Psy-Trance in the Realm of Disco Essay Example for Free

Psy-Trance in the Realm of Disco Essay Admittedly so, being myself no less a stranger than a fan of the latent psychedelic rave culture of the last decade, with its steady pounding trance-inducing techno-grove, I was altogether rather curious to discover just what kind of a picture that Richard Dryer had to present in his famous essay (Dryer, 1979). For years, before they lost most of their covert appeal, stealing away to a Rave was somewhat popular for my generation; at least in the places where I grew up. So there was just something exciting to me, anticipating what he was about to relate of this earlier pop culture often rumored to share the same DNA of the psy-trance music of today’s Technocratic Age. It seems as if disco, understandably at its time a more readily accessible form of escapism had also quickly spread to far off distant lands overseas. It was probably the anticipation of some new and exotic twist that I was about to discover of the past that suddenly had my head inadvertently bobbing back and forth to some memorable however invisible beat. It seems to happen almost instinctually that way. Somehow, even before I turned the first page, my mind wandered to that pounding ecstasy-driven scene at the very beginning of the movie Blade, 1 where the music intense as it is drives the scene so powerfully that you just cannot stand still. There is just slightest sense of horror though, because everybody including the audience knows the inevitable; except that careless fool who has allowed lust to direct him into a den of vampires. The strobe lights pierce the atmosphere bouncing off the ceiling and all over the walls; forcing a familiar rush of anxiety. Soon, he is set to become their latest entree. It’s that environment of undisputable cool, the fashion, and the excitement that I love, but you can keep the blood. Dyer employs the analysis of a socialist and goes to great lengths to dissuade any notions that disco is just some crude form of capitalist production. He then launches into his narrative charging disco with three distinct characteristics: egotism – romanticism – and materialism. Although he somewhat claims that his argument is not as simple as capitalism is evil, in time you get the sense that Dyer really believes that all music is created with some measure of subversive super-sexual intent in mind. Disco he calls â€Å"naked eroticism† (Ibid). However, he sees it in a better light than the simple patriarchal rhythms of rock and roll, â€Å"rock’s eroticism is thrusting, grinding – it is not whole body, but phallic†¦ even when preformed by women – rock remains indelibly phallocentric music† (Ibid). The movement and the culture which would grow up around this musical genre are shown in light of a powerful force that would ultimately come to influence the future of gay politics in the United States. Suddenly, I had found that unexpected nuance from out of disco’s past that I was searching for. In the end, he states his case. Disco he believes has an ability to celebrate the intensity of romantic adoration and the lament of being let down at the same time. It is the tension between the two that he seems to be reaching for. All that I know, is that when I used to hit those clubs late at night, I just wanted to dance. If Dyer seems to take a hatchet to this subject, in Do It (‘Til You’re Satisfied): Repetitive Musics and Recombinant Desires, Susan McClary employs a scalpel. However, her unique intellectual dexterity makes her tool that much more devastating. She neatly deconstructs old arguments that she seems to believe were built upon over-wrought modalities of Western tradition; that have today simply gone astray. Disco is placed along the side of other â€Å"repetition-driven [pursuits] of ecstasy(p7)† along with the avant-garde minimalist schools of thought coming out of the 1960’s. 2 McClary dives into a narrative that focuses upon stripping away illusions. She gives us a nice panoramic view of the minimalist history and the creative motives that evolved into the psy-trance music that became known as disco. At the heart of her prolonged study is a reliance upon what she calls an â€Å"analytical argument (p7) †¦ built around an in-dept comparison of form and process in Steve Reich’s Music for Eighteen Musicians (1999) and Donna Summers [and Moroder’s] Love to Love You Baby (1975). She naturally rejects the argument that disco is solely a minimalist form which is inherently non-teleological (without design or purpose). This may appear to be a neat stretch for those in the know. But, I was just happy to be along for the ride. As with Dyer, McClary argues against â€Å"traditional hierarchies of musical value† (p9). To her, Reich is the minimalist reaching for the edges of a musical trance-like state, and Summer is the erotic practitioner who belts out a classic vamp that surprisingly simulates an amazing 22 orgasms (p11). At last, she reaches just that much closer to what I have come to believe that the great body of psy-trance music is really all about; even thought she quickly abandons it. However, it is here that she poses her most salient point: â€Å"Teleological music’s ‘climax mechanism’ is akin to the [Western male] orgasm; teleology is thus the drive to orgasm; banishing teleology must mean banishing orgasm. Minimal music is anti-teleological, and is thus akin to trantric [‘Oriental’] sex, where the ability to put the [male] body into orgasm-defying stasis even as it engages in what for most humans is the most goal-directed activity imaginable is the sign of profound yogic accomplishment†(p12) Both of these authors seem to be seeking the same thing; just going about it in their own separate way. Yet, they both seem to miss the point as far as I am concerned because the aim of this psy-trance music is the same wherever it may be found. It is the search for that endless climatic moment that leads to a higher spiritual purpose. This same search for heavenly escapism can be found in many of the native Indian dance rituals that can be found right here in America. Even thought this spiritual quest has so often been obscured by the popular use of hallucinogenic drugs, still the psychedelic-techno music, the dark covert meeting places, and the strict social boundaries often found together in the mix wherever this type of pure eroticism abounds; all of it has a purpose. Even when the ‘raves’ were popular just a few years ago, still it seemed that even this generation could find some higher meaning in the heat of the dance. The pounding repetitious beat that always seemed to somehow naturally marshal the entire crowd into a circle; why does this always seem to happen? It is all a part of that necessary escapism just like that which draws thousands of young Israeli men to travel each winter far away from their homes and to a place called Goa in southern India. They are called Goa freaks (Saldanha, 2006), because they live a solitary existence almost like zombies forever strung out on ecstasy. However, it is the abandonment to the music that draws them there in order to find a solitary refuge, while being seduced into a trance-state that perhaps will help them to forget the anguish of their shattered lives.

Blind Mans Bluff :: essays research papers

Blind Man’s Bluff   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sometimes in literature, the characters in the story make an important contribution to society. In the novel, Blind Man’s Bluff, by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew, the brave men and women that served in the Navy’s ‘Secret Service’ did just that. If it wasn’t for them, many more lives would have been lost and more land would be destroyed. They had to endure many hardships and suffer for this country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book is compiled of many missions that happened throughout the Cold War. It shows what the Naval Program was like during that period and how it changed due to advancing technology. These people operated the spy submarines and risked being killed or captured by the Soviets. One example of this is when Commander Charles R. McVean took his crew and tapped a Soviet telephone line at the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk. This stopped a potential nuclear war. They also started to make submarines that could dive deeper and explore murky depths.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Other submarines are used for surveillance. If we were suspicious about a certain ship, a surveillance submarine would so out and spy on the ship and see what they were up to. These subs played a huge roll in the war. If a ship was transporting weapons or bomb making materials to the enemy, the sub could ratio to US forces and take over the ship. One very brave commander in the war was Norman G. Bessac. He commanded the USS Gudgeon, which was an old diesel engined submarine straight into enemy territory. The Gudgeon was caught and pounded by enemy subs. One of the very important subs in the war was the Cochino. It monitored the development of the atomic bomb that the soviets were making. Unfortunately the Cochino crashed into the Tusk and set the after-battery on fire. This eventually caused the end of Cochino. Nine days after the Cochino sank the Air Force found evidence that the Soviets detonated a nuclear device.

The Re-Emerging Russian Superpower

The tensions between Russia and Ukraine at the start of the year have generated renewed analytical interest in Russia’s re-emerging position as a superpower, driven chiefly by its actual, or potential, domination of the global supplies of energy. Along with its role as a swing supplier of oil (enabling it to manipulate the balance of power between OPEC and the industrialised consumers), the episode has highlighted Russia’s position as the pre-eminent supplier of gas. Russia controls a third of global proven gas reserves, with Gazprom already becoming the dominant supplier in the EU and Turkey, in addition to Russia’s â€Å"near abroad†, including the energy-hungry Ukraine. However, the drivers of Russia’s potential for becoming an energy superpower are not limited to its own resources. An additional factor is Russia’s near monopoly over the Central Asian export infrastructure, which remains unbroken by the single Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline (in operation since May 2005). Furthermore, it has been pointed out that the continued instability in the Middle East (which some argue has been deepened, rather than reduced, by the US invasion of Iraq) has boosted Russia’s position as the aspiring centre of energy geopolitics. Add to this several other key factors  ­ such as the long-term outlook for high energy prices, the limited ability of the US and EU to diversify their supply sources and Russia’s growing ability to play a China and/or Iran â€Å"card† both in energy and geopolitics  ­ and the picture that emerges is one of a global energy superpower, capable in many ways to counter the might of present-day sole superpower  ­ the United States. Furthermore, there have been significant signs that this re-emerging superpower also means business in the military sphere. Russia has recently commissioned a new generation of missiles (Topol-M), capable of fitting a nuclear warhead and able to evade current US anti-missile defence systems. While not signalling a return to a Cold War style arms race, this development suggests Russia is no longer willing to refrain from a bit of old fashioned sabre rattling, when it feels the need to do so. At the same time, Moscow has notified those who need to know of its determination to protect its vital strategic interests. While not seeking to become the exclusive great power player in the former Soviet Union, Russia has let it be known that it does not regard Western interests in the region as being on par with its own. It will therefore resist Western incursion in the area deemed incompatible with the pursuit of legitimate economic and political objectives. In practice this boils down to the promotion of anti-Russian regimes in the region, through so called â€Å"colour revolutions†. Thus, in an unusual move, Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Ivanov has written in The Wall Street Journal that the Kremlin’s key objective is the prevention of Western-fomented regime changes in Russia’s â€Å"near abroad†  ­ the CIS.

The Development Of Knowing Cognitive And Moral Changes...

The Development of Knowing: Cognitive and Moral Changes The development of a person is complex and occurs on many levels. Although developmental models differ, they all tend to suggest that development has the following characteristics (Neukrug, 2017, 2013): 1- Continual- goes on and on 2- Orderly, Sequential, builds upon itself- like steps 3- A change process - moving in different phases 4- Painful, yet growth producing- let go to grow 5- Hopeful - optimistic 6- Preventive and wellness oriented- concerning mental health According to Neukrug, there are many theories of human development. Some that stand out the most are physical development, cognitive and moral development, personality development and life span development (2017, 2013). According to Piaget, children pass through four periods of growth (Neukrug, 2017, 2013). The first is the sensorimotor stage. In this stage, children can respond to physical and sensory experience. They cannot maintain mental images because they do not have full language ability. The second stage is the preoperational stage, which is from ages 2-7. This is the stage where the child’s language has developed and they have the ability to maintain mental images. However, they do not yet have the ability to think logically. The third stage is the concrete-operational stage, which is from ages 7-11. Children in this stage begin to â€Å"figure things out† through logical tasks, but will have difficulty with metaphors and proverbs because theyShow MoreRelated Development of a Four Year Old Child Essays589 Words   |  3 PagesDevelopment of a Four Year Old Child Works Cited Not Included Enthusiasm in children is like a ripple in the water ... it spreads. ~Anonymous~ The study of child development helps us understand the changes we see as children grow and develop. 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