The Colonel
Martin Luther was a man who had one of his most profound religious revelations of his entire life while in the middle of a painful bowel movement. And he found this fact, in retrospect, to be so extraordinary, and so hilarious, that he never hesitated to tell this little tale to almost anyone who would listen when the mood struck him; and he especially enjoyed telling the tale in mixed company. He especially told the tale after putting a bunch of ale into himself. He was a man who enjoyed copious quantities of beer like most in his day. His sense of humor was so ribald, wild and infectious that he sometimes kept the folks around him in stitches for an entire evening. Then again, back then there was no television. And yet, we can still see that Martin Luther’s powers of humor were extraordinary and subversive. Just like Lenny Bruce.
Back then, messing around with THE LAW, which meant the Catholic Church, was not just something that could get you excommunicated, or even just exiled from the community. Dante, when he was banished from his hometown, was told: if we ever see your face around here again, mister, we will jump you and burn you alive publicly at the stake. It was a good enough reason for Dante to never see Florence, which he deeply loved, again. Back then, messing around with the law, i.e. The Church, meant that you might have your arms and legs cut off while you still lived. Then for good measure they would take your intestines out of your body and show them to you in case you were wondering what they looked like. And only then would they chop your head off and place it on a pike so they could put it on the corner to warn other ne’er-do-wells such as yourself. Martin Luther faced down the Catholic Church and condemned them in fiery and public terms for being a corrupt institution that cared nothing for anything at all except money, money, money. The way to win your eternal forgiveness back then was to make a little donation to the Catholic Church, who would then contact God on your behalf and make sure you were okay now with The Big Guy. They had forgotten what their great hero, Jesus, said about a rich man, heaven, a camel, and the eye of a needle. Luther spent an awful lot of time in hiding, and he escaped torture and execution because his wily nature and the truth of his position won out in the end.
In 2018 or ’19, Elina, Mary Ellen, and I saw Bob Dylan live on the campus of the University of Illinois Chicago at the small stadium there which was right across from the building where I had my office at the school for fifteen years. We were in the third row and the only thing we ever actually saw of Dylan himself was his wild and messy hair bobbing around above his electric piano, because of where we were in the crowd, because of how his piano was set up to block him, and because he hid behind his instrument the entire time with his head mostly bent down low and never once directly addressed the crowd, at all, except in song.
When he began to sing his song “Lenny Bruce,” from his 1981 Christian album Shot of Love, a sudden hush went over the entire audience, and it was obvious that more than just me in the crowd knew that this was a special and unusual moment. “Lenny Bruce” is one of Dylan’s least-known, truly great songs. The surprise performance he gave of it that night was almost heavenly, or at least as heavenly as it gets on this side of the Great Divide. Anyone who thinks Bob Dylan can’t sing was not there that evening, or is mentally sleeping.
“They said that he was sick / ’cause he didn’t play by the rules / He just showed the wise men of his day / to be nothing more than fools / They stamped him, and they labeled him / like they do with pants and shirts / He fought a war on a battlefield / where every victory hurts / Lenny Bruce was bad / He was the brother you never had.”
Dale Williams Barrigar (All images by DWB)
Saragun Springs 
Hello Dale
First I must compliment the Colonel for his wonderfully engaging presence. Your pictures are always first rate and there is always something especially forlorn with the trees at sunset (or was that sunrise?).
Martin Luther was brave. I’m surprised that he didn’t “turn up missing” because the church, especially way back when, had more than a bit of a Mafia ethos as well as that of law, war and anything that had to do with power and wealth.
Still, even though he was right, it all led to more pain and bloodshed, and there’s still a bit of that going on with the main parties that can be traced back through the centuries. The question “Will we ever learn?” is answered by “Yes.” We usually learn, but when we neglect to teach the people who weren’t born yet, the lesson unravels.
Thanks again for another thoughtful post.
Leila
LikeLike
Leila
Colonel sez thanks! That picture was used today at the request of Boo, based on the Lenny Bruce song line “He was the brother you never had.” Boo thought it would be ironic to use a picture of his bro in that context. Such is the wily nature of Siberians.
The sun picture is sunset in the Austin neighborhood in Chicago on the West Side about two miles from where I live. Many folks aren’t aware of how many large parks and green spaces the city of Chicago has within it (many). Not to mention an almost 30-mile lakefront, all of which is free-use public beach land available to all of the public no matter your station in life. In other words, it isn’t just for the rich folks and they can’t buy it up and put up their luxury dwellings and keep the rest of us out. All 30 miles of lakefront beach (beautiful beyond words) are free and public. It was a rich guy who came up with the idea, and then he made sure it happened before he passed on. That was back when some rich folks sometimes thought about other people than themselves. And that kind of public policy and thinking also extends back to Martin L., who had lots of ideas of a similar variety. Another thing a lot of folks don’t know about Chicago is that its entire street grid is laid out based on the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg (and his writings were based on Heaven, he said), which is wild but true. There are a lot of visionaries in the world who no one’s ever heard of; but their work makes a difference.
Thank you!
Dale
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Dale
Big cities do have some beautiful areas. But money always comes to take them away. Seattle money squeezes the shoreline but there are parks like gasworks park and others that allow we peasants a view!
Good for Boo allowing Colonel some face time!
Leila
LikeLike
Dale, I was touched by your description of your response (and the audience’s response) to that past Dylan concert. I reckon you touched very strongly on something that many of us have felt through the power of music. It has certainly happened to me. Way back in 1967, my girlfriend and I went to a dance in Cambridge. It was a local band called Pink Floyd, still relatively unknown then. Syd Barratt was still the front man. Behind the band and spread right across the stage was a large plain sheet. It was my first experience (and I guess most of the audience’s first experience) of a light show. The combination of the band’s wonderfully original music and the strange, fluid images in the light show was wonderfully effective. Unforgettable. Indeed, perhaps it was too effective for a few people: I remember I saw one guy on the dancefloor on his hands and knees, banging his head on the floor. Thanks for bringing it all back to mind. bw mick
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another fine and informative essay, Dale. You managed to link Dylan, Bruce, and Martin Luther effectively, wrapped up nicely with your personal Dylan experience. Well done.
LikeLike