A TIME FOR MASSIVE CLEANSING AND CLEARING OF PSYCHIC TOXINS (repost)

On June 5th, 2009, I attended an 11:11 Activation Ceremony at a local healing center named "Eagle's Nest" in Sungai Penchala Village. It was a difficult spot to locate but scenic enough once I arrived. There were some really sweet folks already gathered there and it promised to be a memorable occasion.

The ceremony proceeded smoothly enough, though the energy was rather low-key throughout. For me the best part was an extended late night supper with three funky women afterwards.

A few days later, to my utmost surprise, both my legs began breaking out in boils. This was something I hadn't experienced in decades. I couldn't figure out what was happening in my body. Where was all this poison coming from?

It so happened that around this time my second daughter paid me one of her rare visits with an empath and energetic healer named Sandra Sweetman in tow. Sandra is extremely sensitive to magnetic fields and in the course of our conversation mentioned that she had recently been to the Eagle's Nest and felt troubled by what she experienced there. She said it was like the scene of a violent murder - the whole place was unsettled and rife with murky frequencies.

I couldn't say for sure that the toxins in my bloodstream erupting as boils on my legs came from the Eagle's Nest. But I had been walking around barefoot part of the time and might have absorbed some of the unwholesome exhalations from the earth. Nevertheless, I was aware that the area was charged with very primitive magic going pretty far back in time. There must have been a large enclave of bomohs (Malay witch-doctors) residing in Sungai Penchala within the last hundred years or so.

It was also clear that ruthless "development" over the last few decades had all but wiped out the original forest, including a thriving Orang Asli community in Bukit Lanjan, leaving tiny patches of green here and there. Perhaps the small hill upon which the Eagle's Nest had been built was the final refuge of all the nature spirits that had been rudely evicted from their forest home by a massive invasion of chainsaws and bulldozers?


A close friend who had been at the June 5th ceremony complained of acute lethargy and went for a medical check-up. It was discovered that she was suffering from severe bacterial infection and required a massive dose of antibiotics. She later had a session with clairvoyant healers who described her condition as a case of vampire attack. Apparently, her body was infested with astral parasites which had to be pulled out like ticks.

The clairvoyants were assisted by a shaman named Ishtar who told my friend he once lived in Sungai Penchala and on one of his walks around the area had noticed a disturbance in the magnetic field. On closer investigation he realized it was a dimensional crack through which many astral and elemental entities were emerging into the physical world. He immediately sealed the portal the best he could - but it appears to have been reopened since.

I tell this anecdote as an example of what happens when humans resort to primitive forms of sorcery to attain petty objectives, e.g., gaining political influence, securing the affections of a desired lover, or attracting heaps of money.

The entire Malay Archipelago is rife with ancient magic and mysterious phenomena. To attain and retain political power in their own countries, many have relied on occult help from professional mystics-for-hire. President Sukarno, for instance, was known to have consulted an old magician who lived in the Elephant Caves of Bali. Even Mahathir, a medical doctor by qualification, was widely rumored to be in possession of a powerful family toyol (gremlin) who did his bidding and protected him from psychic attacks.


By now it's common knowledge that Rosmah Mansor, the crime minister's larger-than-life wife, is particularly fond of magical talismans and charms and that she herself possesses a measure of witchy powers.


On 7 September 2008 I posted a story on my blog with the following commentary:

Oh dear, what is this country coming to? On the eve of the Permatang Pauh by-election, Malaysia Today featured a statutory declaration by one Thangarajoo a/l Thangavelu, former chauffeur of Datuk Kenneth Eswaran, close personal friend of DPM Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor, attesting that he had "on numerous occasions" driven a Hindu mystic named "Mr Ji" to the residence of Najib and Rosmah for the purpose of conducting Hindu prayer rituals "to ward off evil." Swamiji's magic is clearly potent, which might explain why neither Najib nor Rosmah has been subpoenaed to testify at the Altantuya murder trial, despite glaring evidence linking both to the crime.

As Raja Petra Kamarudin rightly pointed out, if what Mr Thangarajoo stated is true, it would totally invalidate Najib's widely publicized attempt to declare his innocence and non-involvement in the macabre Altantuya murder by swearing on the Koran before a mosque audience that he had "never met that Mongolian woman."


One cannot claim to be a bona fide Muslim and believe in Hindu ritual magic at the same time.

In any case, I must report that ever since the Permatang Pauh by-election which saw Anwar Ibrahim winning massively to become Parliamentary Opposition Leader, the psychic atmosphere in this country has become progressively denser and murkier. The astral gunk became even thicker towards the end of 2008 when Najib's ascension to power came under severe attack on all fronts.

Shortly before Najib took over as prime minister from Abdullah Badawi in April 2009, it was reported in the press that security personnel had stumbled on a mysterious object with Jawi letters written all over it hidden under the PM's chair. What does that mean? As to be expected, there was no follow-up to these reports.

However, I couldn't help but notice that petty squabbles soon began erupting from within the ranks of the Pakatan Rakyat - and every time there was a minor misunderstanding between PKR, DAP or PAS officials, the BN-controlled media would magnify it a hundred times, thereby creating the illusion that the Pakatan Rakyat was on the verge of disintegrating.


In the last few months the situation has further deteriorated with the onset of the annual smog caused by oil palm plantations (mostly owned by Malaysian tycoons and their cronies in Umno/BN). I myself have had to make a conscious effort to maintain my emotional equilibrium against a strong tendency towards general irritability, alternating with bouts of despair as I see the forces of darkness and injustice regain ground within the national psyche.

The fact that ever since the obscene Perak power grab people have mostly given up on the Malay rulers as bastions of justice and wisdom doesn't help either. Look around and you will notice that every public institution has been corrupted beyond redemption: first on the list, of course, would be the Polis Di Raja Malaysia, closely followed by the gestapo-like Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Judiciary (especially the so-called higher courts), and even the Malaysian Medical Council whose director-general, Ismail Merican, has shamelessly revealed himself as a political pawn of the ruling party, particularly over the controversial Saiful and Kugan cases.

Things came to a head in mid-July with the grotesque death-in-custody of Teoh Beng Hock, a fresh-faced young political secretary with the Democratic Action Party, who was hauled in for "questioning" by the MACC - and never left their premises alive. The inquest is ongoing, albeit at snail's pace.

One can easily conclude that the entire nation is now being mismanaged by black magic, just as Haiti was with the entry of the Duvalier family - or Uganda under Idi Amin and Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe.

What can we do to neutralize this extreme negativity?

The most effective method would be to pay close attention to our own personal integrity. Rid your hard drive of corrupted and useless files; uninstall programs you never use; and clear your computer system of any spyware that might have embedded itself in your root directory. In short, cleanse yourself of useless fears, prejudices, and antiquated beliefs.

If you fall ill, look upon it as the body's way of cleansing itself of toxins. I allowed the sores on my legs to run their course in order to rid my body of all the bacteria that had infiltrated my defences. I chose to view it as a special service I was performing for the residents of Eagle's Nest, helping them clear the space for healing.

Awaken the shamanic potential in yourself. Each of us is endowed with a certain amount of psychic sensitivity and the ability to heal ourselves. Now more than ever, these natural gifts are urgently needed - if we are to free ourselves and our beloved land of malignant and vicious parasites that have fattened themselves off our vital energy for generations.

[First posted 13 August 2009]

STRICTLY FOR PUSSY LOVERS (repost)

Cats are oh so dramatic...

Not roast chicken again!

Keeps the whiskers dry.

Erks!

Waterboarding a Taliban cat.

No Keep Off The Grass signs either...

Come on, let's do the penguin shuffle!

Bolero!

Alledgedly asleep...

Cat Stevens before he became a dog.

Pass me the monkey wrench, will you?

Federico Felini & Caterine Deneuve

Karate Kat

Late again... never date a Persian!

Jaws with paws.

Can you fetch the sunblock, honey?

Let this be a warning to you. No more street protests!

Merce Cunningham's cat.

Kung Fu Kat.

Suck my tail.

Oops... dropped the tampon!

Chinaman bite cat... not news.

Good to have some me-ow time.

This post is dedicated to 

the sweet furry memory of 

Solara's magickal cat,

Mari-Mari.

This bunk is taken. 

Hrrmmmmph.

[First posted 6 June 2012, reposted 5 August 2015]

Exploiting Religious Insecurities (reprise)

A Malay Student Front representative (left) gatecrashes the Bar Council's forum yesterday on Islamic conversion, yelling: “I represent Umno. Stop this forum! Don’t insult Islam! You... Chinese, Indians, go to hell!” (Photos courtesy of Malaysiakini) 

Never a dull moment. That sums up Malaysian politics since the 12th General Election on 8 March 2008. Even as the nation celebrates the 61st birthday of prime minister elect Anwar Ibrahim in eager anticipation of a smooth transition of power come September, we are rudely reminded of the wide disparities that divide Muslims from non-Muslims, Malays from non-Malays. Disparities easily exploited by those frightened by the sweeping transformations underway and who can always be counted upon to resort to the race-and-religion card to protect their own vested interests. 

At this crucial juncture in our political evolution, we have to keep a cool head and stay calm. Five months after the political earthquake that forever altered the course of Malaysian politics, there are still many who fail to comprehend the big picture. Scared and confused by the rapid changes they see around them, they can be easily goaded into creating havoc on the streets - thereby giving the fascist BN government an excuse to declare an emergency and reclaim their power through military rule. Don't forget who's still in charge of the Defence and Home Ministries.

We must not allow reactionary forces to whip up ancient fears and resentments in order to thwart our collective dream of a mature, multiracial, multicultural nation at peace with itself and prospering as a harmonious rainbow family. Remember, 300 misguided religionists do not speak for 27 million. No matter where you go, you will find a handful who cling fanatically to narrow, sectarian beliefs. In a healthy, mature society, opposing views can be expressed without recourse to violence. The Bar Council, after all, hosted the forum mainly to bring certain "sensitive" issues into the open by encouraging intelligent public debate. The timing, as it turns out, wasn't quite right.

Nevertheless, it's particularly depressing to note that Zulkifli Noordin, PKR's Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP, was among the leaders of yesterday's rowdy protest over the Bar Council forum. What message is Zulkifli sending to all those who have put their faith in a Pakatan Rakyat government? That when it comes to questions of Malay rights and religious freedom, nothing will change? This, of course, puts Anwar Ibrahim in an awkward spot. If he advises people like Zulkifli within PKR to downplay religious differences, Umno will be quick to use that as evidence that Anwar will sell out the Malays. After so many decades of Barisan Nasional's racist policies and divisive politics, it will take some time for the people to voluntarily break down the walls of interethnic mistrust and build solid bridges of understanding and love between the various communities. With Pakatan Rakyat in charge of the Ministry of Information, the powerful reach of the mass media can be utilized to foster genuine friendship and the spirit of cooperative symbiosis amongst all ethnic groups - rather than keep racial and religious issues simmering undebated and unresolved. 

Allow me to use an analogy to illustrate the situation we are faced with in Malaysia. Let's say we're flying 20,000 feet above sea level in an airplane and a few of us are veteran skydivers eagerly anticipating the moment we hurl ourselves from the aircraft and experience the sheer ecstasy of freefall before we pull the cord of our parachutes and float gracefully down to the ground.

Now, can you imagine the fear and hesitation you might feel if you've never done this before? Do we despise the novices in our midst and jeer at their cowardice? That would be extremely unkind and uncouth. We mustn't push them either - because we would then be responsible if, in their panic, they forget to pull the cord and plunge to their deaths. Those of us who have long outgrown our emotional attachment to a particular belief system can be compared to veteran skydivers who have taken that leap of faith into the unknown many times before. The novices have yet to experience the sense of freedom one feels when liberated from childhood indoctrination and social rituals. Naturally, the unknown scares them. They cling to the safety of the aircraft rather then hurl themselves wholeheartedly and gleefully into the freedom of speculative metaphysics, rational secularism, agnosticism, atheism, or pantheistic mysticism.

But, given a little more time and encouragement, they will one day become veteran skydivers too. In other words, when dealing with folks who are emotionally attached to a particular belief system - and who closely identify with belonging to a specific ethnic group - it's pointless to force the issue or waste your breath trying to talk them out of it. Just love and honor them wholeheartedly regardless of their belief systems. Remember, it's really a question of software preferences. Some people are constantly upgrading to the latest versions of everything - while others haven't even taken their first tentative steps into the digital age. Some folks are neophiles (swift to embrace the new) and others are neophobes (terrified of new ideas). In any community, some individuals serve as the accelerators of evolution; while others function as the brakes. Good driving requires that we step on the accelerator more often than the brakes - which means the more adventurous and open-minded members of the family are the natural-born leaders, while the more conservative ones keep us from speeding too fast and colliding with obstacles. They're the ones who remind us of our origins and heritage and keep us rooted to terra firma, to Mother Earth. I have absolute faith that given sufficient time, all belief systems begin to mellow or break down into simpler elements - and yesterday's fanatics will be tomorrow's sages.

[Read Moris Farhi's excellent essay, God Save Us From Religion! First posted 10 August 2008]

This mutant mural artist BLU my mind! (repost)

Italian artist BLU is famous for painting politically and socially charged street murals, but his recent project involving street animation may be his most visually stunning. Called MUTO, the video is a series of digital stills assembled from sequential paintings on the streets and walls of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellisyear 2009
produced by studio cromiemusic by Roberto Langemade at Fame festival 2009

[Brought to my enthusiastic attention by Lawrence Hultberg. First posted 10 July 2010]

BIRTHPLACE RECLAIMED! (reprise)

Freestyle dance music commissioned by Chandrabhanu (Bharatam Dance Company, Melbourne) in late 1992; world premiere in January 1993 @ PJ Civic Center. 

Composed, performed & produced by Antares & Friends 

Minah Angong (vocals); Sunetra Fernando (vocals, rebab & percussion); Rafique Rashid (sequencing, percussion, vocal effects, engineering & mixing); Tim Bremser (12-string guitar, drum programming, percussion, vocal effects & mixing); Antares (shepherd's flute, Balinese flutes, synthesizer, didgeridoo, percussion & vocal effects) 

Digitally remastered in September 2012 by Thomas Smorek

As the title suggests, this choreographic work attempts to chronicle the loss of innocence every individual and every community experiences when the spurious concept of "progress" encroaches and transforms the land into an eco-systemic and psycho-emotional hell. From Dreamtime to Machinetime; thence a period of spiritual confusion and intense questing, followed at last by not so much a return to an imaginary pristine past - but a reconciliation with present reality, wherein ancient and modern realities begin to ecstatically fuse, thereby generating a fresh creation.

Sometime towards the end of 1992 I was contacted by celebrated dancer-choreographer Ramli Ibrahim (founder & artistic director of Sutra Foundation) who asked if I was keen to take on a commission to produce 30 minutes of music for Chandrabhanu, a Melbourne-based master of the Bharatanatyam.

Of course I said yes and soon a meeting with Chandrabhanu was set up. He had in mind a freestyle contemporary choreographic work titled Birthplace Reclaimed which he wished to premiere at a dance festival hosted by Sutra at the PJ Civic Center in early 1993.

I immediately got to work on the music, visualizing a circle and 4 cardinal points - an ancient symbol for Mother Earth. 

As Chandrabhanu had only a limited budget, I was unable to rent a professional studio for the task. So I recruited Rafique Rashid as a musical conspirator and sound engineer. He was living in Kuala Kubu Bharu at the time in a shophouse and had a workable 4-track home studio. He called it Batorvilla Studio (inspired by Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital after which he had named his comic-book alter ego).

At the time we had Tim Bremser - an Enochian magickian, visual artist & musician from Winnipeg, Canada - living at Magick River. Tim owned a 12-string guitar & a TEAC 4-track mixer-recorder which could be tandemed with Rafique's Akai 4-track. Sunetra Fernando, taking a break from her ethnomusicological research in gamelan, showed up one day & was promptly recruited.

Perlis-born Chandrabhanu arrived in Melbourne in 1971 to study social anthropology.

Minah Angong at the Sarawak Rainforest World Music 
Festival in August 1998

To explain what I had in mind, I drew a chart dividing the music into four movements: the first movement (Dreamtime) would depict an idyllic, edenic way of life, interrupted by the advent of industrialization (Machinetime, second movement). 

The third movement (Spacetime) would represent a period of confusion born of the conflict between inner and outer realities. Finally, a reconciliation of past and future, a fusion of tradition and innovation, paving the way for us to reclaim our birthplace.

Rafique and I had already experimented with dropping Minah Angong's cold voice on top of an instrumental work-in-progress. The result exceeded all expectations and augured the beginning of a rewarding musical collaboration called Akar Umbi.

A ceremonial singer from the indigenous Temuan tribe, Minah Angong had been taught the song "Burung Meniyun" by her late husband, the headman of Gerachi Village. It felt so right that we should incorporate the indigenous soul into Birthplace Reclaimed.

We had to record at night because Batorvilla Studio wasn't soundproofed. The traffic noise was too intrusive during the daylight hours. Sunetra was learning to play the rebab, a two-stringed violin introduced to Southeast Asia by the Arabs. It sounded great passed through a guitar effects box. Getting the mix right was crazy work, with both Rafique and Tim handling the crossfades and controlling levels with both hands on two different 4-track decks.

When Chandrabhanu heard the fruits of our nocturnal labors, he instantly liked it. Then he asked if Minah Angong would be able to sing "Burung Meniyun" live on stage. She had never performed on any stage, as far as I knew, but we decided to give it a go. Rafique would produce two versions of the music - one with Minah's voice mixed in; the other without, so it could be used as a minus-one for her live vocal. We took Minah to the technical rehearsal and put her to the test. She passed with flying colors (after a false start owing to nervousness) and wowed the packed hall on opening night.

Minah Angong with Antares & Chandrabanu (costumed as a shaman).


[First posted 18 December 2014, reposted 8 July 2018 & 11 April 2019]

Zeitgeist ~ The Movie (Remastered & Updated Edition)

This hardworking documentary by percussionist Peter Joseph speaks for itself. A lot of thought and feeling went into its making. Part Three is especially important. You may also view it at the original site.

Originally released in 2007, this version contains a few updates from 2010.

[First posted 8 July 2007, reposted in 2010]

Worse than Mossad, worse than the Japs... (reprise)

By Joseph Sipalan | Malaysiakini
July 12, 2010 2:59pm

A solitary bulb hangs from the ceiling, barely lighting the blackened walls of the cell that trap him like a rat.

In the tiny, windowless room, he battles madness from within and relentless chill from without.

He has lost all sense of time, of how long he has been left to freeze in this hole, how long he has gone without sleep.

A loud rap or a kick against the door ensures he is kept on the brink of consciousness and reason.

Ironically, he holds on to his fragile sanity by virtue of the physical pain visited upon him by the man whom, to the victim, has come to embody fear itself.

Fear runs down his spine with every blood-curdling scream he hears from beyond his confines, every sickening thud that echoes through the walls. It's only a matter of time before 'he' comes back for more

A year has passed, but N Tharmendran, 42, can vividly recount every detail of the internal military investigation that he claims he was subjected to, as if it was just yesterday.

Tharmendran, a former RMAF sergeant who has been charged over the theft of two jet-fighter engines, claimed he was detained and tortured by military intelligence for three weeks in connection with the case.

Tharmendran alleged that the favourite method of his interrogators - allegedly led by a major and his assistant, also a major - was to make him wear a crash helmet and repeatedly hit him as hard as possible.

“They used a golf stick and something long like a cricket bat. The reason is that when you hit me with a helmet (on), there's no mark. You can't find any mark, but the pain is internal pain,” he told Malaysiakini.

“That's what Major (name withheld) told me. (He said) 'I can hit you how hard I want, but there won't be any mark. Even (if) you go to the doctor he will say you only have (a) headache'.'”

And because of the physical abuse, Tharmendran said he suffered severe pain in his neck and shoulders and was barely move his left arm for a few days after the interrogation ended.

He also claimed that he was repeatedly stripped to his underwear, made to stand on a block of ice for up to an hour at a time, and threatened with death.

“I was told by this major, he has friends in the UTK (special forces) and KDN (Home Ministry) and it won't take him much time to get some men to shoot and kill me.

“Another thing he said was that nobody would believe me (if I report the torture), because he is the IO (investigating officer) and he has the authority. He said that, even if I go to the hospital and say I was being tortured by these people, he said nobody would believe me.”

Tharmendan said he was not allowed to contact anyone to inform them of his whereabouts during the three weeks of his detention.

His father N Nagarajah filed a police report last month to report Tharmendran's alleged torture while under military detention.

'Lost pride, dignity'

Tharmendran said he lost 20kg after being tortured and during the six months he was detained in the Sg Buloh Prison for not being able to post the initial bail of RM150,000 in connection with the charge.

He believes he is not the only one being tortured by the intelligence officers, claiming at least 30 others were also experiencing the same ordeal for reasons unknown to him. He does not know what has happened to them.

Tharmendran said he is grateful for his release on reduced bail of RM50,000, but that adjusting to life after six months of detention is hard.

“I've lost my dignity, my pride... I'm very, very embarrassed to face the public because it's been (publicised) that I am the one who was involved in the theft of the engine(s), but actually I am not the one,” he said.

He expressed his gratitude to prison officers and warders who had taken care of him and helped him with his problems.

Now that he is back in society, Tharmendran said he needs to pick himself up and deal with the debt facing his family, who had to borrow money to post bail.

“They (his family) were very happy to see me, but now I have to look for a job. I'm jobless now, and it doesn't matter what (kind of work)... I can do anything,” he said soberly.

“As long as I can get a job... I need to pay back whatever money my family borrowed. My mom's jewellery has all been pawned and it's not fair to my relatives.”

Tharmendran said he feels most for his daughter, who deserves an explanation for his absence.

“I have to go and see my daughter, but I don't know how I am going to face (her). She's 12 years old. I'm divorced so she's living with my ex-wife in Ipoh,” he said.

“I saw her last November during the school holidays. I used to get her for the holidays and she'll be with my mom for three weeks... I need to do a lot of explaining to her.”

Tharmendran has been charged with company director Rajandran Prasad Kusy over the theft of two F-5E engines at the air movement section of the Subang air force base in December 2007.

If found guilty on charge under Section 380 of the Penal Code, he faces up to 10 years in jail and whipping.

He faces another charge of abetment under Section 109 of the Penal Code for allegedly collaborating with senior airman Mohamad Shukri Mohamad Yusop to steal the engines from the Sungai Besi air force base.

Mohamad Shukri was not charged with the theft and is likely to be one of the main prosecution witnesses.


Take a good look at this man's face. Does he look like an engine thief? Does he strike you as a compulsive liar? I'm a face reader and in my opinion this gentleman is telling the truth. If I'm correct about this, what does it say about the country we live in? Do we have the moral standing to point fingers at other human rights abusers - whether they be the CIA, Mossad, Mugabe's thugs or the Burmese Military Junta?

How did two jetfighter engines get stolen and shipped off to Uruguay? Isn't the defence minister ultimately responsible for the conduct of our armed forces personnel? If he didn't know what was going on, he deserves to be sacked for utter incompetence. If he knew, and ordered the brutal interrogations, then he belongs behind bars for his inhuman cruelty. Now who was defence minister when this disgraceful incident occurred? According to Malaysiakini the crime was discovered in May 2008 but no report was lodged until August 2008. Why?

During this period, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was still the prime minister and finance minister. Najib Tun Abdul Razak was deputy prime minister and defence minister. On October 19, 2006, when Altantuya Shaariibuu was abducted, most probably tortured, shot twice in the head, and then blown to pieces with C4 military grade explosives, Najib was head of the defence ministry. Military intelligence would have been answerable to him as well as the prime minister and nobody else.

Isn't it interesting that almost every serious and unsolved crime committed in this country in the last few years somehow leads to the same address?

[First posted 13 July 2010]

What A Glorious Feeling! (Flashback to July 2008)

That's a real-life fairy named Innie Fryer on my laptop screen (in case you were wondering)

On July 7th, 2008, my iBookG4 refused to boot up. All I saw was a black screen with an unearthly glow just barely visible below the surface. After several attempts to get it going I gave up and SMSed my Mac doctor - a cheerful, extremely competent and good-looking chap named Adam Loh who calls himself Doc Mac, and rightly so. Adam's diagnosis was dire. "I'm afraid it could be logic board failure," he sighed, after my iBook refused to release the OSX repair CD he had inserted in the disc drive. That was serious. A new logic board for the G4 costs around RM2,000! Adam said he'd ask around and see if he could obtain a refurbished logic board for me. Even so it would cost me RM400-500. Well, over the next two weeks I had to get my computer fix at a cybercafe - which is like offering root beer to a hardcore alcoholic. But one good thing about not having a computer at home was I got to spend more time chilling with my beloved housemates Anoora and Ahau...


... and studying the breeding habits of the feline community... aaargh! too many cats!


But sometimes an exquisite creature like Inanna graces your home with her celestial presence and makes it all seem worthwhile...


Well, on July 18th I got an SMS from Adam informiing me that my iBook was "up and running." Appparently, Adam had unscrewed the casing to retrieve his stuck CD and when he reassembled the unit it booted up normally. "I didn't do a thing," Adam reported. Aha... a self-repairing G4! Guess we must cherish all the miracles we can find to make up for all the debacles we are witnessing daily on the economic and political fronts. Anyway, I'm so overjoyed to have my iBook back I'm just going to share a bunch of happy images with you, starting with a delightful visit last month from a couple dozen energetic youngsters associated with Project Connect - a cross-cultural experience managed by Brian Jones and Jade Ong of Cloudbreak. Here's the whole gang posing on our Bamboo Palace after a vigorous splashabout in the river and a hearty picnic on the rocks...

The Bamboo Palace could support the weight of more than 20 humans without protest!

Towards midnight on Bastille Day two vans rolled up in front of our house and discharged Sheldon Blackman & The Love Circle - ten larger-than-life Trinidadians who breathe, eat, sleep and live music. They had come directly from a successful gig at the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak and were totally exhausted. In fact, the princesses in the group immediately demanded that somebody send a bus to pick them up and deliver them straight back to KL. Sheldon himself (right) was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I don't blame them. Here's a full-scale touring band with all their heavy gear finding themselves in a remote village in the dead of night with all their luggage stacked up on a tiny veranda of an Orang Asli domicile. They had been on the road since 5PM and nobody had fed them apart from a dead boring sandwich on their MAS flight. They certainly looked like refugees from a flood or earthquake. In the end they realized they were marooned in my low-cost paradise and resigned themselves to the fact. As to be expected, after a good night's rest their spirits began to perk up...

The Love Circle pose on the bridge over the Selangor Dam

Claudette Blackman, mother of a whole orchestra of beautiful and talented sons and daughters

Seven out of ten members of the group are from the famous Blackman family, proud sons and daughters of the late great Ras Short I (Garfield Blackman), founder of The Love Circle and father of the musical genres of “Soca” and “Jamoo." The other three are long-time family friends Jason Bishop (guitar), Jeremy McIntosh (bass and percussion), and Clifton Harrydass (tuned steel drum and percussion).

On the second night angelic voices were heard wafting across the verdant valley. Nehilet (pictured above), Marge and Abby Blackman took turns showing off their powerful voices, while Jason practised Caribbean-flavored ragas on the open tuning he had picked up while in Sarawak. Sheldon performed a song to be featured on his next album which spoke poignantly of "mountains overflowing with water." Even I was inspired to play them a few of my own songs!



This year, for the first time in ten years, I wasn't at the Rainforest World Music Festival (for reasons I shall reveal at some point but not till some legal issues have been resolved). However, the soul of the festival came to me - and that felt real good. Thank you, Sheldon Blackman & The Love Circle. It was a great pleasure meeting and befriending you all.

Here's one last photo I shall always cherish: a farewell visit from a very beautiful mother (Jeyanthi) and daughter (Dharshini) before they returned to Kiwiland on June 20th.

[First posted 22 July 2008]