The Knight's Toast

Life...It's What you Make Happen

Life is good! Life is fun! Granted, life sometimes sucks, but you can choose if your the sucker or the one sucking on the straw out of a coconut shell on the beach in the Caribbean!

That's right, life isn't so much of what happens to you, but rather more about what you make happen. It's being an alchemist and changing those bits of pig shit into pearls of wisdom.

I woke up this morning to a dreary, raining day, but in my spirit I'm ready to party on the beach! It's really not that hard to do, trust me.

In today's Two Listeners reflection it said, "Breathe in the rich blessings of each new day. Forget all that lies behind you."

To that I say a hearty...AMEN! Now I must catch my breath.

Sir Hook the Heavy Breather of Warrick

I'm Too Sexy

I'm too sexy for my elf...to sexy for my elf...elf...elf! Just goes to prove that size doesn't matter...it's all about style, or the lack there of. A wise Mexican cab driver once told me, "Amigo, it's not the size of the ship...it's the motion of the ocean!" His name was Jesus by the way, so I had to believe him!

When it comes to Fashion Advice You Can Trust, trust me when I say, follow your gut and create your own style. That's what separates the creative man from a fashion mag...and perhaps create a whole new cultural icon!

As ZZ Top says, "Every girl's crazy about a sharp dressed man." I don't believe that necessarily means a button down collar, but wearing whatever with confidence. I do agree with the Top when they say however, "I'm a fool for your stockings I believe!"

Sir Hook the Fashionable of Warrick

Fame

Fame, a song by David Bowie. Fame, a Broadway Hit and Television Show. "I want to live forever." The battle cry of the evangelical as well as the self obsessed. In most cases it's one and the same; however, in this rendition of Fame we are purely having FUN...another "F" word that elicits pure emotion.

Sir Davyd of Oxfordshire shared this site with me, magmypic.com, where you can upload photos into different mock magazine covers. Four things I instantly noticed:
1. It's a great exercise in self awareness.
2. It says more about you than you realize.
3. It's just freakin fun, and the subject of the next few blogs from me.
4. We got to have one of these on KMSA!

We have been discussing the need to open up the blog so that more people can post. After all, I may be Famous, a Founding Father, and a Knight, but I'm no Feudal Lord. At lest not in this life! So visit magmypic.com and start to discover the real you.

Now, back to writing my next World Wide Hit. Watch out Simon!

Sir Hook the Minstrel of Warrick

Losing is Part of Winning

Here's my friend, Bruce Pearl, Head Coach of the Tennessee Volunteers Basketball Team. A master encourager, I use to have him talk to my staff and to clients about the connection between winning at basketball and winning at business and life.

Last night the Vols went down in defeat to the Louisville Cardinals, who have an assistant that is a son of another good friend of mine, and boyfriend to my best friend's daughter. Not being a Hoosier fan, (I originally hale from Illinois) I was pleased to see both teams in the hunt. I must confess; however, that once touched by Bruce Pearl, his magnetism pulls strongly over the mountains in Knoxville to wherever you go. Payton Manning didn't even make me a Vols fan.

The secret to Bruce's success is that he believes that losing is part of winning. This philosophy brought an obscure team the Division II NCAA championship twice. That team, the University of Southern Indiana Eagles, is from right here in Evansville. Their winning ways are gone now, so is Bruce. Before Bruce, the Vols where known for basketball through their successful Ladies program. Now, Bruce has brought his winning ways to Knoxville and has created the best men's team that Tennessee has ever seen.

Yes, they lost last night; however, you can bet that Bruce and the Vols will be back in the hunt for the National Championship next year. And knowing Bruce, he's already figured out from this loss how to win!

Sir Hook of Warrick

Time to Ponder after Wonder

Sir Dayvd of Oxfordshire shared this outstanding quote with me yesterday. Attributed to many different people, most probably either Sarah Rowland from the book "Life in the Snakepit" or Father Alfred D'Souza. Regardless, it's a good quote to ponder as you wonder!

Sir Hook the Ponderer of Warrick

Do You Ever Wonder?

Do you ever wonder? I confess I do. I will also confess that I wonder too much. The hardest thing for me to do is to live in the now. It's a truly exhausting exercise, but once achieved for that spec in time, one of the most sublime and intimate moments in life. Time stands still as the mind expands beyond its normal limits. Yeah, it's a drug. A spiritual cocktail extraordinaire waiting to intoxicate you, motivate you, release you into ecstasy. Alas, it won't, it can't last, but that doesn't mean you stop trying.

Last night I found myself wondering why I made such progress in my work all day, only to be dealt a difficult blow right at the end of the day. A blow that might jeopardize a project that would leave me with time on my hands and nothing to show for it. It didn't seem fair! I wondered why this happens? Not a fan of predestination, I do however recognize that forces move around and through use to guide us towards our destiny if we only allow those forces to be heard, felt, to surrender to their movements.

So, I find myself here this morning wondering if room is being made in my life to write? Not just this blog, but all the great stories stored in my mind. Is this the Divine calling me to yet another new place in life? You see, I can't keep from wondering. It even manifests itself in the physical. I'm addicted to wondering!

Now, how do I make it work for me instead of against me? A question that all true Knights and Ladies will face many times in their battles. Thank you for wondering with me today. Perhaps you're wondering about what the hell I'm talking about. Perhaps you're exactly where I am this morning and totally understand. Perhaps you never wonder? If so, enjoy the peace and pass it on. There are plenty of us who might become bored in such Nirvana.

Sir Hook the Wonderer of Warrick

Do You Know Jack?

Yesterday I received a parcel from Merry Old England addressed to Sir Hook of Warrick in Newburgh, Indiana, complete with stamps of a younger QE2. I happened to be bringing the trash barrels back in from "Trash Day" when the postal truck pulled up to the mail box. She handed me my mail, excluding the parcel, and with a curious look on her face asked, "Are you Sir Hook of Warrick?" To which I replied with much grace, "Indeed I am Madam." She then handed me the parcel with a look of either this guy is crazy, or this guy is an English Knight. Both would be correct Madam, I thought.

Anyway, the parcel contained articles picked up by Sir Dayvd of Oxfordshire when he went to the New York Public Library exhibit of Jack Kerouac. The more I get to know Jack, the more I realize how much he has influenced me without even knowing it. Inspired to dig deeper I took the articles and headed down to the neighborhood pub, Knob Hill Tavern, and had a couple of fish bowls (an Indiana thing) of Sam Adams White Ale and got to know Jack better.

On the Road, his most famous novel, journal, chicken scratches, scrolling typewritten pages, etc., is a very similar experience to mine the past three years traveling like I have, meeting all kinds of people, opening my mind. I'm inspired now more than ever to begin the writing process in earnest!

As I laid in bed last night listening to the sound of barges on the Ohio River (I live next to the River), I thought more about Jack and his life and I wrote:

The growling roar makes my spirit soar
Barges in the night slumber towards the unknown
Lazy in their effortless movement
Powerful in their ability to move beyond my sight
I feel their spirit rising within me
Swelling like the gentle waves of the River
Rolling, ever rolling to a destiny unseen
Yet believed

Do you know Jack?

Sir Hook of the River in Warrick

Snapshots from a Dharma Bum

When ever I visit the organized chaos of New York, it never fails to remind me; with its ultimate compression and full stop of mankind, and the threadbare literally rubbing shoulders with the millionaire, that the final sin of all, and the worst, is righteousness.


















My Favorite New York Bar. 363 West Broadway, on the South East corner of Broome St. and West Broadway. http://broomestreetbar.ypguides.net



















Outside New York Public Library, (the words Public Library, themselves, along with Hope and Charity, up there among the greatest words ever conceived)

Sir Dayvd of Oxfordshire

Easter Comes Alive

I thought I would write briefly and wish everyone out there a Happy Easter. Everyone!

Easter is the Christian religious observance that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead, or was “resurrected.” This event proved that Jesus was the son of God, the Christ.

I have a slightly different take than most Christians (though I imagine that some will agree). I believe that the real “resurrection” of Jesus does not rely on whether he rose from the dead or not. I would think that the real “resurrection” occurs when the teachings of Jesus “comes alive” within our hearts and minds.

Now here's the interesting thing. It's the same for many other religions. For example: For Buddhists, when they receive the Buddha’s teachings in their hearts and minds, then the Buddha comes “alive” for them.

Buddhism is not as concerned with historical fact as it is concerned with religious truth. Religious truth stands beyond time.

If we focuses only on the historical event of Jesus rising from the dead, then it stands as just one event in time. If instead we focus on receiving the teachings of Jesus in our hearts, then it becomes a religion that “comes alive” and stands beyond time.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a well-known Buddhist Monk and prolific writer of Buddhist books writes:

“Redemption and resurrection are neither words nor objects of belief. They are our daily practice. We practice in such a way that Buddha is born every moment of our daily life, that Jesus Christ is born every moment of our daily life.” —from Going Home.

Thich Nhat Hanh has even written an excellent book titled, “Living Buddha, Living Christ” in which he discusses his appreciation of both Jesus and Shakyamuni Buddha, and how they must become living teachers for us today.

“When we understand and practice deeply the life and teachings of Buddha or the life and teachings of Jesus, we penetrate the door and enter the abode of the living Buddha and the living Christ, and life eternal presents itself to us.” —p. 56, Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh

On this day, no matter if you're celebrating or questioning, may your hearts and minds “come alive” with peace and love.

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

Laughter is Divine

I believe that laughter is the purist expression of the soul. It's spontaneous, genuine (and when not, easily detectable) and involves every part of our human anatomy when expressed with vigor. Did Christ laugh? Most assuredly; however, it is not part of scripture. Now, since I'm Catholic (by Title...More Zen Christian Barbarian in reality) this is not a problem for me. For many fundamentalist of all callings; however, it's an image of Christ that is hard to bare. It would mean that we would have to enjoy our existence, to connect to what makes us all common...our humanity. Scary stuff!

So, we run off to our nearest place of worship and take a bath in conformity instead of diversity, because diversity is being fully human. There's the rub. Christ is the only man who was fully human and fully divine. I dare say the poster boy for Unity through Diversity. Instead of embracing this divine mystery for what it is, we tend to skip the parts we don't like and emphasize those that we do. One common thread in the human Psyche is the tendency to not feel worthy. Organized religion has this chink in our armour down to a refined science, sending brain washed souls to kill and plunder under a holy banner. But, Christ came so that we might have life, joy, and have it abundantly. Don't lift him up so high on that cross that you can't relate to him anymore, his face wooden, frozen in agony like that's the only way God as man can relate to us.

When you smile at your children, laugh at that joke, feel the presence of the Divine blowing through your mind....take a look in the mirror and soak in the face of the Divine...SMILING! We will always fail miserably by denying our humanity and emphasising our divinity. We will never be holy enough, that is why Christ came. We can; however, be human enough, which is also a calling we are challenged with. Are you brave enough to answer that call? Or, are you more comfortable being silent in the pew and being told what to think, say and do? Jesus was a rebel, unpopular with the religious authorities of his day. Are you brave enough to truly follow in his footsteps? Are you brave enough to connect with the outcasts of society, dine with prostitutes, give women and children a voice, die for someone else? Can you Think, Drink, and Be Merry, like Jesus did at the wedding at Cana? (I wonder how he went to the bathroom?) This is why I am a Knight of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale and believe that we can only be Unified through our Diversity. It is fine to be solemn on Good Friday; however, my Savior was still alive that day...and remains alive every day. Joy is my battle banner, from the profane to the divine. I laugh heartily and with much gratitude because of my joy of living. It's a great gift and a wonderful way to celebrate the Divine in all things!

Remember, we are the fallible instruments of the infallible. We'll make mistakes, that's what humans do. We can choose to laugh about them or to kill over them. The great thing is, we are free to choose! This leads me to the most profound image of Christ for me: Not hanging on the cross, not the agony in the garden, not talking to women at the well (a BIG NO NO!)...but this image.

Christ bends down, he comes to our level and begins writing in the sand. He gets his hands and fingers dirty just like any man, but then he looks up and speaks the most profound words found in the Bible; "He who is without sin cast the first stone." WOW! Talk about a smack down! Jesus, getting down and dirty both figuratively and theologically, brings down centuries of sexist Mosaic law with the flip of a finger and a few well chosen words. He saves a woman who is having sex with someone other than her husband from being stoned to death. (He probably was a jerk anyway.) Now, I prefer to imagine Jesus as pictured above after this incident. Imagine the look of shock on the face of the woman, the look on the faces of the school yard bullies as they were denied "getting their rocks off", and while we're imagining...where the hell was the guy she was having sex with? Yes, we've come a long way baby, but we still have a long way to go.

So take it from this errant knight who has survived being stabbed, heart by pass surgery and a broken back, life is short and sweet....so lighten up and laugh a lot. It will do you and those around you a world of good, not to mention that laughter is a form of prayer and praise. And yes, I can be very serious, like each time I undress and see the scars all over my body. I am reminded of the scars that Christ bore for me. But then, I SMILE, because life is worth living and laughing for!

Sir Hook of Laughter from Warrick

The One whose throne is in heaven sits laughing. Psalm 2:4

JERK

Now, today being Good Friday and all one might expect me to pontificate about the events of that day and how it has changed the world and changed me. I'll give you, there were a few JERKS involved in the events of that fateful Friday...however....

not the JERK I'm talking about. Steve Martin made the movie JERK into a brilliant career in comedy. Besides, the headline on this movie poster could be used in today's political environment. "All I want is this black limousine, this oval office, and secret stuff nobody else will know about. That's all I want." Sorry...JERK!




Now, there's the Clean & Jerk for our Free Weight Wheeling Friends. Dare say that this picture of the beginning of this storied move might lend itself better to what happens in the locker room afterwards...the Jerk & Clean.

Regardless, this is still not the JERK we seek. Albeit, it is getting closer to two key ingredients: 1) HOT 2) SPICY






No, the JERK we're talking about is a seasoning of spices made famous in Jamaica and found throughout the Caribbean Islands. Jerk Pork, Jerk Chicken, Jerk Beef and my favorite American recipe...Jerk Fries! While stopping in for a couple of rounds of my favorite Ales at Old Chicago last night, I decided to indulge in a basket of Jerk Fries while watching the NCAA. Last night's were particularly coated and VERY SPICY! OK, Now you're asking, besides the obvious what are you getting at? Well, I felt it necessary to share this bit of wisdom with my fellow Knights. After eating my fries in a drunken frenzy, I proceeded to the bathroom to relieve myself. What I'm getting at is this. MAKE SURE YOU WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER EATING JERK FRIES AND BEFORE YOU HANDLE YOUR MANHOOD OVER A PORCELAIN TOILET ON PAIN OF BECOMING THE BIGGEST JERK PORK LOIN YOU'LL EVER SEE!!!!
There, now I feel better and have finally cooled off.

Sir Hook the Spicy Jerk of Warrick

Spring Bock

Today is the first day of spring –

Time to fly a kite in the cumulus sky and kick over some young daffodils.

It's also the perfect time to discover a good Bock Beer – a strong, often very dark, malty lager.

I'd always heard that bock beers meant “bottom of the barrel.” Not true according to some research on www.worldclassbeverages.com

“Bocks were traditionally brewed at the end of the brewing season (late winter or early spring), so they were the last beer of the season to be brewed. (Before refrigeration, brewing season ended once the temperatures got too high for brewers to keep yeast.) For this reason, many people believe that Bock beers are from the "bottom" of the brewing tank, or that they are the leftover sediment from other brews. Of course, this is not the case in modern brewing.”

“Ahh, Bock!” (Yes, that's a play on words from a M*A*S*H episode)

What's in a name? The name Bock actually comes from a corruption of the name Einbeck (The German city that is the origin of bock beers).

And what about the goat that is the “universal symbol” for bock beers? The answer is that the German word for Billy-goat is also "bock," so Bock beers have adopted the Billy-goat as their official symbol.

Beer and Lent: “During Lent, the forty days prior to Easter, fasting is common, but beer is brewed from ingredients that are not prohibited during Lent, so Bock beer became a popular source of sustenance during the Lenten season.”

Want a double goat kick? Try a doppelbock. “The word doppelbock literally means "double bock" and while today's doppelbocks are essentially twice the strength of regular bocks, the doppelbock style originated completely separate from the bock style. In all likelihood, the original version of the beer that the Germans called "doppelbock" was somewhat different from the style of beer we know today and over time, it evolved to become the beer we know.”

Again, more enlightenment and more science of bocks can be found at:

http://www.worldclassbeverages.com/includes/Style%20Articles/Bocks.htm

Here's to spring and your favorite bock.

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

Is “best” best?

This morning I spied a couple of Heinekens in the office refrigerator…

Which got me wondering who drinks Heineken anymore...

Which reminded me of an old marketing book I read years ago, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout…

Which reminded me of a quiz…

Who was the first person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo? Charles Lindbergh, right?

Who was the second?

(Pardon me, but this blog is going to fly all over the place).

It’s true that many people believe that the surest way to success is to market (convince their prospects) that their product or service as the “best.” But is “best” best?

A basic law in marketing is creating a category that you can be FIRST in. It’s the Law of Leadership. More times than not, it’s better to be first than it is to be better. Why? It’s much easier to get into the mind first than to try to convince someone you have a better product than the one that did get there first.

Which leads me back to those Heinekens...

After World War II, Heineken was the first imported beer to make a name for itself in the United States. As a result, for decades after it remained the number one imported beer. Was it the best tasting of the hundreds and hundreds of brands imported into America? Doubtful!

Now, to seemingly contradict the law of leadership, another law states: It’s better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace. It’s all really about a battle of perceptions – it’s an illusion. Beer marketing is a battle of perceptions, not a battle of taste. It’s good to be first, but it’s better to be first in the minds of the consumer!

Though Heineken is still high on the list, it might not surprise you to know that Corona now reigns as the #1 Imported Beer in the United States. Why? Take a look at Corona marketing and merchandising vs. Heineken. What’s the perception of drinking a Corona? It takes you away to a better place – a lazy beach.

It’s an illusion!

FYI Bud Light is now not only the number one selling light beer in America, it’s the number one selling beer period. So “light beer” is no longer a category – it’s just beer?

Which reminds me of the old Monty Python joke: “American beer is like making love in a canoe: Two (too) F’ing close to water.”

Which doesn’t remind me at all of anything, but I figure that I better wind this up.

Which leads me to Bert Hinkler. He was the second person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo. (a better pilot than “Lucky Lindy” – he flew faster and consumed less fuel).

Which reminds me of the third person to fly the Atlantic solo (which I bet you know).

It’s Amelia Earhart! We remember her because she was the first in her own category.

All just something to think about the next time you order a beer.

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

(After squandering your precious time reading this blog, don’t you just want to strangle the guy who put those Heinekens in the refrigerator?)

Hillary Comes to Evansville

No, this is not Hillary smoking Bill's cigar, but it could be a foreskin taste of the future once Obama kicks her ass. This is the remnants of 60's feminism waiting to see her at one of our local high schools today.

It reminds me of Sofia Theopenopulous, or as we called her, Sofy. Sofy was a larger than life old broad, an immigrant Greek, who fought in the resistance in WWII, was a State skeet shoot champion in Illinois and sold fireworks illegally, along with a nightly poker game upstairs in her Corner Candy Store right next to the Police Station. At one time Sofy was also a Justice of the Peace. The other characteristic of Sofy was her continual 12 inch Dino cigar, or on occasions a Corn Cob pipe. Sofy taught us Southern Illinois boys what it meant to be a powerful woman and how much fun you can have with one. I'll never forget her and I'll never vote for Hillary.

Peace Out Fellow Old Dudes!
Sir Hook of Warrick

Blarney Stoned

After scrapping the hairs off me tongue and waiting to return to me natural color, I was entertained by Sir Dayvd of Oxfordshire's observations about Guinness, St. Patrick's Day and Potatoes:

Sir Hook I note with interest that Guinness are arguing that St Patty's Day should be made a national holiday. (That'll encourage responsible drinking and much hurling of chunks in gutters. ) The makers of the primeval, straight-from-the-earth's-crust brew are sponsoring a drive through their Web site to make "Proposition 3-17" a law. They plan to hustle up a million or more signatures by midnight and deliver the petition to Congress today, although if it only took one million signatures to pass legislation, Montana would have been renamed Hannah Montana a long time ago.

Although yesterday was a day when bagpipers marched proudly up Fifth Avenue, girls named Maureen painted green shamrocks on their faces and "The Quiet Man" played on TV. The cozy Irish pub then turned from a friendly place for conversation to a rugby match of rookie drinkers who desecrated the holy pint of plain by guzzling it like water (or Budweiser). Their buttons saying, "Kiss Me, I'm Irish," but their driver's licenses saying, "Arrest me, I'm 19." Also: "My name is Antonio DiCenzo." And consider this, ye sons of Hibernia: Guinness may be the finest liquid known to man but it's about as Irish as Shaquille O'Neal or John Kerry. It's owned by the British firm Diageo, which makes the brew in Dublin, just as Honda makes cars in Ohio. So when you bewail British oppression, please note that with each pint you are funding perfidious Albion, which is probably hoping to use the profits to steal all your potatoes again the next time you take your eye off them.

"Danny Boy" isn't Irish either - it was written by an English lawyer who never set foot in Ireland. Nor is corned beef and cabbage, nor indeed, was St. Patrick himself, a citizen of Roman Britain who was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave.

Let's review : a holiday named after a Brit inspires people to drink British beer while singing a British song. It's almost enough to make you want to plunge into the more desolate parts of "Moondance" or "Astral Weeks." Except - zing! - Van Morrison is British too. So what exactly is the point of St. Patrick's Day? Though March 17 has about the same chance of being dubbed a national holiday as Eliot Spitzer does of getting a "World's Greatest Dad" T-shirt for Father's Day, formalizing it would would completely miss the point. What would be the fun in cutting school or blowing off work?

St. Patrick's Day is about slipping the leash of authority and running madly through the streets with your tongue hanging out. It's fine with me if everyone has a little Irish in them. Just keep it inside you instead of letting it out. It makes my shoes stick to the sidewalk.

Sir D

Aye! Sir H

Happy After St. Patrick's Day

Not that I need it this morning, but I did discover an interesting post-St. Patrick’s day web site some of you might be interested in: www.hangover.net

It’s about as much fun as the first 6 beers of the night and a whole lot more memorable than that last 6 of the night.

In the top 10 Cures suggested by readers (note: these are opinions from another web site and not the opinion of this web site or its sponsors -- not that we any) you’ll find a couple of good suggestions, including:

• 500-1000 mgs aspirin, a re-hydrating sports drink like Gatorade, and one 25 mg Dramamine (Dimenhydrinate) tablet which will drive vertigo, nausea, and Satan himself from yer gulliver.

• 
  Lots of fresh home made orange juice (usually 3 oranges and 1 lemon) then a nice long shower and then lots of sex :)
  
  

• Excedrin Migraine. It’s got a little bit of caffeine, pain reliever and anti-nausea medicine.
  
  

• A banana as they contain potassium which is guaranteed to revitalise your body after a heavy session.
  
  

• Try Pedialite Popsicles. It’s easier to keep the ice down when you are feeling sick and it's nice and cold to help your pounding head.

• Premium P.M.S. pills work within 20-25 minutes. They cure a headache, nausea, diarrhea, and light headedness. I'm not sure what it will do to the guys, but it works wonders for women.
  
  

In Finland, many people say that taking a nice, long and hot sauna session kicks the H.O away." Follow up with a massage and spa.

There are tons of other suggestions on www.hangover.net along with fun graphics and just plain silly stuff. Enjoy!

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

Celtic Blessing

Bless the Irish, because they don't know what they want but are willing to die for it anyway.

Bless the Scots, because they pray for themselves and on their neighbors.

Bless the English, because they think they are self-made people and that relieves God of a terrible burden.

Sir Hook "the English" of Warrick

St. Patrick's Day in Haiti

What better way to celebrate the fact that you're not really Irish on St. Patrick's Day than wearing an Irish Drinking Team T-Shirt while jamming with a local band on the beach for money in Haiti?! After all, St. Patrick's Day has truly become a cross cultural event. Once a sacred Catholic Feast Day, now it's claimed by millions of people, including offspring of those who suppressed the Irish, former slaves and people like me who need an excuse to PARTY! Oh well, celebrate your own way because that's the Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale way! Now, back to my rhythm sticks, this Creole-Caribbean, French-Irish jig has got me going jiggy with it!

Sir Hook O'Warrick

Generosity is Grace in Action

What better way to celebrate Palm Sunday than under the Palms?! Now, I will give you that some people would be VERY AFRAID of such an expression of generosity; however, I do believe that it's true...When you smile, the whole world smiles at you. This is the source energy of generosity; which, I have discovered can become a much larger spiritual bank roll when applied without any strings attached. Generosity is motivated out of Love. Perhaps the love to feel better about yourself, the love to make someone else feel better, the love to have fun, the love to see other's have fun. No matter how you slice and dice it...LOVE is at the center of true generosity. It's an action. It's the face of the divine in your smile, your laugh, your handing me a coconut pain killer on the beach while drooling on yourself! Generosity is God's Face in mine and His Grace in my Action!

I recently was the recipient of such an action at the Ocean Club in Columbus, Ohio. Preferring to write in my Moleskine while eating at the bar, I almost forgot how to Endeavor to Engage. Fortunately for me, my bar mate, Jim, started to comment about how he wished he could write in a journal. That began our conversation about the Knights, journaling, life, spirituality, etc. A very pleasant and fun exchange. When Jim left and I returned to my journal, I decided I needed to pay and move on. Well, Jim gave me a lesson in Generosity and had paid for my entire meal and two very expensive glasses of outstanding wine without saying a word! I was humbled and deeply moved.

So...SPREAD THE LOVE and for God's sake His generosity!

Sir Hook "The Generous" of Warrick

Beware of...Idus Martiae!

In the Roman calendar, the term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of May, July, October, and of course, March (the 13th day of the other months).

In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caeser was assassinated, in 44 BC, the story of which was famously retold in William Shakesbeer, I mean, Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. A soothsayer (you've got to love that word) relates to Caesar "Beware of the ides of March" warning of his impending death. So, the term has come to be used as a metaphor for impending doom.

Doom? Here's some good news: With a little creativity the Ides of March can be made into a very MERRY event.

How to celebrate the Ides of March? Check out this event from the Beeradvocate web site:


As part of Philadelphia Beer Week, join us on the Ides of March for an evening of Shakesbeer with some Modern Day Bards of Beer. "The world's mine oyster stout".

To quote Shakesbeer, "A quart of ale is a dish for a king". Modern Day Bards of Beer from six breweries, Flying Fish, Iron Hill, Sly Fox, Southampton, Troegs, and Yards will treat you royally, with beer fit for a king. And we'll have handmade beer crowns.

"What's in a name? That which we call a beer
By any other name would taste as sweet."

"Get thee to a brew'ry" Among Modern Day Bards of Beer joining us will be Spenser Neibur from Southampton, Suzy Woods from Sly Fox, Chris LaPierre from Iron Hill, Casey Hughes from Flying Fish, Steve "Red Steve" Mashington from Yards, and more.

"Is this a lager which I see before me..."

"Two beers or not two beers, that is the question". Timed to begin after the end of the Michael Jackson Tasting, this will be a fun way to close up Philadelphia Beer Week. "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." 9pm - ?

Think, Drink, and (erasing all doom) Be Merry!


Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

Endeavor to Engage

The Great Dance of Time, a movement I call Endeavor to Engage. I used to have this statement on my business cards a few years ago. It was there to remind me that is my purpose here. To Endeavor to Engage not only the events I found myself in, the people I was placed before, but more importantly, myself and my Spiritual Journey.

Spending a lifetime learning how to Endeavor to Engage has filled my life with many blessings. If I hadn't of followed the urge to crack a joke in the middle of an elevator in Jamaica I would have never met my wife and soul mate. If I had never been open to those around me then I wouldn't have the circle of friends who continue to inspire and motivate me to this day. A shining example is how Sir Bowie and myself continued to push the boundaries since we met over 25 years ago. Or, how sharing a Pint and a Vision with Sir Dayvd of Oxfordshire in McGrath's last year would lead to the Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale to become the reality we are today. In that same pub I met Lady Flo of McClay, who was the first to Endeavor to Engage and now our personal and professional lives are both the better for it! It's an often over used phrase, but the least understood....Just reach out and touch someone...Endeavor to Engage! It will lead to my newest revelation to be continued tomorrow...Generosity is Grace in Action!

Engage!
Sir Hook of Warrick

Sir Hook and His Easton Entourage

Fabled Fado's finds Sir Hook inducting two of our latest, but by far not the least, members of the Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale. Give a hearty greeting to Lady Bex of Idlewood and Sir Doc of Eakin. Lady Bex is an Xceptional member of the fairer seX, who embraced the KMSA vision on an earlier journey of this errant Knight to Columbus, Ohio. Sir Doc shares a love of John Stewart, Stephen Cobert and historical docu-dramas with Sir Hook, making him more than a worthy addition to our noble clan. Along with general merriment and liberal libations, we particullary enjoyed experiementing with different pronounciations of Pog Mo Thorin, which is Irish for "Kiss My Ass"! Lady Bex won the competition with her difinative female head-bobbing emphasis, not unlike Aretha Franklin's waitress character in the Blues Brothers. Sir Doc and myself will vouch for Lady Bex that she also did not take us up on the offer!

Pog Mo Thorin!
Sir Hook of Warrick

Sipping on an empty glass

This is a Sir Jack (Kerouac) of America follow-up:

After I read Sir Davyd’s essay on Jack Kerouac, I asked my daughter – a senior in high school and an aspiring writer – if she has heard of Sir Jack.

“Of course! He’s so cool. I have a couple of his books if you’d like to read them.”

(Good job Lady Lucy)

One poem titled A PUN FOR AL GELPI ends with the line

You’re really sipping

When your glass

Is always empty.

What do you think that means? Is it “wanting” and “desire” for something that is not there or we can’t attain?

Poetry. Questions. I write my own poetry and wonder what it means. Am I mad?

I think that Sir Jack has given all Knights permission to be mad:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”

Thank you Sir Jack of America.

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

Sir Jack of America

If everything has gone to timetable, and Sir Hook and Sir Bowie have once again given me kind space on the KMSA blog, then the morning tides will have raised the capes of Delaware and I will have once again waded ashore, from the UK, into the New World, and will be sat in The White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village NY on the 12th of March raising a glass of beer, to celebrate the birthday, and hopefully my proposed Honorary KMSA status, of, who I consider to be America's greatest example of the spirit of the KMSA, Jack Kerouac.

Kerouac's plain speak manner of writing prose, as well as his nearly long-form haiku style of poetry has inspired countless modern neo-beat writers and artists, amongst them myself, and while I’m not going to use this space to discuss the full merits of his character and life, what I have distilled from everything he did, selfish or otherwise, is that Jack was always true to himself, and that from experience I know how hard it is to pin down the free floating emotional thistledown that everyone has, as everyday thoughts, into a readable and ultimately saleable form. Methods or manner aside, he accomplished this, where others simply just talk about doing it.

Kerouac's search for a life worth living in the 1950's led him to travel, not only across North America but throughout the world, during which he wrote constantly, carrying notebooks with him everywhere, always pictured with the thick square journals tucked in the breast pockets of his workaday shirts.

Letters to friends and family members tended to be long and rambling, including great detail about his daily life and thoughts. He wrote about the deeper meaning of society and the world as he saw it, he explored too his own spiritual values, moving from Catholicism to Buddhism and back, and while his fame would come as an unmanageable surge that would ultimately be his undoing, his writing would eventually be credited as a reluctant catalyst for the 1960's counterculture. He opened the door to that new decade and looking inside, decided it wasn't for him, and left it to others to trample through and stand on the shoulders of giants.

Only now in this fast moving computer age of blogs and Facebook, can people begin to relate to how fast his mind moved, and how the restrictions of the Typewriter even forced him to invent an almost computer-like "Scrolling" method of working, years ahead of what we now take for granted as we ourselves write. Jack would have been in his holy element with email and Blackberry’s.

And so as I set out once again, On the Road, on the eastern seaboard of the US, and raise another glass to Sir Jack of America from in one of his favorite bars, I leave you with the table he set down specifically about his Spontaneous Prose method, a list of thirty "essentials." which could just as easily be the mantra of Bloggers all over the world today:

1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never to get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumb saint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old tea head of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monologue
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in Language Sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in your morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of your experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see your exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You're a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven

We honor Jack Kerouac, Sir Jack of America : Born 12th March 1922.

Sir Dayvd of Oxfordshire

He's in the Army Now

My heir, Sir Ryan of Warrick, has officially sworn into the United States Army today. This makes him a noble Knight of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale. Ryan hails from a long line of warrior ancestors starting with the Slattery's in Ireland and the Wells clan of England. Both of his grandfather's served in WWII, his great grandfather served in WWI and his great-great grandfather was a Ruff Rider with Teddy Roosevelt in the Spanish American War. We pray that his mind and hand be steady in battle and that his warrior soul will also embrace the poetry within. Serve well my son.

In honor and pride!
Sir Hook of Warrick

This is A Test of the Freudian Sensory System

OK, maybe I'm just crazy, but I have been deeply puzzled and amused by this painting on the ceiling of my Physical Therapy place. I took this picture while lying on my back with my iPhone to share in this wonder! I call it a Test of the Freudian Sensory System. In it's purest form, as intended by the unsuspecting artist, it's Garfield the Cat. But, upon further inspection, dare I say, first reaction, it becomes much more. What do you see? My honest first impression was a faceless woman who's breasts are smiling at me! The female therapist had never considered this and her first impression afterwards was an uncircumcised penis with smiling balls. Obviously there is some Pussy in this Cat! So, stare at it awhile until you're uncomfortable. Perhaps you'll see a part of you that only exists in the darkness of your own mind?

Sir Hook "the Therapist" of Warrick

Sunday's Word: LOVE

LOVE
A Word
A Feeling
A Way to live

LOVE
Learning to Accept
What I Can't Understand
A Moment
A Place
Where Time Stands Still

LOVE
A Missing Piece
Revealed
Inside My Heart
Beating
Yearning
To Be Free
To Be Me
To Be


Sir Hook of Warrick

Reason to Toast: International Women's Day

Ah, the beauty of women in their glorious diversity! From sinner to saint, all within the same gorgeous frame, our ladies are so much more expressive than us iron headed warriors. Well, usually that is!


















Today is International Women's Day. A day to celebrate birth canals, sexual fantasies, nurturing and unilateral despair, all wrapped in one intriguing and sensuous flesh package.









It's like a great Chef Salad in which we are the fork trying to decide which morsel is next. Sir Dayvd of Oxfordshire is found of saying, "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beer Holder!"



To that I say...CHEERS!

Sir Hook "the Salad Master" of Warrick

A Hero Chooses This Humble Knight

Since reading the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, I have become a great fan of his writing, philosophy and theology. Feeling like a band of brothers, even though I haven't met him. Well, that is directly. I met the son of one of Paulo's good friends from Brazil one night while journaling in my Moleskine at Texas De Brazil in Dallas. My journaling was about reading the Alchemist as applied to my life at the time. We had also recently launched the Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale, partly in honor of Coelho's Warriors of Light, of which I'm a recipient of a monthly newsletter. Long story short in Dallas, we knighted one our first Knights of Moleskine, Spirit and Ale in that bar, Sir Robert of Rio, as well as one of our first Ladies, Lady Jasmine of Castillo.

Sir Bowie gave me The Witch of Portobello to read during my recovery from my broken back. It is a very interesting book told in narrative style of all the people who were influenced by Athena, the Witch of Portobello. Recently a contest was started by Paulo and HP to bring his characters to life in videos. There are 14 characters in the book and they would choose 200 artists to bring each character to life. This humble Knight has been chosen to do the character of a Priest torn between his love of the true spiritual life and the obligations to serve the rules of the Catholic Church. This conflict comes to a tipping point with the character Athena. His name is Father Giancarlo Fontana. So, wish this modern version of a Canterbury Tale artist on his journey.

Sir Hook "the Witch" of Warrick