Soul

Kyle Shepherd trio

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Kyle Shepherd trio

I was at the Wits Theatre for the launch of The Kyle Shepherd trio album. Unbelievable launch, musical intelligence, no wasted touch on the instrument. Every touch has a purpose. How you touch, how you grab, the duration, what you don’t do, all that has a purpose, it emits pitch and frequency. Don’t rush, play to your hearts content. Feel, communicate, speak your mind with music. Jazz music, feel the tempo, listen to the pulse, improvise, embody the glorious music. Music made for the Gods.Thank you for the invite Bridget. Always wanted to come to Wits so my first love, Performance arts led the way. The Wits Theatre is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.

One of my favorite movies titled “Soul” by Pixar explores Jazz music, purpose and the flow state. The movie describes life as something you improvise, making up things along the way, breaking rules to rewrite your own – Jazzing. Joe Gardner is a substitute music teacher of a high school when one day gets the opportunity of a lifetime to audition to play for the Dorethea Williams band – his dream job. Excited he goes to the audition and does extremely well. While playing the piano, we see his fingers taking control of him, it is automatic like stepping up a gear. Completely on free-flow, we see him close his eyes and let his fingers and the music do all the talking, we see the room disappear and it’s just him and the piano, the end-result is that he plays the most mezmarising solo of all time, leading to Dorethea to give him the job on the spot.

The movie describes the “Flow state” as a space between the physical and the spiritual realm. This is because when you are in flow, you are in your own world, a world where you dictate everything, time disappears and nothing matters except for the task you are engaged with. When you are in flow, you are possessed by a creative demon that takes over everything. When you are in flow state, God reigns. That’s exactly what happened with the show. The musicians where in their own world, a world where music reigns. They were totally in sync and they didn’t even have to look at each other, pitch, tone, rhythm, fingers and sound spoke. They even closed their eyes, the music was beating from within. To touch, feel, emphatize, understand the keys of the piano, caress slowly and stike forcebly when the moment demands, to string the double-bass with intention to induce a trance and create a rhythm, to beat on the drums like a celebration of the devils death. The album is pure euphoria, beautiful and timeless like how real art should be, reminded me of Charles Mingus “Devil Blues”, “Devil Woman” but without the organs and horns, it had a strong classical influence like Ludovico Einaudi and Yiruma.

Kyle Shepherd is on Piano, Shane Cooper on Bass and Jonno Sweeman on drums – they are the definition of mastery. They have been playing together since 2008, touring the world together and it shows. They have chemistry, they compliment each other and they have a mental telepathy. They were Jazzing, improvising, in complete flow, having the time of their lives. They love what they do, the music was unbelievable, it was beautiful. Congratulations Kyle Shepherd and the whole team and a deserved standing ovation.

Heaven

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Heaven

The first thing I am going to do when I get to heaven is get Ray Charles information. I need to see him perform. That would make my whole existence. He was a creative genius, one of the best and greatest talents the world has ever seen. He was amazing! Then I am going to a Amy Winehouse concert – the same day! I want to be in pure music bliss. I want to have a lot of fun, I want to dance, sing along to the lyrics and laugh with like minded individuals. Man I swear heaven is going to be so much fun! The next day I am keeping the momentum going. I want to see Louis Armstrong and wait for it John Coltrane, he will finish my second day in heaven but if I still have time I will head over to a Miles Davis concert, man what I would do to hear “Kind of Blues” live. So John, when you done with your set please be so kind to assist Miles. I’d continue my third day with Charles Mingus! Charles you and your team just have to perform “Devil Woman” and “Devil Blues”, I am bitterly disappointed that Colombia did a greatest hits and omitted those two bangers! Charles, if you can commit to playing those two songs, then I will give you the whole of Day 3. And on Day 4, hi there “Delfonics” and “Al Green”, you know I wouldn’t miss you guys. Besides, your music is going to help me get heaven pussy. Of course I will be there, in a flash! I think I will be settled by Day 5 so I will go to a Nina Simone concert and later Roberta Flack. Roberta baby, you just gotta sing “Killing Me Softly With His Song” for me. DAMN! Heaven would be a place that I would never want to leave. There are religions that promise 7 virgins for the deceased. Imagine that! 7 virgins, all for you. Isn’t that perfect? Isn’t that the end of suffering? That is excellent marketing by God and his angels. Still, it’s not appealing to me. How are the virgins? Are they opinionated virgins who think they have rights? Are they feminist virgins? You know what? No feminists in heaven! Yall can go to hell! Heaven is not a place for feminists. Heaven is a place for good women who are obedient. That’s all a man wants when his dead, 7 obedient virgin women, who will not talk too much and ask too many questions but rather serve as sex objects and suck this dick. That’s it, that’s all we want from heaven. Can you promise that God? I don’t think I’d want 7 virgin women even in heaven. It’s too much administration and work. Will they give it up easy or do I have to work for it? Knowing women they won’t give it up easily without a challenge or getting something in return. But maybe the ruler of heaven is Old Testament God. That would be so dope, if it is Old Testament God, I am confident we will be getting our promised pussy without a strain or any delay on our side. Old Testament God is a good open-minded guy. He ruled the Bible with fear and an iron fist, I am confident in his ability to keep women in line. A man doesn’t need 7 virgin women playing hard to get. There’s also the pressure and stress of satisfying 7 virgin women. Honestly, I don’t want that kind of stress when I am dead. It’s not worth it, I am dead and in heaven, I’d rather let loose. Heaven for me would be smoking Chronic the whole day. I’d rather not have a penis too. I definitely don’t want a vagina. No sexual orientations in my heaven. Just weed, music and maybe Gordons gin. But if God insists, I will have both a penis and a vagina. I think we can negotiate on boobs, they are not neccessary. I think God will side on me with this one. It’s so typical of Pixar making me ruminate about the second life. What if there is a second layer to life like on the movie “Coco”? What if life continues after death for the absolute last time before we get to heaven or hell? What if you get to relive all the decisions you made during your first life? What if Karma finally catches up with you on this second life? Damn! I enjoyed watching Pixars ideas on “Coco”. It was such a refreshing movie, filled with imagination, awesome storytelling techniques and emotive scenes. It’s such a classic! I expect the same thing with “Soul”. It is going to be a classic, I can feel it. Hoping for the Pygmalion effect with this one. I can’t wait.

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Pixar

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Pixar

I think Pixar are trying to kill me. Before I delve into the main subject of this text. What was with “Toy Story 4” guys? What the hell was that? What sorcery was that? I mean I have been a “Toy Story” fan for literally my whole life and they have never made me cry. Sure the storylines are emotional as in the one exhibited on the third installment but I never cried, almost did but I didn’t. You guys assaulted me on the 4th installment. What a tear jerker. The emotion regulation techniques used in the movie are outstanding. The toys exhibited sensitivity and empathy they could regulate each others emotions. Everything is just so emotive, the film score just moves you, it is so powerful yet subtle and familiar. The movie just goes straight to your heart. I am fascinated by emotions. It’s like something hijacked my rational faculties. I had no control over my emotions, it just happened – what an experience! It wasn’t the first time you guys made me leak, you did it with “Ratatouille” too. You guys are truly something else. It’s amazing how you can create an experience like that. When my emotions get out of control like that it makes me think of how amazing the Universe is, how amazing life is. We are the Universe experiencing itself, all of life and nature is one – we all come from the same source. When you guys made me tear up with “Toy Story 4” I was one with the storyline, one with the experience you created, one with your mastery, one with your artistic expression and at that moment everything was perfect. I felt one with the Universe and hence there was nothing I could do. I was under your spell. What amazing art you guys created. I felt my facial expressions change, I felt my eyebrows going lower, I felt them coming closer, I felt the downward pull of my mouth, I felt my facial muscles contract and with that tears came out from my eyes. I felt my face wrinkle like a raisin. I did not do that consciously, it just happened, I was overwhelmed. It makes me think; emotions are not concealable, it is impossible to hide them, they always have a way of leaking out. The avenues of these leakages are found in body language, voice and facial expressions. It’s impossible to hide what you are truly feeling because it is an unconscious phenomena, it is the Universe communicating. Our emotions are spontaneous things that happen to us and we experience them. This means emotions are depended on socioeconomic factors like the environment, culture, family, friends and other external stimuli. This makes sense because the emotion fear is triggered by the amygdala – the flight or fight organ. Wow! It seems as though existence is a program. We don’t know what consciousness is or where it comes from and we can’t control our emotions. Because of this fact I don’t think we can fully understand our emotions, they are complicated. What a predicament. What a revelation! But I digress, thank you guys for the beautiful movie, I loved it! It was thoroughly entertaining, it was hilarious, it had imagination, the animation was brilliant, it was moving and heartfelt, it was emotive, it was beautiful. It was interesting to see; children begin to regulate emotions in the first few years of life. They find a favorite toy, blanket or stuffed animal that they use to self-soothe and regulate their emotions. We saw that with Bonnie and Forkkie, it gave me nostalgic memories, I couldn’t help but to reminisce. I am happy Gabby Gabbys dreams came true. What a noble thing to do, thanks Woody. I am excited at the prospect of a 5th installment. I hope I watch the 5th installment on the big screen with popcorn and a large coke. I watched “Toy Story 4” a year later and it was well worth the wait. To the Universe, thank you to the spirit of Steve Jobs. Thank you to John Lasseter and every creative who has ever made a contribution to Pixar. One day, I want to own stock in Pixar; I want a slice of heaven. You guys make my soul dance, you make me happy and you keep me young. Being childlike is a quality I never want to lose and you guys are aligned with that mission. I love everything that you guys do and I will be a fan until I die.

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