The Greatist Recordings of All Time

54."I Dreamed i saw Joe Hill Last Night"-Joan Baez

Joan Baez was the 2nd performer at Woodstock 69.Ritchie Havens opened
the festival with his awesome guitar and vocal style;which at Woodstock
he seemed to even be more intense-if that's possible-than ever.He's a huge
talent with incredible ability's to improvise and mix a multitude of world
folk style's into his own unique sound.In short-he's a tough act to follow.
Joan came on the stage next and performed an incredible version of
the folk standard "I Dreamed i saw Joe Hill Last Night".Her voice is
so clear and powerful that in a sense-Joan Baez is in a class by herself.
She has the skills and power of a great opera singer-yet she choose's to
sing songs about the common working people of the world with just an
acoustic guitar to accompany her vocals.There is a purity to Joan's
performance of this classic and mesmerising folk song that the audience
at Woodstock clearly recognized.Standing in front of 500,000 people
alone on stage in the spotlight would be pretty intimitdating for the
average solo performer-but there's nothing average about Joan Baez.
She takes total command of the stage singing with such power and
confidence that i can't think of another performer who could have
taken a solo performance,under these conditions,and deliver the kind
"tour de force" performance that Joan does.Astounding,i believe,would
be the best word to describe of her performance at Woodstock.
Astounding and transendant-She take's the song to another level of
intensity and power that is truly masterful.Joan Baez gets her
message across and then some with a grace that is truely an
unforgetable expierience.

The Work of a Shepard and The 23rd Psalm

In biblical times if you were not a Soldier,a King,a pharisee,a stonemason,
a carpenter,an artisan,a slave,a farmer,a scribe,or a merchant-chances are you
were Shepard.The terms of a shepards work are found throughout the Bible.The
most well known is surely "The 23rd Psalm".It's one of the most well known pass-
ages in the bible and one that is often quoted.
"The lord is my shepard" it begins,"i shall not want".The rest of the psalm is
full of referances to the work that a shepard does-"Thy rod and thy staff comfort
me","thou annointest my me with oil"-both of these statements are truely a part
of a shepards everyday duties.The shepard carries a rod or a staff with a hook on
the end.At the end of each day the shepard counts and inspects each sheep and if
he finds anything unusual he will use his rod to pull the sheep aside.He will then
tend to it's wounds and annoint it's head with olive oil.
"He leadeth me beside still waters".Strangly sheep will not drink from a running
stream or any moving water.They will only drink water that is still.So this line in
the psalm is a perfect description of this special need which the shepard provides
to his flock of sheep -because he knows exactly what thier needs are and it's his
duty to provide them.
The Great book "The Oregon Desert" describes how the sheepherders in the old
day's noticed how "The 23rd Psalm" was an exact description of thier duties as a
shepards.It became a tradition to pass this knowledge on from generation to
generation,in this part of the west.
As perfect a description of a shepards work as the 23rd psalm is-it's plain to
see that the language is pointing to something much bigger than the work of any
single man or woman.It's place in the bible has a much wider meaning for all
Christian people's of the world."The lord is my shepard,i shall not want"."Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me the rest of my days of life and i will dwell in
the house of the lord Forever".

Merry Christmas and may God Bless,

Pete Holly 12/24/2009

Jesus Christ-Spiritual Teacher-The Beatitudes

Christmas is the time when christian people of the world over celebrate the birth
of Jesus Christ,"The Son of God" and also a man who walked this earth 2000 years ago.
Christ is by far the most influential spiritual teacher the western world has ever known.
Some christian religions focus less on the teachings of Jesus and more on the "Fire and
Brimstone" and the "Hellfire and Damnation" found within the pages of the Bible.While
other christian sects believe that one need only accept "Jesus Christ" as thier and the
worlds Savior in order to be saved.Unfortunately,between these two extremes the
Genuis and Wisdom of Christ's personal teachings is often tragically forgotten and/or
completely overlooked.
Fortunatly there is a fairly simple remedy for this oversight and it can be found
within' "The Beatitudes" which Christ delivered to his followers in his "Sermon on the
Mount".
In eight brief statements-Jesus Christ illuminated his Spiritual Teachings with
what many would call the most rightous words ever spoken on this planet.If you want
to know why we still celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ;then the words that Jesus
Spoke in "The Beatitudes" can give much insight and inspiration in a short ammount
of time as to why people are still amazed and enlightened by "The Man from Galilee".

1.Blessed are the poor in spirit:for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven-

2.Blessed are they that morn:for they shall be comforted-

3.Blessed are the meek:for they shall inherit the earth-

4.Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after Rightousness:
for they shall be filled-

5.Blessed are the Merciful:for they shall optain mercy-

6.Blessed are the pure of Heart:for they shall see God-

7.Blessed are the Peacemakers:for they shall be called the children of God-

8.Blessed are they which are persecuted for Rightousness Sake:for thiers is the
kingdom of heaven-

Merry Christmas-and may God Bless,

Pete Holly-Dec. 20th-2009

WHEN INFORMATION COLLIDES

THE INTERNET AND THE FRAGMENTATION OF INFORMATION

Ken Auletta,author and writer for "The New York Times",was going along just fine in talking
to the Google staff about his book,"Google:The End of the World as we know it",on C-Span.He was
very fair in both his praise of Google's foresight and it's insensativity to copyright holders of Book's
,Film and Television Rights,and Music Copyright owners.He even told them that he did sense
"Hubbris" amidst the companys workers and leaders.But for the most part he was fair and praised
much of what Google had achieved thru foresight that others had missed,a point i would second.
In one digression on search results which he mostly had praise for,he mentioned Googling
"Who is William Shakespeare?" or "Who was the real William Shakspeare?" and getting a 20 million hits ! I tried it myself and he's right.There are so many results,most of which don't deal with questions about Shakespeares identity,but just books about his plays and such.To get to a really
great book i read recently that does deal with myths about Shakespeare's identity,"Shakespeare:
The World as a Stage" by Bill Bryson,who has also appeared on C-span;i had to google "A Short
History of nearly everything" a more recent book by Bryson to find his Shakspeare book-which i
highly recomend.
Bryson's book does a fantastic job of de-bunking nearly all of the false mythology about who Shakespeare was and provides plenty of information to back-up that he was who he and others said he was.It details the time period in which Shakespeare plays were written and his fortunes rose in such a way that he becomes a much more real and understandable person.Someome who seems most capable of becoming the worlds foremost playright.It does this in a fairly small volume,which makes it even more valuble.Obviously Bryson went to a great deal of trouble to distill all the known facts from the flights of fancy that so many people still have about our dear William.So what does all this prove? Only that internet searches as wonderful and helpful as they
are are imperfect.That sometimes the most valuble resource to answer a question completely
escapes the search.How often this happens i can't say,but that it does and sometimes on a fairly
straightforeword question for now is a reality.I'm sure there's a simple solution out there just
waiting for someone to discover it.It's just a matter of time.Don't expect complete perfection.It
will no doubt escape us.Just a little more perfect union would suit us all just fine-for the time being.

written byPete Holly-2009-copyright-all rights reserved

Time and the Artist

TIME AND THE ARTIST
by Pete Holly

The realationship between time and the artist is a very direct one.It's owed to the fact
that no matter how much talent god has given to you-if you don't have the time to employ it,
then no art will be created.Time is one of the most decisive factors in an artists life.
Tom Wait's expressed it well in his song "Time".For it's "time,time,time," the artist holds
most precious "you love",it's "time,time,time".For without enough of it-the artist will not be allowed to finish any creation.
Look at the life of the great artist Leonardo Da Vinci.Many consider him to be the greatist
painter of all time-yet he finished realativly few paintings because he didn't have enough time.
He found himself at the mercy of patrons who were most interested in his idea's for new weaponry for war-and so he spent much time selling himself as one able to provide these new
idea's of military weaponry-that would entice the patron to sponser Da Vinci-so that he could make a living.So we see many ideas's for new weapons of war in Leonardo's notebook's because
this was a calling card he used many time's in his life in order to aquire a sponser-to make a living.Many a patron took Da Vinci up on his ability to do just such work;as well as hydralics and
other helpful inventions that King's and Queens{and even Pope's}were most interested in,even if only a relatively few were ever actually employed or used.Indeed,since Leonardo's notebook's
were discovered he is as much well known for correctly predicting idea's that would help
Men and women achieve a means,such as Flight,The Helicopter,The Tank,and Submarines in the
future-as he is well known for his incredible paintings of which there are relativly few of which he
was ever able to actually finish.It's a great illustration of just how precious time is for every artist.

-written by Pete Holly-2009-copyright-all rights reserved-

COMPOSITIONS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST

1."MARTHA MY DEAR"-THE BEATLES
THE WHITE ALBUM

THIS IS AN INTERESTING PIECE OF McCARTNEY WORK BECAUSE
IT SOUNDS SO SIMILAIR TO PAULS LATER SOLO AND "WINGS"
RECORDINGS.IT COULD BE RIGHT IN PLACE ON NEARLY ANY-
ONE OFF THOSE LATER EFFORTS BY PAUL AND FIT RIGHT IN
AND YET IT'S QUITE A FEW YEARS AHEAD OF WHEN THOSE
RECORDS WOULD ACTUALLY BE MADE.IT HAS THAT SAME
SINGULAR McCARTNEY SOUND THAT PAUL WOULD REFER TO
TIME AND TIME AGAIN AFTER HE LEFT THE BEATLES.THE
BOUNCING PIANO MELODY-AND CAREFREE LYRICS-THAT
TURNED OUT TO BE ABOUT A BIG SHEEPDOG ! BUT THERE'S
NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT;IT'S JUST THE WAY IT SEEMS
TO PROJECT INTO PAULS FUTURE MUSIC WHEN YOU HEAR IT
NOW-SO MANY YEARS BEFORE HE WOULD ACTUALLY GET TO
MAKING THOSE RECORDS-IT'S UNCANNY ! ME THINKS SO.

PETE HOLLY-2009-COPYRIGHT-ALL RIGHT RESERVED

The Greatist Recordings of All Time

53,"AVA MARIA"-BUDDPEST STRINGS-FRANZ SHUBERT-
1797-1828

When it comes to brevity of life and lack of proffesional success;Franz Shubert
made Van Gogh look like a successful Wall Street stockbroker.Van Gogh had meet
and even made friends many of the impressionist painters-Monot-Manet-Dega-
Gaugain,Seurat in Paris and pretty much all of them admired Van Gogh's totally
unique style-contrary to popular belief-Van Gogh paintings did find a market.
It was comprised mainly of other artist's-the highest compliment a painter could
be bestowed at the time.
No such arrangements can be found in Composer Franz Shubert short lifetime.
He died at the age of 31 without recieving any recognition at all from the public.
He left behind 19 unsucssuccessful Opera's and all of his many symphonies
which also drew no attention at the time.Shy,he had few friends.His now famous
piano and orchestra works were not dicovered until decade's after his death.
It's ironic that one of the most successful songs of all Time{and oft recognized}
was written by a man whom the world barely noticed when he was alive.

Written by Pete Holly-copyright-2009-all rights reseved