Next up was Charlotte. Charlotte’s a cool town. I always feel I like it for a day or 2. I don’t think id be able to do it for longer than that. (But the tip of the Smokey Mountains with the greatest concentration of Black Bears in the entire range is only 3 hours away…) I do however, love the Evening Muse! Such a cool place.
My set was a total blast! A great crowd was there and enjoyed what I did. Which is always a very nice feeling. Lots of singing along that night too! The Meadow seemed to stick in a few heads that night.
I got to stay with my friends in Charlotte who have a sort of “Rock and Roll Motel.” They are a wonderful family! On my way there, they stopped at this new 24 hour donut shoppe. A 24 hour donut shoppe is in itself unique, but the donuts were seriously the size of an average persons head. Huge!!
On my way out of town, they took me to Manifest, which is this amazing independent record shop. It’s massive!! How could I not go to a record shop called “Manifest?” How could I not love it? I was able to pick up a few cool CDs of Indian chants/hymns. If you live anywhere around Charlotte, please support this place! I wish we had something like it in Ohio.
After passing out of North Carolina, I made my way back through Atlanta on my way west toward San Diego. I had wanted to stop at the Martin Luther King, Jr Center for Social Change and Nonviolence. It’s kind of a little Mecca for me, being hugely influence by the work and words or both Dr. King and Gandhi (who also has a prominent wing and statue at the center). The day was mild and overcast. Storm clouds were on their way in. The center is located directly across the street from the original Ebenezer Baptist Church. Standing on the street staring at this old brick building, a subtle power emanates from it. If you listened hard enough, and if the wind was blowing just right, you’d swear you could hear like whispers Dr. King giving a sermon from the other side of the stained glass.
As I walked up the stairs, they had a long memorial fountain with the tomb of Dr. King and Corretta Scott King, as well as an eternal flame. That alone was beautiful and moving. The clouds were throwing intense colours and shades on the entire scene, adding to the emotional impact. After walking around some, I crossed over to the other side of the street where the new Ebenezer church stands and where there are some rose gardens for peace and murals, etc. Around the rose garden were plaques of little poems written by Atlanta-based children ranging from 2nd grade to high school. All of the poems were wonderful, though a few of the really young children had written some pretty deep and remarkable lines, especially for their ages.
Like:
Peace!
By Ella Hurworth (Grade4)
We have eyes;
Open them and look for peace.
We have mouths;
Open them and sing for peace.
We have minds;
Open them and make peace.
We have hearts;
Open them and receive peace.
Or Sofia Sarmiento’s (Grade 3) “Peace:”
Peace is the ocean waves crashing on the sand.
Peace is families walking hand in hand.
Peace is helping a friend when he is hurt.
Peace is a puppy digging in the dirt.
Peace is when your heart does not shatter.
Peace is different people
Uniting for what matters.
Near the garden was a huge wall mural depicting large events in Dr. King’s life, and across from that a wonderful Gandhi statue. I spent a good hour and a half there, and Im quite sure I could have spent much longer on those wonderful grounds. Next time I am near Atlanta, I am going back.
Standing on those grounds, it really hit me how absent in our time such a strong figure of leadership with the courage to be wholly non-violent is. Especially as we have entered into a time where violence has o’ertaken much of our society. Why must our enemies always be people? We have the power to change our own reality. Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, and Dr. King all showed the world it is best to love the person doing evil deeds, while hating the act that person is doing. It is truly only through this behavior that we will break the true bonds we have enslaved ourselves in and be free the tyranny of fear and violence.
With our own nation so divided and pushed to such troubling violent words and actions, a leader is needed now as much as ever.
The rain came as I left Atlanta, making the rolling hills of the Alabama scenery actually quite beautiful with rainbows and sunsets peeking through the clouds.
My goal of making it to Texas that first night got benched when on more than one occasion after dark a highway patrol car would follow me for several miles. They had a great way of being not welcoming and making sure that those who didn’t belong there kept moving along. I made it to Louisiana though before I had to give in to exhaustion.
That drive marked the first time I’ve been to Mississippi. AND I got to cross the Mississippi in Mississippi, which I got a lot of pleasure out of.
However; I had been mostly dreading the drive through Texas. My route was taking me the entire breadth of Texas. I crossed the boarder and got gas and peanuts at a big travel plaza, where the lady behind the counter was super nice and obviously entirely loved her job! A pretty good start to the state I thought.
12 hours later… I still had a good 18 hours to go… to get out of Texas! It was about as bad a drive as I had anticipated. Ugh. I did get to drive through a dust storm which was a first and very interesting. Being covered in a cloud of red dust on the freeway. Storms in the West and southwest are quite unbelievable. You get to see them peak above the horizon and continue watching them for miles upon miles. Lightning cracks unobstructed.
After passing flat lands and oil fields, I finally got to El Passo. I was intrigued by this area because you could see Mexico. And having never been, it was cool to at least look over the dessert and mountains and be able to say, that is Mexico. The traffic picked up considerably here. As I pulled over for gas and stood filling my tank, a man pulls up next to me and asks if I lived there. Despite the fact that I 1) have Ohio plates, and 2) was not wearing a cowboy hat, jeans, OR boots… Sadly I could not help him with his directional question.
Finally into New Mexico the drive turned around. (I actually cheered as I crossed the border into New Mexico!) It was still desserty, but some mountains had popped up, and the scenery was relatively interesting. White Sands National Monument was next on the list. Truly one of the cooler places I saw in the southwest. Huge dune fields of pure sparkly white gypsum! Plus, I got to be there when a storm was blowing by, so the cloud coloration was incredible. And it did rain for all of 3 or 4 minutes which is very rare there. It really is a sort of alien landscape. Neil and I were talking the other day about how the landscape of the East, Midwest, and even the Southeast to some extent are all very similar. Many places in this region remind us of a section of Ohio. But as you pass the Mississippi, and definitely after passing the Missouri or Rio Grande, the landscape is altogether foreign. White Sands is so different from the Midwest it’s hard to describe it, really. You start off entering a dessert, except with white sand. The early area of the park still has some grasses and plants, which gradually diminish the further in you go. A trail juts out into the sand early on where you walk around some small trees and plants. And where you see a small bush that looks like an aspen tree, and it is. The top of the tree. Yes. The rest of the tree has been buried by the sand over the days. But it can survive. And you realize how much sand is really beneath you. As you get into the true white sand dunes, you can walk around, though the only guides back to your vehicle are your own footprints. Every year several people get lost wondering around back there. A terrible place to lose your way. 1) it’s a dessert – super hot, no water. 2) it borders an air force missile testing base. Not a place you want to wander into.
I stopped into a small town on my way back from the White Sands to the freeway. A sign pointed out that a post office was there. In need of mailing a few postcards, I followed the signs around the block to a house. Yes, the post office was in a house.
You can tell what is troubling an area by the billboards along the highway. In Texas it was the Heath care plan that hasn’t even been implemented yet and abortion. In New Mexico, it was meth and drunk driving – quite a bad combo. But it made you much more aware and cautious of the other people on the road.
Compared to the never ending drive through Texas, I was out of New Mexico in a flash, and on my way to Saguaro National Park by Tucson.
I bet you can’t wait for Part 3?! I know I cant!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
I Love the Mountains Tour Pt. I
Somewhere back in time, I was a mountain dweller. Maybe in another life. Maybe I was really raised in the wilderness. Maybe it’s the gypsy in me.
Whatever it might be, the call of the wind and the smell of the sage speak louder to my heart than the lights of any city could ever hope to. My head is right at home under the roof of the unending sky.
As I’m guided by the trio of the bear, the bison, and the coyote, I gravitate West. The bear calls for open spaces, room to roam, lovely flowers to smell, meadows to play in, and the bounty of the mountains to support me, physically and spiritually. The bison leads me to the open spaces from the anthills of cities, calmly shows the strength to stand up to the odds and believe that whatever the goal, it can be achieved. And the coyote reminds me to sing and laugh and dance at every opportunity.
And so they are good companions, travelling with me in all my journeys.
And so it is that every year, my Western tour is a highlight of my year. And it will be, until that fateful day when the mountains swallow me up, and I will occasionally set out on a Midwest Tour. And that day will come. It’s creeping around every corner. I can feel its breath, and hear the click clack of its boots now and again.
Speaking of swallowing up – whilst in Wyoming the National Museum of Wildlife Art (which my aunt helped to start) had a wonderful exhibit of Maurice Sendack’s drawings. To see up close one of his final drawings from Where the Wild Things Are was such a moment. As with most children growing up between the 70s and 90s, that book was a huge part of my childhood. The imagination of the books really caught everything it was to be a kid. And then to standing face to face with a real final drawing from the book was pretty special.
The first part of the tour went smoothly, despite me attempting to kick a scratchy throat/ sinus infection that took hold the day I left. However, as I took every chance to sleep or rest, I watched Unmistakable Child, a documentary about a Buddhist monks search for his reincarnated teacher, a renowned Lama. Shot in brilliant colours and in the otherworldly natural scenery of the region it is visually pretty arresting and intense. The real interesting part though is that the majority of the process on how the Lamas search for a child who is the reincarnated master. And in the end, it seemed pretty compelling to me that they found the right one. This little boy rightly picks out the masters possessions and takes naturally to the priestly things they have him do. I recommend this.
I really enjoyed Athens, Georgia. Having never been there before, I was looking forward to the 2 days I got to stay and play there. Plus, I was feeling much better by then. It was nice to have a minute before I needed to get to my house concert venue that I could walk around the downtown. The shops and restaurants are all quaint and some are pretty cool. The have the famous double barrel cannon – that was never fired because it did not work. Apparently it’s impossible to have a double barreled cannon as a functional piece of weaponry. But it is a nice lawn ornament. And I feel that if we turned things of violence into lawn ornaments more often, we might begin to see the rays of peace.
Another of my favourites of Athens was the “Tree that owns itself.” A man deeded the land around this tree to the tree, so that it would never be cut down. Now, the tree is partitioned off with a nice little fence around it; its leaves are full and happy, and it is in control of its own destiny. I loved this! What if more of us would do this? Seriously, its like making our own National Parks, albeit on a much, much smaller scale. But how cool?!
Veronica and her husband Chris hosted my shows in Athens. Very cool folks, and cool musicians in their own right. They took me around the town, introducing me to the local Co Op, (which rocked!) the Junkman’s Daughter (which I’d been to in Atlanta – think Big Fun but bigger – they got me a sign that says “Vegans Welcome” from there), and the Grit.
The Grit.
Mmm!
Veg places are so perfectly funky and cool. They had marvelous food, and had cakes and desserts, too! I didn’t get to have any of those, but my mouth watered uncontrollably for a good day after seeing them! Go to this place. Well worth it.
Really enjoyed the house concert I did in Athens on that Saturday. It was a nice collection of folks, including this fun couple who were neighbors, heard the music and stopped by. An interesting couple, him from Germany, and her from Australia! And both wonderfully sweet to boot! There was another couple there, and I’ve been told that the next day he proposed, since they were both so inspired from the show and my music – he felt that was the right time! And I am deeply honored. Congrats Fain & Addy!
Part II: The rest of the South… Coming soon!
Stay tuned!
Whatever it might be, the call of the wind and the smell of the sage speak louder to my heart than the lights of any city could ever hope to. My head is right at home under the roof of the unending sky.
As I’m guided by the trio of the bear, the bison, and the coyote, I gravitate West. The bear calls for open spaces, room to roam, lovely flowers to smell, meadows to play in, and the bounty of the mountains to support me, physically and spiritually. The bison leads me to the open spaces from the anthills of cities, calmly shows the strength to stand up to the odds and believe that whatever the goal, it can be achieved. And the coyote reminds me to sing and laugh and dance at every opportunity.
And so they are good companions, travelling with me in all my journeys.
And so it is that every year, my Western tour is a highlight of my year. And it will be, until that fateful day when the mountains swallow me up, and I will occasionally set out on a Midwest Tour. And that day will come. It’s creeping around every corner. I can feel its breath, and hear the click clack of its boots now and again.
Speaking of swallowing up – whilst in Wyoming the National Museum of Wildlife Art (which my aunt helped to start) had a wonderful exhibit of Maurice Sendack’s drawings. To see up close one of his final drawings from Where the Wild Things Are was such a moment. As with most children growing up between the 70s and 90s, that book was a huge part of my childhood. The imagination of the books really caught everything it was to be a kid. And then to standing face to face with a real final drawing from the book was pretty special.
The first part of the tour went smoothly, despite me attempting to kick a scratchy throat/ sinus infection that took hold the day I left. However, as I took every chance to sleep or rest, I watched Unmistakable Child, a documentary about a Buddhist monks search for his reincarnated teacher, a renowned Lama. Shot in brilliant colours and in the otherworldly natural scenery of the region it is visually pretty arresting and intense. The real interesting part though is that the majority of the process on how the Lamas search for a child who is the reincarnated master. And in the end, it seemed pretty compelling to me that they found the right one. This little boy rightly picks out the masters possessions and takes naturally to the priestly things they have him do. I recommend this.
I really enjoyed Athens, Georgia. Having never been there before, I was looking forward to the 2 days I got to stay and play there. Plus, I was feeling much better by then. It was nice to have a minute before I needed to get to my house concert venue that I could walk around the downtown. The shops and restaurants are all quaint and some are pretty cool. The have the famous double barrel cannon – that was never fired because it did not work. Apparently it’s impossible to have a double barreled cannon as a functional piece of weaponry. But it is a nice lawn ornament. And I feel that if we turned things of violence into lawn ornaments more often, we might begin to see the rays of peace.
Another of my favourites of Athens was the “Tree that owns itself.” A man deeded the land around this tree to the tree, so that it would never be cut down. Now, the tree is partitioned off with a nice little fence around it; its leaves are full and happy, and it is in control of its own destiny. I loved this! What if more of us would do this? Seriously, its like making our own National Parks, albeit on a much, much smaller scale. But how cool?!
Veronica and her husband Chris hosted my shows in Athens. Very cool folks, and cool musicians in their own right. They took me around the town, introducing me to the local Co Op, (which rocked!) the Junkman’s Daughter (which I’d been to in Atlanta – think Big Fun but bigger – they got me a sign that says “Vegans Welcome” from there), and the Grit.
The Grit.
Mmm!
Veg places are so perfectly funky and cool. They had marvelous food, and had cakes and desserts, too! I didn’t get to have any of those, but my mouth watered uncontrollably for a good day after seeing them! Go to this place. Well worth it.
Really enjoyed the house concert I did in Athens on that Saturday. It was a nice collection of folks, including this fun couple who were neighbors, heard the music and stopped by. An interesting couple, him from Germany, and her from Australia! And both wonderfully sweet to boot! There was another couple there, and I’ve been told that the next day he proposed, since they were both so inspired from the show and my music – he felt that was the right time! And I am deeply honored. Congrats Fain & Addy!
Part II: The rest of the South… Coming soon!
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wormholes
"Everybody wants somebody to be their own piece of clay."
This song came on as I started writing this blog today. I've always really loved this song - it's my favourite Marvin Gaye tune (tied maybe with his version of Yesterday). It's true on every level. Especially in consideration with Marvin's rough relationship with his father, leading ultimately to Marvin's untimely death at the hands of his own father.
I like to think that instead of molding anyone, I can help them take a single step or maybe be a simple page in their diary. It's said that every breath any of us take lingers and circles the world for years. That, yes, the breath of Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gandhi, John Lennon, have been takin in by us all. That on a molecular level, we share a lot with all of our fellow man.
I also think that Gandhi was right. We need to be the change we want to see in others, in the world. This is a constant process, an evolution. A change in consciousness, which doesn't usually happen overnight.
So to everyone struggling right now, have faith in yourself. You have the breath of Saints, sages, yogis, and gods within you.
And. On that note.
I watched a show last night about how we are descendants from aliens.
It was late night, and it was the History channel.
The basic thesis being that the improbability of DNA for life coming together in a mere 6 billion years is basically impossible. So the evidence mounted.
Drawings and art from ancient peoples. Sculptures depicting leaders/ Gods in outfits strikingly similar to our spacesuits. Drawings of leaders in these images that appeared to be spacecraft.
That all people's have origin myths saying that man came from the starts. All civilizations had gods that actually came to earth from the sky. (which could undoubtedly be taken numerous different figurative and literal ways).
And then a piece of martian debris landed on earth, and carbon deposits were there, which scientists decided were left behind from microbial life.
So, then the question: did life mean to come here, or was it sent here on purpose?
Did the Martians before their planet dried up send out life to the nearest inhabitable place? Or, were all these images of space people, simply us from the future.
Yes, us from the future.
Can i remind you, this is the History channel.
The answer: wormholes. Theoretical space phenomenon. If a future us found one of these, and learned to harness it, then they could travel all over the universe, and theoretically, back in time. To apparently give us (their ancestors) our religions and myths, that would undoubtedly then lead to them and their civilization.
I believe in a lot of things. Whose to say whats possible and what isn't? It's all theoretical anyway, and none of us will probably ever really know for sure. It just seems like a lot of work for questionable results.
It would be like us travelling back in time to when there was primitive man and the birthing of civilizations, and us giving them gods and religions. The same ones that we know they had. It would be a process of simply keeping the circle turning, no?
And with that... I realize...
I've been spending way too much time thinking about this.
This is why free time is bad for me.
Sing on Marvin! I've got to go and sing too!
PS- i love spellcheck. It suggested "salespeople" for "spacepeople."
This song came on as I started writing this blog today. I've always really loved this song - it's my favourite Marvin Gaye tune (tied maybe with his version of Yesterday). It's true on every level. Especially in consideration with Marvin's rough relationship with his father, leading ultimately to Marvin's untimely death at the hands of his own father.
I like to think that instead of molding anyone, I can help them take a single step or maybe be a simple page in their diary. It's said that every breath any of us take lingers and circles the world for years. That, yes, the breath of Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gandhi, John Lennon, have been takin in by us all. That on a molecular level, we share a lot with all of our fellow man.
I also think that Gandhi was right. We need to be the change we want to see in others, in the world. This is a constant process, an evolution. A change in consciousness, which doesn't usually happen overnight.
So to everyone struggling right now, have faith in yourself. You have the breath of Saints, sages, yogis, and gods within you.
And. On that note.
I watched a show last night about how we are descendants from aliens.
It was late night, and it was the History channel.
The basic thesis being that the improbability of DNA for life coming together in a mere 6 billion years is basically impossible. So the evidence mounted.
Drawings and art from ancient peoples. Sculptures depicting leaders/ Gods in outfits strikingly similar to our spacesuits. Drawings of leaders in these images that appeared to be spacecraft.
That all people's have origin myths saying that man came from the starts. All civilizations had gods that actually came to earth from the sky. (which could undoubtedly be taken numerous different figurative and literal ways).
And then a piece of martian debris landed on earth, and carbon deposits were there, which scientists decided were left behind from microbial life.
So, then the question: did life mean to come here, or was it sent here on purpose?
Did the Martians before their planet dried up send out life to the nearest inhabitable place? Or, were all these images of space people, simply us from the future.
Yes, us from the future.
Can i remind you, this is the History channel.
The answer: wormholes. Theoretical space phenomenon. If a future us found one of these, and learned to harness it, then they could travel all over the universe, and theoretically, back in time. To apparently give us (their ancestors) our religions and myths, that would undoubtedly then lead to them and their civilization.
I believe in a lot of things. Whose to say whats possible and what isn't? It's all theoretical anyway, and none of us will probably ever really know for sure. It just seems like a lot of work for questionable results.
It would be like us travelling back in time to when there was primitive man and the birthing of civilizations, and us giving them gods and religions. The same ones that we know they had. It would be a process of simply keeping the circle turning, no?
And with that... I realize...
I've been spending way too much time thinking about this.
This is why free time is bad for me.
Sing on Marvin! I've got to go and sing too!
PS- i love spellcheck. It suggested "salespeople" for "spacepeople."
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