RIA, Nuclear Physics and Life

I’m calling the new album RIA.  I got this idea from a little movie I really like called “Tennis Anyone?” that came out about 2 years ago.  It’s a cool story about two friends who are trying to become successful actors, and ends up being about being true to yourself and what you really should be doing on this earth.  There’s a scene about half way through where one of the characters father has passed away and he’s telling a story about him.  How he would walk the beach every morning and once he got sick one day was having trouble breathing and shouted “RIA” which is air backwards.  It gave him a big boost of energy and he finished his walk.  Everyone on the beach eventually adopted this saying and would greet him with it everytime they saw him.  Ria!  

This got me thinking about other things too, like the power of words or sound.  In the movie “What the Bleep do we know?” there is a part about the effect of words on water.  When someone taped the word love or hate to a bottle of water, (or maybe they said the words, it’s been awhile since I saw it), the actual structure of the water molecule changed.  The one with love looked really beautiful, like a snowflake and the other looked like smashed glass.  I always found this interesting since I create and play music.  The vibrations travel through the air and can possibly change the molecules and therefore the people listening.  Kinda neat.  Then I found that RIA is also an abbreviation for “rare isotope accelerator” which is going to be used to study “measurement of nuclear reactions at astrophysical energies” as well as discovering new isotopes.  Which ties in nice with the atomic level effect of sound.

In Yoga practice, there is the thought that the chants are so important because the sound of the words will help you into a posture or into meditation.  Sound affecting the physical again.

All this also made me reflect on the life cycle.  I just saw Bob Dylan and it made me realize how lucky we are that he’s still around to see.  LeRoi Moore just passed away and we can’t see him anymore.  We should all be more aware of the fragility of time and what a gift it is that we are around to enjoy and share in whatever it is that we do.  My own mother passed away 4 years ago and it is still shocking to realize…  So call your mom or dad.  Hug your dog.  Write that song.  Finish that project.  Ask the girl out. climb the mountain.  Cause you can.  And that’s a great thing.

RIA

 

peace