The Ride Out Of Bardo

May 5, 2017

 

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A bit of play on the concept of bardo, described in The Tibetan Book of the Dead as a "place" or conditional phase that the transmigratory soul passes into at the end of an incarnate life. Some souls are said to become disoriented upon death of the body and may become stalled in the bardo for a while; others want to get the hell out of there as fast as they can!

— Bobby BeauSoleil

 

The original of this painting is 14 x 17 inches, mixed media on bristol board. Professional prints are available in a variety of sizes, framed or unframed, from The Bobby BeauSoleil Gallery.

 

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REVIEW - Dancing Hearts Afire

March 10, 2017

 

Peter Thelen, editor of the online rock music magazine Exposé, has recently reviewed my album, Dancing Hearts Afire, reissued on CD last year.  You can read it here:

 

http://expose.org/index.php/articles/display/bobby-beausoleil-dancing-hearts-afire-3.html

 

Feels good to see this deeply personal recording get some attention from the music press.

 

Bobby

 

Manifesto of an Artist in Prison

Feb 11, 2017

 

Every so often I have come under fire for the path I've chosen around expressing in the creative arts and publishing my work through an online presence. There are people, perhaps well-intentioned, who are adamant in their stance that prison is for punishment, and that people who are doing time for a crime should not be permitted to engage in activities that do not strictly conform to this narrow definition. Since my ability to produce and publish my work in a reasonably meaningful way are occasionally influenced by controversies of this sort, I am taking this opportunity to address the issues head-on and describe what drives the kinds of activities that sometimes put me in the line of fire.

 

READ MORE

 

Lucifer Rising, The Original Soundtrack - Complete

Nov 15, 2016

 

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My deepest gratitude to the Doping-Pong art house in St. Petersburg, Russia, for this magnificent cover art for the Lucifer Rising OST album reissue on Ajna, 40th Anniversary Edition.

 

—Bobby

 

 

Gratitude

SEP 02, 2016

 

Hi,

 

First I want to apologize for the naivety  contained in those words.  I write them as they come to me while I am listening once again the splendid score you write for Lucifer Rising. I am currently going through a complicated and difficult period, and i wanted to thank you, your music help me a lot to find the inner strength necessary to reborn to myself. I miss the words to express my gratitude to you . So , again thank you .

 

Stéphane

 

Reply:

 

Stéphane

 

There is never anything naive when sincerely expressing gratitude to another person. I am grateful to you for your kind words. Hearing you tell me that some of my music has helped to support you during a difficult period in your life is encouraging to me as well.

 

Thank you.

 

Bobby

 

 

Interesting Questions About Sin

AUG 18, 2016

 

Dear Dima,

 

You've asked me some interesting questions:

 

"Do you think there are sins that cannot be forgotten or forgiven? You must know this better than anyone. And also, is the moment when you can forgive yourself for the sin the moment when the sin is absolved? Since it is the God in us that suffers for our sins, isn't it? I think when God is in a good mood he says there is no sin at all."

 

In the most ancient of Asian spiritual traditions God (Brahman) is said to be changeless and immovable. In this understanding God would not be subject to moods, and certainly untouched by sin. Would God stand in judgment of God?

 

The very notion of "sin" is a human invention. Any forgiveness or absolution required must, therefore, be the responsibility of the human sinner. What human culture has come to think of as sin, that of sin being some sort of black mark on our soul or some violation written in God's book, misses the point — literally. Sin is a most unfortunate error that has been perpetuated by biblical scholars and clerics for millennia, an error that has wrought great strife and needless suffering in the world, the result of an incorrect translation of scripture.

 

The Holy Bible we know today was originally written in Greek. The word sin in Greek in literal translation means "to miss the mark", as an arrow shot from a bow may miss the target. So the term was never intended to refer to some stain on the sacrosanct, unblemishable soul. A sin is simply a poorly aimed shot. We sin when, either through ignorance or forgetfulness, we fail to connect ourselves properly in the consciousness of God. It may be necessary to forgive oneself for making a mistake, by admitting it, but the only absolution necessary is to correct one's aim.

 

Purity is inherent in all of existence. No misbegotten notion of sin can make us impure, and there is no devil that has the power to come between us and our own divine nature. The only satan or adversary is the ego that wrestles incessantly in the mind to perpetuate the error of believing oneself to be separate from that purity — to keep one missing the mark. The devil is a make-believe character in a story told to children in an attempt to make them obedient, and sins are merely tricks of this devil used to throw off our aim. The sooner we disabuse ourselves of such silly notions the sooner we will know the unfettered freedom that is our birthright.

 

Bobby

 

An Email about The Velvet Underground

AUG 15, 2016

 

To Bobby:

 

Just out of curiosity I wanted to ask you if you ever heard the Velvet Underground play in San Francisco or L.A. in late sixties? I’ve read that they performed a couple of times on the east coast in -68 or -69. What are your thoughts about the Velvets music? Of course, I’m an old velvet-fan myself, so your assessment would be really interesting.

 

I also would like to tell you how deeply impressed i am by the artistic career that you have pursued while in prison for decades, this is so encouraging. I wish you all the best for your future and in particular with upcoming parole hearing.

 

Kind regards,

 

Karl

 

Response:

 

As far as I know, The Velvet Underground did not gig in San Francisco or the bay area. Pretty sure I would have heard if they had. However, I did meet Nico in San Francisco. This was in '67, just a chance meeting in the apartment of a friend where she was a guest. A rangy sort of woman, and she seemed a lot warmer than her stage persona.

 

The Velvet Underground came to L.A. with Andy Warhol's Plastic Inevitable. Appropriately, they gigged for a week or two at a short-lived cheesy nightclub on the strip (Sunset Blvd) called The Trip. I saw several of their performances there. This was in '66, when I was 17. They were unlike any of the L.A. bands, dark and spooky, but definitely worth seeing more than once. They were too weird for many people in the L.A. scene at the time. Weird has always appealed to me, however.

 

Thank you for your kind remarks about my work.

 

Bobby

 

 

 

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