A tribute to kata... and to Lucy

[Bill Glasheen]

This could be a thread about kata and the choreographers of said forms. It is indeed meant to be about that... but in a roundabout sort of way.

Ever heard the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? It's the third song on the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.



Here are the lyrics

Written during the psychedelic era and replete with colorful visuals, this album was allegedly associated with The Beatles' introspection while partaking in hallucinogenic pharmaceuticals. In fact this song (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) was supposed to be a (ha ha, snicker, snicker) way to sneak a song onto AM radio that was about (gasp) DRUGS! (LSD)

Well... maybe it was. Maybe it could be. And then again, maybe it started as something very innocent (like the song Afternoon Delight, whose title was inspired by a lunch special).

This comes out today.

Lucy Vodden (née O’Donnell), who was the inspiration for the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” has died, following a long battle with the autoimmune disease lupus. The British housewife — whose passing was announced by the St Thomas’ Lupus Trust charity — was 46.

Vodden first achieved pop culture fame as a tot, when John Lennon’s son Julian drew a picture of her in nursery school in 1966. He took the picture home to his pops, explained it as “That’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,” and a song legend was born.

The married housewife officially fessed up to being the Lucy from the classic song — which was released as a part of the group’s iconic “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album — two years ago, telling BBC radio:

“I remember Julian and I both doing pictures on a double-sided easel, throwing paint at each other, much to the horror of the classroom attendant… Julian had painted a picture and on that particular day his father turned up with the chauffeur to pick him up from school.”

*** the actual drawing below.

- WSJ

Well what do you know...

So should we all be seeking "THE" original interpretation of a kata move that the choreographer intended?

Would Lennon have wanted that?

If you young-uns need a reminder or an intro, here's a gander at a video with the song. This I believe originally came from the Yellow Submarine movie. Enjoy.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

And may you rest in peace, Lucy. From heaven you will know the charitable work being done for your cause by one of my family members as well as several of my professional associates. May you inspire them all as you did Julian and John Lennon.


The girl with kaleidoscope eyes: Lucy at age four (left) and six (right)




Julian with his father John Lennon (of the Beatles) and Yoko Ono


- Bill

Additional Source: Reunited: Lennon's son and childhood friend Lucy In The Sky... the girl who inspired Beatles song

[f.Channell]

Not a drug song after all?

Well we still have Jimi Hendrix's "laughing Sams Dice".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stars_ ... Sam's_Dice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyh7KDR8WsM

[MikeK]

So should we all be seeking "THE" original interpretation of a kata move that the choreographer intended?

I'd say yes. The original interpretation would let us know where the choreographer was actually going rather than the bad applications we usually get.

I was watching some karate videos that included the personal kata of the system's founder. Funny enough a lot of the applications of the older kata were pretty lame, but each set of moves of the founder's kata was an actual, no-nonsense technique. Makes me wonder.

Would Lennon have wanted that?

Would John Lennon have cared?

[Bill Glasheen]

You tell me, Mike, what did Lennon mean by the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds? Is it a sweet little song about Lucy O'Donnell, or was Julian's statement a seed crystal for thoughts already in John's mind? And do you know for sure?

(I have my suspicions... )

Damn straight Lennon cared, but not in the way most people think.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Case in point... This song by the Starland Vocal Band was inspired by the name of a special menu of the same name at Clyde's restaurant in Georgetown. So is this a song about food or sex?

Hmm... I'll have what she's having!

- Bill

P.S. According to the author, it was not an "all-out sex song" but rather one that "hinted at sex."

Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight
gonna grab some afternoon delight.
My motto's always been; when it's right, it's right.
Why wait until the middle of a cold dark night.
When everything's a little clearer in the light of day.
And you know the night is always gonna be there any way.

Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.

Thinkin' of you's workin' up my appetite
looking forward to a little afternoon delight.
Rubbin' sticks and stones together makes the sparks ingite
and the thought of rubbin' you is getting so exciting.

Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.

Started out this morning feeling so polite
I always though a fish could not be caught who wouldn't bite
But you've got some bait a waitin' and I think I might try nibbling
a little afternoon delight.

Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.

Please be waiting for me baby when I come around.
We could make a lot of lovin' 'for the sun goes down.

Sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Afternoon delight.

[Bill Glasheen]

concrete thinking (psychology) Mental processes characterized by literalness and the tendency to be bound to the most immediate and obvious sense impressions, as well as by a lack of generalization and abstraction.

Answers.com: Sci-Tech Dictionary

[MikeK]

Yup, I like concrete thinking, it's what makes all the abstract stuff work. All the theory in the world doesn't mean beans if you can't make something simple work in the real world.

Have your students come up with a simple kata with bunkai to save their own style for posterity, and let me know if they come up with something abstract or concrete.

[Bill Glasheen]

Have your students come up with a simple kata with bunkai to save their own style for posterity, and let me know if they come up with something abstract or concrete.

I've choreographed my own forms and my own prearranged partner exercises, Mike. Been there, done that. I've even made some of them dojo requirements, and modified them over time. And in teaching them, I've seen how some of my more talented students could take what I've started with and run with it. It's why I feel qualified to talk about the subject.

Joey Pomfret is doing something similar with his BJJ and MMA experiences. Interested parties (including your truly) are taking his information and running with it.

So your point is well taken.

Do you use kata as the basis of your training or not, Mike?

- Bill

[MikeK]

Not much anymore. I'll practice parts of kata but it's lost it's allure for working and learning applications.

[Bill Glasheen]

It's a personal preference.

Personally I couldn't teach and train without these tools, Mike. There's just too much "stuff." The more stuff you collect, the greater the need for abstraction and generalization to preserve all the many lessons and keep things organized in the brain. That's the way it works for me.

Some folks have encyclopedic minds. Not me. I can store lots of information, but I need my mnemonic devices to do so.

- Bill

[f.Channell]

Artists such as Lennon don't explain what their art represents. They leave it up to the persons interpretation. Being uneducated in the area of the art leads to interpretations such as LSD being a drug reference. Although this could also be a move to make the Beatles music more "politically correct." I would say this results out of ignorance of the situation, or the message being conveyed incorrectly.
It also opens the question, can two people, educated in the art reach different conclusions and still both be right??

F.

[Bill Glasheen]

Artists such as Lennon don't explain what their art represents.

Actually sometimes they do. And sometimes they don't.

They leave it up to the persons interpretation.

The difference between a literalist and an artist is the ability to create something in which many can indeed do that - and still stay within certain boundaries of interpretation. For instance in a good novel, one often is able to picture oneself as the protagonist.

On rare occasions the artist creates poetic nonsense that seems magically to make sense (The Jabberwocky).

Being uneducated in the area of the art leads to interpretations such as LSD being a drug reference.

Umm... Have you listened to the lyrics?

Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.
Lucy in the sky with diamonds.

That's some intensely visually rich lyrics, Fred.

Now look at the video the Beatles created for it (from Yellow Submarine). Not to psychedelic, eh? If not about LSD, it was most certainly inspired by the psychedelic era.

As for Julian and his picture of Lucy O'Donnell, well... IMO it was the seed crystal in John Lennon's brain for a work of art. But it was merely the seed. The rest was all John.

It also opens the question, can two people, educated in the art reach different conclusions and still both be right??

In my opinion, Lennon wanted it that way. The double entendre is part of the joy of art.

Here are some examples.

> I've got a pair of roller skates
> You've got a brand new key
> I think that we should get together
> And try them out, you see


> Mama's got a squeeze box
> She wears on her chest
> And when Daddy comes home
> He never gets no rest
> 'Cause she's playing all night
> And the music's all right
> Mama's got a squeeze box
> Daddy never sleeps at night

So... please tell me what's so wrong with songs about roller skates and accordions?

- Bill

[Ted Dinwiddie]

An artistic creation, whatever the original motivation behind it, once released to the world, has a life of its own. Each will have meaning individual to the person having the interaction with it. Knowing the original creator's motivation is interesting and informative for some purposes, but hardly necessary for fulfilling interaction with the piece. Looking at the Mona Lisa inspires and enlightens each of us differently. Some may see and feel things that others may disdain and still others may divine profound meaning. So what. Enjoy the art, there is value in that. Kata is artistically fascinating. What other artwork can be experienced so physically? It's good for you too.

[Bill Glasheen]

I couldn't have said it better myself, Ted. Thanks for putting in words what I have felt all along.

- Bill

[f.Channell]

Well here we have a Mona Lisa impacted by Marcel Duchamp.
If one little move in a kata is also altered, is it as upsetting to the whole picture?