Love and death
I lost a bunch of people over the covid time span. None from Covid but from depression. Depression from the lockdowns, job loss, family loss, economic fallout. Some might have an amnesia coming on as some of those times are hard to stomach looking back at them.
One friend confessed the want to suicide and I wrote this for her. I never told her that it was for her but I did spend 3 hours on the phone talking her off the ledge. To this day I don’t know if she ever heard it and I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t even know about this blog so…I don’t mind talking about it here.
As a great author once said, “if it doesn’t concern Love or Death it’s probably not worth writing about.”
“Lonely”
How can it be that with all the love around you you could feel so lonely
if only
someone could make it through to you but you keep the world outside
you built that wall too high
now you’re wishing you were Somebody else or with Someone else
I know I tried
to break that wall
But I can’t
you don’t have to be lonely
on your own
you don’t have to go it alone
Stay with me don’t let the screen take your eyes away
don’t be a cell phone slave
because there’s still magic in the day
but the computers can steal it away
You got yourself too high and now you’re wishing you were Somebody else or with Someone else
Don’t keep the world outside
It will do you no good
you don’t have to be lonely
on your own
you don’t have to go it alone
don’t keep the world outside
don’t close your eyes
don’t build that wall so high
you don’t have to be lonely
on your own
you don’t have to go it alone
Souls of Salt
If tears could only smile
I might see their personalities
they would show themselves to me
before they fall fast and deep
souls of salt
they lay to rest
for here is the place they choose to die
one by one
I watch them go
I watch them go
There a mystery
Only they can explain in their short lives
In the evening is when you can see
the salt tracks left by these water lines
It’s impossible to hide
Once you’ve seen
the evidence of their short lives
souls of salt
they lay to rest
for here is the place they choose to die
one by one
I watch them go
I watch them go
I’m here for you
When you call on me
I’ll come when its time
Tears have a hold on me
I can still feel something of myself
When the party is over
Just because the party ends in one place doesn’t mean that it doesn’t pick up somewhere else
And hopefully we can find the commonalities between yesterday and tomorrow so that we can remember that scene is always us and what we bring to it.
.
The unique situation
Once when I was 22 I was working at a music store, getting my “chops up” learning how to teach.
Half hour lessons for $18, lots of kids learning on the first hours of their instruments (they would buy the instruments and take lessons at the store).
One day I was introduced to Steve who was 74 and wanted to learn piano.
He said, “I don’t have much time, teach me to play.”
There isn’t anything that will prioritize your time better than the lack of having time.
I had to re-think a lot of my own process, method and diagnosis (my methodology was already shaping into something but I had yet to encounter anomalies like this).
I threw out a lot of things.
Reading, chord voicing, physical dexterity exercises come to mind. I’m sure there were more.
We went “old school” visual. He wanted to learn song X. I converted it to an easy key, reduced the melody and left hand harmonies (rearranging) show it to him, have him play it back with errors, show him again, have him play it back with less errors.
He literally had to tough his way through it until he could manifest it with rhythm but it didn’t matter much because he was
excited. And, he was playing the piano.
It was clunky and messy but he was really into it.
We did songs.
He was happy.
And that’s really the best you’re going to get.
You don’t always have the time to make, create, or teach the ideal, and so you adjust.
Just like life.
Dream up the best dream you can imagine
Dream up the best dream you can imagine
And believe in your heart of hearts that it will happen if all this
Dream ever does is make you feel good then that’s already a big deal.
Because feeling better gives you that little bit of leeway you need to break free
Of the depression negativity etc. but chances are the dream will give you
More than that. It will give you the compass and purpose you need to live
The best life you can imagine.
Words and what they mean, if they mean anything at all
Juxtapose writing a book to doing an improvised live stream rant.
A book was first dreamed of.
Then rough drafted.
Then refined and edited.
Then someone else looked at it.
Maybe they made changes and corrections.
Then it was published.
Then people invested hours in reading it to discover something.
Hopefully something important and not trivial.
The live stream: you turn your phone on and talk to it.
There are people who do “off-the-cuff” talking “stream of thought“ pretty well.
However, they tend to be the ones who have not only read a lot of books but have written some themselves.
Choosing words is an art in itself.
Backpage Anniversary
Today marks 6 years since the closing of the Backpage in Lowell, MA.
I was a music director for a nightclub in Lowell Massachusetts that lasted 6 years called the “Backpoge” (2011-2017).
It was a small 100 person capacity club that was tucked down an alley on a canal in the downtown grid, it offered no food, or TVs, well there was one but it was off almost all the time, just drinks and bands.
1300 shows later it closed its doors for reasons I won’t get into here. But, If you’ve been a witness to the great intersections of many people (bands) patrons (music lovers) and circumstances, in this case, a club just “out of the way” enough to not attract the wrong kind of attention, then you know that such things, historically, don’t last for that long. The flash and they sizzle, they become and embody “the thing.” And then they promptly roll over and die.
But we had a a lot of fun there while it was alive…
Collaborations
One of the greatest reasons to do what I do is to have the adventure of meeting and collaborating with others.
Maybe it’s playing yoga classes with a live yoga band.
View this post on Instagram
Or meeting and supporting a slam poet from Africa. Here’s a shot of me and Marc Alexandre Oho Bambé in NYC (pre-covid).
Lyrics page is up
Woke up this morning
And my world had changed
I was feeling a little lovesick for the early days
Everyones got a lifeline
They hold onto when the sea gets rough again
But can you tell me what kind of trouble you’re living in
Cause I’d believe in you if you think I could
And if I asked you to do the same for me i know you would
Get back living in the track of a runaway train
Still enough time to turn your world on a dime
Get back stand real tall remember
Be proud of all the good you’ve done
Positive vibration is all you need
That’s what Mr. Bob Marley gave to me
Being lovesick
Might bring you down
You got to do what you can to pick your ass up off the ground
Cause I’d believe in you if you think I could
And if I asked you to do the same for me i know you would
Get back living in the track of a runaway train
Still enough time to turn your world on a dime
Get back stand real tall remember
Be proud of all the good you’ve done
INXS?
I’ve been told that I make others songs sound like my own when I play them. I take that as a compliment. The “artist” part in “Artistry” is probably working.
Enjoy some INXS:
Happening
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Renegades and Healers Recap
The release date for “Renegades and Healers” was set for March 20th 2020. Understandably you could say it was overlooked. It’s my only solo acoustic guitar voice record that has no overdubs and was done completely live in the studio.
But what do the numbers actually mean?
Likes/Views/Streams…numbers.
There’s a large group of people that go to what they think is popular, only because it’s popular. It’s that group that goes to the Phish show that don’t know any of the songs they just want to be with the crowd, or maybe the boys that follow the girls to the Ariana Grande concert…because that’s where the girls are.
But how do you convince people that you’re more popular then you really are? You buy and in the virtual world everything is for sale especially the conception of popularity. It’s been going on for a long time but it’s expanded to new heights, whether or not its the bots on twitter, or the fake followers on instagram…
Popularity is for sale, and the higher the price only the richest can play, and so the less interesting the art becomes.
(Not because there are no interesting rich people, just that most of them didn’t become rich by being artists)
Some of the adds I get on a daily basis:
The backyard jam
Some of my best memories are of the backyard jam. The unsuspected conversation, the surprise meeting. The musician sitting in for the first time. The casual nature of the whole thing. Good times are the agenda and music is the vehicle.
Afterhours
Singing “Mess around” (Ray Charles) with French pianist Jeremy Hababou.
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Life as an improvisation
Playing with other musicians, the spontaneity of what will happen next,
The rehearsal went well but what will happen when you’re in the moment?
When onstage you start mind melding with the audience…will you remember the music hits and accents or will you only have your ears to go on?
How much can you listen, separate and still be a part of the band? the players? The song? Your life?
The thrilling aspect of the conversation is revealed when it has no agenda
Other than to find the next subject and to continue the interaction…
The brilliance in spontaneous music is that it’s no different than a great conversation.