Checking In

Dust.

Good thing my guitar has a dust jacket, because that's all it's been collecting lately. Occasionally I'll get an idea for a song to mess around with, or want to practice for a bit, but I don't. There is always something else to read, to draw, or to watch. Performing music is the lowest thing on my ongoing 'Learning List'.

A pity, really...

I do love having a guitar around for those rare moments, but I just don't have the desire my way more talented friends seem to have burning inside of each of them.

National Geographic

I was down at the lake yesterday doing spring cleaning, and reading the May 2010 issue of National Geographic when I was inspired by one of this month's offerings. There is an article ("The Forgotten Road" by Mark Jenkins) on the Tea Horse Road, a mountainous trade route that served between China and Tibet for many hundreds of years, and the tale of it's origins plus a chant that helped the traders and porters make the journey struck me as a fantastic idea for a song.

Seven steps up, you have to rest.
Eight steps down, you have to rest.
Eleven steps flat, you have to rest.
You are stupid, if you don't rest.

I brought my guitar with me, but I was so engrossed in the story (and with the physical labors of my self-appointed spring cleaning of the lakefront lot), that I didn't use it to help me shape the idea. That oversight aside, the words flowed in my mind, and with work and practice I think I might have something to perform at the WPMF in July. A solid goal!

In-Blog Play:

Ice Age - Pete Yorn

A Concert Through Different Eyes

I went to see The Johnnies (my old chum Chris, old 'good acquaintance' Les, and friends) perform in Kittery Saturday night at Yoga on the Hill. It was a small intimate setting, with only 15 people in attendance, so I had a great view from the second row. And most likely, because of my new musical undertaking, I found myself experiencing the show from a different perspective. I spent the majority of the time watching Chris play his guitar, and listening to how his stories in the songs were being told by him, Les, Erich and Brian. It was eye-opening and inspiring at the same time.

It's odd listening to an old friend perform songs that he has written about his own life. I knew of many of the events and people Chris was singing about (some of them mutual friends), and it helped me figure out how I too could tell stories about various happenings in my life. How it might allow me to benefit from the bad things, vent about the frustrating things, and even bring closure to some of the sad things. I found myself writing in my head as the show progressed, and I kind of wish I'd had the foresight to bring a pad & pen to jot the ideas down. The pair of beers at the Shipyard Brew Pub in Eliot, and the 90-minute drive home later did no good in helping me cement them firmly in my noggin. My long walks are the same way. I head out for a 45-minute jaunt, iPod firmly in place, with ideas zipping in and out of my brain, but I have no way to record them in the moment. I do my best to reconstruct them when I get home, but sometimes a phrase or clever rhyme dissipates like a drop of milk in a bowl of water, never again to be separated from the vastness...

Apparently, foresight is key ☺

Nevertheless, I try to write in the moment, drop everything to sketch when I feel inspired, and just forget the world with a pile of Lego blocks when I want to see something in my head take form, whether it be words, images or 3-D structures. My New Year's resolutions back on 1/1/09 are bearing much fruit...

Currently listening to:

Who Do You Love - Mojave 3