Beauty and Truth

About the Book

At the very least, this book is full to the brim with fun and entertainment: -The antics of the house dog, Winston. -The humorous side of ageing in Old Ain’t for Sissies. -The fun and laughter shared with my best friend, at Scrabble, which only goes to show how “scrambled” our brains are! - The thrill and excitement of simulated sports contests. - Serendipity! Being Able to Spend Part and Parcel of Our Time Dwelling within the World of Rock Musical Manna from Heaven, a World where the Meaning of Sunny Day, Everything’s A-ok, Has Never Been Forgotten!. At most, by incorporating good values into its lyrics, our thesis is that rock music becomes most powerful vehicle for popular education of young and old alike, because of the attractiveness of music, and esp. rock music, as packaging for education. Teaching great, often Christian type values, is one thing, seeing them implemented is an altogether different kettle of fish. Will rock music ever be able to spread its values beyond the idealistic young? Will the power of love ever rule the world? Will rock music enable/empower us to solve the world’s problems? * I don’t know the answer to these questions. But I do know that rock music, transformed my existence, into a life worth having. The inner world that opened up before my ears (and eyes), made me feel like a million bucks, and is the closest thing to heaven, ever to come my way! May we carry on this way, s’il vous plait!

About the Author

Chris Nelson (Christopher Richard in full), in this book of quotable quotes and interpretive comments, gleans a close up view of the rock music creation story and creativity unleashing process. By looking from the outside in, at some of the comments made by some of the rock musical stage setting’s best qualified voices and players. The question of moment is: what it means to be a rock musician and what is the true meaning and significance of the work that they so lovingly and meticulously produce? Rock music is musical creativity at its best: combining vocals, lyrics, rhythm, and energy. And is played by numerous instruments (notably piano and guitar), all playing together in tune in perfect harmony for a truly amazing synthesizing effect of the whole. The many faces of rock music: include heavy metal, rap, Reggae, hard rock, and soft rock. Something for every taste, and psychological and aesthetic need. Which type of rock you will choose for your own favourite, will depend largely on what type of emotions you want the music to bounce off you and and what type of emotions you want that bouncing to produce in you: the whole gamut from deafening crashing of metal instruments, to intelligent/insistent protest against injustice, to spirituality applied to moral issues, and questions surrounding the human condition (e.g. mortality), to songs that aim simply for beauty and truth, such as manly masculine songs by men, and beautifully feminine love songs by women. Rock music contains many true values that make it relevant to Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher’s, saying that “man is a political animal” which is as it should be in any thriving democracy where each person is free to express his opinion, within culturally acceptable boundaries and norms. But, lest we forget Aristotle’s qualification, “that politics is the art of the possible”, i.e. ascertaining what’s possible and what’s not, rock music will never fully mature, unless it comes to grips with not only the theoretical possibilities but the practical constraints and tradeoffs and compromises, that face leaders in the “real world” as opposed to the “wishful thinking world” of overly sanguine rock music world. If rock stars are “serious” about “making a difference”, they should consider themselves declaring themselves candidates for political office. And grappling themselves with the thorny problems and compromises and tradeoffs that they mostly overlook. Does this mean that they are not qualified to run for political office? Many of them might prefer to remain musicians, and you can hardly blame them, but just think of the potential of converting/translating your awesome followings into wins, no contest, in terms of voters at election time. You might win by a landslide! As you are know doubt aware there are momentous issues at stake in the coming election in America, including democracy itself and how to strengthen, not weaken, it.