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David Byrne: Voodoo Vampire?

14:46 / 10.12.03

So, this thread could have easilly gone in the Music forum, but it's the magick stuff in it that I'm really curious about...

In an article on Salon, writer David Bowman discusses former Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth's negative obsession with former bandmate David Byrne. In addition to standard control issues and putdowns, she makes some really interesting accusations...

While we were at lunch, Weymouth announced that she had heard David Byrne was a murderer. And she wasn't talking about his song that goes "Psycho killer, q'est-ce que c'est?" No. She heard at a party that Byrne had killed a boy in Brazil using voodoo. She wanted us to play Hardy Boys and solve the case. "David is a vampire, in a way," she told me. "Watch out for the autism. It might be something much more complex. Psychics have seen him and they say he just has a firewall around him."

Now, other than saying Tina is just crazy or making it up, does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Has anyone ever heard of psychic firewalls? Or for that matter seen one around David Byrne? Could autism be a symptom of some evil magick? Any thoughts on what sort of voodoo ritual David would murder someone for?

15:53 / 10.12.03

The Psychic firewalls sound like the latest buzzword to describe telepathic shielding. Taking the use of the word firewalls from the computer side of things I would say that a psychic firewall stops certain thoughts from entering (or exiting maybe) the persons skull. Think King Mob and his shielding, think Magneto with his helmet, that sort of thing.

As for the other stuff I have no idea. Never actually realised Bryne was autistic (that is the one I'm thinking of, you know the "Rain Man" thing?). The vampire comment could be a snide reflection on how Bryne has altered his musical output I suppose.

16:31 / 10.12.03

The voodoo comment is out and out ignorance, I'm afraid. Its Candomble people practice in Brazil

Seriously though, Weymouth is off her rocker. Read the rest of the article. She's cracked.

And besides, people like Byrne don't kill people with Voodoo. Nobody kills people with Voodoo unless they've dedicated themselves to the spirits so completely as to rule their life to get that kind of power. And even then, probably not. Its a spiritist religion with magickal applications, not a catch all for Evil Black Magicks. And dispite what HP Love craft might tell, it has nothing to do with Cthulu. It annoys me to no end when people go on about it like there are secret roads to Ultimate Power there. That's Hollywood for you.

17:32 / 10.12.03

I find Ms. Weymouth's disparaging connection between David Byrne and Voodoo rather interesting. Besides having ample opportunity, as a jet-setting talent scout with his own 'world music' label LukaBop, to have seen (or even participated) in native voodoo ceremonies in any number of places, I find the accusation of murder bizarre.

Maybe I can't get over the Vodoo practicioner in Byrne's True Stories, who helps John Goodman find a wife. That character seemed extremely wise, benevolent, even innocent. The song he sings in the movie, "Papa Legba," is amazing, though the version on the True Stories album is sung by Byrne himself and not quite so amazing. But anyway...

I do think that Byrne may have something 'magickal' tucked up his sleeve, but he may not call it that. His bilingual book The New Sins / Los Nuevos Pecados is a cryptic little treasure if you can find copies of it.

My opinion:
Voodoo? Very possibly.
Murderer? No.
Vampire? Wha--?

18:26 / 10.12.03

This ushers the sort of stuff that would have conspiracists having wet dreams, somebody will tie him into MK MONARCH theories - next stop New Age Ville and Fundamentalist Ville. Betcha' David Icke picks up on it.... Sounds ridiculous to me! Hold on a mo I've just got to video-conference with the local Reptillian hordes!!!

18:41 / 10.12.03

Papa Legba
(David Byrne)

You'll be, hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm, magnet for money
You'll be, mm-mm-mm-mm, magnet for love
You'll feel, hmm, light in your body
Now I'm gonna say, gonna say these words:

Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo
Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo

It might hmm-mmm-mm-mm, it might rain money
It might hm-hi-hi-hi, it might rain fire
Now I'm gonna call, gonna call on Legba.
Get yourself a sign, Get your love and desire.

Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo
Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo

Papa Legba,
Come and open the gate.
Papa Legba,
To the city of camps.
Now, we're your children
Come and ride your horse
In the night, in the night
Come and ride your horse

There is a queen, of six sevens and nines
Dust in your garden, poison in your mind
There is a king, that will steal your soul
Don't let him catch you, don't let him get control.

Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo
Rompiendo la monotonia del tiempo

Papa Legba,
Come and open the gate.
Papa Legba,
To the city of camps.
Now, we're your children
Come and ride your horse
In the night, in the night
Come and ride your horse
In the night, in the night
Come and ride your horse
In the night, in the night
Come and ride your horse

18:46 / 10.12.03

Thanks for the lyrics, gridley.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

19:37 / 10.12.03

I realise it's a bit unfair to judge based on an out-of-context quote, but it sounds to me like Weymouth has no fucking idea what she's on about. She's just throwing around boo-words, words that everyone thinks they understand and few people do. People think they know what 'Voodoo' means, but most don't. People think they know what 'Autism' means, but most haven't a clue. And so they chuck these words around and reinforce the bullshit misinterpretations so that anyone slightly emotionally distant is 'autistic' and anyone practicing any kind of ritual magick is into 'Voodoo'. (Does Byrne even practice magick?)

What a pile of crap.

20:18 / 10.12.03

From an piece Byrne wrote on his sculptural work, The Wedding Party, up on Talking-Heads.net:

This series of sculptures and photos had their beginning with Vodou. I have had a long time interest in the various Afro Atlantic religions, their music, dance and art….and a few years ago I was in Miami and caught the huge Vodou exhibition there “Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou”. I have been interested in Afro Atlantic music, art, food, dance and ritual for some time- so much so that I directed a documentary on Candomble, the Brazilian equivalent of Vodou, about 10 years ago- I also have also presented groups of Santeria and Vodou drummers in concert in New York....amongst other things.

Groovy.

21:00 / 10.12.03

The mind has no firewalls.

Now, despite that actually being an advertisment, it has some interesting and profound theory going on.

Byrne is a Vampire?

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

23:54 / 10.12.03

I know nothing of David Byrne. HOWEVER...

...there's something in those lyrics. There's a pattern of some sort, and I don't just mean in the regular musical sense. I've been reading it over and I keep getting flashed images...not making a lot of sense, but there's a background music that goes off in the back of my head, and a montage of animated pictures when I concentrate on it.

Maybe I'm just nuts.

With the voodoo killing, I really wouldn't believe it. But there's something there in that song.

As to the connection between Autism and magic, there's a semi-link between the two, depending on how you look at things. I'll cite an article from this summer that I really wish I'd kept, that was linking the occurences of Autism and Asperger's Syndrome in the children of Silicon Valley programmers and tech people, as well as the prevalence of autism-like symptoms in said programmers and tech people. As I recall, the theory that was laid out goes like this: Intelligence is a trait that can be bred, and certain patterns of intelligence are genetic (like, say, the patterns associated with intelligence and mathematics or programming). When two people with these same patterns of intelligence breed, the traits are accentuated. Eventually they develop into Autism or Autism-like symptoms. It seems like BS, but if (big "but if" there, but bare with me) its true, then there can be seen a link between Autism and magic stemming from the prevalance of magical systems that are based on numbers and heightened sensitivity. At least that's the connection I'd draw. If anyone who knows something about Autism is reading this, please feel free to correct me and tell me I'm an idiot.

14:20 / 11.12.03

Of course there's something in that song. Its an invocation to Legba. You know, its specific rhythms you use to call the Loa, after all. He does a decent Erzulie, too.

14:30 / 11.12.03

I may be mistaken (possibly my mind's just formed a bizarre association that SHOULD be true) but I think it's Pop Staples from the Staple Singers who sings that song in the film. It's fucking great anyway, whoever it is. I used to have that on video, where did it go?

"Psychic Firewall" - sounds like a load of bollocks to me.

14:46 / 11.12.03

I can certainly see some sort of connection between social isolation and odd thinking and magic, I suppose this is kind of the conversation that's going on in that other thread.

There's an interesting (and very touching) bit in Oliver Sach's book "The Man Who Mistook his Wife For A Hat" where he's with a pair of twins who have severe autism (I think, might be wrong) and very limied social skills but spend all their time communicating in 9 figure prime numbers which they're calculating themselves. Sachs looks up a ten figure number and throws it into the mix, and their faces light up with amazment. No mean feat to calculate these obviously, and the twins can do it even though - perhaps because - they're completely disconnected from the world. This made me think of gematria, Crowley and his claims that hidden cyphers in the Book of the Law/Holy Books are "proof" of a Higher Consciousness. Hmmm....

14:50 / 11.12.03

Isn't a psychic firewall just 'warding'? Or possibly 'discrimination'? 'Bullshit Detector?'
Of course he's not a voodoo vampire, she's crazy.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

16:07 / 11.12.03

Yeah, I suppose you could postulate some kind of link between autism spectrum disorders and magickal ability. Maybe someone could start a thread on that? Might be interesting. (Incidentally: besides Weston's accusations, is there any indication that Byrne has any degree of autism?)

As to "psychic firewalls": sounds like a poncey name for sheilding if you ask me, and sheilding's hardly an indication of wrongdoing. Anyone who's even dipped a toe into magick should know how to sheild themselves, and be doing it every day. (That includes you lot, goddamnit!)

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

17:09 / 11.12.03

Illmatic, my English prof had us read a selection from Sacks' "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat". I may have to read the actual book now, lol.

But there have been other documented cases, IIRC, between twins that have been isolated developing their own language and being able to speak it with perfect clarity.

The numbers aspect, though, is quite curious. If they could communicate by numbers, and such specific numbers, and understand each other then it would be interesting to see what sort of things they could do with something like gematria...or if gematria could be used to decipher what they were saying.

15:41 / 15.12.03

Of course, if we apply proper conspiracy logic (the specious thinking that brought you classics like Holy Blood, Holy Grail)to Weymouth's accusations we have to include the possibility that Byrne isn't a voodoo vampire, but Tina Weymouth wants us to think he is. Now, why would she want us to think that? And why would she want us to associate voodoo vampirism with autism? This is where PCL comes in:

Tina Weymouth wants us to think David Byrne has autism.
TW also wants us to think DB is a voodoo vampire.
TW is trying to convince us that people with autism are voodoo vampires.

She might be doing that because she wants us to wipe out autistic people.

Because, according to Proper Conspiracy Logic, anything that might be true is true, she is trying to get us to wipe out autistic people. All further 'Tina Weymouth is' statements are derived from this 'might=is' principle.

Tina Weymouth is afraid of autistic people because autistic people are really good with numbers.
Tina Weymouth is afraid of people who are good with numbers because she stole a lot of money from the Lonely Goatless Albanian Boys' Benevolent Fund, and if the autistic people analyse her accounts, they could prove that.
Tina Weymouth is therefore a fraudster.
Fraud, in occult imagery, is connected with Hermes, god of magic.
In Santeria, which of course is exactly the same as voodoo, Hermes can be mapped onto the character of Eleggua.
Eleggua is also called Papa Legba.
Papa Legba is the name of a song by David Byrne.
This song constitutes an act of devotion to Papa Legba.
Tina Weymouth's fraud, via its Hermetic connections, constitutes an act of devotion to Papa Legba.
Tina Weymouth is an evil voodoo vampire.
So is David Byrne, therefore:

TINA WEYMOUTH IS DAVID BYRNE!

Quod, erat, demon-fuckin-strandum. Powered by Proper Conspiracy Logic. Next week: we prove that your wife is cheating on you, with you, but it's worse than you think because you're really a dog. With rabies. On crack. In a dress. Stay tuned, true believer!

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:55 / 15.12.03

Marry me.

19:30 / 15.12.03

velvetvandal, that was one of the funniest posts I've read in a long time. Bravo. Excellent analysis of the "might=is" principle.

But I had no idea Byrne did the Papa Legba song. Clearly he had some interest in voodoo and maybe even practiced it a bit. That's fascinating...

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

02:50 / 16.12.03

VV...that's good.

...only now when I laugh I cough, so I can't stop coughing now.

Keep up the good work.