gagablog 72: Gaga on Dave, (and Stephen Colbert going Public)

I've wanted to mention Dave Letterman retiring and Stephen Colbert taking over the Late Show but could not connect it to Gaga to justify writing it here, but she performed for Dave, Bill Murray and the Late Show audience last night and the theme of it magically connects, and follows up on the last gagablog about favoritism versus inclusion. (By the time I returned to finish this 17 hours later I've learned it was a rerun, but I had never heard of this episode and even this fits my current theme of being out of the loop with Gaga and trying to catch up to the present/future) When Gaga came out she did something no guest has ever done before, I bet. She invited the whole crowd to come across the street to the Roseland where she would be performing that night and played a mini-show for them. It was just awesome - I was hoping for an interview since there was time left in the show but this was the only thing that could be better, a surprise performance of "Dope" AND "G.U.Y" and it was amazing. This is inclusion, radical inclusion, and this is how it works, how we will save the world. I'm sure there were some little monsters in the Ed Sullivan Theater yesterday, it looked like an "average" audience for Dave, but I imagine by the time they finished at the Roseland there were many more monsters in the crowd. Giving something away for free is an important theme - most simply, money only divides us. The new model, the new "economy" of unity and inclusion will be Oz-like: we will work for pleasure, to please ourselves and others. That's all the motivation we really need, especially as technology makes more and more things easier. You can see Gaga for free on videos on the internet, if you have a connection, which should also be a universal right. But this was very special, inviting the whole crowd to a free show - like Jesus feeding the multitudes, and teaching us how to do it, how to overcome money. It's not just about overcoming money, making things free and liberating people, it is specifically about inclusion. It's the idea that everyone is "our" people, all the different "kinds" and groups of people don't matter. This is an echo of something that always stuck with me, from a Jerry Garcia interview in 1965 or '66 (that I first heard in '00). The kid asks him "what about these kids coming down to the Fillmore to the shows - are they real hippies or....?" and Jerry says "well the important thing is that they are real people." The kid follows up with "What do you mean "real people', like, not phonies?" and Jerry says "no, I mean all people are real people." People have this tendency to want to categorize everything, including each other. Some people don't like the term "deadhead" or "hippie" but I have always been very proud to be one, focusing not on it making me "different" but on how these identities connect me even more with the world, because of the philosophies behind them. I would not say the same thing about the identity of being "rich", for instance: even though it certainly can be more potential to connect with people, the trend has been for people to use wealth to isolate themselves. Not hippies - even if you aren't a hippie (yet), hippies will welcome you. It's kind of something you can grow into - it's very natural. And I'm so pleased whenever Gaga refers to the monsters camping out to see her as "hippies" - it is the same thing, something to be proud of. There are so many different kinds of hippies and hippie/liberal ideals have thankfully spread into most sectors of society. And of course even some people who identify as hippies, or who could if they weren't resistant to negative implications of the term, are snobby or more hipster than hippie, in other words exclusionary, but these are more like exeptions/anomalies in hippie cultures. They see themselves as special. And that's great because the great thing about any artistic (hippie) culture, that makes them so counter-cultural, is valuing people and relationships over money and status, the "mainstream" concerns. This reminds people how special they are and builds a community aorund this basic value of people. But the special-ness should be extended to other people who aren't in the "group", everybody else is still a hippie-in-training and some people are naturally good at it. It's the same analogy for magic: all people are magical and can be even more so, entering the magical community, and some people have more noticeable magic to show the way. With all the variety of people who can be called "hippies" probably the best defining characteristic is "loving people." What's wrong with that? So this is all about acceptance, especially of "strangers". (As I edited this "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" was on because I don't have my remote and they kept yelling about/at hippies...) I went to my neighbors Seder service the other night and had only been to one before, when I was a kid. I was impressed by the emphasis on taking care of the needy, the stranger and the orphan. To me this is the central message of all religions, it comes across in so many forms, and yet we still have issues with living this way. They had a ritual where I was Pharoah and all the kids threw things at me to represent the plagues and my perspective was that it was a magical ritual to purge me, and the world, of these forces. My babymama has been doing a circle-casting around the whole world and when she told me about it I really gained perspective. I always look at "small" and "big" magic, events in personal life compared to news events around the world. But compared to a Golden Sphere around the whole world, expelling all negativity and sealing it with goodness, compared to that all other spells are "small" and it helps the magic be more subtle and powerful. It conjurs up the name "reciprocity" for me, the idea that magic done to effect the world will also have a component in your own life - most people use rituals and spells but I kind of intend personal/worldwide transformations to co-incide. I plan to magically destroy the cigarrette/drug company/military/economic complex by quitting smoking cigarrettes, for example. I'm not using their continued existance to excuse my habit, but I'm really feeling ready and if the system does not crumble the day I quit, I will not lose faith but know that the magic has started and that it will crumble and continuing to avoid cigarettes will be how I show my faith. I already feel, and have felt for the past few days, that this giant Ball of Progress we have all been pushing against is finally moving, and it is so huge that now that it has budged it is starting to roll and carry us along with the momentum. I don't feel like my role is over, not by a long shot, but I feel rewarded that this push to the future I have advocated for decades seems to really be underway, I can just feel it. And now that I think about it for this blog there are some interesting reflections between my small life and the larger world-life around me. This book I've been composing in my head for years is all about everything coming together, how the digital world is kind of a map/key/clue to it, but it is really a total coming-together, catching our meager reality up to the possibilities the digital world presents and gaining, not losing, greater appreciation and involvement with the environment around us, both natural and emotioanl/social. The irony of the internet and social media is the possibility of connecting with so many people, being connected in various ways to many people, having the time to spend on social media and still feeling lonely or not really fulfilled by the interactions. I don't blame the medium of the internet because so many relationships start that way and it is a great way to communicate. The irony to me is that we make so much time for it, showing such a great need for relating with people, but we don't really honor that need: the whole framework of social media is restricted by current ideas of society but as it evolves so will our expectations of socializing. It's a leap-frog effect for advancing society: social media and media in general is way behind the most progressive mentalities but as they improve and progress even the most regressive mentalities will catch up. A good example of this is how Facebook recently expanded it's gender options to include pansexual, etc. People have been using these terms for years and some of them are probably like "finally!" that can represent themselves even better, while many others never heard the terms before but have now thanks to social media and even the news story about the change. As I was finishing and editing this a stand-up comedian on Craig Ferguson was joking about how everywhere he goes people ask the same questions: "are people the same everywhere?". His answer was no, in some places the people are worse than others - a sociology degree in 5 seconds, he said. It's funny and even true in a way, I know it's not just coincidence that racism bubbles up in remote communities and gentrified cities where people don't have exposure to "other kinds" of people. People are influenced by their environment and there are certainly better places to live than others - I'm lucky/magical enough to live in the emerging paradise of Denver, which I see as the Emerald City of the coming Oz. And I came here from my hometown, where I've spent most of my life, the musical and artistic heaven of Athens, GA. But some people aren't from such fabulous places or aren't into what makes them so great. It's not like everyone has to move here, we have to expose them to the wonders of our example so they can live up to their potential and become more artistic and magical themselves. And of course we will do this in accord with removing economic and environmental disparity, curing all the world's ills at once. This is one meaning of "Artpop": transforming the world with Art and Populism. And everyone is capable of receiving art and love, everyone is capable of being a magical hippie, in the best meaning of those terms for them. Some people suffer from being in bad places infested with conservative, hateful and bigotted mentalities. Everyone who lives there suffers from it, and the rest of us suffer from their influence on the wider world, magically and more directly and just hearing about it or even hopefully doing something about it. The people who suffer the most in a conservative are the ones who don't fit in for whatever reason. One of the commonalities of conservatism around the world is homophobia and gay people are in every population and this is how we know naturally that these mentalities will have to change as people progress and truly honor everyone in their community. The same situation is true in any situation where the majority oppresses minortities in any way to any degree. It's all our responsibility to reach out to the 'other', the stranger. We need the feminine influence to do this, the chimpanzee versus bonobo example. Excuse me if i'm repeating this again, from NPR, but a study showed that chimpanzees, who are patriarchal and enforce social norms with violence, share their food with those closest to them instead of offering it to strange chimps. Bonobos, who are matriarchal and not violent like that, prefer to share their food with strangers - to make new friends and expand the community. This is the basic principle and how we should go about it, in my view. I've felt this way all my life: restoring the due honor to the feminine is the secret to really taking care of each other and the earth and eradicating violence and greed. There is every example of this but I have a few more magical things to mention. The comedian continued that what does unite us all was the need to connect - he made a good joke about how people want it so badly they try to connect too much and strecth things where nothing it there. It was funny but the truer truth is that every moment we try to connect wit others can be filled with possibility, and we really can all come together. The idea of the Golden Sphere around the world, casting out all the bad and sealing it with good, puts the other magic in perspective that makes it work more gracefully. First it is a model for anything else, doing the same around yourself, a situation, a city or country. But the whole world perspective makes any of these seem relatively small. I was reminded to ring this up by Gracie Allen a moment ago, laughing at someone mentioning a death. "How can you laugh at that?" they asked and she said "Oh I've found if you laugh at things like that you can really laugh at things that are funny." I realized when thinking of this that the whole idea of magic is "I can do this smallish thing, with magic, and have this larger effect" but in a way the magic is hindered by recognizing that the large situation (the Ukraine or Syria or Greed, for examples) IS "big" and powerful. The belief in magic changes the odds, but the Global Sphere idea gives another largeness, a canvass upon which all other magic is equally "just" paint. When I'm doing a spell for peace in Syria I'm also doing a spell for peace in myself - I believe in this "large within small" interconnectedness as the heart of magic, of reality itself. So in a way it is a "little" golden sphere around me and a big one around a country - and as much as I can work up my belief in magic, why it should work that time, if I retain the idea that "that" is big and "this" is small I'm hindering the possible effect. By fully giving into the idea that we really are really connected, that we can affect anything magically and therefore have a duty to try, that makes faith stronger. But it is even more helpful to have that perspective - really a recognition - that all good magic here contributes to the Golden Sphere around the world, and compared to that great work we are all doing everything else is small. I've had a little reciporcity from a recent spell I've been working on. For years I've been wanting to add a Grateful Dead song to my youtube spell catalog, and one of my top choices was "High Time." I got an email from a contest to cover dead songs and took it as a cue to finally do it. After recording it I realized the way it is echoed in "Dope" - and I've had it on my mind for years before that song was written. I did not think about it until after posting it to youtube, but I did think of it the other day and then had to mention it here after Gaga played "Dope" on Letterman. I think it is the second time she performed it on a Late Night show, I'm not sure. I really enjoyed "G.U.Y" so much, it was awesome, but "Dope" was the magical reflection of what was on my mind: laziness was all that had been preventing me from changing the title/spell of "High Time" this last week. After realizing the connection I wanted to point it out: Hight Time is the 60's version of Dope, or Dope is the Teens version of High Time. If you don't know the song listen to it, please, but the most obvious connection is Gaga's line "been feeling low from living high for so long" and Hunter's line "I was having a hard time living the good life" and all the permutations of it. This is just a simple example of magic happening to connect things in time, and across time. And they are such good songs I had to bring it up - plus it's nice to see magic at work. The last connection I have to mention is Stephen Colbert. I love him, he is so hilarious and I'm happy for all of us and excited for him to take over Late Night. Even writing that, I realize how significant it is he will lierally be taking over late night. I've always loved Dave, he is so charming and does have such a wide appeal and audience, but I must allow for even great potential for Colbert. I'm not trying to raise expectations to high, just recognize talent and magic and goodness. One connection with Gaga is kind of cosmic - a changing of the Guard. Dave is awesome, so it's not the best analogy from his end, but wait until what I'm really saying about Colbert. Gaga had to fire some peoppe who were in it for the money, not for her - which is crazy to me when so many millions of people are/would be only in it for her. Dave has always been a positive influence and I love, appreciate and will miss him. Colbert can do even more in that slot than he could before on cable, and there is something else. The main thing that makes me so happy about Colbert taking over is for people like me who are too poor for cable. The fact that everybody can get Colbert for free is amazing to me, it transforms the culture. It's like letting a genie out of a bottle. But the main thing I love about this is leaving the Colbert Report persona behind. I will just skim over how Craig Ferguson is better suited, and greatly honored, to have the the even more historic "Late Late Show" - I loved watching that with Tom Snyder as a late teen, thinking I knew what he really meant when he said "sit back and watch the colors as the fly through the air" with psychadelic insight, and those eyes! eyebrows! and hair! - and I guess it made me feel comfortably mature and okay to be smart since I knew I was not the target demographic. I think I'm in the bulls-eye of Ferguson's demographic now, always have been since I watched him from the start. It's ironic that Craig Kilbourne basically gave Colbert his start by having him as a Daily Show reporter when it was a daytime show, gave Jon Stewart his start by leaving for the Late Late Show and gave Ferguson his start by leaving that. I watched all of these all along and always thought Colbert was the peak of the funny. Of course they are all different and of all the late night personalities I think Dave, Ferguson, Colbert, and Conan are all the top tier. Jon Stewart is funny and a good guy but not nearly as funny as Colbert. They both deserve credit, as well as the rest of the show, for taking the Daily Show to such prominence but Colbert's talent and work really earned him his own show. It has been consistently funnier than the Daily Show in my opinion and even more scathing against conservatives. This is what this is really all about, the end of conservative mentality and influence. I have long said that the only good thing about conservatives is that Colbert gets to make fun of it. He's the lotus on the cesspool just as the Simpsons are the lotus on FOX and Bob's Burgers is non-shit floating in it, too. The good always rises to the top, has the greatest influence, ultimately, is one magical message in this. But the most significant magical meaning is a new era of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. There is something really magical that this super-hilarious person can finally be himself on TV, and on public TV everyone, even the poor or less-TV-minded, can see. Even as I typed that a muscular dystrophy camp commercial said something like "every kid deserves a chance to be a kid." (I think I said the same thing in my job interview 7 years ago, ha ha. So nice to see magic at work, and have the magic of media to give such surprising examples) But as excited about that as I am, the real Stephen Colbert, I'm just as magically excited about the end of the Colbert Report character. I will still watch it in reruns for fun, but I am so glad about "what this means", to me. I've been predicting, wishing and hioping, and have had faith in the end of conservative influence in America. It seemed like the Tea Party and gun-nuts era and influence were spelling the death of it, and I do believ that even if it is slow to go away. But to me this is a most important sign: Colbert Report was the only good thing about conservativism, being able to make fun of it - but we don't need it anymore, that is "the past." The new, true Colbert will be the present/future. This is the end of conservative influence expressed magically in the world/media. I'm happy about it for so many reasons, but in his context as the end of exclusion and intolerance. It's just a pretty magical connection that it was announced around the same time Gaga made such an inclusive gesture on Dave's show, bringing in the whole audience to a little ArtRave. This is just intellectual confrimation of what I can feel, not just "in my soul" but a stirring in the world-soul, and I've heard the same thing from other people. We are all coming together and it's going to be wonderful, and free.