The Liminalist # 130.5: The Specifics of Social Engineering, or: Trojan Horse Culture (with Kelvin Gregory)

Part two of conversation with Kelvin Gregory, on growing up working class, Straus & Beethoven, an interest in high culture, spontaneous ecstasy, Panama aristocracy, growing up on an army base, testing for talented kids, a summer of Strieber, prodigy sister & speed-reading, MKULTRA schools for the gifted, Jimmy Saville, Leonard Cohen and hidden confessions, John Zerzan, the specifics of social engineering, Trojan horse culture, the vertical axis, virtue-signaling, trauma-created geniuses as agents of social control, Clint Eastwood as servant of the State, Beethoven as darling of the aristocracy, the Viennese school, Dostoyevsky and child abuse, Dostoyevsky triggers, Taxi Driver, Blue Velvet, rage, violence & mother bondage, combating ideas of miscegenation, Sebastian Horsley and the search for a mother with a cunt, escaping the mother’s gaze, borderline personality disorder, Beethoven & A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess and music composition, Kelvin’s genius meltdown incident, regarding the mother as a resource, the podcast space, discovering the treasure within, music selections for The Liminalist.

Songs:  “The Kommema and his Religion”  and “Of the Lakes,” by SunWalker; “Static man” and “Don’t Come Back Tomorrow” by Jo Jolisper.

14 thoughts on “The Liminalist # 130.5: The Specifics of Social Engineering, or: Trojan Horse Culture (with Kelvin Gregory)”

  1. i can see how kelvins appearance would appear latino to those who would care about such a thing, and i agree with him about your choice of music. there are songs that in another context i wouldn’t appreciate that much, but they are almost always flow into the podcast for a unique overall experience. was pleasantly surprised to here the blues you played a few episodes back, don’t remember if it was lightning hopkins or fred mcdowell, and i guess they’re as unheard of these days as the unknown random bands you play these days haha.

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    • also, is he really 53 or did i misunderstand? if so he’s the youngest looking/sounding 53 year old i’ve ever encountered.

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  2. A trivial point: I think Kelvin meant to say de Sarasate, not de Sarasato. Pablo de Sarasate was a Spanish violin virtuoso and composer whose most famous work, a standard of the violin repertoire, is Zigeunerweisen, or Gypsy Airs, and does indeed consist of two contrasting themes, one of gentle melancholy, and the other of exciting gypsy music, as Kelvin described the animation’s musical sound track to be.

    I think Kelvin said he’s 59; no doubt the photos are from some years ago!

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  3. Nice to have met you Kalvin, Kelvin I found the second half seemed more of a journey and a connection..the term discovered and found a connection with something untouchable. It is being impressionable but what happens is that there is a a mis fire or a rebound of the energy you have given out over the years and it looks over you / myself .

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  4. Here’s an article refuting the claim that Beethoven was black:

    http://www.academia.edu/4074689/Black_Beethoven_and_the_Racial_Politics_of_Music_History.

    Still, I wonder why no one has pointed out that one’s genetics is not a transmitter of cultural acquisitions. In other words, the latest claim that Beethoven must have been black because his music contains hitherto unnoticed polyrhythms similar to West African music is an example of Lamarck’s discredited theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, one’s musical attainments being such an acquisition.

    The physical evidence that Beethoven had bristly, coal-black hair and a swarthy complexion is not enough to establish his race. But then, as I’ve commented on before, the whole notion of race is fraught with controversy, academically, politically, and casually.

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  5. Greetings, Kelvin,

    Is it really you? We used to know each other when we were growing up at Fort Clayton, Panama Canal Zone. Balboa High School – remember? Lost touch after we both departed for college.

    Best wishes,

    Darius

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  6. Yes, I do remember, Darius. At Balboa we wound up in the same English classes: Mr. Wall’s poetry of rock’n roll, Mr. Bradford’s science fiction, Mrs. Judge’s, well, all I seem to remember about her was that she was slender, elegant, and had attended the Sorbonne.

    I remember your younger sister, Stephanie, too.

    Best Wishes to you and your family,

    Kelvin

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