After the storm

It might have been Ben Lovett from Mumford and Sons coming up on stage last night to thank the artists who had performed at Space, as a part of the Communion tour. Some of the music was heavy. Too heavy. The lament of disconnection, search, anger, passion, loss, and ache - was palpable. Which, for some reason, after the show had me thinking about the weight of the angry Psalms - to their credit they were honest - and then meditating on how anger unchecked just leads to isolation. Which of course, then had me considering the place of the imprecatory Psalms..

  

Quiet rivers

I came up with this improvisational piece on piano, some kind of meditation. I was thinking of places where we've fallen and hurt ourselves, along with our own imperfections. Meditating on a personally painful situation, and new beginnings. Brought me peace while improvising through it. 

Words

Interesting story I came across:

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”

The little boy then understood how powerful his words were.

Hearing

I think this must have been an overwhelming, humbling, transforming experience. Suffering, disabilities, setbacks - hit us all at one point in time or another. It's warming to see someone experience liberty in a profoundly new dimension. Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick, but when a longing is fulfilled ...

Humility

The artist alone among men knows what true humility means. His reach forever exceeds his grasp. He can never be satisfied with his work. He knows when he has done well, but he knows he has never attained his dream. He knows he never can. -  Rheta Childe Dorr, A Woman of Fifty

- - -

Thinking about humility. Is it a living measurement, a check and balance that needs guidance, or trust, or both? Simple sense - Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less. I like that.

One size

My brother had sent me a snap of his baby boy  -  "One size does not fit all!" 

Proposed

A little appetizer from the kitchen I had baked in a jiffy with some drums and piano. Not quite done yet. It's got a great vocal melody for it though. Have to use your imagination there. In the catalog of moments yet to refine it goes. Recipe needs a bit more. Mom, send an upright bass player!

If I proposed, with a want that was deep / If I could loose all those regrets you keep

If I would lead, with streams as we sleep / The rivers know, sow and we bleed ..

Sound cloud

The Sound Cloud page is a container for some of my own musical meanderings, some of the occasional noodling and rough musical sketches I allow myself to creatively take the time to do.

It'll be the kitchen from where I'll eventually post some of my home grown recipes. I work very long hours for a high tech company and the job leaves very little time to learn and work on music. But I hope at some point to have a few things posted - where both the seeds of ideas for unfinished songs, and perhaps even ones with a little more seasoning as well, can be streamed.

Until I get a few up later in the year {had recorded sketches, but into the phone - need to re-record much, if I even have energy, desire, or time} - may yer days be blessed lads and lasses! Reprints of photo available from Shingo. I think I've felt like that since last year.

On some of my better days. Ha.