NickDrake.com

[JHT]

What is this about.

The eclectic.

Maybe some philosophy.

Maybe some of The Supernatural whatever that is.

Probably whatever one wants to say.

Maybe nothing.

What has it to do with Nick Drake.

Time will tell.

[JHT]

I want to start with something just for fun.

There are two places I want to share with others.

One is Ska Brewery in Durango Colorado. My favorite beer there is "Decadent".

The other is Shiprock New Mexico. The geologic feature. There is something as if supernatural about it.

First go the the brewery. Afterwards head west on 160. Then south on 491. It used to be called 666. I think they had to change the designation. Past Ismay Draw. After a while there is little Black Cone down to the southwest. With Shiprock beyond in the distance. Then head on to Shiprock itself.

It's the inside story.

[bmore]

ok JHT i admit i'm stumped. Well not completely stumped but perhaps a little bit .. unsure ... it's sorta like that old game on `Sesame Street' .. one o these things just aint like the other'''


But of course anything can be `like' anything, as George Bataille might say, but any such likeness is only by virtue of the authority of the author.

What makes something `like' something else? Hm?

[JHT]

Hello again bmore. Here’s the connection and you I think were headed this direction yourself.

When the subject of a Nick Drake signed album arose you said “Why would one even want a Nick Drake signature? Do you think that will bring you closer to Nick? It won’t.”

Your comments I find raise interesting and important questions:

1. What does one really want from Nick Drake?

2. In fact what does one really want from existence?

Other questions seem of subordinate interest. Questions like how Nick’s music should be used how the estate should be managed how famous Nick should be and so forth.

Here are partial answers to the important questions as I see things:

1. One wants to be closer to Nick Drake.

2. Ultimately one wants paradise.

3. In fact one wants to be a god.

4. Nick Drake figures into godliness and paradise. Along with many other persons and things.

5. It is useful to consider what will bring one closer to Nick Drake godliness and paradise. Possiblilities are philosophy the supernatural and science.

Who knows one might encounter Nick’s spirit at Shiprock. I get the feeling it is a supernatural place. Or one might reach answers by science. Or philosophy.

Thus the connection.

Yes this admittedly is far out. But I started this thread for that reason. To have fun.

Guess though I'm not being careful in what I say. It's dangerous territory.

[JHT]

bmore

In my answer post on your Sillyphosical thread -- I find your phonetics play very clever I never thought of this particular one and an ironically demeaning one it is -- what I was trying to say was that you cited in advance what I was going to and did subsequently cite as in my view the most important analytical philosophical question i.e. the problem of the relationship between mind and matter. But I am very impressed you cited it first and want to make sure you know that. After I read my own post I was not sure I made it clear.

What makes something else like something else? I have not thought about it but will let you know if I come up with anything interesting.

I look forward to talking more about anything. Here anything goes as far as I'm concerned.

[JHT]

May 4th. The Kent State shootings. 1970. The most intense period in my perspective was 1970-1971. Like there really was going to be a revolution.

[bmore]

Hi JHT

First of all apologies for being tardy in response. It can't be helped these days. My situation is always fluid; and oftentimes tenuous. My engagement with this thread, and with the forum in general, will likely be hit and miss for the next foreseeable while,- not for lack of interest,- but simply by force of circumstances.


`Ultimately one wants paradise'. So you said.

Well I think I agree with you; but I prefer to phrase things differently... `paradise' has such a simplistic, corporeal smell about it.. to my ear.. that I dislike the term for some reason. Might just be my fundamentalist Christian upbringing . Adam and Eve and all that jazz, so I prefer to use the term ` transcendence'; but I think we're probly talkin bout same thing.


`Can You be Free?: Nick Drake and the Problem of Transcendence'

That's the title of an essay I've bin trying to finish now for at least 3 years. It's one of dozens of `projects' I have on the go (none of which, of course, bring me any money) and one which addresses the issues you've raised above.

The general gist of the essay is that the most general theme of Nick's music (and of his life)....all the way from pre-FLL eg `Bird Flew By' through to the last sessions `Voice From the Mountain' .... `voice from the mountain say `can you be free?'... is the problem of transcendence.

Nick took this issue seriously, I believe, and his music and life follows the trajectory of youthful optimism that transcendence, freedom... actually was obtainable, through the despair that follows on the belief that that was all just a bunch of youthful delusion. (Iv'e posted stuff somewhere on this forum something in this vein, quite a while ago, to do with `Pink Moon' which you can find if you search my posts)

I've gone through this trajectory myself and know how things turn out after that despair, and only wish Nick coulda slipped a couple more years under his belt and things mighta worked out for him.

I've got lots more to say, but no time to say it.

regards,
Arthur.

[JHT]

Hello bmore good to hear from you again.

Transcendence and Paradise yes I believe we are talking about the same thing.

I understand your aversion to the word "Paradise".

I have an aversion to the word "free" which I associate with politicoreligious reactionaries. I consider "free will" a falsehood and an instrument of deception as you know already. My words here I do not consider exaggerated. I always appreciated Kris Kristofferson/Janis Joplin's lyric "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose" as a legitimate observation.

What Nick Drake thought about these matters I don't know. I have said previously to a certain extent I don't fathom Nick. It is also the case I have not studied his words carefully. In a way I refrain from indulging in Nick Drake as if I wanting to save things for some time later. But he is someone I value otherwise I would not be here.

If bmore you find he believed transcendence was possible despite the despair in recognition of youthful delusion that of course would be a good thing. You probably know better than I.

I understand bmore your having obligations but look forward to your thoughts and ideas whenever you have the opportunity.

I want to post some more things here over time.

[JHT]

I want to apologize to those who have looked at this thread thinking they might learn something about Nick Drake and the Supernatural only to find nothing.

But here are two interesting accounts.

Patrick Humphries in his biography of Nick on page 51 of my copy relates that “Back in Aix in one piece and desperate for cheap entertainment Jeremy [Mason] remembers that a séance was suggested: ‘Childishly we had a very big session which Nick did get very involved in. He got carried away by this and discovered something from table-turning . . . some uncle he didn’t know existed. He actually rang his parents from a café – which in those days took three hours – to ask did this uncle exist? Why did I not know about him? He became very involved with that and went off and did it with other people as well. But they had an incident which frightened him off and he stopped.’”

No less intriguing an account appears in Trevor Dann’s book. Recently somewhere at this website Peter Rice had good words to say about Trevor Dann’s book and I’ll take that as an endorsement from a qualified source. On page 161 Trevor Dann writes “[Ross] Grainger confirms that Nick was as fascinated by the supernatural as he was bored by conventional life. ‘We often discussed spirits Stonehenge ley lines and the little people. We used to discuss these kinds of things for hours.’ Grainger refutes the idea that Nick was difficult to talk to. ‘He just didn’t want to discuss musical power games record contracts and politics and neither did he want to hurt anyone’s feelings.’ “

I have reproduced these accounts faithfully except for the use of commas. I eschew the use of commas.

A year ago this month I visited Tanworth-In-Arden and stayed at Ridgewood Cottages. That first evening before going the next day to Tanworth I looked out to the southeast and saw that rainbow over where I presumed the village was.

I may be as suggestible as regards the Occult as Nick Drake.

[JHT]

Here is something also not relating to the Supernatural but I want to put it here. I had this English teacher when I was in high school. This was in 1967-1968. He did not take any particular note of me I think. He was nonetheless one of the most capable teachers I ever had. More capable I would say than any I had in college or subsequently. For one thing he made it possible to understand Shakespeare and he actually made Shakespeare interesting. Well semi-interesting. When I visited Tanworth-In-Arden last summer I drove to Stratford-On-Avon. To find a tobacco shop where I could buy a Cuban cigar. There’s a MINI dealer north of town. Anyway I parked the car in Stratford and walked right by Shakespeare’s birthplace. Paid no real attention because my sole motive was to buy a Cuban cigar. But this English teacher also introduced us to some other material. He wanted us to know something about poetry. So he gave us this mimeographed poem called “Suzanne”. And I didn’t know at the time but this poem was the lyrics to the song of the same name by Leonard Cohen. But I didn’t know this until years later and I didn’t know who Leonard Cohen was till years later. And when he gave us that poem I couldn’t understand a word of it but he worked with us and over time got us to the point where it was explained to us. He also wanted us to get into movies. He showed us this silent movie with white horses running through the ocean. I mean shallow expanses of ocean. I don’t know the name of this movie but I believe I’ve seen clips since and I think it was made on the outer banks of North Carolina. And there was another movie he had us watch. And this is what I want to talk about. It was an English movie called The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. I was never into sports at all. And there was a kid at school about whom I was somewhat contemptuous likely because of envy who was a star cross country runner which is the same thing and he was a better scholar than I was. Nevertheless I kind of liked this movie. And just like I didn’t know until years later about Leonard Cohen it wasn’t until even later that it occurred to me that this English teacher was introducing us to things that at the time were quite avant garde. At least for the time and place I grew up. And I’m grateful that he did introduce us to these things. Even though it maybe wasn’t much it did have a certain impact on my life. At least to the extent that I’m writing this now. And I wonder how he knew about all these avant garde things. He’s probably deceased now but I wish I knew more about how he got into these things. He was from New England. He had a strong New England accent. He also got very angry. You had to be careful even looking at the clock in his class because he would attack you if he saw you doing so. Which was also engaging to watch. I mean engaging to watch him go after others. So what did I like about The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. The main character is winning the race but doesn’t cross the finish line at the end. That’s good. Rejection of competition the values of the power structure and the status quo. We could use more of that now. People were getting into that in the 1960s early 1970s but it didn’t carry through very far or for very long. One hopes we will get back to that sometime. But that’s not what impacted me most about the movie. Somehow the thing that impacted me most was that piano playing at the very end where the English schoolboys are singing Jerusalem. At a couple places in the movie they show these English schoolboys singing. I’m not sure why this was incorporated in the film. It means something or is supposed to mean something. Something profound. That’s why they show it a couple times and end the movie with it. If I thought very hard I could probably come up with an explanation of why this is meaningful and profound for the film but it's not on the tip of my mind and in fact it's better if I just leave it alone. I'm also not sure how I found this out but I found out Jerusalem was written by William Blake. I think maybe we had a book on the shelf at home about William Blake that no one ever looked into much and I looked in it and saw the words to this Jerusalem which I realized was the song in the movie. And it turned out William Blake was a rather cool guy. I never saw that movie again until just two years ago a local video store in a small town in Colorado had it. And we got it and watched it and that part at the end was just like I remembered with the piano playing and them singing Jerusalem. At some point over the years I had looked a little more into William Blake and realized he had this thing about Jerusalem. Always talking about Jerusalem. This seems to have been basically his concept of Paradise but he calls it Jerusalem. In London in 2007 I think I was walking north on some street and saw a plaque that said “This is the site of the birth of William Blake”. I guess I paid it at least a little attention. A little more than the place in Stratford-On-Avon. Nothing against Shakespeare. I sincerely mean that nothing against Shakespeare. In a perfect world I would like to know more about both Shakespeare and William Blake. Nick Drake is said to have liked Blake. I wonder of course if he ever saw the movie The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.