Ashoka the Great, Duke Ellington & The Tolpuddle Festival!

An Injury to One Is The concern Of All!

Being a Pop-Slop Nobody can be a frustrating business at times my friends; Flopped on the settee whilst other, more industrious souls, are out there busting a nut to pay taxes and National Insurance premiums.....but sometimes action is called for! One such occassion happened just recently when the occupier of the S t o n e d   H o l y   
D r u m   S t o o l  received his marching orders for Ungentlemanly Conduct unbecoming to one who, as part of the S t o n e d   &   H o l y   R o c k i n r o l l i n   
M a c h i n e , had, however unbeknowingstly, concurred with The Rollers Mission Statement regarding The Secular Preaching of Love & Brethrenosity!  Decisions had to be made. Justice was swift.. It is at times like these when it is best for one person to assume the role of Chief and the mantle of Responsibility that goes with it. So it was that the s t O N e D H O l y b l O G g E r found himself in Cloak & Wig and pondering the Politics of Power.

Land, Peace & Bread!

Now, just last year it was, the
S t o n e d   H o l y   R o l l e r s  made one of their Sporadic Musical Raids on the Folks down South in England to play at The Tolpuddle Festival and it is in recalling this and the recent events mentioned above that the S T O n E d h O L y B L O G g e r must hereby make Contentious remarks concerning Democracy, Trade Unionism & Being in a Band! My Contention reads thusly - That the
S t o n e d   H o l y   R o l l e r s  and other Musical Groupings of that ilk, are not the Best Exemplars for the Guiding Principles of Trade Unionism, seeing as they function best under the Auspices of Dictatorship. Benign maybeez, but Dictatorship nonetheless!

Right at the outset, to avoid Misinterpretation and Confusion, allow me to set out The S t o n e d   H o l y   R o l l e r s ' Political Stall, as it were, and state clearly that we, the aforementioned Musical Proselytizers of Love & Togetherness, fully support the Rights of Workers to Come Together and Act Collectively to Attain Common Goals. Furthermore, we also Endorse fully the idea that Direct Action at the Points of Contact with Corporate Forces to Effect a Change in the Body Politic at large is Wholly Legitimate!

Kicking Ass For The Working Class!!

The World of the Workers is Wild, sure enough, but Beat Combos are not Trade Unions and the same Rules Do Not Apply! If our Representative Democracy shows that we are not sufficiently developed Politically as a Society for anything more refined, so also with the Functioning of Musical Outfits - A Musical El Presidente is necessitated to Call the Shots. A Generallissimo, a Shogun, a Caesar. One who Conducts the business of Music Making. Let's call that person The Conductor!!

The really hard part of this PopFlop n Slop business of being in a band is not being squeezed together in the back of a Ford Transit or the endless lugging of heavy equipment but the actual finding of bandmates in the first place. The want-ads are filled with desperate pleas from Wannabes but the Alchemy of 3 or 4 Minds Cracking in Action, Time & Vision comes but rarely in this life and is Ephemeral at best. So it is in the absence of this that One must assume the role of Big Boss Man. Some, such as James Brown or John Mayall, can be almost Tyrannical in fulfilling this function but others can be more Benificent. The S T O n e d H O L y B l o g g e R  feels confident in expounding the view that his alter-ego,
T h e   R i g h t   I r r e v e r e n t   S t o v e p i p e   S t u d b a g e l , is one such, seeing as his Megalomania & Messiah Complex are Abstemiously Tempered by his thorough understanding of  both Marxist Dialectics and Why The Chicken Crossed The Road!

Workers Of The World, Unite!

Tomfoolery aside, I hope that this is providing you, Dear Nameless Ones of the Blogosphere, with at least a Glimmer of Understanding into the Musical Process and that you may now see why, although being able musicians in their own right, Jimmy Knepper & Danny Richmond could only truly fly under the Firm but Dictatorial Wings of Mr. Charles Mingus. Nobody's gonna pay to see The Fall if Mr. Mark Edwin Smith isn't on the stage....believe me, Marc Riley's tried it! Note also that Tommy Hall ruled The 13th Floor Elevators with an Iron & Acid-Drenched Rod even though he couldn't sing a note & his Musical Abilities amounted to making funny noises with a fruitjar pressed to his cheek! Bob Wills couldn't sing much neither and was nowhere near as accomplished a fiddle player as either Johnny Gimble or Joe 'Jody' Holley but The Texas Playboys were definitely his band and no-one elses! The list goes on.....

All Power To The Soviets!!

In jotting down these impressions, the StonedHolyBlogger feels it necessary to inform you, Good Readers, that
Liberty, Fraternity & Egality are, indeed, carved in stone on the lintel above the doorway here at R o l l e r C e n t r a l  and that these notes, here presented, are in no way to be construed as Championing Entrepeneurial Capitalism as a System whereby to Organize the Affairs and Doings of Humankind.....but oh, the contradictions we carry within....maybe Benign Dictatorship is the Way Forward after all! On the surface, the great Mauryan Emperor Ashoka and Duke Ellington do make for strange bedfellows but maybe they weren't so different really when you come right down to it!

I may expand on this theory of mine and give a talk on the matter at length....maybe at next year's Tolpuddle Festival, if they'd have me! I rather fear not, being somewhat 'off message'!!

The Union Makes Us Strong!

Power To The People!!