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Astrology Fun Stuff

Free Will Astrology: Week of 09/28/23

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Author Diane Ackerman says it’s inevitable that each of us sometimes “looks clumsy or gets dirty or asks stupid questions or reveals our ignorance or says the wrong thing.” Knowing how often I do those things, I’m extremely tolerant of everyone I meet. I’m compassionate, not judgmental, when I see people who “try too hard, are awkward, care for one another too deeply, or are too open to experience.” I myself commit such acts, so I’d be foolish to criticize them in others. During the coming weeks, Aries, you will generate good fortune for yourself if you suspend all disparagement. Yes, be accepting, tolerant, and forgiving — but go even further. Be downright welcoming and amiable. Love the human comedy exactly as it is.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus comedian Kevin James confesses, “I discovered I scream the same way whether I’m about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.” Many of us could make a similar admission. The good news, Taurus, is that your anxieties in the coming weeks will be the “piece of seaweed” variety, not the great white shark. Go ahead and scream if you need to — hey, we all need to unleash a boisterous yelp or howl now and then — but then relax.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Here are famous people with whom I have had personal connections: actor Marisa Tomei, rockstar Courtney Love, filmmaker Miranda July, playwright David Mamet, actor William Macy, philosopher Robert Anton Wilson, rockstar Paul Kantor, rock impresario Bill Graham, and author Clare Cavanagh. What? You never heard of Clare Cavanagh? She is the brilliant and renowned translator of Nobel Prize Laureate poet Wisława Szymborska and the authorized biographer of Nobel Prize Laureate author Czesław Miłosz. As much as I appreciate the other celebrities I named, I am most enamored of Cavanagh’s work. As a Gemini, she expresses your sign’s highest potential: the ability to wield beautiful language to communicate soulful truths. I suggest you make her your inspirational role model for now. It’s time to dazzle and persuade and entertain and beguile with your words.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I cheer you on when you identify what you want. I exult when you devise smart plans to seek what you want, and I celebrate when you go off in high spirits to obtain and enjoy what you want. I am gleeful when you aggressively create the life you envision for yourself, and I do everything in my power to help you manifest it. But now and then, like now, I share Cancerian author Franz Kafka’s perspective. He said this: “You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Let’s talk about changing your mind. In some quarters, that’s seen as weak, even embarrassing. But I regard it as a noble necessity, and I recommend you consider it in the near future. Here are four guiding thoughts. 1. “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything” — George Bernard Shaw. 2. “Only the strongest people have the pluck to change their minds, and say so, if they see they have been wrong in their ideas” — Enid Blyton. 3. “Sometimes, being true to yourself means changing your mind. Self changes, and you follow” — Vera Nazarian. 4. “The willingness to change one’s mind in the light of new evidence is a sign of rationality, not weakness” — Stuart Sutherland.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “The soul moves in circles,” psychologist James Hillman told us. “Hence our lives are not moving straight ahead; instead, hovering, wavering, returning, renewing, repeating.” In recent months, Virgo, your soul’s destiny has been intensely characterized by swerves and swoops. And I believe the rollicking motion will continue for many months. Is that bad or good? Mostly good — especially if you welcome its poetry and beauty. The more you learn to love the spiral dance, the more delightful the dance will be.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): If you have ever contemplated launching a career as a spy, the coming months will be a favorable time to do so. Likewise if you have considered getting trained as a detective, investigative journalist, scientific researcher, or private eye. Your affinity for getting to the bottom of the truth will be at a peak, and so will your discerning curiosity. You will be able to dig up secrets no one else has discovered. You will have an extraordinary knack for homing in on the heart of every matter. Start now to make maximum use of your superpowers!

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Have you been sensing a phantom itch that’s impossible to scratch? Are you feeling less like your real self lately and more like an AI version of yourself? Has your heart been experiencing a prickly tickle? If so, I advise you not to worry. These phenomena have a different meaning from the implications you may fear. I suspect they are signs you will soon undertake the equivalent of what snakes do: molting their skins to make way for a fresh layer. This is a good thing! Afterward, you will feel fresh and new.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): According to legend, fifth-century Pope Leo I convinced the conquering army of Attila the Hun to refrain from launching a full-scale invasion of Italy. There may have been other reasons in addition to Leo’s persuasiveness. For example, some evidence suggests Attila’s troops were superstitious because a previous marauder died soon after attacking Rome. But historians agree that Pope Leo was a potent leader whose words carried great authority. You, Sagittarius, won’t need to be quite as fervently compelling as the ancient pope in the coming weeks. But you will have an enhanced ability to influence and entice people. I hope you use your powers for good!

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Singer-songwriter Joan Baez has the longevity and endurance typical of many Capricorns. Her last album in 2018 was released 59 years after her career began. An article in The New Yorker describes her style as “elegant and fierce, defiant and maternal.” It also noted that though she is mostly retired from music, she is “making poignant and unpredictable art,” creating weird, hilarious line drawings with her non-dominant hand. I propose we make Baez your inspirational role model. May she inspire you to be elegant and fierce, bold and compassionate, as you deepen and refine your excellence in the work you’ve been tenaciously plying for a long time. For extra credit, add some unexpected new flair to your game.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian author and activist Mary Frances Berry has won numerous awards for her service on behalf of racial justice. One accomplishment: She was instrumental in raising global awareness of South Africa’s apartheid system, helping to end its gross injustice. “The time when you need to do something,” she writes, “is when no one else is willing to do it, when people are saying it can’t be done.” You are now in a phase when that motto will serve you well, Aquarius.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I invite you to spend quality time gazing into the darkness. I mean that literally and figuratively. Get started by turning off the lights at night and staring, with your eyes open, into the space in front of you. After a while, you may see flashes of light. While these might be your optical nerves trying to fill in the blanks, they could also be bright spirit messages arriving from out of the void. Something similar could happen on a metaphorical level, too. As you explore parts of your psyche and your life that are opaque and unknown, you will be visited by luminous revelations.

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Music Music Features

Stone Crush: New Collection of Modern Memphis Soul Released

“I knew from the beginning that you were the one for me,” are the first words heard on “Stone Crush on You,” the opening and title track of the new collection Stone Crush: Memphis Modern Soul 1977-1987, out April 3rd from Light in the Attic Records. The opening track, a more than 5-minute-long funky dance groove by C.W. Sykes, a.k.a. “The Singing Dentist,” makes for the ideal introduction to the collection. Its protracted groove sets the mood for Stone Crush, a collection of songs united by their status as once-overlooked passion projects, many of them extended dance grooves.

Courtesy Benjamin Jimerson Phillips

Captain Fantastic

And how passionate were these performers? Well, Sykes certainly earned his nickname. When the “Singing Dentist” wasn’t crooning over slide guitars and percussive riffs, he used to trade dental work for studio time.

Compiled by Memphis collectors and DJs Daniel Mathis and Chad Weekley, Stone Crush takes as its focus the soul and funk songs produced in the Bluff City after the closure of Stax. Though the biggest name in town had disappeared, Memphis had no shortage of musicians, smaller recording studios, and dreamers willing to spend their time and money chasing a hit.

A quick flip through the full-color booklet that accompanies the collection reveals some familiar Bluff City recording spots. Some tracks were recorded or mixed at Ardent. The collection sports extensive liner notes by Memphis-based Grammy Award-winning writer and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Gordon (author of the fantastic collection Memphis Rent Party), and artist interviews and bios from Memphis curator, writer, and sometimes Flyer contributor Andria Lisle. To further cement the Memphis look, the cover art and booklet paintings are by the late Memphis muralist and sign painter James “Brick” Brigance.

Courtesy Bobby Manuel

Libra

The songs that make up Stone Crush make the definitive soundtrack to cutting class to soak up the sun in Overton Park or spending Saturday night skating backwards under the lights of SkateLand. They’re fun, funky, and dotted with connections to the Memphis music scene. “Slice of Heaven” offers a slice of pure, dreamy, good-vibrations funk by Cato Walker, whose father’s gig as B.B. King’s driver got him an in. “Convict Me,” by The Bar-Kays’ former costume maker, Libra, is slinky and sexy, with a bassline that begs listeners to move their bodies.

To be fair, though, most of the songs on Stone Crush are made to get listeners grooving. Frankie Alexander’s “No Seat Dancin'” could just as easily have been the title track for the collection. When Alexander sings, “We gotta keep on dancing, girl … Get up from your seat. Get up on your feet,” he may as well be delivering a mantra. “(I’m) Choosing You” by Magic Morris, with its choppy guitar, big bass riffs, and synth accents, clocks in at more than 6 minutes and 58 seconds long. It’s an extended jam, fine-tuned to be an irresistible call to the dance floor.

Sir Henry Ivy’s “He Left You Standing There” begins with piano and a tight drum beat, lending it a closer link to the traditional Memphis sound. “You Mean Everything to Me” by Sweet Pearl may boast the most Stax-inflected soul delivery on the compilation. On the stranger side of the spectrum, “The Doctor” by L.A. starts with a bass riff and is followed up with almost new wave keyboards.

Coming just in time for spring, Stone Crush offers a deep dive into the post-Stax world of Memphis soul. And though these songs may not be as familiar to listeners, they offer a way into a world that is just as passionate, fun, and danceable.

The new collection Stone Crush: Memphis Modern Soul 1977-1987 will be released by Light in the Attic Records on Friday, April 3rd. The collection will be available in two-LP + 7″, two-LP, CD, and digital formats.