Yes, this gong comes with a mallet! All we have left is the Walnut colored stand now. Our Upper West Side Gong -- a 10 inch Wind Gong on our Peoplewood Oak Gong Stand -- is a CLASSIC. It makes us feel like the L.L. Bean of Gongs when we have an item as classic as this... It's the kind of gong and gong stand that will last for years, decades, generations, and it makes the Head Mallethead wax nasally and rhapsodic like Garrison Keillor copywriting on a maple syrup sugar high. Looking at all three versions of this item above got us thinking of the old days at our personal Lake Wobegon, which happened to be Manhattan Isle. Now the Head Mallethead back then would meander about the island, fuzzy-headed both in hair and via whatever mind-altering nut, berry or weed that he might find - the natives back then once fixed him up with their traditional bagel, cream cheese, and psychedelic cactus spread which made for quite a day at the Met. The Mallethead does not recall the paintings talking so much as they did that day... But what makes the memories more lively of course, are the memories of the posse that was traveled with back then. The Artist to the left, the Filmmaker in the middle, the Mallethead at right.  We provide no excuses for the look. It was a halcyon, innocent adolescence back then, so long ago... Manhattan seemed just purchased from the Indians, we went to a school inspired by Thoreau... it was before the angular fashions of the 1980s; it was the last gasp of long hair and Adidas shoes only having a few basic styles. The three of us had little historical sense then, we were in this moment ahistorical, if you will. We did not perceive that we were at the end of a optimistic, if naive, time, a classic year (as classic as this gong, if I may violate this muse with advertisement) - 1979. It was a year where the inchoate spirituality that pulsed and prodded the bright surface of days and hovered warmly on the coldest of nights still could be felt, still lingered following the tormented pleas for peace that had pushed their way out a decade earlier. It was just before this Palpable Divine for all would be shoved back under the rug of a fierce materialism, one threaded with furious theocrats. Yes, it's been 30 years since the classic photo above was taken of The Artist, The Filmmaker, and the Mallethead. Many miles and dark times have been survived by us all (and perhaps by you as well) but we still stay in touch, because besides the karma, there is the incipient spirit of that time, that feeling that God's Hug was around almost everywhere you went, despite your ignorance or willful disregard of it, and that is something that bonds you. It is a background global emotion for people who lived then, a mood that appears when they think back on the narrative of their life, it makes them remember that time as a classic. The Mallethead seems to think that we may be sweeping away the recent darkness that tried to masquerade as light from the world now - which is different than the violence of terrorism, for that is no masquerade - and as we do that, we may notice the Eternal Embrace filling the air we breathe again. I don't mean to suggest that long hair, hallucinogens, and tube socks will return en masse -- no one needs those except members of college Ultimate Frisbee teams -- but we can only hope that with each bang of each Classic Gong like this, that all of you remember your old friends, the good times, and the feel of God keeping an eye on everyone. That patient Omnipresence is more than a hug now in 2009, it is a focused attention point, it is a truth that pierces through the wall we have built of imperfect leaders, foolish talking heads, and sociopathic criminals. We have come to think of these types as classics, but they, thank goodness, are not. HEAR THIS WIND GONG HEAR THIS WIND GONG ANOTHER WAY Measurements: Gong - Approx. 10 inches diameter Gong Stand 18 inches tall 15 inches wide 7 inches deep at feet The Price Below is for only one gong, gong stand and mallet, not all three. Pick your color stand below. |