Janis Joplin, vapor trails, and falling leaves

Oh, man, this has got to be a terrific post now that I've come up with that title. It's almost Christmas, so naturally my thoughts are turning toward utterly unreligious stuff.

But I'm still getting signs from the universe.

At least, I like to think that I am. And who else is better qualified to tell whether a seemingly random event actually is a message from... [fill in the blank; me, I have no idea who might be the messenger].  

Like, yesterday I was driving around, listening to Classic Vinyl on Sirius XM, grooving to sounds of the '60s when -- oh, my God! -- two of my favorite songs came on in a row: Janis Joplin singing "Me and Bobby McGee," then Grace Slick singing "White Rabbit."

Clearly, a message from [X]. 

There's a lot of great lyrics in "Me and Bobby McGee." Like:

Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose
Nothin', don't mean nothin' honey if it ain't free.
And feeling good was easy Lord, when he sang the blues
You know feeling good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

I love how the song is so earthy, so real. It's easy to picture windshield washers beating time, as a woman "holds Bobby's hand in mine," singing every song the truck driver who picked them up knew. 

Abstractions, they're fine. Ditto with dogmas, theologies, concepts, hypotheses about what the cosmos might be all about. Then there's what Joplin sings about with such soul: holding Bobby's body next to mine.

I couldn't find a video online of her singing this song. But it's her voice that sends chills up my spine. There is only one Janis Joplin. I've never heard or seen anyone else like her. Which should remind us: there's also nobody else like us.

 

Shortly after I arrived at San Jose State University in 1966 as a freshman, I stumbled across a free concert on campus by Big Brother and the Holding Company. Janis Joplin was holding forth on stage. Watching her, I knew that I wasn't in conservative central California anymore.

A new magical world was dawning. The mantra: "Do your own thing." Still damn good advice, especially when it comes to religion, spirituality, philosophy of life, morals, ethics -- all that stuff. 

Janis Joplin died at twenty-seven from a heroin overdose. Seems like it was too soon, but who am I to say? She lived life her way. Full tilt. Holding nothing back. Expressing herself like nobody before or since. She was unique. Again, like we all are. 

Here she is singing "Ball and Chain" with every ounce of her being. 

 

Some people flash through life like a vapor trail, appearing and disappearing suddenly, making a sonic boom that grabs our attention. I thought of Joplin when I glanced up during my afternoon dog walk in the woods today.

The jet wasn't in sight. But it had left its mark. The vapor trail was surprisingly long lasting. It was still very much in evidence, though somewhat diminished, when we reached Spring Lake.

l thought, "That's Joplin. That's me. That's everybody and everything. No one and no thing lasts forever. We all fade away, dissipate, vanish over the horizon."

Like the setting sun, which greeted dog and me as we turned toward the west and headed around the lake. 

That oak tree must be several hundred years old. It started growing way before me, and almost certainly it'll still be alive when I'm dead and gone. I hate those words "dead and gone," because I love life. Yet... out in nature, like I was this evening, I feel much more comfortable with the thought of my own demise.

Life happens. Death happens. It's what happens.

And didn't Joplin sing, "Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose"? What do we have that is really ours? Is this body mine, this brain, this anything? I came from somewhere/nowhere and I'm heading back to the same place.

I was thinking along these lines as dog and I walked across the dam at the end of the lake. As so often happens, I wasn't aware of what nature was speaking, I was so focused on what the voice inside my head was talking about. 

But, just in time, I noticed another vapor trail. Another jet, headed in the same direction as the first one. Yet now I could see the jet. It was illuminated by the setting sun. 

The vapor trail was crisp, new, clear, strong. Unlike the old one. Also, exactly like the old one. Life keeps on happening. Janis Joplin is gone. Other singers have come. 

Earlier this month I also fired up my iPhone's camera on a dog walk. I made a one minute video of what was happening with some trees at the time. Leaves were falling. The moment was strangely moving. For me. Likely, not for anyone else who sees the video.

As is so often said, "I guess you had to be there." And not only there, but there inside my head. Here's my quasi-poetic (very quasi) narration, since the sound wasn't recorded very well.

Leaves
Softly falling.
Hard to catch,
Hard to predict.
Dog's ready to move on.
But...
I want to catch a few more.
Like life,
Try to look for it,
It's not there.
Have to be patient.
Nice one! 

 

On a different note...here's Grace Slick singing "White Rabbit." Wow. Wow. Wow.

  

Comments

[tAo]

That first photo you posted looks more like a chem-trail, than a vapor-trail... and especially since you said that it was long lasting.

Regular vapor-trails (aka contrails) dissipate relatively rapidly, and they do not widen or spread out or linger for more than five to ten minutes.

Chem-trails, on the other hand, do not dissipate rapidly. chem-trails linger for quite a long time - anywhere from a half-hour to several hours. chem-trails start out thin and narrow, but they gradually grow wider and spread. chem-trails do not evaporate within a few minutes.

The first photo you presented looks very suspiciously like a chem-trail (white, thick and fluffy). I have seen & watched many many hundreds of chem-trails in the skies over California during the past 14 years. I have seen them in all stages of development... from the instant they are sprayed, until hours later when they merge with other chem-trils and blanket the sky.

So have thousands of other people all over the US and a number of other countries. There are also many hundreds of photos of chemtrails (in all stages) available on internet. there is no longer any question or doubt about the existence of chem-trails.

As chem-trails persist and spread-out, they eventually cover large portions of the sky, especially if there are many, which is usually the case.

Vapor-trails (regular contrails) do not persist or widen and spread, they dissipate (evaporate) within minutes.

Again, chem-trails are not regular vapor-trails. they are chemical and other substances being sprayed into the atmosphere.

The US government routinely denied the existence of chem-trails for over 10 years, but they have now finally admitted (within the last couple of years) that they indeed have been spraying chem-trails, supposedly for purposes of weather modification. no doubt that is not the whole story though.

Both barium and aluminium compounds have been found in the chem-tails, as well as other odd substances, such as biological matter and nano-particles. fyi, barium and aluminum are toxic to humans. also, there is some research and evidence that indicates that morgellons disease may be linked to chem-trails.

[Brian Hines]

tAo, conspiracy theories like this one usually aren't true. Just as with God, extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, and with chemtrails the evidence is lacking. Here's some other views on this subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory
http://contrailscience.com/chemtrail-myths/
http://www.supercell.org/thomas902.html

I'm not really interested in this subject, so don't want to get into a debate about it. Just wanted to point out some good reasons not to worry about vapor trails in the sky.

[tAo]

you are wrong, and you are obviously uninformed and in denial.

the government has already officially admitted to the spraying of chem-trails. so your use of the old "conspiracy theory" nonsense just doesn't work in this case.

there is an abundance of hard evidence, and the government has even admitted that chemicals (chem-trails) are indeed being sprayed over large areas of the US and a number of other countries. so please get informed before trying to so foolishly deny what is already an established fact.

and those wikis and some other webpage you gave links for are nothing more than out-of-date or conintelpro bullshit. don't bother giving me any more of that crap, because i have studied this for more than ten years. I have seen all the denial bullshit, and i have seen the mountain of evidence and facts and photos and films... and i have my own eyewitnessing of it too.

i find it terribly blind and ignorant when people (like you) won't even look at the overwhelming mass of solid evidence, not to mention the government's own (fairly recent) admission.

if the government says that they have been and are spraying chem-trails, then you have to be pretty damn stupid to continue denying that chemtrails exist.

i am sorry to see that you can't open your eyes, especially when its no longer any question. your denial must be because you are still uninformed and unwilling to look at the evidence, and you refuse to admit that you were wrong. thats not very intelligent, especially when it comes to toxins the air you breath.

if you are not willing to look at the overwhelming evidence and reality of chem-trails, then i have nothing more to say to you. and under these circumstances, i can no longer remain friends with you. i can't, in good conscience, remain friends with someone who blindly refuses to accept the government's own admission that the spraying of chem-trails (not vapor-trails) is a reality.

there is no debate here. there is nothing to debate. you can "not worry" about it if you like, but for myself, i know better. if you are not intersted in whats in the air you breath, then thats your problem. i have no interest in debating this with you, or with anyone. if anyone wants to know, then the facts are readily available. just open your eyes and look.

chem-trails are real, chem-trails have been (and are still being) sprayed for the past approx 15 years, and the government has now recently finally admitted this.

so i just hope that someday (soon) you will wake up and realize just how wrong you are about chem-trails.

adios