on the cosmic eternity party line

polish villages and elder (sambucus nigra); practical uses and folk beliefs:

• in polish folk medicine, leaves, berries, and flowers alike were used in multiple ways - for humans but for animals as well. for example, pigs suffering from erysipelas would be treated with compresses from elder leaves.

• for humans, a plethora of illnesses would be treated with elder: cough, stomach and bladder issues, joint pain, and even insomnia, asthma, and various emotional or psychological states. for example, “quiet children,” believed to be charmed, would be given elder infusions.

• the berries were also used to make soup: they’d be boiled with sugar and cream and served with potatoes. variations of this soup are still popular today in some places.

• it was recorded in some villages that women would make the ink required for school from elder; it was also used to make multiple types of toys and small instruments for children, such as popguns, whistles and folk pipes.

• ash from the elder would be poured over spots believed to bear the marks of devil activity as a way to cleanse them.

• in some villages it was believed that an elder growing by the house or the barn will protect it from witches and from lighting, or bring good luck to the household.

• you can sleep safely in the shade of the elder as snakes and worms and insects and all other crawling creatures will not dare go near it.

• while in many villages elder was believed to protect one from evil (most notably witches and devils) in many others it was believed to be demonic or evil in nature; it was called “evil” or “cursed” and believed to have evil spirits, illnesses, or devil(s) within.

• due to the belief that devil - or devils - reside between the roots of the elder, it was forbidden to cut it down or uproot it. the fear was that the evil would take revenge after such an act, or the place would be haunted, or bad luck and even death would fall upon the one who destroyed the tree.

• if an elder growing by the water was cut, the water itself would become poisonous. similarly, the consequences of ingesting raw and unripe elderberries were attributed to the influence of the evil spirit within it.

Rest in Peace, Tony.

I'll always remember your smile.

They're smart fuckin birds, I believe in them

BISEXUALS GROW FROM THE GROUND

Just like the anti-Vietnam War protest songs that we associate with the 1960s, or the early nihilism that spawned punk music in the 1970s. But he didn’t *sound* like a punk anarchist; he sounded like a country rock singer. When he released Born in the U.S.A. people completely misinterpreted (or possibly ignored) the lyrics in favor of the tone of the music.

Politicians used his music to promote their ‘Murica Yes! brand, and he had to literally explain that that was not what he was about. He’s over here asking when we’re going to have jobs and heathcare, not stanning the politicians who weren’t helping the people.

It was also kind of a big deal that he had an integrated band, because even as late as the 1980s music was still kind of segregated and MTV was straight up racist. They refused to play and promote black artists and then claimed that were no black artists in the first place. Michael Jackson’s record company had to threaten a boycott of their white artists to get MTV to play his Thriller video.

Plus, the first black/white interracial kiss on TV was in 1968 (OG Star Trek). Also it took us until the 70s to get sympathetic gay characters on screen, and the 90s to get gay characters to kiss onscreen. And all of those firsts were met with outrage.

So keep that in mind when you see Bruce Springsteen not just playing with an interracial band, but engaging in an interracial, gay kiss on stage repeatedly.

https://www.gq.com/story/this-fucked-me-up-bruce-springsteen-singing-about-clarence-clemons

It was a story where… we remade the city. We remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship and our love for one another wouldn’t have been such an exceptional thing. - Bruce Springsteen

It wasn’t about showmanship or rejecting bigots or anything it was just. Damn right that was one of the loves of his life and damn right he was going to kiss him onstage

It gets me a little that Bruce has had a divorce, that he’s been married twice, but he loved Clarence for the rest of Clarence’s life and will presumably love him the rest of his own

Clemons said in one interview. “Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for.” In another version of the story, Clemons says “He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we fell in love.”

I’m having some emotions about it!

“He was elemental in my life,“ Springsteen adds, “and losing him was like losing the rain.”

Not just! I love you pure and deep and true but! I am going to love you like that in front of the whole damn world!

We have fewer narratives about taking risks and making statements for platonic love rather than romantic and supposedly it would be easier to downplay this onstage than romance and! They refused! They fucking refused! In front of hundreds of thousands of people, over the course of years! In the spotlight, in word and deed, I love you!

I mean, will you LOOK at this:

This was the pic chosen for the album cover from an extensive photoshoot, too. A few others: