Want to hear something nice? Check out Jan Michael Looking Wolf's "Native Blues," and in particular, the song "2 Hawks." (the link is somewhere below). The quote below is from the website.Native Blues"Native Blues contains a beautiful blend of native flute with classical blues and jazz -fusion. Looking Wolf is an established blues guitarist and vocalist - vintage guitars, ancient drums, traditional rattles, and a focus on a variety of native flutes come together, producing heart-moving songs. Many of the tracks include soothing vocals by Looking Wolf that follow in the footsteps of great blues players of old. In the song 'Two Hawks', the native flute duels with classic blues guitar."I've got a couple of things on my mind today: suicidal gestures and hawks. Not that they are related except that when a hawk thinks about throwing himself or herself off of a cliff, it isn't a big deal --- he just does it. He goes swooping down, with that eerie cry, and goes for the thing he wants on or near the ground. What got me thinking about hawks was Garrison Keillor, who mentioned that about now one can see 90,000 or so hawks flying from one place to another --- I can't remember the details. Secondly, today's OM, an online meditation of sorts that I read religiously, talks about"Hawk Medicine." If we are able to "harness their reputation as visionaries, using their keen eyesight to focus on the exact spot that truly needs our attention," we can then follow our personal vision.A few years ago, I was lucky enough to have a lakehouse. I couldn't afford it, but I rented it for a year anyway. It was amazing. While I was there, I had my own hawk. Or at least I imagined I did, because he came to see me every day --- perched way up in a tall tree, looking down (waiting, resting?) Once or twice he was joined by a mate. The presence of my hawk reassured me.http://www.flutesonline.com/shopping/naf/audio/lw1_hawks.mp3And poet Ted Hughes' take on hawks: (Hughes, for those who don't know, was married to the famous poet Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide at age 33 by puttting her head in a gas oven. His second wife did the same thing, and took their small daughter into eternity with her.) Plath is remembered by Ryan Adams in his song "I Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath."Hawk Roosting I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.Inaction, no falsifying dreamBetween my hooked head and hooked feet:Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.The convenience of the high trees!The air's buoyancy and the sun's rayAre of advantage to me;And the earth's face upward for my inspection.My feet are locked upon the rough bark.It took the whole of CreationTo produce my foot, my each feather:Now I hold Creation in my footOr fly up, and revolve it all slowly -I kill where I please because it is all mine.There is no sophistry in my body:My manners are tearing off heads -The allotment of death.For the one path of my flight is directThrough the bones of the living.No arguments assert my right:The sun is behind me.Nothing has changed since I began.My eye has permitted no change.I am going to keep things like this. -- Ted HughesSo, I think of suicides --- and those who just make gestures --- and those who think about it (as I have in bad times past). And I wish for all of us the ability to soar above our circumstances and see with a hawk's eye. Here's what the Daily CD at Yahoo has to say about "Peggy Suicide": September 27, 2006Peggy SuicideJulian Cope 1991 "Since dissolving the British psychedelic rock group the Teardrop Explodes in 1983, Julian Cope has devoted as much attention to his extramusical interests-among them environmental activism, Krautrock pedagogy, and hallucinogenic drugs-as he has to his solo career. And while earlier records hinted at the true breadth of Cope's personality, it was Peggy Suicide that best channeled his many facets into one cohesive statement. Inspired by a dream of Mother Earth throwing herself off a cliff, the album deals with how people hurt the world and each other. Although there's not a moment where the gravity of Cope's message overshadows the boldness of his music. Combining pop, funk, garage rock, and modern rock with a healthy dose of psychedelia, Peggy Suicide is a vivid, ambitious album lent uncommon focus by Cope's confident songwriting and rich baritone. Opener "Pristeen" turns quickly from a simple folk-rock ballad to a powerful rant. Over a 12-string guitar chime and Moog keyboard, Cope repeatedly intones "Pristeen, Pristeen / Tell me how much can you take?" getting louder and angrier each time. By the end, Cope is screaming at the earth, frustrated at the battering it has taken on account of us humans. His environmentalism spills over into "East Easy Rider," which skewers our earth-killing obsession with cars (a topic he would return to more fully in 1994's Autogeddon). "Well it's a bruisin' shatterin' ride / But I cannot deny myself this luxury," Cope sings, while bass and drums lay down a loose pop-funk groove and searing guitar solos rush by like cars on the freeway. It's an antidriving song that'd be great to blast while driving.Some of the most affecting moments on Peggy Suicide come when Cope turns his focus to interpersonal relations. "You..." is a scorching lovers' put-down made all the sassier for its noirish surf-rock beat and Ronnie Ross' stinging sax solo; "Safesurfer" sets a tale of love and sex in the age of AIDS against a brooding psychedelic guitar and organ jam. Even the experimental mood-piece "Western Front 1992 C.E." is strangely moving, its haunting refrain of "It'll all wash down when it rains" accompanied by shards of noise and an electronic pulse that beats like an army helicopter flying overhead. To be sure, Cope's vision on Peggy Suicide is a dark one, but the musical settings are so rich and oftentimes joyful that it doesn't come across as depressing or bleak. Cope isn't bitter; he just has something very important to say, and with Peggy Suicide, he knows how to make us listen." Speaking of soaring off cliffs, has anybody checked out the soundtracks for Tony Hawk's video games?http://skateboard.about.com/od/games/a/THAWMusic.htm