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If you can cast your mind back 900 years--nine hundred years!!--to a time when Jesus Christ had died twice as recently as today; to a time when the black death (and all of Bocaccio's and Giotto's now-ancient responses to it) was still 200 years away--really, the entire number of years in the lifespan of the U.S.A. to date would pass before the black death even began -- in fact, to a time four hundred years before Columbus even set out on that fateful voyage which would eventually lead to the near-genocide of millions of people and the creation of Wal-Mart.

In this time, the year 1098 to be relatively specific, you will see the birth of a girl-child in Bermersheim, Germany. The Dark Ages were not a period of great enlightenment regarding women, and so this child would have been destined for a life of servitude and extreme motherhood were it not for the early manifestation of the Hand of God. This child was visited by graphic, intense visions of apocalyptic disaster; the fall of Lucifer; the voice of the Lord; the suffering of Christ. Slightly in awe of her abilities and her far-seeing eyes, this girl-child's parents sent her to a nunnery, where she began her career as the first woman to ever be credited with anything positive in the history of the world. Even Jeanne d'Arc's meteoric rise and fall was still nearly 400 years away.

Hildegard of Bingen is remarkable not only for the fact that she was the earliest recorded woman who did anything ever, and not only for the fact that she was widely respect and revered in spite of her unfortunate gender, and not only for the fact that she wrote really bitchin' monophonic plainchant and slightly-more-ornamented polyphonic chant. She was also a mystic, a seer, a scientist, an astrologist, a leader, an adviser to kings, and sort of a doctor. She helped pull Germany out of the Dark Ages with her writings which redefined man's relationship to nature. She wrote volumes on the use of plants and
animals in physical healing. If Hildegard were alive today, she would be Hillary Clinton, Bjork, Maya Angelou, Catherine MacKinnon, Billie Jean King, and Mother Teresa all wrapped up in one nondescript old lady wearing a wimple.

Hildegard began composing chants in praise of the Lord, and quickly gained prominence as a gifted artist. Over the course of her life, she wrote around 70 pieces of music. She is the earliest acclaimed woman composer by several hundred years, and many present-day artists such as Meredith Monk are still profoundly influenced by her work. Hers isin fact the earliest recorded biography of a composer, which really gives you an idea of what a big deal she was.

A complete history of Hildegard's life is difficult to piece together, since it all happened ONE THOUSAND YEARS AGO. Even the precise year of her birth remains in question. This is why music history is awesome to study. You can create a picture in your mind of Hildegard, and who knows? It might be true. Think of her, shrouded, walking by the misty Rhine at dawn, her eyes blank, her lips moving as she recites the messages from God that filter through her brain. See her, seated in a plain straight-backed chair by a window, dictating her visions to a scribe, who paints exactly what she tells him--the fall of Lucifer represented by giant black stars hurtling toward a wavy, ocean-like earth; a woman with one hand raised; rivers and fire and giant, horned depictions of satan. Now they say her visions were caused by severe migraines. But let us not think of her in pain, or unmasked in such a
banal way. Let us rather imagine the fear and wide-eyed shivering ecstasy of a woman in the grip of forces so incredibly out of her control and normal scope of existence; of her spirit, flung back and
forth through massive tracts of space and time, circling the cosmos, speaking to God, her veins burning with fire, her insignificant human frame a conflagration of glory, woe and heavenly spirits; her ears ringing with the paeans she would bring to life later, sung by angels, her voice an exalted tool of devoted encomium, her heart swollen with the magnitude of it all.

She awakens, and is silently tended to by one of her sisters. The scribe is called. A perfect four-part hymn of praise spills out of her mouth. The scribe's hand dutifully records it in neums, those early,
boxy, weirdly-rhythmed precursors to modern musical notes. She, exhausted, looks before her without seeing, and describes the sight of heaven using brilliant metaphor and imagery. Then she sleeps.

Hers was a humble yet fierce spirit. She resisted the Lord's call for her to write until He visited her with a sickness. In her own words:

" And it came to pass ... when I was 42 years and 7 months old, that the heavens were opened and a blinding light of exceptional brilliance flowed through my entire brain. And so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not burning but warming... and suddenly I understood of the meaning of expositions of the books . . .

But although I heard and saw whese things, because of doubt and low opinion of myself and because of diverse sayings of men, I refused for a long time a call to write, not out of stubbornness but out of
humility, until weighed down by a scourge of God, I fell onto a bed of sickness."

Finally believing in the Lord's injunction that she should write, Hildegard created volumes of work, the first of which was the acclaimed "Know the Ways of the Lord." These writings became well known throughout Europe, and she was often consulted by bishops and kings. The respect she garnered in her lifetime can not be adequately admired, considering how amazing she would have had to be in order to overcome the medieval attitudes about women, which were so far from what they are today that they make George Bush look like Andrea Dworkin. Hildegard's genius, and the hand of the Lord upon her, were so apparent that they could not be ignored. She cast a light of goodness and communion with heaven all about her.

Aside from all her well-documented academic and artistic qualifications, Hildegard was one tough lady. She was not content to play the role society foisted upon her; she answered only to God. Her
letters to her bishop were increasingly fiery on subjects where she felt he was being remiss in his duty. Hildegard finally decided that if her superiors were not working in the light of the Lord, she did
not have to do what they said. As abbess of the nunnery where she had lived for most of her life, Hildegard began clashing with the head monk of the corresponding monastery over issues of scriptural doctrine. Finally, enraged at his immoveable attitude, Hildegard led half the abbey across the river and founded her own cloister in Disiboden.

Though never formally canonized, Hildegard is listed as a saint in many religious texts due to the miracles performed in her lifetime and at her tomb. Several hundred years after her death, her bones were dug up and her name was carved on each one separately in a bizarre expression of love and fealty which, though actually kind of weird, still strikes me with its intensity. I think her bones were then placed in some sort of ark or cask, and buried under some cathedral, and the location was then forgotten. I believe that the location of her grave remains today a mystery, which makes the whole story just that much more awesome. You can visit that giant monument at Beethoven's final resting place any time you want--but Hildegard, she could be anywhere. Under any rolling meadow; swept into any stream or river; under rocks and the roots of trees; lying unknown under the hearth of a farmhouse near Dresden. We can think of her and send our pagan prayers to her wherever we tread, because she is in the earth now, and the earth keeps her secret. Dudes...Dark Ages Greatest Band of All Time.

The Greatest Band Of All Time hereby declares we are going to a 7 day a week schedule starting today with Sundays featuring guest writers. To kick us off is Elton Jared Hughes. (We apologize for the down time over the last 24 hours)

When I was a freshman at College I spent most my days watching free movies and checking out free music from the Media Library. To my surprise the music selection was vast and daunting. I decided to cover American music starting with early Folk Blues and Country recordings. I got a hold of the famed Harry Smith Anthologies and some of the music was good, others just dated and scratchy and some just down right funny. They were starting to sound all the same and I was getting tired of it, which is until I heard the Carter Family. Comprised of a shy gospel quartet member called Alvin P. Carter and two reserved country girls -- his wife Sara and their sister-in-law Maybelle -- the Carter Family sang a pure, simple harmony that influenced not only the numerous other family groups of the '30s and the '40s, but folk, and rock musicians like Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan , Emmylou Harris, and Will Oldham to mention just a few. The Carter Family's instrumental backup, like their vocals, was unique, often trading off melodies and harmonies and always singing together. The original Family consisted of Mother Maybelle Carter, who played guitar and sang harmony; Sara Dougherty who played autoharp and sang alto lead; and Sara's husband, Alvin Pleasant (A.P.) Carter who played fiddle and sang bass and occasionally the piano.
The Carter Family made their first recordings on the Victor label in 1927, in Bristol, Tennessee. During the next 17 years they recorded some 300 old-time ballads, traditional tunes, country songs, and Gospel hymns, all representatives of America's southern folklore and heritage. They operated out of their homes in the Clinch Mountain area of Virginia until 1938. The next few years they toured Texas and the various southern neighbors until they disbanded in 1943. Maybelle Carter, who has been called the "Queen of Country Music," continued the tradition and her career with her three daughters, Anita, Helen, and June who is married to Johnny Cash. Enough of their recordings remained in the vaults to keep the group current through the '40s. Their influence was evident through further generations of musicians, in all forms of popular music, until the end of the century. Thus giving them a deserving title of THE GREATEST BAND OF ALL TIME. by EJH