Journey with a Remarkable Tree News

If you came to our September gig you will have been dazzled by Mr Paradox. Well tomorrow (30th Oct) night he’ll be back to tell us about his latest project. Here’s what it’s all about…

“On November 1st 2008 I will be attempting a 40 day water-only fast. Yes that’s right I am totally crazy! Believe it or not 2 years ago on the 10th May I completed my first 40 day fast by eating the tastiest mango ever to enter the mouth of man! I lost 40 pounds in 40 days as well as untold amounts of toxins and psycho-energetic “entities”. I also gained a completely new perspective on food and eating as well as a number of insights into desire, craving, monkey mindness, emptiness, energy, awareness and unconditional happiness!

I honestly never thought i do it again, but it seems my inner guidance has decided otherwise. Last time i was guided on my journey by the yoga teaching, prana inhaling, meditation adept known as Anna Mendham and without her wisdom and support I (who had never previously completed even a one day fast) would certainly never reached the finish line. This time there will be no Anna…and I’m scared sh*!less. You see unlike last time now i know what i’m in for…a true test of will, faith, nerve and guts (literally) ! But I reckon if its good enough for Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi, Jesus & John Lennon…then its good enough for me.

I have chosen to support the Cambodia trust, because earlier on this year I lost my leg due to a diving accident and after hearing stories about the plight of mine victims and amputees in Cambodia, I was reminded how lucky I am to have the National Health Service as well as family & friends. Disabled people in Cambodia, far worse off than me depend on the Cambodia Trust. So its a charity close to my heart and its focus on using its funds to empower the underprivileged disabled means a little of your money goes a long way in helping to create a massive improvement in the life of the beneficiary.

So if you think a 40 day fast is a big enough challenge please sponsor me for a daily amount of 50p…£1… or more!” Donate here at Just Giving

Yours starvingly
Rodney Chris Paradox

This month Caduceus Magazine leads with an article by me on deforestation. I was pleased to be asked to contribute as it covers some important topics and is really is a well put together publication.

For now you’ll have to buy a copy to read it!

Find your nearest stockist

I met up with my old friend John Eaton (after too long a time), I gave him a copy and here’s what he posted on his blog.

[Ken's] written an amazingly good book on his experiences in Cambodia called ‘My Journey with a Remarkable Tree’. It’s partly about his mystical experience visiting Te Matua Ngahere, a giant Kauri tree in New Zealand. Then it is a fascinating travel story through Cambodia and also a passionate denunciation of the corruption and greed that is destroying the Cambodian forest and, with it, the Spirits that live there. The highlight of the book, for me, was Ken’s story of the night he held a Bingo session in cockney rhyming slang for a Khmer village with an interpreter. ‘Clicker d click’, ‘Two Little Ducks! - M’phei pii’, ‘NnnnnnNineteen - Pram buen dAnd Ap’ and so on.

It was nice that John picked up on one of my favourite moments on the Cambodian journey, calling bingo for the locals in a small hut on the edge of the forest. Ahh!

You should check out John’s great work with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome using what he calls ‘Reverse Therepy’  here or visit his blog here

Imagine spine tingling harmonies, story telling and lanterns beside a tropical rainforest … Benefit culture and The Living Rainforest make it real!

Voices for the Forest is a special event to celebrate the ‘turning of the clocks’ powered by the amazing voices of Juliet Russell and Vocal Explosion, the poetic storytelling of Daniel Clark and the lyrical acrobatics of Mr Finn. It promises to be a feast for the ears and a magical evening.

Voices for the forest is an event to benefit both forest conservation and people who’s lives have often been damaged in the conflict over it’s resources. To benefit The Living Rainforest Charity and The Cambodia Trust this is another truly life changing event.

See Benefit Culture for more

Here’s the ‘Second’ installment of extracts from ‘My Journey With a Remarkable Tree.’

‘Tar Kong’

A confrontation with a chainsaw gang, the ‘Tar Kong.’

‘Taxi Girl Grip’

An encounter with Cambodian Border Guards

‘Chung chung chung’

Rice wine, red blood and ‘the horror’, a vegetarian nightmare

‘No FSC’

Chairs, lies and red tape. Containers full of forest

Listen, download and share…

 My Journey with a Remarkable Tree - Tar Kong: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 My Journey with a Remarkable Tree - Taxi Girl Grip: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 My Journey with a Remarkable Tree - Chung Chung: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 My Journey with a Remarkable Tree - No FSC: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

These are excerpts from ‘My Journey With a Remarkable Tree.’

‘Finding a Guide’

My attempts to find a guide leads me to a man who speaks tofu!

‘Phoney Rangers’

Travelling with my guide Sena we encounter corruption in the forest. It’s my introduction to ‘the way things are.’

‘Road Block’

Dark, dusty and dangerous roads

These are the first extracts, come back and download some more soon!

 My Journey with a Remarkable Tree - Finding a Guide: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 My Journey with a Remarkable Tree - No Good Guys: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 My Journey with a Remarkable Tree - Road Block: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’ve just been reading a very impressive book, Ken Finn’s ‘My journey with a remarkable tree‘.

I won’t spoil the story, but he gets involved with trying to find out what happens to the great ’spirit trees’ of the Cambodian forest. And in between times, he gets a lot of his innocence taken away.

I like Ken’s voice. He’ll obsess about something - and then admit he knows he’s being obsessive. He isn’t afraid of drama, or of looking pretentious; big storms hit the jungle, trees speak to him. And his writing comes across to me as immediate and fresh.

But what I like most of all is that he cares about the context of what he’s seeing. Not just: here’s a tree. Not even: here ’s a tree and I’m being a good green tourist. But: here’s a tree, and I want to find out what happens to it after it’s cut down.

There’s a lot of politics here but I just don’t see how it could be avoided by any traveller if they wanted to write something more than ‘What we did on our holidays’. Any more than you could visit Auschwitz without knowing about Hitler.

It strikes me that one thing most of the travel writers I like have in common is that they engage with the politics behind what they see.  They might not be actively campaigning, but they see what’s going on. For instance, Jan Morris is always aware of the marginality of eastern Europe, the kind of cities that survive only by permission of a larger empire. Timothy Garton Ash is both a political writer and a travel writer when he’s looking at Eastern Europe and its emergence from the Communist period. It’s about being aware of undercurrents and crosscurrents. Being aware of where wealth came from - and who might have suffered for it.

(When does politics become history…. that’s another question. Perhaps for blogging another day.)

I don’t mind the ‘innocent’ travel writer. But anyone who is serious, I think, makes their enquiries and finds out what is really happening - not just seeing the sights or retailing historical anecdotes.

Source - Podtours

Benefit Culture has won the the award for most funds raised by a group in 2006 for The Cambodia Trust.  

The nearly £6000 we raised will do wonderful things in the hands of the Trust and it’s chearing thought to get us through the short days of January.

If you came to one of our gigs you helped to make the smiles!

My thanks as always to the artists who gave their time for free and showered us with their talent and enthusiam, it’s been an honour to work with you.

So what of 2007? You’ll have to forgive us for taking a rest in January but we’ll soon be announcing our next gigs and hope to make the coming year life changing!

Ken

Monday 4th Dec - The Sanctuary Cella, Brunswick St. East, Hove

An easy night of music for and from the people who deliver ‘Benefit Culture’

Join us and help celebrate a year of life changing events!

Featuring, Shona Foster, Matt Guest, The Muel, Mr Finn,  Simon D’souzer, Juliet Russell, Just the 3 of Us, Noel LeBon,  plus special friends and guests in a glorious melange

Ticket available on the door at £10 (£6 concs)

Join us for a night of music, laughs and partying!

Voices for Change is tomorrow and if you came to our summer event then you know what a treat you’re in for. If you didn’t then it’s time you gave those tiny hairs on the back of your neck a proper work out!

The line up features Vocal Explosion, Brighton’s power house choir and gospel n’ R&B a’capella from Just the 3 of Us. There’ll be jazzy brass from This Beautiful World featuring dazzling rap from Mr Finn and a spot from Dan from The Hat. In short a aural feast!

Not only do we deliver brilliant music but the money you give us goes straight to work in changing the lives of disadvantaged disabled people in countries ravaged by conflict and disease. All of the Benefit Culture artists give their time for free as do our hosts to ensure that virtually everything we raise goes to the Cambodia Trust

It’s a beautiful exchange our smiles for theirs! Come and join us for another truly life changing event!

See our website for more details Benefit-culture.com