Mij, Jim backwards is how he introduced himself. Consummate professional that he was, he always listened carefully, while watching the entire sphere of our environment, worked efficiently and was able to bear even the worst conditions with grace and dogged perseverance. I had many things to thank him for, many injuries avoided, many hours saved by listening to his sage advice. This is meant to be a huge compliment and it is not often that I lavish this much praise on folks more than a decade younger, but his life instilled the wisdom of years in his countenance, whilst never losing his childlike curiosity and playfulness. I take this opportunity to say to all, we could all stand to be a bit more like Mij.
His uncanny encyclopedic ability to discuss music generally, even bands that he did not like, created vast areas of overlap with a huge percentage of the population. He could talk to anyone about music who had experienced music as an important part of their life and quite possibly teach them something they did not know about their favorite band. I talked to many who became fast friends when they met Mij, someone would mention a band, or a song, and the lyrics would flow, or the lead guitar player's other band would be mentioned, leading to excited banter about the band members and solo exploits of those players. Crazy shit. I thought that I had broad tastes, but the range and depth of my musical world was dwarfed by his unique knowledge. It often led to me questioning how much time I really spent raising my children...half my life, really.
Now, potentially, I'm into my second half century and I have to carry on the work for more friends passing the veil. As long as I have to speak, I will speak for those friends and brothers who have passed the veil. Cancer, as we all know, continues to blossom within the human population, perhaps in all creatures. We know what causes cancer. We have known for decades. The mix of chemicals and radiation that we surround our selves with is permeating our beings. every time we fill our tanks with gasoline, we dose ourselves with benzene one of the oldest carcinogens to be recognized (only after rock dust), PAHs (poly aromatic hydrocarbons), fly ash (another form of rock dust), acid mists, vinyl chloride, solvents and fugitive emissions of formaldehyde, O3 (ground level ozone), SOx (sulfur oxides), NOx (nitrogen oxides), particulates etc. Even in food and cosmetics, there are poisons that contaminate our bodies. A good source of information about reducing your exposure through personal care products can be found at the Environmental Working Group's website. Once we educate ourselves, we only have two choices, to remain silent and be complicit in the poisoning of the planet and future generations, or to stop the madness.
I do not want to say these things for my own good, but for the good people who are dying around us from preventable disease. That is why we plant trees, that is why we continue to live on less and revel in the challenges of living richer lives with less impact. I honor my place amongst the tribes of humankind. The gifts that I have received through giving back to the ecosphere cannot be put into words. I am sure that anyone who tries to live a bit more sustainably will be rewarded similarly. The heartbreaking part is knowing that some have still not seen the light and that our government is loath to constrain the most recent round of global devastation and poisoning. The mushrooming cancer epidemic is certainly not going to end any time soon, especially if we continue to use what fresh water we have left to inject into the bedrock to get oil and natural gas out. As we look to the passing of yet another friend, let us remember that only the living can make change occur. It is fruitless to mourn the loss of such dear friends if we do not redouble our efforts to change. Perhaps in a future generation we will master the art of living without waste, like every other creature on the planet. All that we cast off will feed another trophic level and circles will always complete. Perhaps we will pass from the earth without having become a repositories for toxic chemicals and radiation that were in our environment.
I'm going to listen to was Not Was for my good friend Mij, not because he liked them, but he knew them from an obscure lyric that I happened to repeat casually at work one day. "I was choking on a fish I ate for dinner, it was good while it lasted, should've fasted." Then I'm going to follow it up with a little Zappa and finish off the set with Discipline, one of my favorites from King Crimson.
His uncanny encyclopedic ability to discuss music generally, even bands that he did not like, created vast areas of overlap with a huge percentage of the population. He could talk to anyone about music who had experienced music as an important part of their life and quite possibly teach them something they did not know about their favorite band. I talked to many who became fast friends when they met Mij, someone would mention a band, or a song, and the lyrics would flow, or the lead guitar player's other band would be mentioned, leading to excited banter about the band members and solo exploits of those players. Crazy shit. I thought that I had broad tastes, but the range and depth of my musical world was dwarfed by his unique knowledge. It often led to me questioning how much time I really spent raising my children...half my life, really.
Now, potentially, I'm into my second half century and I have to carry on the work for more friends passing the veil. As long as I have to speak, I will speak for those friends and brothers who have passed the veil. Cancer, as we all know, continues to blossom within the human population, perhaps in all creatures. We know what causes cancer. We have known for decades. The mix of chemicals and radiation that we surround our selves with is permeating our beings. every time we fill our tanks with gasoline, we dose ourselves with benzene one of the oldest carcinogens to be recognized (only after rock dust), PAHs (poly aromatic hydrocarbons), fly ash (another form of rock dust), acid mists, vinyl chloride, solvents and fugitive emissions of formaldehyde, O3 (ground level ozone), SOx (sulfur oxides), NOx (nitrogen oxides), particulates etc. Even in food and cosmetics, there are poisons that contaminate our bodies. A good source of information about reducing your exposure through personal care products can be found at the Environmental Working Group's website. Once we educate ourselves, we only have two choices, to remain silent and be complicit in the poisoning of the planet and future generations, or to stop the madness.
I do not want to say these things for my own good, but for the good people who are dying around us from preventable disease. That is why we plant trees, that is why we continue to live on less and revel in the challenges of living richer lives with less impact. I honor my place amongst the tribes of humankind. The gifts that I have received through giving back to the ecosphere cannot be put into words. I am sure that anyone who tries to live a bit more sustainably will be rewarded similarly. The heartbreaking part is knowing that some have still not seen the light and that our government is loath to constrain the most recent round of global devastation and poisoning. The mushrooming cancer epidemic is certainly not going to end any time soon, especially if we continue to use what fresh water we have left to inject into the bedrock to get oil and natural gas out. As we look to the passing of yet another friend, let us remember that only the living can make change occur. It is fruitless to mourn the loss of such dear friends if we do not redouble our efforts to change. Perhaps in a future generation we will master the art of living without waste, like every other creature on the planet. All that we cast off will feed another trophic level and circles will always complete. Perhaps we will pass from the earth without having become a repositories for toxic chemicals and radiation that were in our environment.
I'm going to listen to was Not Was for my good friend Mij, not because he liked them, but he knew them from an obscure lyric that I happened to repeat casually at work one day. "I was choking on a fish I ate for dinner, it was good while it lasted, should've fasted." Then I'm going to follow it up with a little Zappa and finish off the set with Discipline, one of my favorites from King Crimson.
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