I have recently being listening to the podcasts of aeolus kephas which inspired to me write up this blog post. I have been meaning to chronicle these ideas for while.My love of rain storms and lightening developed as a child , when my parents used to take my brothers and I caravaning on a regular basis.
In the late 80's early 90's I transition from the hardcore punk scene to the hardcore rave scene and its only now I remember that wonderful track by the little known Bristol based psychedelic punk rock band "The Seers" entitled "Lightning Strikes".
I remember the pure pop of the Lightning Seed and the Bristol outfit "Massive Attack" released a track called "Weather Storm" on the "Protection" Album.
The free raves of Spiral Tribe, Tribal Energy, Circus Warp were often weather sensitive being out inthe countryside under the stars. While the first commercial raves I attended were Perception and Raindance .
The pop rave of the Shamen fueled an interest in Techno Shamanism and I had read "Thee Grey Book" by "Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth" and it prompted me to observe weather conditions, along with my dreams, what I want to eat, how to keep fit , who and how I wanted to love...
I was aware of Native Ameicans raindances and sundances. While magicians from my own European culture were said to be able to effect the weather. Many ancient and indegious cultures named deities in reference to the natural elements. Similarly in modern fairy tales e.g Star Wars both the Jedi and Sith use Force "Lightning" and in The X-Men Storm manipulates the weather.
When I got into DJ'ing two key records in my collection were white labels by an outfit know as "Satin Storm." I had a crush on early Metalheadz "Chemistry and Storm".
In these days of media spin doctors, the expression "whipping up a storm" is well often used, but on a number of occasions for me it took on an alternative meaning.
Perhaps the first was when my flat mate Krissy G invited the Pirate radio station "Rush FM" to broadcast from a studio in his bedroom, at first my other flatmate Johnny Jedi and I found this pretty Kool, but the novelty soon began to wear off as a succession of dj's entered the house at all hours of the day and night leaving their rubbish in the hall and stairs and failing to close the door properly. Polite requests and notices to "be considerate" falling on deaf ears . While "Rush FM" were upstairs churning out the drum and bass/jungle to the airwaves, Jonny Jedi and I retreated to the more underground tekno sounds of plink plonk records downstairs. While Jonny Jedi considered the occult significance of the lightning bolts on the plink plonk logo, I had recently received some plink plonk stickers so put one on the front door (which the pirates kept failing to close), imagine our surprise when shortly after i'd done this the radio station antennae was taken out by lightning solving the issue.
Johnny Jedi and myself Steve Skywalker began to go with the flow. i had purchased a series of drum and bass records on Moving Shadow entitled "Storms from the East" our DJ names incidentally were inspired in part by another dynamic duo of Storm trooping Dj's "The Jedi Knights" producing tunes on clear records at the time and later on global communications . I had been fortunate enough to hear "the Jedi's DJ's down at "monk on fire" and began to ponder a new meaning to Whipping up a Storm as once again I was caught without a brolly in a downpour as I left.
Not long after, Johnny Jedi and I threw a moving house party which despite carefully planning took an unexpected turn when at the last minute I decided to make a slight change to the dj line up, shifting a certain female dj friend "Peelee" to an earlier slot and my friend Horton Jupiter to later slot,Horton didn't take this well and decided to abandon the melodic tekno set he been planning and instead play a hard industrial set (to annoy me ?), but what even he hadn't foreseen , was the violent thunder storm that erupted as he took to the decks which shook Clays Lane to its very foundations .
I moved on from Clays Lane to Old Steet put dj'ing on the back burner as I studied Kung Fu and Tai Chi while living for a year at the Buddhist Temple of Supreme Hidden Thunder. My Kung Fu teacher was mixing eastern mantras with electronic sounds and got Friends Lovers and Family producer Phil Earl from Law & Auder to help produce the tracks ,we threw some launch parties for the records including a memorable one where my friend Alex Shaolin (deep frequency.com) played a mellow hip hop set on what was a warm summers evening in faringdon, Phil who was next on the roster brought a box of jungle tekno and as he stepped up to the wheels of steel the clouds gathered and within minutes the heaven s opened as thunder and lightening rained down to sound of a master at work. As the last of the razor sharp beats played out and Phil moved on ,as quickly as it had begun the skies cleared and and sun shone.
I love a little synchronicity ,to me its the essence of taoism and as I moved from Kung fu to Capoeira , I began listening and playing more and more live music , i even began to learn a little berimbau "the original single string instrument" and ( lightening conductor ) I will never forget the first public roda I attended in covent garden led by Master Ousado the roda went on for hours with many different London schools present the Capoeira was played in a variety of different styles but built to an acrobatic and competitive climax and the music led /followed the game ,as the light failed and the bodies tired the rhythms reached a final peak and as all good rodas do it ended in unison and the call of the berimbau. the crowd felt silent for and for a split second everyone held their breath ,then their was almighty clap of thunder and the crowds were scattered to the four corners as the lightning struck rain lashed down.
Not long after, Johnny Jedi and I threw a moving house party which despite carefully planning took an unexpected turn when at the last minute I decided to make a slight change to the dj line up, shifting a certain female dj friend "Peelee" to an earlier slot and my friend Horton Jupiter to later slot,Horton didn't take this well and decided to abandon the melodic tekno set he been planning and instead play a hard industrial set (to annoy me ?), but what even he hadn't foreseen , was the violent thunder storm that erupted as he took to the decks which shook Clays Lane to its very foundations .
I moved on from Clays Lane to Old Steet put dj'ing on the back burner as I studied Kung Fu and Tai Chi while living for a year at the Buddhist Temple of Supreme Hidden Thunder. My Kung Fu teacher was mixing eastern mantras with electronic sounds and got Friends Lovers and Family producer Phil Earl from Law & Auder to help produce the tracks ,we threw some launch parties for the records including a memorable one where my friend Alex Shaolin (deep frequency.com) played a mellow hip hop set on what was a warm summers evening in faringdon, Phil who was next on the roster brought a box of jungle tekno and as he stepped up to the wheels of steel the clouds gathered and within minutes the heaven s opened as thunder and lightening rained down to sound of a master at work. As the last of the razor sharp beats played out and Phil moved on ,as quickly as it had begun the skies cleared and and sun shone.
I love a little synchronicity ,to me its the essence of taoism and as I moved from Kung fu to Capoeira , I began listening and playing more and more live music , i even began to learn a little berimbau "the original single string instrument" and ( lightening conductor ) I will never forget the first public roda I attended in covent garden led by Master Ousado the roda went on for hours with many different London schools present the Capoeira was played in a variety of different styles but built to an acrobatic and competitive climax and the music led /followed the game ,as the light failed and the bodies tired the rhythms reached a final peak and as all good rodas do it ended in unison and the call of the berimbau. the crowd felt silent for and for a split second everyone held their breath ,then their was almighty clap of thunder and the crowds were scattered to the four corners as the lightning struck rain lashed down.
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