I was listening to the “Coffee House” station on XM Radio tonight when they had a guitar playing, singer-song writer give a brief on one of his number one songs. He said he was traveling thru Northern California in his old, tired out van when it died along the road. He got it to the local mechanic who proceeded to tell him that his fuel pump was shot, and that it would be about $150 to repair it. Well, he didn’t have that much money and left the van at the shop. He wandered around, went into the local Safeway Store---one of those have almost everything stores that are scattered about Rural America. He was lost and wandering around wondering what the heck to do. He did have a credit card, but no income, no steady job or gig, no way to pay the bill on the card when it came in a month. Suddenly he heard a familiar song over the speaker system in the Safeway Store---he realized it was his own song, and relished in the fact that the record publisher finally released it. I’m sorry, I don’t remember the song or the artist, but he’s still around and is very good and very famous and now very rich. Thus, he went back to the mechanic and laid down his credit card and said “go ahead and fix it now”.
There it is, out of the blue fortuitous nature of random blessings, that man’s life changed in just a few moments. Things were “fixed”. He went from going up and down California in an old tired out van, playing in clubs for just enough money to get to his next gig, not being able to afford repairs on his van---to being a famous, wealthy song-writer. I too am thankful for the songs that occasionally go thru my head. These songs “fix” things for me nightly. Friends have told me I am a gifted song-writer. I have seen toughened Marines cry over a song I wrote about my daughters called “You’ll Always Be My Little Girl.” However, I still haven’t heard one of my songs over the Safeway Sound System. Until a lot of years ago, I still entertained the notion that one of my songs might make it out there on the airways, might touch someone, might make me rich and famous. Alas, that has not transpired and I realize that my opportunity to be a “young: singer, song-writer has come and gone. Here is a “snippet” on that one….
“What has happened to my princess?
You’ve become a woman of the world,
And you will do things, that I never will,
But to me you’ll always be, you’ll always be,
My little girl.
However, unlike many “one-hit-wonders” or angry musicians I have not opted to relish in the sadness and depression of what could have been and “waste my life away.” Instead, I have continued to lift my song-writer’s nose to the wind and search for the breath of the Creator and find a melody or a few words. You know, Beehtoven said that his music was simply a reflection of capturing the wind, the breath, the voice of GOD that’s always out there on the wind---you simply have to open your spiritual ears and you will hear HIM talking to you. How true is that?
A few short years ago we were asked to write a song for a couple’s wedding. I scribbled notes about song ideas and played a million chords over 3 months-- getting nowhere, in fact, I was downright frustrated and scared because now it was just a day before the wedding and I had NOTHING. I was trying, yes, ME, I, was trying to write a song. I forgot about the wind….I forgot about the breath of GOD….and then in my basement song-writers lair I prayed a simple prayer and asked my GOD for help with this song…I told HIM I was getting nowhere and was lost without HIM….and, as I picked up my pen it came as thus….
“There’s something really special about you,
it’s in your eyes….
There’s something really special about you,
It’s the Kingdom in your eyes…
I’m yours, you’re mine and we are one in Jesus’ eyes…
Well, there’s a lot more to the song, but that’s the gist of it, there is a marvelous Kingdom inside you, I can see it in your eyes---and that song has been played in a lot in coffee houses, etc. to pretty good reviews, but can’t you see that in your true love’s eyes? Something magical, something so special even beyond earthly love? Yes, it’s heaven, a little taste of heaven that you get when you look into those shimmering eyes and see someone loving you beyond belief, beyond what you know you deserve or could ever hope for. There is a Kingdom of God in there.
And that is the gift of songwriting---something beyond anything I could ever do alone. Something that carries me on the wind of GOD to this day. Something that no matter what, I always have something special to rely on, something that not everybody gets. You have something I don’t, and I admire you for it---but I tell you, I am so blessed and thankful to share the next song with you. May you walk outside and take a little sniff of fresh air and find a song in your heart today too. May you sail on the Wind of GOD and soar beyond your earthly woes and troubles and pain and find the freshness of a new song on the WIND OF GOD.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Standing Ovation
They say that when you are about 9 years old your interests and activities will be the harbinger of your life to come. They say that what you love to do then will be what you love to do when you are a working adult or an old man or lady. Now they is the smartest man that ever lived, we all know that….remember, what will they think of next? What did they ever mean by that? What where they thinking? Yeah, that they guy is a pretty smart dude, or your enemy depending on your perspective. In my case, it is so true, I remember when I was 9 I got my first guitar, and still wish I had it, could hold it, play it. But alas, it was a rental that my mother got me along with the lessons. After I quit going to lessons due to attitudinal adjustments my mother took the guitar back. What was wrong with that woman? (Yeah right). However, there were many other guitars to follow, thankfully. It was also the same time I was out searching the woods for “pollywogs” and bugs and lots of different critters. Enter the first of many “microscope” and “chemistry” youth sets. These were filled with a myriad number of tools and collection bottles and microscopes and chemicals for experimentation. I still have the biology text book from that era. I wore those kits out. Then, there was also the first fishing pole my Dad gave me and helped me learn to use…talk about conflicted!!! What was this boy to do with his life???
I also remember spending hours in our “kid’s room”in the basement working with these toys, having a great time in the shadow of my brother’s “Easy Bake Oven Kit”. Although he never became a professional Chef, he’s a damn good cook and a great host. Me, well, I have taken the love of “critters” and science into being a physician. Before that, I took the love of being in the field and collecting critters into being a marine scientist. I also parlayed my Father’s gift of the fishing pole and his love of fishing into a lifelong passion. However, all the while, I have felt the winds of music on the breeze and continued to play guitar and write songs until the present moment. In short, I was always conflicted about what to do with my life and wonder what would have happened if I had continued down the musical pathway. Actually, I now know, that of all I do, writing Nook Notes, Doctoring, being a scientist, and even fishing, I am at my best at writing songs and playing guitar. That may not be true for the listening public, but in my heart I am at my best during that time. I think at this point I have written more songs than the Beatles. Certainly, I have written more than Dolley Parton who I am told wrote around 300. If you ever get really bored, you can come verify this fact for yourself and dig thru my boxes of songs and notes about songs and get really tangled in the mess along with me!
After the age of nine we go on and experiment with many options, but once in awhile they remind us about the path in life we should take---tonight I was reminded about it once again. They was a crowd of people in the local coffee shop. Can you believe it? Yeah, we have several local coffee shops/restuarants in Naubinway. We have Shirley’s Cove, Beaudoin’s Café, Captain Carl’s, Pizza Pronto, The Country Girl Diner and then the Anchor Inn. In any case, only two of them have live music, Shirley’s Cove and the Anchor Inn. It wasn’t long before the bug to perform within me met up with another passionate musical soul (Tim) and along with my wife, the definition of music, we formed a singing trio.
Now, this Trio stemmed from Church, Tim being the Pastor, and my wife and I helping out on the music in Church. Well, that kind of makes bars or even Shirley’s Cove a tough venue, but thankfully the Anchor Inn was willing to have us perform. They were willing to have us play an eclectic mix of folk, pop, rock, bluegrass and gospel. So tonight was our debut. We were totally unplugged, no kidding, there was no sound system---we had to fill a very large room with original songs, gospel songs, bluegrass songs and Van Morrison and Eric Clapton and a myriad number of other songs without the benefit of electronics. I must admit I had a lot of trepidation. However, the concept of being right among the audience intrigued me. The night did not fail me. The audience was incredible, they joined in singing along even with original songs, clapping, stomping their feet and at the end, giving us a STANDING OVATION. I have never experienced a standing ovation, ever, it was amazing. As I reflect on it now, I can see why. There was this magical thing that happened, the two guitars blended so well, and Jomay on her keyboard filled in the gaps, and the harmonies blended and echoed into the room in a pleasant whisper of songs and talent. I, my partners, and the audience were transfixed. I can’t stop thinking about it. I remember looking in my wife’s eyes many times, and Tim’s, and just relishing in the energy that surrounded us. We were so blessed to have this opportunity, and the audience we had, and the gift of music.
During the intermission our daughters sang, and played, and lifted us all. I followed that with a song I wrote, “You’ll Always Be My Little Girl”. I moved up into the center of the room to play it and I think, really connected with the audience. I think I really embaressed my little girl, but in the long run, I think she appreciated it. Tim was amazing on guitar as usual. It is so much fun to play with somebody better than you, you learn so much, we really connected on it.
Now, as I sit here and write, I reflect on the career in music that could have been. I used to be saddened by it. I would get downright depressed about not “quitting my day job” and going into music. However, now I don’t care about what I didn’t do. I only relish the moment that we had tonight and what we did do. I realize that, well, that is what music does, it takes you away from taxes and work and unfilled dreams and depression and anxiety. It doesn’t matter if it’s your vocation or avocation, it is there for you. It is a power that captures the breath of God from the air and transforms you into an angel. Yes, an angel, even for a brief second, you become the vessel for transmitting beauty, grace and love from the Great Power. So, it is in fact, music, it's a “living” for me. It is the living power and love of music that echoes in my life from 9, to hopefully 90. I thank God for it, I thank my last band Script for it, I thank Tim and Jomay for it. Importantly, I thank the audience tonight for it, being there with me in it, and giving me the first standing ovation of my life.
I also remember spending hours in our “kid’s room”in the basement working with these toys, having a great time in the shadow of my brother’s “Easy Bake Oven Kit”. Although he never became a professional Chef, he’s a damn good cook and a great host. Me, well, I have taken the love of “critters” and science into being a physician. Before that, I took the love of being in the field and collecting critters into being a marine scientist. I also parlayed my Father’s gift of the fishing pole and his love of fishing into a lifelong passion. However, all the while, I have felt the winds of music on the breeze and continued to play guitar and write songs until the present moment. In short, I was always conflicted about what to do with my life and wonder what would have happened if I had continued down the musical pathway. Actually, I now know, that of all I do, writing Nook Notes, Doctoring, being a scientist, and even fishing, I am at my best at writing songs and playing guitar. That may not be true for the listening public, but in my heart I am at my best during that time. I think at this point I have written more songs than the Beatles. Certainly, I have written more than Dolley Parton who I am told wrote around 300. If you ever get really bored, you can come verify this fact for yourself and dig thru my boxes of songs and notes about songs and get really tangled in the mess along with me!
After the age of nine we go on and experiment with many options, but once in awhile they remind us about the path in life we should take---tonight I was reminded about it once again. They was a crowd of people in the local coffee shop. Can you believe it? Yeah, we have several local coffee shops/restuarants in Naubinway. We have Shirley’s Cove, Beaudoin’s Café, Captain Carl’s, Pizza Pronto, The Country Girl Diner and then the Anchor Inn. In any case, only two of them have live music, Shirley’s Cove and the Anchor Inn. It wasn’t long before the bug to perform within me met up with another passionate musical soul (Tim) and along with my wife, the definition of music, we formed a singing trio.
Now, this Trio stemmed from Church, Tim being the Pastor, and my wife and I helping out on the music in Church. Well, that kind of makes bars or even Shirley’s Cove a tough venue, but thankfully the Anchor Inn was willing to have us perform. They were willing to have us play an eclectic mix of folk, pop, rock, bluegrass and gospel. So tonight was our debut. We were totally unplugged, no kidding, there was no sound system---we had to fill a very large room with original songs, gospel songs, bluegrass songs and Van Morrison and Eric Clapton and a myriad number of other songs without the benefit of electronics. I must admit I had a lot of trepidation. However, the concept of being right among the audience intrigued me. The night did not fail me. The audience was incredible, they joined in singing along even with original songs, clapping, stomping their feet and at the end, giving us a STANDING OVATION. I have never experienced a standing ovation, ever, it was amazing. As I reflect on it now, I can see why. There was this magical thing that happened, the two guitars blended so well, and Jomay on her keyboard filled in the gaps, and the harmonies blended and echoed into the room in a pleasant whisper of songs and talent. I, my partners, and the audience were transfixed. I can’t stop thinking about it. I remember looking in my wife’s eyes many times, and Tim’s, and just relishing in the energy that surrounded us. We were so blessed to have this opportunity, and the audience we had, and the gift of music.
During the intermission our daughters sang, and played, and lifted us all. I followed that with a song I wrote, “You’ll Always Be My Little Girl”. I moved up into the center of the room to play it and I think, really connected with the audience. I think I really embaressed my little girl, but in the long run, I think she appreciated it. Tim was amazing on guitar as usual. It is so much fun to play with somebody better than you, you learn so much, we really connected on it.
Now, as I sit here and write, I reflect on the career in music that could have been. I used to be saddened by it. I would get downright depressed about not “quitting my day job” and going into music. However, now I don’t care about what I didn’t do. I only relish the moment that we had tonight and what we did do. I realize that, well, that is what music does, it takes you away from taxes and work and unfilled dreams and depression and anxiety. It doesn’t matter if it’s your vocation or avocation, it is there for you. It is a power that captures the breath of God from the air and transforms you into an angel. Yes, an angel, even for a brief second, you become the vessel for transmitting beauty, grace and love from the Great Power. So, it is in fact, music, it's a “living” for me. It is the living power and love of music that echoes in my life from 9, to hopefully 90. I thank God for it, I thank my last band Script for it, I thank Tim and Jomay for it. Importantly, I thank the audience tonight for it, being there with me in it, and giving me the first standing ovation of my life.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Correction
Ruminants, yeah, the title was not spelled correctly, isn't that just par for the course. And forget me trying to spell that Manhattan, Manhatten town correct. I've been there anyway---and liked it. I'm glad you can laugh with me and my early Alzheimer's dementia.
The Herd (Runinants)
It started innocently enough. Although I am living in Paradise, I was saddened by the lost of my beloved pet boxer Abby, and am trying to fill the void. So, I bought a few deer pellets for RUMINANT ANIMALS (Thanks Ed for SP) and invited Momma Doe and her yearling for dinner on a daily basis. They soon equated the shape of the green suburban coming down the road about 4 or 5 p.m. with a bucket full of corn or deer pellets and would come down to the beach and wait in the trees nearby for me to lay down the pellets. It was really cute to see those two deer trying to hide behind leafless trees---thinking I couldn’t see them---with their ears perked up, standing motionless, looking at me incessantly, thinking they were invisible. The truth is, I could see every detail of their eyes and fur. However, they really depend upon motion as a sense more than seeing distinct objects. So they equate that to me---thinking if I don’t see them move, they are invisible. I have found I can stand within a few feet of them and as long as I am motionless, I am invisible. Remember the movies about the dinosaurs, the raptors, and the characters being a few inches from a Raptor and being “invisible” as long as they didn’t move? Well, that trait has certainly carried on into my Michigan Deer.
I would laugh out loud and chuckle with this wisdom. As I talked out loud I sounded eerily like my friend Julie---who would chuckle that way about Abby. When Abby would try to “butter up” to Julie for a snack---thinking Julie didn’t have a clue about Abby’s motivations with the short wagging tail---Julie would chuckle in the tone much like I chuckle over my deer. Isn’t it fun to watch someone you love try to get something from you when they don’t think you know their motivation and you don’t care anyway even though YOU know because you love them so much you’d give them anything anyway????
Be that as it may, after countless dinners the Deer have started to trust me and have little fear of me to the point where I can pour corn within a few feet of them and they tolerate me. Well, maybe that’s because they are pretty hungry from the long cold winter, although some roots are showing now and they can fill themselves more readily. Still, they are hungry enough to go to the edge of trust with me. They really like drinking water from my stream and kicking up the succulent roots that have been at stream temperature all winter. A couple weeks ago those shoots were hidden below ice and snow. However, now spring is coming rapidly, the birds are returning, deer food is being exposed. Soon, the Great Lake itself will be exposed again.
The commercial fishermen are involved in a flurry of activity everyday, trying to get out on the ice with the trucks and snowmobiles and bring back the whitefish before the final meltdown and blowing winds break up the ice. Yesterday they went out 16 miles past the Naubinway Lighthouse and brought back 3,700 pounds of whitefish. They bring the fish up thru the ice on gill nets, and load a wooden sled with tall walls to the max and tow it back. All this over 18 inches of ice some 16 miles from shore. Is that a job you want? Can you imagine going out there and hearing the ice creak and moan, going over cracks and fissures and feeling the waves move under you and bob you up and down. You can’t wear a survival suit, it slows you down too much to fish. You just trust the elements and the ice in order to make the living. Should things go bad, it’s not likely you would live. As much as I admire the Coast Guard, and my friends within it, they wouldn’t get to my fishermen friends in time in the frigid waters of Naubinway from the Traverse City Air Base.
I just went out on the ice cross-country skiing yesterday, over anywhere from 1 to 5 feet of depth of water beneath me. I took virtually no risk compared to my commercial fishermen friends. However, as I skied the ice creaked and moaned and moved about and I must admit, it unnerved me at times. At first I told myself to relax, I can’t drown in 5 foot of water. But then, I invisioned myself going down thru the ice in 5 feet of water with a pair of almost 7 foot long skis on. It would be damn near impossible to get them off in the ice cold water---in fact, I realized, I could drown in much less than 5 foot of water. However, I persevered and continue to enjoy the ecstasy of being out on the lake on skis with the morning sun coming up. You can’t imagine unless you join me in it. I am facing the east, watching the sun come up over the ice and the cedar trees, out there all alone, without a sound except the ice and wind, maybe a coyote, feeling the faint warmth of the sun on my face, knowing I am part of a greater thing than myself. It really makes the day go by so much better, exercising first thing in the morning like that. Anyway, back to the story.
Such are the deer—willing to risk going out on the edge with a human, me, in order to survive, make a “living”, despite the potential fact that I could take out my pistol and have enough venison forever right in my front yard. But, they have to go out on the edge, because they are hungry, as are my commercial fishermen friends, going out on the edge because their families are hungry.
Well, the news got out. It got out that I am unarmed when I feed my pets, my deer, and shake the bucket full of corn and say reassuring words and have plenty of food to share. It wasn’t long and we had a couple of young bucks joining the herd. Before I could cough and blink I inherited 14 deer now. They are about 1/3 bucks and 2/3 does, pretty good odds I’d say that the bucks will have a good spring. About half of them trust me, and stay within a few feet when I pour the corn. The other half take off running about 50 yards away and watch me, and as soon as they see me go back into the house they come back and have their dinner. I am sure that someday soon they too will become closer friends. I went from one bag of week of feed to about 6 bags of feed a week now.
Yes, it started innocently enough, but now I am become Pandora, and am holding an open box. Because, in addition to feeding the deer, I have been putting out salt blocks and alfalfa and bird seed in feeders and now I have blue-jays, chickadees, too many red squirrels (including “Fast Freddy”), crows, black birds and chipmunks. Virtually every living critter within several miles now equates my house with home, and mom’s cooking, and SANCTUARY. Isn’t that a great thing to be? A sanctuary for someone or some thing? Isn’t that the love of a mother for her children, always offering sanctuary. Isn’t that the love of my friend Ed to come help me work on this never finished housing project? Isn’t that the love of God, to give his Son Jesus, creating a sanctuary for you? Yes, I like being here and each day having these most beneficial thoughts inspired by all around me. God Bless You This Day, thanks for listening, and may you also find your SANCTUARY among the Herd.
I would laugh out loud and chuckle with this wisdom. As I talked out loud I sounded eerily like my friend Julie---who would chuckle that way about Abby. When Abby would try to “butter up” to Julie for a snack---thinking Julie didn’t have a clue about Abby’s motivations with the short wagging tail---Julie would chuckle in the tone much like I chuckle over my deer. Isn’t it fun to watch someone you love try to get something from you when they don’t think you know their motivation and you don’t care anyway even though YOU know because you love them so much you’d give them anything anyway????
Be that as it may, after countless dinners the Deer have started to trust me and have little fear of me to the point where I can pour corn within a few feet of them and they tolerate me. Well, maybe that’s because they are pretty hungry from the long cold winter, although some roots are showing now and they can fill themselves more readily. Still, they are hungry enough to go to the edge of trust with me. They really like drinking water from my stream and kicking up the succulent roots that have been at stream temperature all winter. A couple weeks ago those shoots were hidden below ice and snow. However, now spring is coming rapidly, the birds are returning, deer food is being exposed. Soon, the Great Lake itself will be exposed again.
The commercial fishermen are involved in a flurry of activity everyday, trying to get out on the ice with the trucks and snowmobiles and bring back the whitefish before the final meltdown and blowing winds break up the ice. Yesterday they went out 16 miles past the Naubinway Lighthouse and brought back 3,700 pounds of whitefish. They bring the fish up thru the ice on gill nets, and load a wooden sled with tall walls to the max and tow it back. All this over 18 inches of ice some 16 miles from shore. Is that a job you want? Can you imagine going out there and hearing the ice creak and moan, going over cracks and fissures and feeling the waves move under you and bob you up and down. You can’t wear a survival suit, it slows you down too much to fish. You just trust the elements and the ice in order to make the living. Should things go bad, it’s not likely you would live. As much as I admire the Coast Guard, and my friends within it, they wouldn’t get to my fishermen friends in time in the frigid waters of Naubinway from the Traverse City Air Base.
I just went out on the ice cross-country skiing yesterday, over anywhere from 1 to 5 feet of depth of water beneath me. I took virtually no risk compared to my commercial fishermen friends. However, as I skied the ice creaked and moaned and moved about and I must admit, it unnerved me at times. At first I told myself to relax, I can’t drown in 5 foot of water. But then, I invisioned myself going down thru the ice in 5 feet of water with a pair of almost 7 foot long skis on. It would be damn near impossible to get them off in the ice cold water---in fact, I realized, I could drown in much less than 5 foot of water. However, I persevered and continue to enjoy the ecstasy of being out on the lake on skis with the morning sun coming up. You can’t imagine unless you join me in it. I am facing the east, watching the sun come up over the ice and the cedar trees, out there all alone, without a sound except the ice and wind, maybe a coyote, feeling the faint warmth of the sun on my face, knowing I am part of a greater thing than myself. It really makes the day go by so much better, exercising first thing in the morning like that. Anyway, back to the story.
Such are the deer—willing to risk going out on the edge with a human, me, in order to survive, make a “living”, despite the potential fact that I could take out my pistol and have enough venison forever right in my front yard. But, they have to go out on the edge, because they are hungry, as are my commercial fishermen friends, going out on the edge because their families are hungry.
Well, the news got out. It got out that I am unarmed when I feed my pets, my deer, and shake the bucket full of corn and say reassuring words and have plenty of food to share. It wasn’t long and we had a couple of young bucks joining the herd. Before I could cough and blink I inherited 14 deer now. They are about 1/3 bucks and 2/3 does, pretty good odds I’d say that the bucks will have a good spring. About half of them trust me, and stay within a few feet when I pour the corn. The other half take off running about 50 yards away and watch me, and as soon as they see me go back into the house they come back and have their dinner. I am sure that someday soon they too will become closer friends. I went from one bag of week of feed to about 6 bags of feed a week now.
Yes, it started innocently enough, but now I am become Pandora, and am holding an open box. Because, in addition to feeding the deer, I have been putting out salt blocks and alfalfa and bird seed in feeders and now I have blue-jays, chickadees, too many red squirrels (including “Fast Freddy”), crows, black birds and chipmunks. Virtually every living critter within several miles now equates my house with home, and mom’s cooking, and SANCTUARY. Isn’t that a great thing to be? A sanctuary for someone or some thing? Isn’t that the love of a mother for her children, always offering sanctuary. Isn’t that the love of my friend Ed to come help me work on this never finished housing project? Isn’t that the love of God, to give his Son Jesus, creating a sanctuary for you? Yes, I like being here and each day having these most beneficial thoughts inspired by all around me. God Bless You This Day, thanks for listening, and may you also find your SANCTUARY among the Herd.
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