Kags Views, Thoughts and Dreams

The Oracle is what the young folks on campus call him. Who is Mr. Kags Wilson …a modern philosopher? …a modern griot? …or just an old man with a lot of time on his hands?

Most of the kids around here call me, Old Man Oracle. But you can call me Kags. You see, I’m eighty six years old. These kids don’t believe me though. They think I’m about sixty or sixty five. That’s okay! It don’t matter no way. They say they come around me to learn about life. Figure that, a bunch of college kids comin’ to learn from an old man like me. I ain’t never been to college and dropped out high school to help my family work. Well, I do like talking to the kids. You see, they keep me young in a way.

Plus, it’s nice to know someone wants to hear my old stories and ideas. Like the other day this young man brought his friends around to talk. I was sitting in the campus park on the bench where I usually sit under the big tree when the conversation came up about work and economics. Now this boy seemed bright but obviously he didn’t know how to think. He said, this country would continue to be number one if blacks and latinos would contribute more to the economy. I said boy, there are more poor white folks than blacks and latinos combined. Besides, how do you think this country got to be number one in the first place? I told him, because black folks worked for almost four hundred years and didn’t get paid for it. Then when they did start getting paid, they were being cheated by everyone from landowners who they worked for as sharecroppers, to store owners who would charge blacks more for the same products they sold to whites. Then add the redlining and out right theft of black owned land, property, inventions and even the stealing of our very lives to try stamp out any thoughts of prosperity that we may have. Why it’s amazing that we are even here to contribute anything.

I could have gone on but I realized that this kid only knew what he’s been taught. At the end of the conversation he admitted, I guess that makes sense because they would’t have brought blacks over here to work after the Indians started dying if they were lazy and weak, right? Then I answered, kid you’re right. But the Africans weren’t brought here to work, they were stolen and captured prisoners of war. And the Native Americans, some of who were blacks that were already here, didn’t just die. They were killed! So I told him, if he really wanted to think for himself to read some opposing points of view. Then he’ll be better at forming his own opinion after studying all the facts. I also suggested a few books for him to read. I told him, I would like to talk to him after he’s read them. He seemed like a nice kid. He’s just narrow minded!

Kags continued his conversation with his new found friend Bament. He owns an Ethiopian restaurant in West Philly. The students from both the University of Penn and Drexel who frequent his small establishment would always say to him that he had to meet old Kags. Mainly because they both have such interesting stories and a unique view on things. Which really means it’s unique to their limited experiences in school and being in their twenties. Well on this day, Bament decided to go pay old Kags a visit. He’s glad he did because as the conversation went on he realized that there is much more to Kags then what is apparent to the eye. He realized that though he seems like a humble old man, he has a dept of experience that took him around the world with his talents. But there’s something else.. something that he can’t quite put his finger on. There is a calming ethereal type effect you feel when you spend time with him. It’s almost as if there is some warm spiritual guidance present with him.

Observe Joseph Kageyama Wilson:

This is Austin Jones checking in on an amazing man Kageyama or Kags for short. He’s one who at an early age, was able to communicate with spirits. His identical twin brother Jessup passed away when they were toddlers. Their mother was institutionalized not long afterwards because no one believed her when she said little Kags was talking with his brother Jesse. He would give her messages and request that only his brother and her would know of. Everybody assumed in the process of grieving she started projecting her loss on her surviving child. So she learned to hide it and play along until she was sent home. That remained her and Kags secret from that point on until she passed away. 

He continued a link with his brother until Jesse’s spirit returned to the physical as Kags younger cousin Josiah. Of course his cousin wasn’t conscious of their prior life, but Kags was aware that it was him somehow. The family would alway say how Josiah reminded them of his big cousin Joe Kags. He became a talented pianist just like Kags with only brief interactions between them. Kags was already well known on the Blues scene. Though even so, he always made time to check on his cousin's progress. When Josiah took the Jazz world by storm, no one was more proud than Kags. You see Kags came up poor in the south, struggling but pushing through. His cousin went to the finest schools and was nurtured in his music dreams from the beginning. He saw a version of himself in his cousin if his life trajectory was different. It even crossed his mind that this could have been the path of his twin if they grew up together inspiring each other. The things that set these two great pianists aside from their peers were the same but in different genres. They both had the uncanny ability to intuit not just the notes but the whole essence of past greats into their improvisations. It’s been said that they embodied the ghosts of legends.. allowing their spirits to play through them. There’s partial truth to that.

This is why I’m assigned to observe Kags. He has been able to consciously tap into the body of information that is out there like no other untrained individual in recent times. The ancestors think he may be reflective of changes to come. Now the older he is, the greater it is. The more available time Kags has, the more he’s able to reflect, to meditate, to dream but with purpose and intent.

Kags Dream:

I had a dream about my mother the other night. She wanted me to drive her downtown as usual. But the trip was secondary to the conversation whenever I was with mom. We once drove for hours from Atlanta to our destination in Louisiana without me turning any music on. That's rare for me ‘cause music is like my driving companion. But not on that day! Our conversation switched from one topic to another continuously until we arrived back at her place of birth for my grandfather's funeral. Similarly in this dream we touched on many different topics but one stood out. We started talking about life, ancestors, loved ones that passed away and even biotech sustaining life much longer than we’d ever expected. Then suddenly, it seemed as if the dream slipped into a dream. Was it a vision as I was dreaming, a day dream within my night dream while driving or did I jump to another dream all together? I can't quite say, but my mom was a younger version of herself going with me, or with us because I could still hear my moms' older self talking to me. We were going from store to store browsing, holding a three way conversation strangely between my moms younger self, her older voice and myself. I naturally felt transplanted to my adventurous childhood shopping memories and smiled. The thing that stuck with me when I woke up was mom saying, "Is it so wrong having your loved ones with you after they've gone, when the good feeling and the heart healing is so right?" This made me think about how we already have various ways of keeping our loved ones with us. But to have them with us in a more visual, seemingly physical and interactive way like in the dream is what she was talking about.

As Kags is explaining this dream, Bament listens and notices that the southern draw that is clearly present in casual conversation, is not so prevalent. He wonders if Kags is reaching into another space to pull this information. He has seen elders back home in Ethiopia draw information from outside of themselves in which they appeared to be speaking in a different voice. Could this be similar?

Bament pressed on about the source and possible meaning of Kags dreams. When suddenly, Kags brought up the topic of a great blues guitarist named Samuel Maximillian that he used to work with. Sam Max is my brother William's father in law. A great blues player is an understatement! He is legendary! Some say it was him at the crossroads making a deal with the devil long before the Robert Johnson story. Others say Sam Max was the devil at the crossroads making many deals. He’s been a controversial figure in music influencing so many great artists. There’s no middle ground with him. They either loved him or hated him. Well it appears that Joe Kags didn’t think too fondly of him. He explained to Bament that he and Sam were polar opposites who clashed at every turn. He believed Sam to be the Devil incarnate. He went on to explain a dream he had about a young teenager named Billy from down on the Jersey Shore some years ago. He said, his dreams are like a movie to him that he could play back as he chooses. He said, this dream stood out because Sam was trying to force his influence for years on this talented kid Billy who wasn’t having any parts of it. So Sam reverted to violence and other extreme measures. Kags stated that the significance in the dream is that it confirmed to him that Sam was evil as he had suspected. But didn’t know that Sam had his hands in other affairs not music related. The kid Billy was already troubled and fighting his own demons. Maybe that’s why Sam targeted him.

Kags dream:

It started with a basketball game, half a block from the beach in Wildwood, NJ. It was summer in this resort town. So, along with that comes plenty of tourists. Some are enjoying all that life has to offer. But unfortunately, there are those hell bent on making life as unenjoyable as possible for others. This dream had Sam talking to some young neo nazi looking characters. But Sam wasn’t a black man like I knew him. He was white! He was pointing in the direction of this teenager named Billy who was playing in the game with his friends. These troublemakers walked into the park and called, “next!” Which means, they’re up next game to play the winners. Now, these were young men probably in their mid twenties playing against a bunch of mid-teens. Even though these kids were tall for their age, they were still only fourteen and fifteen.

During the game it was obvious that these men were trying to hurt Billy. It was not only the hard fouls, but the low bridge as he was going up for the dunk made it clear. They intended serious harm. Somehow Billy was able to torque his body enough to still land on his hands then feet. The next few seconds, Billy and friends rushed these aggressors with the added support from some of the local men who were watching from the sideline. Needless to say, that game was over as those men were no longer interested in a fight and hurriedly left the park. 

The dream switched to young Billy walking home past Maxwell Field, his high school stadium a block away from his home. Just outside of the tall fence at the other end of the block walking in front of him in the same direction he was heading, he could see a group of guys with some fairly large and fierce looking dogs. The guys climbed the fence and began crossing the field. To his amazement, the dogs did as well. I remember Billy saying to himself, those boys took way too long. We hopped that fence in one continuous motion, jumping, grabbing and hurling our bodies over with our feet landing square on the other side. Then he paused after seeing their four legged companions take the twelve foot fence with ease. He began feeling a little uneasy. Especially as they got closer and he saw that these guys had your typical hate group apparel on. They were half way across the football field when one of the dogs doubled back and started heading to the spot where they scaled the fence. The problem was the teenager was just about at that location. So he wondered if he was the reason for the about face. Especially after seeing the steady pace in which they were closing ground. But this was Billy’s neighborhood and his home field. So as soon as he was out of sight behind the dugout, he slipped in and locked the door heading up to the bleachers overlooking the baseball diamond. He could see all of them heading his way following the lead dog. At which point, he noticed clearly it was not a normal dog but some kind of hybrid beast. He was sure they had no idea where he was or that he could see them. They were out of view for a while then Billy saw them crossing the field again. As they continued, the same lead beast looked back and up towards the bleachers. The teen was alarmed because he was sure they sniffed him out at the door, knowing that he may be up there watching them. After a little wait, Billy was back on his way home. He went up the back steps to his upstairs room. Open the door then saw that his home, which was just there, was now demolished. The only thing standing was the rear facade. With his hand still on the open door, he looked down into the remaining rubble and wondered, "how, what.. why?"

Kags explained to Bament that this dream stuck with him because he knew Sam was a destructive influence in the music industry but had no clue how far his wickedness actually reached. He has had other dreams since then that shed more light on old Sam Max. Kags heard that he had a home down on the Jersey Shore for some kinda retirement. But he often wonders what happened to that talented young teenager Billy.

I asked the ancestors if it was my brother William that old man Kags had a vision about in his dream and they confirmed it was. Samuel Maxamillian married his mother in law after he and his wife were already married. So he is not her biological father. Sams’ intentions to get my brother on his team is no secret amongst the ancestors. They feel he married the mother in law as part of that scheme. My brother is an extraordinary man with revenge issues (among others). Sam knows that. But they added that Sam is far from ordinary himself.