Category: Plants and the Emerald Kingdom

I also wanted to Make Love

Post author By julien
Post date March 21, 2014
No Comments on I also wanted to Make Love

I like this song because it is a question song, and I really like questions. I like people who ask questions, and I love asking them myself. I’ve been trying to cut back though, because it can get to the point where I only ask questions and never make any statements at all. James (who may be biased because he hates questions and comes from a culture where they are neither asked nor answered) has also warned me that constantly asking questions could make me seem unintelligent.

But for some reason, appearing unintelligent has never bothered me. At times, it has been a source of joy, like in school, where through a campaign of routinely saying the dumbest things I could think of, I was able to change my horrible nickname “Brain,” to the more palatable “Brainless.” Being Brainless was fun. Brain had to stick to the program, saying things others could understand and appreciate, but Brainless wasn’t confined to those narrow gray crevices. She was free to explore, to soar to the clouds, to give the right answer OR the wrong one, if the spirit moved her.

Still, freedom can lead to exhilaration, and sometimes spin into intoxication and mania. One thing I have learned to appreciate about intelligence, even feigned intelligence, is its sobering and grounding aspects.

Download MP3: I Also Wanted to Make Love

Tags brain, brainless, crevices, gray, i also wanted to make love, intelligence, quetions, school

Los Angeles Music & Songs Plants and the Emerald Kingdom

Ride You

I wrote this song while living in L.A, soon after I started playing guitar and singing. While writing it, I was visualizing a pink triangle riding a green rectangle into outer space. Maybe it is a song about feeling intimidated moving through a sphere (the music scene) where everyone else had far more skill and experience than me, but where I still felt I had something to offer.

After performing this, a male friend of mine was driving me home and took off his shirt so I could “feel his arms. ” Gross. In real life, I have no urge to touch miscellaneous arms. In dreams though, nakedness symbolizes vulnerability and the exposure of one’s true self.

Sometimes skill is a form of clothing- with enough skill a person can seem very intelligent saying nothing.

Download MP3: Ride You

Tags arms, clothes, green rectangle, horses, nakedness, ride you, vulnerability

Minerals, Mountains, Crystals, Ice, and White Music & Songs New Hampshire Plants and the Emerald Kingdom Uncategorized

We Can Mate with Rabbits

I feel like I should apologize to the whole world for posting up so many paintings of people who aren’t wearing clothes. I can understand why people don’t like pictures of naked people, because generally I don’t like them myself.

Astrology believes that, on average, half of a person’s life is what they make of it, and the other half is in the control of outside forces. The exact ratio, however, varies from person to person. For some people, the majority of their life is a reflection of the choices they have made. For others, the majority of their life was completely outside of their control. Sometimes I feel that I fall slightly into the latter group.

So, although I don’t wish to tell the story of WHY I ended up painting naked people, I will say this- that I don’t generally enjoy being surrounded by nakedness, BUT once you have begun to paint naked people, it is only a matter of time before they no longer seem naked to you, and they just start to seem like people. Their bodies become a symbolic extension of their inner life and the workings of their minds. And once you reach this point, you have to be CAREFUL- because the figures that have become so harmless and normal in your own mind, still have the power to trip off ideas of perversity and lewdness in other people.

So, in closing, I would like to say that although nakedness is frequently interpreted as a symbol of moral slackness and crudity, sometimes people are naked just because there are no more clothes to wear.

Download MP3: We Can Mate with Rabbits

Tags astrology, clothes, morality, nakedness, perversity

Los Angeles Music & Songs Plants and the Emerald Kingdom

3 Feather Man

I wrote this song while shopping for nail polish, and didn’t think much about its meaning at the time- it was just a song about three feathers- one red, one yellow, and one green. It wasn’t until I had performed it and a man came up to me and asked “Was three feather man a naughty boy?” that the meaning and story line of the song clicked into my mind. Download MP3: 3 Feather Man

Tags meaning, nail polish, three feather man

Kentucky Music & Songs Plants and the Emerald Kingdom Red, Soldiers, & Fire

Cranberry Harvest

I wrote this song after being inspired by a story about cranberries in Martha Stewart’s magazine. My love and respect for cranberries has only grown over time- they are such an unique fruit- equal parts passion and stoicism. If I had to choose one word to describe them, it would be resolute.

In honor of cranberries, here is my own cranberry sauce recipe- more delicious than ice cream, and as beautiful as a jewel. I like to eat it hot and liquid, but for a more professional touch, allow it to solidify.

Julien Aklei stringing cranberries to make a cranberry chain. — Me, making a cranberry chain.

Julien’s Famous Cranberry Sauce

1 cup water

12 oz washed cranberries

1 cup sugar

some honey

some vanilla

Bring water to a boil- add cranberries, sugar, a splash of vanilla, and as much honey as you like. Return to a boil, then lower heat to medium and cook, stirring, for 11 minutes. Pour into a bowl and let cool.

Download MP3: Cranberry Harvest

Tags cranberries, cranberry harvest, cranberry sauce, Martha Stewart, recipe, resolute

Kentucky Music & Songs Plants and the Emerald Kingdom

Song

Post author By julien
Post date November 13, 2013
No Comments on Song

I wrote this song in Kentucky while visiting my parents for Christmas. I think in the back of my mind there were images of a school field trip where we were dropped off in the mountains and had to find our way back to the teachers using a map and compass.

But I like this song because it captures the conflicts I felt at the time, such as being weighed down by the past, but feeling pressured to move quickly into the future; and having my own mind, but wanting to see things the same way as others. And in general, the sense of groping my way through darkness and pain towards an unknown goal. Maybe that is how seeds feel until they finally reach the air.

Download MP3: Song