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Interviews
(issue 11)

Fugazi are an amazing band. their ethics and way-of-operating proceed them where e'er they go. In October 2002 they played three amazing shows; in Dublin, Limerick and Derry. Anyone who saw them will attest to this, their tightness and music is unbelievable. Myself and Pearse managed to catch up with Fugazi bassist Joe Lally, before the gig in Limerick, special thanks to Ivan, Albert and the AMC (Aspersion Music Collective), who organised an amazing gig in the Savoy that night. (Photos from the gig by Anto).

A= Anto, J= Joe Lally, P= Pearse



A: hows Washington DC these days? Is it as active as ever, many bands?
J: I don’t actually get out and see that many bands, so I can’t comment too well on whats happening in DC, I had a little girl last year, just over a year ago, so I went to see M’Crazy-Johnston I’d been waiting about twenty years to see him so I was glad I got to see that show. I don’t make it out often enough to actually catch local, so I’m missing a lot of stuff, theres like, MeaslesMumpsRubella which is supposed to be a good band. I did get to see the Black Eyes once cos they played in the summer – theres a place where bands get to play for free outside early evening so those shows I made Q And Not U in their new line-up so I caught a couple of things but its not like I’m kinda up on things the way I used to be.
A: Yourself and Brendan have kids now….
J: yeh, Brendan’s actually got a third coming…
A: wow, I’m just wondering do you find it hard to have time to play or record, go on tour, is that a problem?
J: really getting out to tour is the hardest part of it when you’ve just had a kid, its just not a time when you wanna be away so we take time off and we’re home. They [the band] left me alone pretty well for a long time, so we didn’t do anything for a long time. And then when I was ready to play some people were doing some other stuff anyway so we didn’t do much. So this whole year is going to be 6 weeks of playing (which is pretty much insane) but we did get into writing for the next record, before we left on this trip, before we started practising for this trip, so that’s a good sign, somethings happening.
A: do you think you’ll be able to continue to tour as you have families and stuff?
J: I don’t know, it seems like a lot to put on Brendan’s wife to leave her with 3 kids ‘cos I know how I feel leaving my wife with one child. That’s the toughest part of it so I really don’t know, maybe its just gonna be not very frequent and for very short periods of time, I don’t understand whats happening so far as that goes, but I know we’re all interested in writing another record so I think that’s probably what we’re gonna focus on.
A: What still motivates you to play and tour…
J: Probably listening to music, the original thing that motivated me to play or be in a band – always been inspired by music and I think music is the only thing I ever really cared about. I had a decent paying job but I quit it to be a roadie a long time ago, and this band started after that, there never seemed to be a reason to do anything else. Just play music and luckily focus on that (laughs)…
A: There’s always been a tradition of an active independent scene in Washington DC, kind of a political aspect to it, do you think that’s a mirror of the fact that Washington DC is the capital of the American administration?
J: It might, or it might be that you hear, like you definitely don’t hear all the bands that come out of Washington DC, you’re hearing a small percentage (of bands in DC). Because a lot of the punk bands that were on Dischord were perfectly happy to do shows that were benefits for different causes in DC then those bands might – it may
appear that the music in DC is very politically-orientated, it may just be a matter of perspective as

Lucid Dreaming FAQ
The Lucidity Institute Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
About Lucid Dreaming
Version 2.3, July 16, 2004
© The Lucidity Institute (contact us)

This FAQ is a brief introduction to lucid dreaming--what it is, how to do it, and what can be done with it. There are several excellent sources of information on lucid dreaming, the most reliable and extensive of which is the Lucidity Institute website (http://www.lucidity.com). Other sources are listed below. Suggestions for additions to or modifications of this FAQ should be directed to suggestions.

If you would like to receive occasional updates on lucid dreaming research, events, and news via email, please join the Lucidity Institute Mailing List.

1.1 WHAT IS LUCID DREAMING?

Lucid dreaming means dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming. The term was coined by Frederik van Eeden who used the word "lucid" in the sense of mental clarity. Lucidity usually begins in the midst of a dream when the dreamer realizes that the experience is not occurring in physical reality, but is a dream. Often this realization is triggered by the dreamer noticing some impossible or unlikely occurrence in the dream, such as flying or meeting the deceased. Sometimes people become lucid without noticing any particular clue in the dream; they just suddenly realize they are in a dream. A minority of lucid dreams (according to the research of LaBerge and colleagues, about 10 percent) are the result of returning to REM (dreaming) sleep directly from an awakening with unbroken reflective consciousness.

The basic definition of lucid dreaming requires nothing more than becoming aware that you are dreaming. However, the quality of lucidity can vary greatly. When lucidity is at a high level, you are aware that everything experienced in the dream is occurring in your mind, that there is no real danger, and that you are asleep in bed and will awaken shortly. With low-level lucidity you may be aware to a certain extent that you are dreaming, perhaps enough to fly or alter what you are doing, but not enough to realize that the people are dream representations, or that you can suffer no physical damage, or that you are actually in bed.


1.2 IS LUCID DREAMING THE SAME AS DREAM CONTROL?

Lucidity is not synonymous with dream control. It is possible to be lucid and have little control over dream content, and conversely, to have a great deal of control without being explicitly aware that you are dreaming. However, becoming lucid in a dream is likely to increase the extent to which you can deliberately influence the course of events. Once lucid, dreamers usually choose to do something permitted only by the extraordinary freedom of the dream state, such as flying.

You always have the choice of how much control you want to exert. For example, you could continue with whatever you were doing when you became lucid, with the added knowledge that you are dreaming. Or you could try to change everything--the dream scene, yourself, other dream characters. It is not always possible to perform "magic" in dreams, like changing one object into another or transforming scenes. A dreamer's ability to succeed at this seems to depend a lot on the dreamer's confidence. As Henry Ford said, "Believe you can, believe you can't; either way, you're right." On the other hand, it appears there are some constraints on dream control that may be independent of belief. See "Testing the Limits of Dream Control: The Light and Mirror Experiment" for more on this.


1.3 HOW ARE LUCID DREAMS RELATED TO OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES (OBEs)?

A mysterious and highly controversial phenomenon sometimes occurs in which people experience the compelling sensation that they have somehow "left their bodies." The "out-of-body experience" or "OBE", as this fascinating phenomenon is usually termed, takes a variety of forms. In the most typical, you are lying in bed, apparently awake, when suddenly you experien

Hell

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so "profound" that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn't ceased... Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, "...that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.", and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze." This student received the only A.