Thoughts....
January 13, 2010
Happy New Year! All resolutions aside, I really need to get on myself and my health, my music, and just general good living this year. A few years back I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and have been on medication for it since. I really need to get that under control with managing my weight, eating better, and plain old exercise. I've done it before and I can do it again. Will Power!!
The performance schedule is thin right now. Unfortunately the economy isn't helping anybody. We are all suffering. The patrons, the club owners, the musicians, everybody is getting hit by the decline. The arts always take a hit. I fear that with the cavalier attitude about the importance of the arts we will have nothing to identify us as a people before too long. And by arts I mean music, visual arts, literature, and a host of just about everything else that is creativity from the heart. To truly know who we are, one needs to see into our soul and if that window is closed or boarded up, there's no hope of knowing who we are.
Besides that, I've had some time to compose lately. I've had a very prolific period happening here. I've been finishing songs from years ago and writing new ones. It's been very satisfying and has been helping me get through the Winter. I truly think I have some kind of sunlight deprivation disorder.
I've read some great books recently. Jeff Shaara's WWII trilogy finale, "No Less Than Victory", was awesome as was, "The Lost Symbol", Dan Brown's latest Robert Langdon thriller. I also read Cormack McCarthy's, "The Road", which was one of the most intensely moving and gripping books I've ever read. I am a psychological thriller guy and I dig old movies that don't show you the blood and gore and leave your mind to imagine what happened. This book never tells you what caused the world to end as we know it and that is more disturbing than having it explained in detail. As I'm always searching for something to read, I was enticed to pick up, "Global Shift", which deals with Noetics which is a primary focal point in Dan Brown's new book. Curiosity is what keeps me going.
Turning 40 this year. Hard to believe. I have no emotional connection to this. I don't feel 40. Some days I feel older! I just wonder where the time went!!! It seems like I was 30 just 10 years ago! (ha-ha). They say that life begins at 40. I guess I'll find out what that means.
I hope to have another recording ready soon. I have two more albums worth of material as well and if the writing continues, who knows. I just have to get on recording it all. I hope it'll be worth the wait! I haven't had this long of a writing stint in years. Maybe it's all coming back to me?
Well, as always, I wish all of you who bother to check this out a great 2010. Let's work towards a singular goal: to be the best people we can be and love each other. We all need each other to make it. It's imperative that we come together as not only Americans but as citizens of the world and, as the great naturalist John Muir thought we should be: "in the world, not just on it". Let's be better children of dear Mother Earth (Gaia) and appreciate the great beauty we have before us.
Till Next Time,
John