Incus the Musical

Sun, May 7, 2006
Just to give all of you a fun loving spin on Incus' recent adventures... here is what happened at the beltaine festival, from the perspective of my warped little mind.

**
The van rolls through the night, loaded with instruments and crazy musicians... (we need to paint that van a la Scooby Doo) going about 20, late, frustrated, somewhat lost... but then, a magician is never late, but precisely on time.
so Incus arrives in the middle of a beautiful forest filled with pagans and hippies, lovely souls meeting to celebrate Beltaine under the sweet spring moon. The air is delicious. People are decorated with flowers. No one is paying much attention to anything in particular, including the fact that people are hauling an entire drum kit, 2 huge cellos, a gigantic sacred drum and an entire crew of musicians up to the tiniest fire circle you ever did see. So high were they on the sweet spring air, the tender breeze promising warmth and fecundity and the nude delicious pleasure of summer that they did not notice at all that an entire band set up right in their midst.
But these guys, these mellow and sensitive folks of Incus, hey- they know all about making moods and cultivating energy... they just roll right along with it.
So they take a deep breath and put sticks to drums, fingers to bows and accordians, and

the chanting begins.

What? Wait- the Incus folks think, musicians and fans alike- did no one notice an entire band just set up? We're not talking a guitar and some ragged hippie with a jimbe... But hey, they're channeling the goddess. It's all good. So Incus, innovative creators that they are, roll with it and play right along with the chant. It's Incus Organic. It's divine, it's the goddess, we're all packed in so tight to the fire we can't tell where the band ends and the folks begin.

Slowly the crowd winds down the chant and Incus respectfully takes a deep breath to let the energy change... a little twinkle of a smile on the accordinanists' lips, and they begin... the crowd then learns hey! There's an entire band back there! You could feel it, the recognition seeping in, the slow realization and then intense pleasure as the soak up this rare treat of being so close to a band as this that you feel as if you are part of it.
The crowd is dancing, appreciating the vibe, loving the music... so Incus winds down the first song, and the leader of the band begins to talk about the next song when suddenly...

...a little yogi, a most amazing and clever man, begins to cavort about the fire, grasping the flames in his hands and requests three minutes of the crowd's time. "This dog here, he comes up to me and I am thinking, I am a dog! I have always been a dog!"
?
And so begins something like "Sound of Music, India!" as a rounding edition of This World has Many Lands is belted out by the most energetic human being on the entire plot of land... an enthusiastic round, something between an irish drinking song and this land is your land... I wasn't sure if I should be reverent or my usual self which is to laugh at all things, so I chose to be myself.
"The hills are alive... with the sound of yogis"... while the entire circle looks on rather stunned; I watched all those faces, some of disbelief (WTF?), some of resigned pseudospirituality, some of entire and utter amusement... as this man cavorts about, scooping up fire with his hands, pointing, shouting, smiling and rather enjoying himself a bit of spotlight. Firelight. Whatever.

Meanwhile... Incus is searching for an in... to this musical adventure that seems to have unfolded. The spry little man slowly unwinds, relaxes, sinks to the ground and the band jumps on the opportunity to throw in another song. After all, why not? They drove all that way... in the dark... late...
They drive the gathering back into the sweet energy of fire and music. Everyone is dancing, swaying, back into the magic. The yogi is a transformed man, clapping and yelling:
"It makes you want to hug you!"
He hugs himself, he's beaming, he's completely psyched and in love with the music and the night.
He's pushing himself into poses and postures so close to the fire people are wondering if he's going in. He twists himself into a pretzel on the ground with his buttocks exposed... people watch, unsure; do I look on this and feel humbled by the yoga energy? Do I smile in beatific transformation? Do I pretend I don't think he's drunk and hide my laughter?

But then the perfect thing happens; Loki runs forth in the body of a clever drummer and paddles the yogi right on the behind. I of course have been waiting for some good Coyote energy, and there it is, that little sound of music man gets it... now here is the true test of a yogi: how does one respond to such an irreverent act, an act of God surely, under that fecund moon stinking of magic, next to a fire so hot it burns the belly deep deep inside?
He laughs. Of course. And I am feeling fine, fine.

I'd love to make a south park episode out of the entire scene; to me it was some of the funniest stuff I have seen in a long time. People look upon each other's creativity, music and spirituality with adoration and respect, as is a normal and correct thing to do... but every once in a while it's good to take everything askew, to look with complete irreverence and laugh, laugh at the whole thing-honor your Coyote medicine and let it all go.

This was written with the best of love and respect for all the members of Incus, in their joy and love for the art of sound and movement. Laugher keeps you young, and keeps you together.
much love to you all.
It makes you want to hug you!