Salutations from The Handsome Family as we wander in a
field of clouds unsure of what is real and what is dream....Herein find
points to ponder and the latest schedule for The Handsome Family...
A Strangely Inspirational tale of ....PHANTOM
TOUCH....
When
people lose a flesh-and-blood limb, they do not usually lose the sense of its
presence. It feels as if it is really there, even though it is no longer
materially real. What kind of reality does the phantom have? In addition to a
sense of its shape, position, and movement, amputees generally experience
various feelings within the missing limb, such as itching, warmth, and
twisting. Phantom limbs can generally be moved at will, and they also move in
coordination with the rest of the body. Indeed, they are felt to be part of the
body....
One of the early theories of phantoms was that they were a kind of memory. It
was therefore assumed that they would be absent from people born without a limb
(aplasia), for example as a result of their mother having taken thalidomide, a
now-banned tranquilizer, during pregnancy. Not all people born without a limb
seem to have phantoms, but between 10 and 20 percent do! Some born without
hands experience the presence of fingers, which can be bent. Others born with
shortened arms feel their arms to be longer than they really are. For example,
a man whose right forearm was almost completely missing, with his hand attached
to his elbow, subjectively felt the defective arm to be as long as his normal
one. Phantoms are also experienced by paraplegics, who have a broken spinal
cord. Sufferers are partially paralyzed, with no feeling or control of the body
below the break. Nevertheless, they often experience phantom legs and other
organs, including phantom genitals....
One of the fundamental principles of sympathetic magic, expressed concisely by
the anthropologist James Frazer is as follows: "Things which have once
been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance
after the physical contact has been severed." One of the most intriguing
features of quantum theory is that the principle of nonlocality--as expressed
in the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and Bell's Theorem--makes much the same
point about physical processes in the subatomic realm...
Here is a story, of a man who had a finger amputated and preserved in a jar:
"The man was OK for several years. Then he went back to his doctor, who
had amputated his finger, complaining of a feeling of extreme cold in the
missing finger. The doctor wanted to know where the jar with the missing finger
was. The man told him it was in his mother's heated basement where it had
always been. The doctor told the man to call his mother and check the jar. The
mother didn't want to but did and found a broken basement window a few inches
from the jar. As soon as the finger was warmed up the pain left."
---Excerpted from Rupert Sheldrake's 1995 book "Seven Experiments That
Could Change the World."
for further information about Rupert Sheldrake visit: http://www.sheldrake.org/
Thanks to Stuart Whomsley for pointing this website out to us.
The Handsome Family... Comings & Goings:
January-February, 2004...
1/20—Tucson
Az, The Hotel Congress. We’re the middle band between Canyon and Jay Farrar
call
520-622-8848 for more info.
1/22—San Diego, CA, The Casbah, with Richard Buckner and the Buttless Chaps,
619-232-4355
for more info.
1/23—Los Angeles, CA, The Brown Derby, with The Bedroom Walls and The Buttless
Chaps
213-663-8979
for more info.
1/24 AND 1/25—San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill, with Richard Buckner and
The Buttless Chaps
call
415-621-4455 for more info.
1/27—Eugene, OR, WOW Hall with The Buttless Chaps
541-687-2746
for more info.
1/28—Portland, OR, Dante’s with The Buttless Chaps
503-226-6630
for more info.
1/30—Seattle, WA, The Tractor Tavern, with The Buttless Chaps and Scott
McCaughey
for
more info. call 206-789-4250
1/31—Vancouver, Canada, Richard’s on Richards with The Buttless Chaps
for
more info. call 604-683-4233
2/4—Salt Lake City, UT, Liquid Joe’s
for more
info. call 801-467-5637
2/6—Denver, CO, Climax Lounge with Red Cloud and Porlolo
for more info. call
303.292.5483
April-May, 2004...
More
wandering through Europe. Definite Dates So Far---
April 27, 28, Bloomsbury Theatre, London a co-headlining show with The
Willard Grant Conspiracy. Running order to be determined with knife throwing
contest just prior to each show.
May 1-- “Blues and Roots Festival,” Bergen, Norway.
May 22-23-- “Came So Far For Beauty” two nights of the songs of Leonard
Cohen as part of the Brighton Festival, Brighton Dome, UK.
June and Beyond...
Vague
plans to finally venture north into some of Canada (August--Edmonton Folk
Festival) also maybe some forays east and, darn it, one of these days,
Australia.
New Year’s
Resolutions:
VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.handsomefamily.com
if
you’d like to purchase anything handsome family related. New on our merchandise
page...
All new amps from Greg Hansen. Thanks to everyone who snatched up the last batch.
Greg is a visionary in the amp department – just take a peek at those
intriguing designs.