...some Giant music for my friends...
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
...T.S. Eliot once referred to "thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season", a phrase that leaps to mind when i sit down to write these days...and nothing comes out...
...to that end, i make some more video offerings...firstly some dancing chickens for my friend Marmy, and a wonderful live performance from Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush...
...to that end, i make some more video offerings...firstly some dancing chickens for my friend Marmy, and a wonderful live performance from Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush...
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
the night before the night before...
...pondering my choices for the evening repast on this night before the night before, i decided to head to one of my favorite Mexican grub joints...was able to secure one of my favorite tables in a dark corner where i can stealthily observe the comings and goings of my fellow diners...
...at a nearby table two couples were scanning their menues while one of the men self-importantly dominated the "conversation" in a voice several decibels louder than necessary...even after their food arrived he continued jabbering with mouthfuls of food, hunched over his plate with furrowed brow, this hairless pink ape...it's a daily battle for me, fighting this contempt i have for my own species...
...then...at another adjacent table a young man and woman sit with their young son...from his bald head, lined with a fresh scar and his frailty, i could tell he was having his own daily battle with something that was seriously trying to kill him...the faces of his brave mom and dad were care-worn way beyond their years, and tasty as they were, i began to lose interest in the blue corn enchiladas on the table before me...
...sat back and took a swallow of pale ale and as i sat the glass back on the table the glow of the christmas lights illuminated the sleeve of my shirt...this old worn, purple knit shirt i break out for the colder desert days and it hits me that this is the shirt i was wearing while sitting at my dad's side when he breathed his last...
...another sad punch in the gut, so i quickly payed my tab and rushed into the cool night air...climbed into my car and there in the relative quiet and solitude, i cried...
i cried for the poor naked ape that will probably never open up to love...
i cried for the young family fighting for life
i cried selfishly...missing my family, my friends...
i wipe away the tears and resolve to fight
for life
for love
for whatever days i have left...
...at a nearby table two couples were scanning their menues while one of the men self-importantly dominated the "conversation" in a voice several decibels louder than necessary...even after their food arrived he continued jabbering with mouthfuls of food, hunched over his plate with furrowed brow, this hairless pink ape...it's a daily battle for me, fighting this contempt i have for my own species...
...then...at another adjacent table a young man and woman sit with their young son...from his bald head, lined with a fresh scar and his frailty, i could tell he was having his own daily battle with something that was seriously trying to kill him...the faces of his brave mom and dad were care-worn way beyond their years, and tasty as they were, i began to lose interest in the blue corn enchiladas on the table before me...
...sat back and took a swallow of pale ale and as i sat the glass back on the table the glow of the christmas lights illuminated the sleeve of my shirt...this old worn, purple knit shirt i break out for the colder desert days and it hits me that this is the shirt i was wearing while sitting at my dad's side when he breathed his last...
...another sad punch in the gut, so i quickly payed my tab and rushed into the cool night air...climbed into my car and there in the relative quiet and solitude, i cried...
i cried for the poor naked ape that will probably never open up to love...
i cried for the young family fighting for life
i cried selfishly...missing my family, my friends...
i wipe away the tears and resolve to fight
for life
for love
for whatever days i have left...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Falling Slowly
sometimes one falls slowly, other times headlong in a rush
and once in a great while
for a lifetime...
Saturday, December 20, 2008
happy winter solstice
looking for magic
on this longest of nights
and though in short supply
it hides in the most unlikely places
looking for magic
on this longest of nights
and though in short supply
it hides in the most unlikely places
it hides in the faces of innocent children
it rides shotgun with those in harm's way
it resides in the hearts of lovers
it divides and multiplies when given freely
give
forgive
love...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
CRIMBO PRESSIES FROM MARMY!!
Oh my...i want to tear them open right now, but me mum is in me head saying to wait until Crimbo Morn...well, she's actually saying "Christmas Morning"...but, i digress...
Bless you Mel, for bringing smiles across thousands of miles...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
...a good friend who visits here has put forth the queries "What up with the blog?...no new words?"
...good questions...i could lie and say i've been really really busy and yes, i have played a few shows and been logging time as the dutiful wood elf, turning trees into music, but to be quite truthful there is a certain malaise of spirit this holiday season that i am finding hard to ignore...
...and i am finding it within as well as without...work is becoming scarce for me and many of my compatriots, not only in the music biz but other fields of endeavour as well...i thought perhaps i was having residual bleakness hanging on from the ohio trip, but even a week back in the sunshine has not yet served to bring back the light...so rather than bitch and rant in a semi-public manner, i've been seeking that quiet place in the center my soul...meditating, reading, exercising, working...because i knew any attempts at wordsmithing would turn out much as this one has...
...i'm so much more fortunate than the vast majority of souls on this planet, but it's hard to be thankful in the face of so much suffering...
...but there are some light-hearted moments in the news...
...good questions...i could lie and say i've been really really busy and yes, i have played a few shows and been logging time as the dutiful wood elf, turning trees into music, but to be quite truthful there is a certain malaise of spirit this holiday season that i am finding hard to ignore...
...and i am finding it within as well as without...work is becoming scarce for me and many of my compatriots, not only in the music biz but other fields of endeavour as well...i thought perhaps i was having residual bleakness hanging on from the ohio trip, but even a week back in the sunshine has not yet served to bring back the light...so rather than bitch and rant in a semi-public manner, i've been seeking that quiet place in the center my soul...meditating, reading, exercising, working...because i knew any attempts at wordsmithing would turn out much as this one has...
...i'm so much more fortunate than the vast majority of souls on this planet, but it's hard to be thankful in the face of so much suffering...
...but there are some light-hearted moments in the news...
...it would appear that freedom of the press means something totally different in other parts of the world...i can't picture Helen Thomas hurling a pump at Dubya's melon, much as she probably would have liked too...and at the risk of sounding sexist, that dude throws like a girl...but to be fair, the Iraqi little league baseball system isn't up to speed with the rest of the world...
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Home At Last
...can't express it any better than this...
...well, perhaps if i had made it to the computer before making to Four Peaks for two pints i would give it shot, but discretion prevents me from typing another stroke.
Monday, December 01, 2008
back in buckeye land ~ closing shots
...awoke to a light dusting of snow this morning and have seen the sun for only a few hours in a week's time...wondering now what the fuck was i thinking when i thought it would be a good idea to stay an extra couple of days longer than usual...perhaps something nice will happen in the next two days to justify my decision...i'm not holding my breath...
...the other two gigs we did while here were an exercise in patience and contrast...friday night we played for a delirious, celebratory crowd...the alma mater of my partner in musical crime won the state championship in football and the club was packed to the rafters with drunken catholic pigskin fans and i feared for the safety of the gear (most of it rented or borrowed, excepting my bass) so i stayed in the stage area on guard duty during all the breaks...i say "stage area" because most of the joints around here don't have actual stages, they just push some tables aside and one carves out some territory in a corner...Nanci Griffith has a song called "Working in Corners" that describes this, letter perfect...
...as we drove into Delphos that evening to set up for the show, i knew that we were in for an interesting night when i saw that the gutters along Main Street were piled knee-deep in toilet paper for blocks and blocks, white streamers of the stuff festooning power lines, traffic lights and telephone poles...people probably woke up the next morning with nary a sheet to wipe with...
...needless to say, we played as loud and hard as an acoustic duo can play and i was wishing mightily that we had our drummer and lead guitarist along for the ride...but we emerged at the end sweaty and exhausted, but undamaged...
...the second night was much more to our liking, a more mellow crowd as most of the really rowdy folks were home nursing hangovers...same town, different venue, still a packed room and people were actually listening...definitely one of the high points of the trip...except for the one inebriated woman who screamed "PLAY MARGARITAVILLE!!" after every song...that was the exercise in patience part...by the end of the night i was ready to duct tape one of my soiled socks into her pie hole...most other places on the planet would have have had a security dude happy to do the deed for me, but as you might have gathered, this place is, ummmm...to be kind, different...
...in forty-eight hours i will be on the road to the airport...it can't come quick enough...
...the other two gigs we did while here were an exercise in patience and contrast...friday night we played for a delirious, celebratory crowd...the alma mater of my partner in musical crime won the state championship in football and the club was packed to the rafters with drunken catholic pigskin fans and i feared for the safety of the gear (most of it rented or borrowed, excepting my bass) so i stayed in the stage area on guard duty during all the breaks...i say "stage area" because most of the joints around here don't have actual stages, they just push some tables aside and one carves out some territory in a corner...Nanci Griffith has a song called "Working in Corners" that describes this, letter perfect...
...as we drove into Delphos that evening to set up for the show, i knew that we were in for an interesting night when i saw that the gutters along Main Street were piled knee-deep in toilet paper for blocks and blocks, white streamers of the stuff festooning power lines, traffic lights and telephone poles...people probably woke up the next morning with nary a sheet to wipe with...
...needless to say, we played as loud and hard as an acoustic duo can play and i was wishing mightily that we had our drummer and lead guitarist along for the ride...but we emerged at the end sweaty and exhausted, but undamaged...
...the second night was much more to our liking, a more mellow crowd as most of the really rowdy folks were home nursing hangovers...same town, different venue, still a packed room and people were actually listening...definitely one of the high points of the trip...except for the one inebriated woman who screamed "PLAY MARGARITAVILLE!!" after every song...that was the exercise in patience part...by the end of the night i was ready to duct tape one of my soiled socks into her pie hole...most other places on the planet would have have had a security dude happy to do the deed for me, but as you might have gathered, this place is, ummmm...to be kind, different...
...in forty-eight hours i will be on the road to the airport...it can't come quick enough...
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