food-secure; yellow means under a quarter of its food is imported; orange over half of its food is imported; red means over three-quarters of its food is imported. Trouble coming . . .
All in all, it’s a distressing and sobering picture: According to Zeihan, the post-war world we’ve come to think of as stable and permanent is actually no such thing, is in fact about to fall apart.
Soon.
Any rays of hope?
Well, first of all, Zeihan may be wrong. After all he’s an American, so it’s possible his analysis (particularly with reference to China) is biased. However, all told I find his analyses reasoned, thorough and comprehensive, which for me at least renders them compelling.
Second, it is thought by many that a small group of very powerful people with a plan (see “Couldn’t happen here . . .“) has been keeping from us technologies that would negate much of the foregoing, specifically in the areas of free (“zero-point”) energy, medical cures and food production. The release of any or all of these technologies would dramatically alter the equation . . .
Third, none of above necessarily entails the doom of mankind. If Peter Zeihan is right, it just means that the world we’ve become used to is about to change, albeit catastrophically and involving much death. But out of that change—as always—will emerge new geopolitical realities. And—who knows?—maybe mankind will be stronger and more united because of it.
So, all things considered, fingers indeed crossed for 2026 . . .
This post barely scratches the surface of Zeihan’s minutely detailed analyses. For more (oh, so much more), see his four books (all links external and open in new window/tab):
[Image at top shows major Eastern Hemisphere trade routes, and attendant supply chain risks. Hi-res version of this and all other maps and charts available on Peter Zeihan’s website here]
P.S. Best wishes to all for a Happy—and above all, a drama-free—New Year.
Let’s (just for the sake of argument, you understand) posit a small group of very powerful people with a plan.
By owning the banks, they become insanely rich. Boom and bust are triggered at will―each time impoverishing the many, enriching the few.
Ownership of the mass media ensures control of all messaging, the populace simultaneously distracted and desensitised with vapid and/or violent content.
They go on record (in stone!) as wanting to dramatically reduce the number of people on Earth. To do this they’ll employ many methods―some old, some new.
Dissent in any form is not tolerated.
What they really like is populations that are ignorant and/or indifferent―basically, asleep.
Any issue that distracts or divides is useful to them―left/right, black/white, pro-whatever/anti-whatever―if it gets people at each others’ throats or looking the wrong way, it all works in their favour.
For their greatest fear is humanity united.
They suborn politicians, world leaders, captains of business―anyone with influence―whisking them off to remote islands or secluded forest hideaways, and introducing them to (often trafficked, sometimes mind-controlled) apparently willing under-age girls and boys. Liaisons are photographed, and voilà―“now we own you.”
Wars too, big and small alike, can be initiated at will, further dividing populations and keeping them in a state of fear. Also very profitable―if you finance and/or arm both sides.
And the plan?
depopulation through poisoning, food shortages, and war?
a “New World Order” brought into being by total financial collapse, leading to a cashless society with mandatory digital IDs, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), a social credit system, and unrestricted surveillance of a cowed and servile population?
a transhumanist future?
All of the above?
Still, couldn’t happen here though, right?
no banks conjuring money out of thin air and then charging interest on it;
no constant fear-mongering in the media;
no alternately violent and vapid tv and films;
no increasing polarisation between faction and faction;
no population poisoning by “safe and effective” vaccines (see separate post);
no removal from social and other media of opinions contrary to the party line;
no cancelling of those who dare to express same;
no attack on the use of cash;
no curtailment of (hard-won) freedoms of speech, assembly, movement;
no overtly sinister symbolism all around us (see separate post);
no hard-sell of nanotechnology, simulated reality, artificial intelligence, etc., to make us “more than human”;
no “novus ordo seclorum” (“New Order of the Ages”) on the U.S. dollar bill;
the Georgia Guidestone inscriptions never existed (see separate post);
and as for apparently pointless wars? C’mon man . . .
“If you give me the power to issue and manage the currency of a nation, I could care less about who writes the laws.”
―attributed to Mayer Amschel Rothschild
“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control continents; who controls money can control the world.”
―attributed to Henry Kissinger
“If my sons did not want war, there would be none.”
―attributed to Gutle Schnappe Rothschild
So. How are we doing?
Plenty of clues in the foregoing to spur and direct your own research.
“Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations that’ve long since been bought and paid for, the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls; they got the judges in their back pocket, and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and the information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else. But I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them.”
―George Carlin
I think we’re property. I should say we belong to something:
That once upon a time, this earth was No-man’s Land, that other worlds explored and colonized here, and fought among themselves for possession, but that now it’s owned by something:
That something owns this earth―all others warned off.
―Charles Fort, ‘The Book of the Damned’ (1919)
“The sleeper must awaken”
―Frank Herbert, ‘Dune’
Over to you . . .
[ Image at top shows the creepy “Cremation of Care” ceremony staged at the beginning of each yearly gathering of movers and shakers at Bohemian Grove, California. The climax of the ritual is a mock (some dispute this) human sacrifice before a giant owl idol. ]
P.S. Chances are it’ll all turn out ok in the end. But the more who are awakened, the greater those chances will be.
Those who seek to enslave us must tell us what they’re doing.
If we don’t object, this is taken as our free-will acceptance of their actions.
That’s why things designed for mass public consumption—rock concerts, international games ceremonies, movies, music videos, half-time shows at major sporting events etc.—often feature symbolism which shouts out loud to those who know.
Take, for example, the opening ceremony at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in England’s Birmingham.
The apparently innocent imaging here plays on Birmingham’s bull connection—the city’s centre has for centuries been known as the ‘Bull Ring’, and today’s huge shopping complex is the ‘Bullring Centre.’
So the Birmingham Commonwealth Games opening ceremony duly featured a massive, fiery bull, complete with smoke-snorting nostrils. Around which all manner of dance and other antics unfolded.
Here’s a screen-capture of part of the ceremony:
Ok.
Back then to the Christian Bible, in which the Israelites find that their “Lord” condemns in the strongest possible terms practices associated with the (Canaanite?) bull-god Moloch.
Practices which include the obscenity of child sacrifice:
“Don’t sacrifice your children in the fires of your altars . . . “ (Deuteronomy 18:10)
” . . . and they have built altars for Baal in order to burn their children in the fire as sacrifices.” (Jeremiah 19:5)
“Even today you offer the same gifts and defile yourselves with the same idols by sacrificing your children to them in the fire.” (Ezekiel 20:31)
Here’s an illustration of one such sacrifice to the god Moloch, taken from the 1897 book Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us, by Charles Foster.
So some pretty heavy-handed symbolism in Birmingham, no? Humans bowed down as if in worship before a giant bull that’s surrounded by the fire of flaming torches . . .
All just coincidence? Nah, don’t think so. And not so much a ceremony as . . . a rite.
If we allow these sorts of things to go unremarked and unchallenged, those who would enslave us can point to them and say in their defence: “but look, we told them what we were doing, and they didn’t say nay.”
Well, there’s plenty of other overt symbolism out there. Symbolism we miss or ignore at our peril.
Once sensitised, you realise these symbols are all around us.
Look for e.g. the single all-seeing eye inside a triangle (and celebrities photographed with just one eye showing), specific hand-signs, pyramids and obelisks, fiery torches, sun-disks (particularly those rayed or winged), pentagrams inverted, crosses ditto, checkerboard floors, the ourobouros (a snake swallowing its own tail), owls (strange but true), and more, more, more.
Well there’s a coincidence. For you to figure out what it might all mean . . .
But as always, don’t take my word for it—dig for yourself, ponder for yourself, make up your own mind . . .
An analysis by the BBC (!) of the symbolism in a 9-foot-tall statue of a winged hermaphrodite known as Baphomet flanked by two children, unveiled in 2015 in Detroit by the Satanic Temple, at a secret ceremony where VIP ticketholders were invited to pose with the statue
[ First posted here December 2021, bumped July 2022 to keep it top ]
The date is 9 May 2001. The place is the National Press Club, Washington, D.C.
Dr. Stephen Greer, founder of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) and the Disclosure Project, is hosting a press conference.
The world’s media are present—journalists have pads and recorders poised ready, TV and film cameras crowd the back of the room.
One by one, the speakers—21 of them in all—take the podium. These are serious people; no wide-eyed conspiracists they.
Some are from the military, some from the intelligence fraternity, others are government contractors, air-traffic personnel, NASA staffers.
Many were entrusted with clearances at the top-secret level or above.
These are not practised public speakers—some are visibly nervous. But as they in turn relate their stories, a corpus of evidence builds that becomes impossible to gainsay, impossible to ignore.
Some tell of radar-confirmed encounters with extraterrestrial craft that remain stationary then suddenly accelerate to unheard-of speeds, performing impossibly high-G manoeuvres.
Others speak of UFO activity around nuclear missile bases, and the missiles being deactivated.
Others again testify to off-planet UFO encounters by U.S. and Russian astronauts.
There is testimony too about extraterrestrial vehicle crashes on Earth and the recovery of craft and bodies, even the retrieval of live alien beings (see also ‘Patches‘ on this site).
Many of the speakers reference written, audio and video documentary evidence to back up their testimony.
In every single case, participants were ordered to keep details secret from the public.
But each one of these speakers—now mostly retired and so in some cases freed from the secrecy oaths of office—each one solemnly affirms they are ready to testify under oath, wherever and whenever (see also ‘Unacknowledged‘ on this site).
One speaker admits his naïve expectation that because details of what he’d experienced were so astonishing, they’d for sure appear on the evening news.
Of course they didn’t.
But just as revealingly, the exposures from this press conference—which should have swept the world and alerted humanity to a truth often hinted at but officially denied—also quickly got buried, despite the world’s media being there to capture every word.
The powers that conspire to hide the truth from us are evidently still potent . . .
Dr. Greer speaks of a further 400+ testimonies, many of which can be accessed on the ‘Sirius Disclosure’ site at siriusdisclosure.com/evidence/, (see also ‘Unacknowledged’ on this site).
Do yourself a favour: take a look and decide for yourself . . .
One brave soul who did not appear at the press conference was the late Master Sergeant Robert Dean.
One of the earliest of the military whistleblowers, Dean’s calm and assured recollections are particularly convincing. Here’s a clip from a while back:
‘Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind: Contact Has Begun‘: Film released in 2020. Part I details the reality of humanity’s extraterrestrial contacts, and the tireless efforts of governments, the military, Hollywood and the media to paint them as hostile. Part II covers the latest scientific research into consciousness, and the relationship between mind and matter. The link is to the full movie on YouTube, although it’s also to be had on Amazon Prime and elsewhere. More on the ‘Sirius Disclosure‘ site.
[ Originally posted on Facebook 10 July 2020; additions dated ]
Five nearly 20-foot-tall granite slabs, topped à la Stonehenge by a capstone, were erected in the USA’s Elbert County, Georgia in 1980. They were the work of a self-professed ‘small group of loyal Americans.’
These dealt with the Elberton Granite Finishing Company via an intermediary who used an alias; they paid the EGFC’s intentionally grossly inflated quote without demur; they provided exhaustive specifications and a scale model; and they insisted on remaining anonymous.
Chiselled into the stones are a set of ten guidelines or principles, in eight languages: Arabic, English, Hebrew, Hindi, Russian, Spanish, Swahili and Traditional Chinese.
An additional tablet gives more information about the Guidestones, with texts in Babylonian (cuneiform), Classical Greek, Sanskrit and Ancient Egyptian (hieroglyphs).
Some of the principles are anodyne enough, e.g. #5: “Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts“; or #9: “Prize truth—beauty—love—seeking harmony with the infinite.”
And who could possibly take issue with Principle #7: “Avoid petty laws and useless officials.”
However, it’s Principle #1: “Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.” and Principle #2: “Guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity,” that seem to argue a rather less benevolent agenda.
Or, as Wikipedia puts it in typically mealy-mouthed terms: “The anonymity of the guidestones’ authors and their apparent advocacy of population control, eugenics, and internationalism have made them a target for controversy and conspiracy theory.”
I should effing cocoa . . .
So someone (in fact several someones) laid out bonkers money to avow formally—in stone—their wish to “maintain humanity under 500 million.”
Well, I guess Covid’s a start.
However, given that our population currently exceeds 7 billion, the stated worldwide Covid death toll of somewhere over 500,000 to date [in July 2020] isn’t even making a dent (worldwide annual births: around 140 million)—plus it’s mostly taking out the old and infirm, who are generally past reproductive age.
If you’re really serious about reducing Earth’s population, you’ve got to start killing off the baby-makers of the future, and—אֱלֹהִים [Elohim] forbid—the babies too . . .
Conclusion: More, and (oh dear) worse to come?
[ 11 July 2021 addition ]
There are reports of tenders appearing in the UK for “temporary body storage.” Here’s one such, published yesterday (10 June 2021) on the gov.uk website by Westminster City Council. The initial time-frame is four years . . .
A Reuters “fact-check” (here) opined: “While the tender is real, it is not linked to the vaccine or the current pandemic. Westminster Council told Reuters it replaces a similar contract that is due to expire.“
He also makes some chilling predictions about our near future.
And yes, it does seem there may indeed be more—and (oh dear, oh dear) worse—yet to come . . .
[ 7 July 2022 addition ]
Interesting. The Georgia Guidestones are no more. The BBC reports that an explosion yesterday reduced one of the pillars to rubble, and the whole thing has now been “demolished for safety reasons.”
So what do you reckon? An outraged citizen (or group of citizens) who found certain of the Guidestones’ messages just too much? Or someone (or group of someones) higher up who felt too much was being given away?
One clue might be that CCTV footage showed a car leaving the scene around the time of the first explosion. Watch to see if anyone is found and prosecuted. If so it’ll be a private citizen; if not, well . . .
And then of course we have the almost instant destruction and removal of evidence from what was plainly a crime scene (remind you of anything 9/11-ish?).
So will the Guidestones (or something like them) be rebuilt? Or is this just a rare victory in the battle against those who would enslave us?
As always, you decide . . .
P.S. For those of a cynical or skeptical disposition, maybe ponder this: the initial explosion took place at precisely 3:33 a.m. . . .
Governments—and their compliant, complicit vassals the mainstream media—are telling us one (and only one) thing about what’s been happening and what’s going on.
Others relate a different story (you can find them if you look).
Here a UK funeral director tells of his experiences over the last couple of years.
And he makes some chilling predictions about what is yet to come . . .
(This video originally posted on the “The Crowhouse,” thecrowhouse.com)
Note: If there really is a depopulation agenda in play here, it would be entirely consistent with a programme that was laid out in stone—money no object—in 1980. See ‘The Georgia Guidestones‘.
Addition 18 November 2021: So what do you think―true or not true? Well, maybe try an online search for “died suddenly.” Hmm . . .
Addition 2 January 2023: I have a bad feeling this will be the year when the die-back becomes impossible to ignore. A search for “died after a short illness” should convince . . .
Addition 13 November 2022:
Here’s an update, again from British Funeral Director John O’Looney. He details his own hospitalisation earlier this year (and escape therefrom), and the increasingly deadly ‘vaccine’ effects he’s seeing, affecting in particular women, the under-40s, and—alas, alas—children. Interviewer is David Icke’s son Gareth.
[ Originally posted on Facebook 1 July 2018; additions below, 1 and 26 January, and 22 February 2021; final (maybe) addition 29 September 2021 ]
[ Addition 29 September 2021 ]
Ok, here’s something to chase those blues away. If you’re having trouble dealing with the world the way it is right now, commend me to a daily watch of this. It’s Yoyo (more about her below) at 8 years old, covering the Stray Cats’ “Rock This Town.” For my money possibly the most life-affirming, most joyous thing on YouTube . . .
British band Led Zeppelin erupted onto the UK scene in 1969.
It combined guitar virtuoso and sought-after session musician Jimmy Page, play-any-instrument composer and orchestral-arranger bassist John Paul Jones, the soaring voice of archetypal blonde-locked, bare-chested strutting frontman Robert Plant, and the titanic yet precisely inventive—almost funky—drumming of John Bonham, still rated by many as the greatest rock drummer ever.
This oldie was privileged to have seen and heard them in their prime (Earls Court, 1975).
Side 1 Track 1 (‘Good Times Bad Times’) of their eponymous debut album set the tone, Bonham doing things with a kick-drum that no-one had heard before and many even now struggle to replicate.
It’s no coincidence that Japan has more than its fair share of child prodigies.
A society in which doing things well is revered, one in which education is a competitive pursuit from an early age, and in which children dutifully knuckle down to it, is well placed to hothouse young talent.
Here then is Yoyoka Soma, all of 8 years old [at the time of writing], ripping Bonzo’s drumming from ‘Good Times Bad Times.’
Her supreme kick-drum mastery is inset bottom left.
But perhaps the best thing is the sheer joy she radiates as she piles her astonishing way through this hard-rock classic.
And okay yes, it’s a long way from copying—however proficient—to original creating.
But here once again is proof positive of the continuing Japanese conviction that if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing . . . perfectly.
Two bands were pretty much the soundtrack to my adolescence: Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple.
Not least among the appeal of both was the mastery of their drummers—John Bonham and Ian Paice respectively—each of whom in their own way defined what rock drumming was and could be.
While Bonham encapsulated all that is titanic and steamroller-majestic, Paice’s quick-hand fluency and more swing-based inventiveness provided the perfect framework for the equally stunning musicianship of then-Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and keyboards maestro Jon Lord.
Bonham didn’t make it much past the crazy 1970s, but Ian Paice is still very much with us, still (!) drumming with Purple, and now enjoying a still further lease of life on YouTube.
Yoyoka (‘Yoyo’) has already covered several Bonham tracks, but never anything by Paice.
Until now.
And as cute kid herself closes in on adolescence, she’s put together a quantum-leap performance with the Deep Purple track ‘Burn.’
And what a performance it is. While her technical mastery has never been in doubt, the notable developments here (still at the tender age of 11) are in her speed and stamina.
All in all, it’s enough to drop any jaw.
For those new to Deep Purple and who can tear their ears away long enough from Yoyo’s magnificent work, listen out too for some timeless soloing by Blackmore and Lord.
Anyway, the point is that all sorts of folk quickly alerted Ian Paice himself to this prodigious performance, and now he’s posted his own reaction video.
So sit forward and revel in the emergence of a modern drumming superstar, in this gentle and generous appreciation by the master himself . . .
[ Another addition, 26 January 2021 ]
Oh dearie dearie me. Just when I thought she’d reached a peak, she’s posted another Deep Purple (i.e. Ian Paice) cover, this time “Speed King” from their early album “In Rock.” And I think it might be even better . . .
Hard to know where to look in amongst all this virtuosity, but worth concentrating one time on her astonishing kick-drum mastery—most of the time it’s her right foot doing the business, but there’s also a second beater, cued in when needed by her left (normally hi-hat) foot. It’s all viewable in the window bottom-left
It’s almost scary just how good she already is. I do so hope she’ll be able to deal with the fame that is sure to be hers before too long, and all the head-turning temptations that go with it.
Bless you Yoyo. Good luck . . .
[ And yet another addition, 22 February 2021 ]
Ok, just one more, last one I promise (maybe). Indulge me . . .
This is ‘Stone Cold Crazy’ by another monster UK band—Queen.
It’s a short yet bracing thrash from their 1974 album ‘Sheer Heart Attack.’
And surprise surprise, Yoyo—here 9 years old and still very much the cute kid—nails it.
Not sure how technically demanding this drum part is (although notice already twin kick-drum pedals, and her quadruplets around the tom-toms are—as always—faultless).
What entrances me about this one though is the enormous fun she’s so obviously having.
And while she aces the song’s speed and complexity with seemingly effortless ease, there’s still spare processing capacity enough for her to mug for the camera and indulge all those endearingly bonkers gestures and expressions.
Sheer Joy Attack . . .
[Added 10 February 2022]
Phenom Yoyoka celebrated her 12th birthday with a session where she plays with a very tight, kick-ass band. You’ll want to head over to her site here to watch some pretty impressive covers.
But I’d be doing Yoyo a disservice if I said she was just a drummer. Truth is she showcases all sorts of other instruments, as in this video: her reworking of the Beatles ‘Here, There and Everywhere.’ Listening to her singing in English in particular is a joy . . .
Pictured above: my two closest friends, Ed Smith centre, Simon Kerruish right. Gone onwards.
Fellow players in the Boleros Ultimate frisbee team. And much, so much more . . .
(Incidentally, it was Ed’s mother Nada who started me off on the journey of reading and research that continues to this day, when she plonked Patrick Tilley’s “Mission” on the table, and said “here, read that, it might interest you . . . “)
Below, Daniel Barenboim conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performing Nimrod by Edward Elgar, part of his Enigma Variations suite.
It’s an intensely emotional piece of music, hard to listen to without tears.
But there is too towards the end a promise of catharsis and of peace—of battles fought and won. In short, the life of (a good) man or woman in little.
So this from me to those two good men. And to all those everywhere loved and lost.
[ Originally published on Facebook 16 August 2015; addition 8 September 2021 ]
DVD box sets and streaming video services allow us viewers to hunker down, pull up the drawbridge and binge-watch entire series at a sitting if we feel like it. In this way I’ve caught up with several (mostly American) TV blockbusters like ‘Sopranos’ (both com-pelling and re-ditto), ‘Breaking Bad’ (a struggle, not totally convinced by the main character), ‘House of Cards’ (clever self-referential fun for a bit, eventually couldn’t be arsed to suspend disbelief any longer and gave up), ‘Homeland’ (good viewing but just plain lost interest in the plot after a while), ‘Band of Brothers’ (magnificent, all-time favourite), ‘Rome’ (also excellent).
So anyway, a while back a colleague in Geneva suggested I take a look at a series that first went out on HBO from 2002-8—The Wire—and very glad I did. It’s an ambitious work, among whose main subjects are the way that many (most? all?) American institutions are compromised, and the fact that the little guy never gets a chance.
Each series focuses on a different institution (e.g. police, unions, local government) in Baltimore, but many of the same characters appear in each. In the best traditions of contemporary big-budget American TV, it’s at once scrupulously plotted, imaginatively scripted, convincingly cast and acted, flawlessly directed, filmed and edited, and believably disbelieving about many of the shibboleths that America holds dear. Faced with its grand sweep, its gritty realism and social commentary, you begin to understand the draw of Film and Media Studies courses.
It also contains one of the most boldly, brilliantly written scenes I’ve ever seen.
Detailed to revisit old cases on a team investigating a drugs gang in Baltimore’s low-rise (and lower-income) projects, two overworked and world-weary homicide detectives reluctantly stop by a house in which a girl was shot, where they start going through the motions (to begin with at least) of recreating the circumstances of her murder.
The run-down urban setting of the The Wire‘s first series makes subtitles often helpful, if not essential. You won’t need them here. Look out too for the caretaker’s cameo, who acts as a kind of dumbstruck Greek chorus—essentially us—as the scene unfolds (see—we’re doing Film and Media Studies already already . . . )
[ Addition 8 September 2021 ]
Sad to hear of the death (apparently from drug overdose) of Michael K. Williams, who played the unashamedly homosexual stealer-from-drug-dealers Omar Little in the series.
From Wikipedia:
“For his portrayal of Omar, Williams was named by USA Today as one of ten reasons they still love television. Omar was praised for his uniqueness in the stale landscape of TV crime dramas and for the wit and humor that Williams brings to the portrayal. Omar has been named as one of the first season’s richest characters, a Robin Hood of Baltimore’s west side projects. The Baltimore City Paper named the character one of their top ten reasons not to cancel the show and called him “arguably the show’s single greatest achievement”. In 2007, he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Omar.”
Far too many scenes in The Wire featuring Michael K. Williams to do him justice, but here’s a little taste.
Omar has agreed to testify against “Bird,” who had killed security guard Mr Gant—a civilian unconnected to the drug business—(something that Omar never did).
He’s been inveigled into wearing a tie for his stand in the witness box, something he does in his own sweet way.
His testimony likewise:
Do yourself a favour folks: if you haven’t already discovered the richness and truth that is “The Wire,” now’s a good time . . .
