Scientology
This post was originally meant to be on Chick Corea, and I may get around to him eventually. If you read the short Wikipedia entry linked above on Corea you will see that there is in fact a segway between the original post and what you are about to read.
 As I was reading about Chick Corea in preparation to write the post which I was intending to write before I began reading the Wikipedia entry on Chick Corea, I found that like many artists he is a Scientologist. I am willing to bet that most of you, like me, have heard of Scientology but in fact are not sure, aside from a religion, what it is. Sticking with the wikipedia theme here is the entry on Scientology.
I always thought that Scientology was one of those “we are born from an Alien Race” cult kind of religions. In fact it is a fairly interesting cross between eastern and western religious values. It focuses on the aspect of self improvement, while still promoting community building, unlike Buddhism where the focus is on the individual to such a degree that disclusion is almost a guarantee.
Now I am speaking entirely as a lay man here as for both religions I know only what I have read, I have unfortunately not yet had the chance to study either. Buddhism I have read a fair bit about but Scientology is completely new. I just thought I would mention it here, and see what you guys think about it. What I have already read about it sounds quite interesting. It looks like a belief system that is flexible and able to fit people rather than making people conform to it.
Two points that I want to mention though:
1. I find the symbol for Scientology somehow strange.
[photopress:scientology_Homelogo.gif,thumb,pp_empty]
2. If you look at any list (of which there are many) of some of the “well known” Scientologists, the vast majority are either musicians or actors. This could be due simply to the fact that musicians and actors are the well known people in the world, as I’m sure a fair few musicians and actors could be counted in the Christian ranks. But then why aren’t there more authors, scientists, and whatever other jobs are “in the public eye”? Do musicians and actors have something in common that draws them towards this belief system? Interesting to think about anyway. Is there something in common in people that make them musicians(or whatever)?
So, Chick Corea is a Scientologist. He is also a piano player, and a pretty damn good one. If you want to be blown away go to his home page and look at the list of nominations and awards he has. I have been listening to more and more funk and electric jazz, and in looking for something new to sink my ear into, I came across the Chick Corea Elektric Band II.
[photopress:Chick_Corea_EBII_01s.jpg,thumb,pp_empty]Â
To be specific the Paint the World album. [photopress:43280_COREA_CHICK_ELEKTRIC_BAND_II_Paint_The.jpg,thumb,pp_empty]
The whole album is stuffed with insanity both composition and playing - wise. The track that truly spun me in circles was track 6, Space. You can find a copy of this very track under the music section of this site (”Soundtrack), for a limited time only. The track is not naturally a challenging listen, but as soon as you get past how good it sounds overall and start a little digging well…I hope you have lots of time. I became obsessed with this song and have since written out all the parts except for the drums (I find that somehow pointless). I did buy a pair of sticks because of this song though and have since started practicing. I would suggest starting by just listening. Then try just the kit, incredible.
You can buy Paint the World here.
Enjoy.
