They asked me what I would do if I were a councilor and a constituent criticized me. This happened at the recent League of Women Voters forum. My answer was: "I would listen."
My pledge to the voters of District Four: "If you have an issue with the City government and I'm your Councilor, I will be your guard dog, your attack dog. I will be up early in the morning to be your advocate."
I'm not angry, but I do have an important correction. You list "Open Jam w/ Rocky Frisco" at the Utopia, but you give the wrong address for the club. Utopia is not in Brookside, it's the old Fur Shop/Plan B building on 3rd Street downtown near Frankfort. This is a regular weekly event and I would greatly appreciate your changing to the correct location.
The Tulsa Sound is many things, but not really a music genre. It's more of a feel than a category. I will argue that it started in Sonny Gray's basement as a result of jam sessions that included Johnny Cale, Bill Raffensperger, Bob Bumbalow, myself and various drummers. Cale says it was what happened when we were trying to play the Blues and didn't know how. We had heard Flash Terry's band and they did know how. Our musical abilities were limited; we were still quite young and inexperienced, so the music was uncomplicated and simple. I, personally, think the basis for the feel was mostly in the hands of Bill Raffensperger, who was playing a big upright bass in those days. The other thing about the Tulsa Sound is that it was and is improvisation, pure jamming: we never knew what we would do next; we never played any song the same way twice. Robin Zander, of Cheap Trick, once commented to me, "You don't even need to know the song!" In the light of that understanding, Leon was not strictly a Tulsa Sound player, since he composes his music, including the instrumental breaks, and pretty well plays them the same way every time. Leon's contribution was that he took the feel, the sound, out to the world as an ambassador and became its most famous and successful representative. It's appropriate that the street be named for him and the Studio be recognized as a historic location and tourist magnet. The next step is a monthly TV broadcast to promote and exploit the Tulsa Music Scene and the local players. I'm hoping somebody will step up to the plate on that one.
From the special philosophical framework I was taught as a child and a young adult, the comments by the writer so far are cohesive and clearly conform with that religious philosophy. In other words, they are comprehensible and reasonable within that context.
I have a different view of the matters in hand. May I present these to you?
There is no record of the person the Christians call "Jesus" ever having told people to be good. His recorded sayings I have been able to find say that being good is impossible for humans. He explained that it wasn't enough to do something wrong, that even considering the possibility of doing wrong was a sin and just proves that we are without hope or redemption. I can't find even a hint of Him ever suggesting that we are supposed to try to be good. He was pretty clear that any attempt to be good was a far worse sin than just doing wrong, because it partook of self-delusion, self-deception and betrayal of ones own soul.
He made it clearly plain that we shouldn't try to be "good." He then offered a shot at being re-booted, reborn, healed, fixed and corrected. He is said to have described this experience as being "Born Again," in whatever language that has been translated from. From a careful investigation of the subject, it would seem that being "Born Again" must be preceded by an experience called "Dying to your self." I find it interesting that Buddhism teaches that the self is a false mental construct. So, my take on this is that being "Born Again" is a kind of death, followed by a re-birth. To change the basic operating system, it's not enough to add or change information; it's also necessary to reboot the system. This requires the faith to allow God to recreate who you are. Historically, the groups who call themselves "The Christian Church" have recommended that their followers try to be good. This seems to me to be in complete disagreement with the sayings of Christ. It's useless for your false self to try to be good. The only good thing you can do as your false self is to let go and let God reboot you, thus saving who you really are. There is no advantage in saving your false self. The salvation the churches recommend would seem to be a method of continuing to be a lie for eternity. I think the soul the Christians want God to save is actually the self that must be abandoned to reach salvation.
The history of Christians and their churches, the genocides, evil and corruption, make a lot more sense when it's understood that this is the history of those who equate being "Born Again" with belief in a religious philosophy or membership in a group, rather then the total transformation of consciousness Christ taught.
Personally, I really don't care if the Christ lived as a man on Earth two thousand years ago, or not. The real Christ lives in every one of us, crucified on our cross-purposes, and He can save us, if we let Him.
Liz Hunt has been knocking on doors for weeks in this heat. Obviously, she really wants to win this election. Blake Ewing is a serious contender, even though he already has a very full plate, with all of his successful businesses downtown. I'm not sure why they want to be elected, but I suspect that it's for personal reasons. I don't want to be elected enough to walk the District in this weather. I don't have a personal agenda that makes me want to be elected. I am offering myself as a counter-candidate in an effort to properly represent the people of my District and the City, rather than the special moneyed interests that have always run Tulsa. My political philosophy is summed up in the Bill of Rights, which basically says: "None of your business" and "Leave me alone." If you elect me, the Council meetings will no longer be boring. If you like Ron Paul, you're going to love me.
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COMMENTS
Posted by: rockyfrisco
9 comments total
Sort Comments: Most Recent | Oldest First
Re: Live Music
Re: Refresher Course
Re: Free Speech SLAPPed
My pledge to the voters of District Four: "If you have an issue with the City government and I'm your Councilor, I will be your guard dog, your attack dog. I will be up early in the morning to be your advocate."
Re: Are You Pissed Off? Tell us about it.
Re: Just In Time
Re: A Perfect God and Imperfect People
I have a different view of the matters in hand. May I present these to you?
There is no record of the person the Christians call "Jesus" ever having told people to be good. His recorded sayings I have been able to find say that being good is impossible for humans. He explained that it wasn't enough to do something wrong, that even considering the possibility of doing wrong was a sin and just proves that we are without hope or redemption. I can't find even a hint of Him ever suggesting that we are supposed to try to be good. He was pretty clear that any attempt to be good was a far worse sin than just doing wrong, because it partook of self-delusion, self-deception and betrayal of ones own soul.
He made it clearly plain that we shouldn't try to be "good." He then offered a shot at being re-booted, reborn, healed, fixed and corrected. He is said to have described this experience as being "Born Again," in whatever language that has been translated from. From a careful investigation of the subject, it would seem that being "Born Again" must be preceded by an experience called "Dying to your self." I find it interesting that Buddhism teaches that the self is a false mental construct. So, my take on this is that being "Born Again" is a kind of death, followed by a re-birth. To change the basic operating system, it's not enough to add or change information; it's also necessary to reboot the system. This requires the faith to allow God to recreate who you are. Historically, the groups who call themselves "The Christian Church" have recommended that their followers try to be good. This seems to me to be in complete disagreement with the sayings of Christ. It's useless for your false self to try to be good. The only good thing you can do as your false self is to let go and let God reboot you, thus saving who you really are. There is no advantage in saving your false self. The salvation the churches recommend would seem to be a method of continuing to be a lie for eternity. I think the soul the Christians want God to save is actually the self that must be abandoned to reach salvation.
The history of Christians and their churches, the genocides, evil and corruption, make a lot more sense when it's understood that this is the history of those who equate being "Born Again" with belief in a religious philosophy or membership in a group, rather then the total transformation of consciousness Christ taught.
Personally, I really don't care if the Christ lived as a man on Earth two thousand years ago, or not. The real Christ lives in every one of us, crucified on our cross-purposes, and He can save us, if we let Him.
Re: Council Connection
Re: A Tale of Two Parades
Re: The Great Plains Ripoff