{"product_id":"calling-planet-earth-close-encounters-with-sun-ra-paperback","title":"Calling Planet Earth: Close Encounters with Sun Ra - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBob Mielke\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCalling Planet Earth: Close Encounters with Sun Ra\u003c\/em\u003e pulls us into the quirky world of the jazz\u003cbr\u003e musician known first as Herman Blount, then as Sun Ra (1914-1993), the Arkestra leader\u003cbr\u003e who claimed for most of his life to have come from Saturn. The book opens with an\u003cbr\u003e introduction to Ra's \"sub-underground\" music, a sound which fascinated the author and\u003cbr\u003e turned him into a fan almost fifty years ago. Introductory sections set up key questions, like, \u003cbr\u003e \"But is it Jazz?\" and \"Where is Sun Ra Coming From, Besides Saturn?\" How did a black kid\u003cbr\u003e from Birmingham, Alabama, wind up proclaiming himself a Pharoah? After the introduction\u003cbr\u003e comes Mielke's play, \u003cem\u003eDiscipline 27-II: A Cosmo-Drama in Two Acts\u003c\/em\u003e. That's followed by a\u003cbr\u003e thorough analysis of an enormous number of recordings, starting in the 1930s and continuing\u003cbr\u003e for the rest of his life. Posthumous releases form a separate chapter. (Most of the\u003cbr\u003e introductory material and analysis of recordings originally appeared in Mielke's 2013\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eAdventures in Avant Pop\u003c\/em\u003e, though it has been updated.)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In the play \u003cem\u003eDiscipline 27-II\u003c\/em\u003e, which premiered in St. Louis, MO in 2015, Mielke makes Sun\u003cbr\u003e Ra's claim to have come from outer space not an artist's Afro-futurist proclamation but a\u003cbr\u003e statement of fact. The cast includes Saturn Aliens, a NASA official, and Gaia the Earth\u003cbr\u003e Goddess--all watching an elaborate Sun Ra concert. Ra's actual life story is dramatized in\u003cbr\u003e short scenes against this concert background. We see him growing up as Herman Blount in\u003cbr\u003e Birmingham, Alabama, and bantering with the racist judge who sent him to prison for refusing\u003cbr\u003e to serve in the Army in 1942. We see him recruiting, teaching, and sheltering the musicians\u003cbr\u003e who became--and still are--the Arkestra. We watch Space Aliens as they comment on\u003cbr\u003e racism, estrangement, and music as healing. Scenes in a bar, in a strip club, a recording\u003cbr\u003e studio, are watched by observant aliens and NASA interrogators as well as by the play's\u003cbr\u003e audience--and the cumulative effect is respectful of the man who says he's \"Mister Ra, ...\u003cbr\u003e Mister E, but most of all, Mister Mystery.\" Sun Ra claimed that his true nature was cosmic, \u003cbr\u003e that he had come to enlighten Earth and to teach peace. He and the Arkestra became known\u003cbr\u003e for futuristic costumes, musical experimentation, and performance art. The play's notes\u003cbr\u003e includes extensive comments on costume options, sets, and performance alternatives--even\u003cbr\u003e a recipe for \"Moon Stew,\" to be served or sold at the concession stand twenty minutes before\u003cbr\u003e the play starts. Audience involvement in \u003cem\u003eDiscipline 27-II \u003c\/em\u003ebegins immediately, in the theater\u003cbr\u003e lobby where Arkestra members sit at random tables doing improvised riffs of increasing\u003cbr\u003e intensity. It continues as we listen in on conversations about philosophy and ethics and\u003cbr\u003e music, and watch exotic dancers and amazing singers and space aliens interact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 190\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 9.21 x 6.14 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e December 16, 2019\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58180937941073,"sku":"9781936135332","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0620\/5023\/8545\/files\/bVE5Slo4V2p2RkUxTCtISHVIbm9hUT09.webp?v=1757253340","url":"https:\/\/apocalypsevinyl.com\/products\/calling-planet-earth-close-encounters-with-sun-ra-paperback","provider":"Apocalypse Vinyl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}