I am somewhat slanted and self-promotional in talking about it, but I think it’s a project worthwhile, and entirely in need of sharing. Butter Vaughn Kingson is a musical group comprised entirely by my friend Lee.
Lee makes music in a way that is compulsive and honest and endearing. He has made nearly 30 albums of music since June 2006, and with a steady stream of between 10 to 30 new tracks every month, there’s not really much end in sight. All of which, by the way, are available on his website entirely free through torrents without rights management.
Every time I speak to him about why or how he is able to create and keep on creating, Lee maintains his (here paraphrased) mantra of: “I want to make the most popular song ever!” Regardless of whether he makes one single song we can all agree on, there is enough here already for each of us to enjoy at the very least something.
Butter Vaughn Kingson has been making music since he began learning music, and if anything these albums are a documentation of one person’s eclectic tastes in music translated in to the physical process of developing songwriting, guitar and vocal ability. It has been an absolute pleasure learning, listening and creating from/with/to/with him. I love Lee for more reasons than his songs, but songs are much easier to download through torrents.
You can find and download any and everything from Butter Vaughn Kingson at buttervaughnkingson.blueandbrownbooks.com (this song below is my current favourite, but please check out more from Butter Vaughn Kingson’s site, there’s a flash media player on the main page.)
[this is from a bit of a letter i wrote to a philosophy pal of mine, we’re considering doing a directed reading together for our theses. this letter is a kind of case being made for wittgenstein being so important to me.]
Justin,
Facebook chess has been absolutely amazing by the way, I know I’m shit at it, but it’s still a lot of fun. Otherwise, I hope you’re keeping well.
I’m pretty excited about potentially working on something with/along side you next year. It’s been a bit difficult being away from school, and it’s upsetting that even more of the people I know and enjoy will be gone next year! In regards to Wittgenstein, I have no issues with telling you that it’s probably just a bit of a philosophy crush. For whatever reason, Wittgenstein just sticks with me. Although his outlook is somewhat original, and his methods of presentation, and the overall lore surrounding him is novel and interesting (both in terms of his ‘cult’ following, and otherwise) the ultimate ideas he presents and put forward are not very new at all. I think Wittgenstein is instead important because of the way in which he comes across these ideas, the context in which he is looking at them, and why he remains so difficult to read given the countless veins of thought that call him their originator. To me, he’s a bit like an Abraham, if I can put it so dramatically (and almost comically).
The central idea, and criticism that Wittgenstein has is that the external/internal divide is a misguided one. When speaking, when thinking, in terms of morality or metaphysics, everything we ‘get’ comes from the same ‘place’. This, supplemented with some interesting insight into the sceptical nature of consciousness and a nice articulation of ‘meaning as use’ is why, I think, he’s so interesting.
The fourth letter to my nana where there is an apology about the fourth letter not including pictures of the kansai, but an explanation that they will be coming soon.
Christmas in japan is stranger than it is back home. However, they have more reason for it to be a consumer holiday than ‘westerners’ do…
Speaking of consumerism, I talk a bit about my newest purchase/favourite thing in japan, the kotatsu and the strangely cold-but-not-canada-cold japanese winter.
I mention seeing a punk show, in particular a band called Blue III, and also some troubles with eating vegetarian in japan, and in general missing being looked after in terms of my meals.
I came across this documentary from ‘Best Free Documentaries‘ which I like mostly for their BBC docs on philosophers, but this one has really peaked my interest. Wanting A Deaf Baby is a documentation of a deaf couple’s pregnancy, and their interest in having their child grow up being a non-hearing person.
My favourite line in the whole thing is when they speak to the fellow who is going to be interpreting their wedding, and in discussing the preferred volume of music for them to enjoy the vibrations, he says; “If I know the deaf, they’ll just be talking anyway”.
Not only is it interesting on a dramatic level that this couple is interested in having their baby be what would normally be thought of as ‘impaired’, but what it really makes clear is how a language, and a form of communication constitutes entirely ones life. It questions entirely what a language is, and what it means to have a culture, or a way of life.
In thinking about the difference between mind and body, internal and external, consciousness and the world and how they further relate to the epistemic foundations of knowledge we’ve been discussing so far in the A Cat Named Schrödinger series. In particular the issues raised in the comments of the most recent Mk II apply to these overall notions of epistemology. By clarifying the problems of knowledge, or at least attempting to clarify them, it will further give us an idea of how to go about systems of social and political ways of living.
I’d like to make the case that there is no real distinction between mind and body, mind and world, or any inside and outside dichotomy. In order to show this, it requires a great deal of work in regard to foundationalism, and epistemology. Epistemology is the study of the base forms of knowledge. It is the area of philosophy that deals with the question “What can we know?” In doing so, we are opened to the foundations of knowledge, and all of those things assumed as the first premises. The issue of course, being that these premises are up for grabs themselves.
This is the third letter in the series of letters to my Nana In which I review a paper I had written for a seminar several weeks ago concerning getting to know Japan.
Unfortunately, I am a rambling mess. Hopefully this at least gets us thinking about some ideological differences between how ‘Western’ notions of the individuals are different than those of the Japanese. Fear not, there are many more rambling entries to come I’m sure. (Also, here is a blog post on this same topic that I hope might clarify a few things I’m trying to get at.)
There is also some discussion of my upcoming backpacking trip through the Kansai (Mid-west) area of Japan.
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