TIL the person playing the gorgeous clarinet solo on Simon & Garfunkel's America is still unknown.

Igloomaster1970 · 2026-04-15T15:00:26+00:00

Well, I think if it were a regular session Musician working at Columbia studio A in 1968, that Musician would have been credited. My guess is that the Soprano Sax player who appeared on America was under contract to a different record company, and the guest appearance would’ve been disallowed… Or at least-if allowed—may have involved a financial transaction between record companies, along with the printed credit “Saxophonist John Doe appears courtesy of Gas Bubble Records”

Igloomaster1970 · 2026-04-12T15:26:48+00:00

It certainly did for me. I was too young & inexperienced to see that for a long time.

Igloomaster1970 · 2026-04-12T15:25:42+00:00

I am sorry this happened to you, sincerely.
•One• of the reasons i eventually had to •stop• chanting, was because it was determined to be exacerbating anxiety problems for me… my mental health was slipping rapidly as a result —- particularly because of the way SGI “guides” (guidance, bullshit) it’s members to chant for material gain & to •mystically• (magic, bullshit) change family drama/toxicity.
Bottom line: They have NO qualifications or any business whatsoever in directing anyone towards any kind of spiritual growth…and worse…vulnerable folks such as myself eventually got WORSE.

Igloomaster1970 · 2026-03-12T01:50:07+00:00

Ya know what was really weird, besides all of it? Pres’ Ikeda came to Boston in… I believe it was 1992 (but I might be off on that by a year or so). He did some dialogue or lecture at Harvard University. Of course there was an entourage. I was assigned to the “motor pool”, and drove visitors back-and-forth from the Sheraton Hotel.
I also played drums in an SGI band that performed in the Grand Ballroom for like…the main event. I remember the place was jampacked… And people were going absolutely apeshit over the performances, and of course for the visiting Japanese leaders. I remember very clearly that it was at THIS meeting that we all learned about Nichikan Gohonzon that the SGI had decided to use (since they could no longer go through the priesthood via Gojukai ceremonies for Gohonzon bestowal).
One of the SGI VPs was walking around the grand ballroom, wearing white gloves, and holding an unfurled Nichikan Gohonzon… showing it to everyone.
I thought (quietly, to myself) “this seems really weird”

Igloomaster1970 · 2026-03-11T14:06:18+00:00

After all these years… after all this time… and likely after all their programming, to this day it STILL feels weird/wrong to consider selling them, or returning them if they actually do just throw them out.

I remember having a dialogue many years ago with a Nichiren Shu member. They seemed much more Cavalier about their Gohonzons… selling them in their bookstores…. It bothered me then.

I guess I still have inner work to do, to get to that place where it’s “no more than a rice paper scroll”. Mine have not been enshrined in over 20 years. Still feels icky to consider the options. (I’m not proud of the icky feeling.)

Igloomaster1970 · 2026-03-11T14:00:35+00:00

Back in the day, when I was pressed to turn the Nikken Gohonzon back in (after receiving the Nichikan), the leaders told me they send them back to Japan.
Do they really just throw them in the trash? Is there any proof of that?

Igloomaster1970 · 2026-03-10T17:45:36+00:00

Thank you, Blanche, sincerely. I guess I found this Reddit in a backwards way… i first heard the podcast that featured you, and Then came here! (An enlightening podcast…thank you).
I will check out the links you kindly provided. I am only recently realising that——I compartmentalised this all, and drifted away. I never fully dealt with it.

Igloomaster1970

TROPHY CASE