Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Sir George Martin - Revolutionary

"Every person we come in contact with affects us to a lesser or greater degree"

Imagine! A world without the Beatles. It almost happened that way. 

Random events shape our world in a significant way, and it's safe to say that our world would be drastically different without the Beatles. Whether you like the Beatles or despise them, it must be accepted that they changed our world... for better or for worse.

By now, everyone knows the name George Martin, the amazing producer responsible for the production of most of the Beatles recordings, who died one year ago. Martin revolutionized the Beatles' sound and incorporated much of his own original ideas into those familiar Beatles songs. George Martin changed the Beatles and the Beatles changed the world. 

But what if Martin and the Beatles had never crossed paths? 

Sure, the Beatles were somewhat popular in Liverpool and Hamburg, but record companies didn't consider them to be anything special. The Beatles had already been turned down by Decca and others by the time EMI took a chance on them. Two of the Beatles, John and Ringo, were married and had babies by that time. Had EMI turned them away too, it wouldn't have been unreasonable for them to quit the Beatles to assume more traditional fatherly roles. And, had Decca or another label signed them, the Beatles may not have received adequate production and marketing support to propel them to fame. Their music would have been very different too, not to mention the social impact the Beatles made. 

EMI did sign with the Beatles, and teamed them up with producer George Martin, whose vast knowledge of classical music and orchestration contributed greatly to the Beatles' unique sound. You know when you're hearing the Beatles, and when you're hearing the Beatles, you're hearing George Martin. 

But what if George Martin had made other life choices and not ended up at EMI? Or what if EMI had assigned someone else to produce the Beatles? Things would certainly be different. Beatlemania may have never happened. It's entirely possible, maybe even probable, that their success would have been limited, and today, the Beatles would be just another forgotten band.

Beyond the music - social revolution

The Beatles did for psychedelia what Gidget* did for surfing. By the mid 60's, LSD** was still relatively unknown and unavailable, but when it became known that the Beatles had used LSD, its popularity soared, and many people experimented with it who may not otherwise have. Again, for better or for worse, people's lives were changed and the course of random events were redirected.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak grew up in the heart of the psychedelic movement and were both heavily involved in that culture. They came together through a series of random events that eventually led to the creation of Apple Computer, an emulation of the Beatles' defunct label, Apple Corp. Much of the technology of our contemporary world is directly tied to the home computer revolution enabled by Apple.

What if the Beatles had never come to be and that psychedelic awakening hadn't taken place? Jobs and Wozniak would probably never have met, which means that personal computers wouldn't be what they are today, and smart phone technology may not even exist. Maybe Jobs would have created some kind of computer company, but it wouldn't have been called Apple Computer, because that name was inspired by the Beatles.

It's Zenberg's opinion that Sir George Martin played a key role in a series of events that sparked revolution and redirected the course of social history... for better or for worse?


* Any old school surfer will tell you that back in the day, the waves were free and plentiful, but after the movie, Gidget Goes Hawaiian, surfing became grossly popular.

**  Some have theorized that the psychedelic movement was a social engineering program because LSD had been developed by the CIA and was being tested on various groups of people at the time.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

America Found Dead

On the night of Yom Kippur, sleep didn't come easy for me. After hours of tossing and turning in bed, stressing over the upcoming election, I decided to meditate. I chose to focus on what might happen if Hillary Clinton was elected president. 

I have dreamed a dream

Before long, I was fast asleep and found myself in the bottom of a deep canyon. It was dark, as if the sun was low in the western sky and no direct sunlight was making its way to the narrows of the deep canyon. I observed that the place where I stood seemed to be a dry riverbed with gravel and stepping-stone size rocks. I looked to my right and observed a large flat rock a couple of feet from where I stood. Laying upon the rock was the lifeless body of a young child. I noticed someone else standing there with me and I asked, "Who is this dead child?" The person replied, "This is America." 

For some reason, it didn't seem odd that America was personified as a child, and I was overcome by the tragedy of the scene. The person next to me knelt down and picked up the lifeless body and placed it inside a small, child-size coffin that was positioned next to the large flat rock. The small coffin appeared to be made of bronze or copper, but it was too dark to be sure. The other person sealed the coffin as three other persons who had been shrouded by the darkness stepped forward to act as pallbearers. 

The person next to me joined the others and they positioned themselves, two on either side of the coffin. They lifted the coffin from the dry riverbed in unison and it occurred to me that the traditional six pallbearers were unnecessary with such a small casket. As the four persons began to carry off the small box, four calf legs emerged from its base, and the casket walked off into the darkness... and the dream was over.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Has Russia Weaponized Wikileaks?

Wikileaks has a reputation of impeccable accuracy and reliability. Anyone who's paying attention is aware that Wikileaks has been releasing a steady stream of Clinton related emails that expose the candidate for who she really is and what she really stands for. 

The Hillary Clinton campaign is attempting to distract voters from the content of these documents by accusing Russia for the leaks that expose her as a racist, cheater, liar, ISIS enabler, inside trader, etc... And making the accusation that Russia has weaponized Wikileaks. 

I think that it is much more likely that the NSA, (National Security Agency), or perhaps an individual at the NSA is responsible for providing the Clinton related documents to Wikileaks. We all know, (or should know), that the NSA stores everyone's email messages indefinitely, and if called upon, could confirm the accuracy of the Wikileaks documents. 


The Clinton camp is even going so far as claiming that the email messages have been altered because there is no "real" defense* against the damning information contained therein. Wikileaks has nothing to gain by altering documents and is certainly no friend to Russia, so Hillary is grasping at anything that will serve to distract voters from the integrity of the information in these documents. 

I hope that Hillary's supporters will remove their partisan blinders and take a good hard HONEST look at these documents. Don't be an ignoramus, make an educated decision.


* other than the mainstream media who seem to be more interested in protecting Clinton than accurate and responsible reporting. Maybe that's because many of the cable news outlets have also been exposed as co-conspirators with the Clinton camp.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Still Feelin' the Bern? or Just Feelin' Burned?


Bernie Sanders just endorsed his political rival, Hillary Clinton.

Now you have to make a choice. The media and establishment want you to think that you have to choose either a dog turd and a monkey turd. The fact is, you could choose a silver coin or a gold coin but the media establishment doesn't tell you about that option. Seriously though, you really don't have to choose either turd, (Clinton or Trump).
 
I'm going to pick the gold coin, Gary Johnson. He's the gold coin because he's the ONLY 3rd party candidate that will be on the ballot in ALL fifty states. He's also polling in double digits with almost zero media coverage. 

Jill Stein is the silver coin. She's a much better option to the two turds too BUT will not be on the ballot on all fifty states. That means that she can't win.

Gary Johnson, two term Governor of New Mexico, is the ONLY candidate with executive administrative experience. 

Bernie supporters will find that Johnson's positions on military interventionism, banks, equality and drug policy are in line with theirs.

Conservatives will identify with his sensible fiscal policy. 

We really do have a choice. A good choice.
Don't choose poop. You deserve better.