Religion, Big Yellow Teapots and Kevin Ayers

Wtf is the connection between the three, you may ask?

Quite simple really.

The flying Spaghetti Monster which some of you may, or may not, have heard me praise, was based (loosely) on the concept of Russells Teapot (or the Celestial Teapot) an analogy first brought to public attention by Bertrand Russell in 1952.

'If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.'

From there, I started to think about cosmic teapots and I remembered that Gong (the band) used to have one.

I looked up Gong on Youtube (I did this when I first got online all those years ago and there was no mention of them whatsoever so I wasn't expecting much) but lo and behold - there it was. And - not only did I get Gong but an almost forgotten idol in the form of Kevin Ayers. A man with hands so big he never needed to move in order to play guitar!

So here it is - the ultimate in FSM glory!

Gong - guest starring Kevin Ayers in 1994 with 'Lady Rachel'