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So I was cleaning up the workspace in my studio today. This mostly involved removing dozens of post-it notes, transferring their contents to whatever folder seemed appropriate on my laptop, and disposing of various pieces of mail that I've saved for reasons mysterious even to me at this juncture.
In the background I have a little Ha Ha Tonka playing. If you're not familiar with these guys, imagine a less commercially-minded and considerably more literate Kings Of Leon, and you'll be getting the picture. For the record, I like Kings Of Leon, so I hope any fellow fans will not consider that a sleight. I'm just saying that Brett Anderson's lyrics are particularly noteworthy for their depth. Caleb Followill's??...eh, not so much.
Anyhow, I was shuffling through the scrap heap that my desk has become lately, and I ran across a journal that I had apparently tucked away and forgotten sometime this past June. In it were the scattershot contents of my early-morning mind as committed to paper, 3 pages at a time, in the manner recommended by Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way". This is something I have done, off and on, for several years since I first read her book. The thing is, I've never really gone back and re-read their contents, since I'd never considered that to be a component of the exercise. Now I wish I had.
Perusing just a few entries, and not even necessarily in a linear fashion, has me dumbstruck with deja vu....marveling at the parallels between my current situation, and the events in my life almost a year to the day earlier. Something tells me if I were to dig back another volume or two deep, things would be just as familiar. Is this what it is to be "stuck in a rut"? If so, how could I have been living Groundhog Day for years, and not have figured it out until now?
Whatever the case, I'm hip to it, and some of the decisions I've been struggling with making the last few weeks have suddenly become a lot easier to see getting made with moderate distress.
If 2012 really is our last year on the planet, we might as well make it count, eh? As Andy Dufresne said in The Shawshank Redemption "Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'."
D.
Next....making a music video and re-delivering the goods.
I'm the singer/guitarist and occasional ivory tickler of fORMER (Nashville, TN), and I also play guitar for some gentlemen who call themselves The Beauty School Dropouts. My musical resume includes stints with the now-defunct Bombshell Crush & Loveshine, as well as the occasionally active The Great Affairs & Best Of Seven(Los Angeles, CA), and you can probably find CDs from these bands somewhere on Amazon, eBay, or some random used CD shop in Tupelo, MS, if you were so inclined. I'm a songwriter. I appreciate a tall Jack & Coke when the mood strikes(it seldom does these days, to be honest). I had an old dog…but he died(RIP Maxwell), so we got a new one, a sweet fella that can run faster than anyone on steroids...his name is Pioneer. Pioneer has recently been joined by a vagrant that has adopted us, who goes by the name Cash...she's too sweet to send packing. I own a record shop in Pekin, IL, Co-Op Records. Occasionally I travel north from my home in NashVegas to supervise my henchmen as they do my bidding. I often waste my time driving without a destination just to hear myself think. I love Sun Drop cola....sue me. I can't eat anything with bones in it or anything that retains the general shape of itself in living form....it just grosses me out, though I have recently grown quite fond of Sushi (thanks, Joey). I have great friends and a cool family...in particular my Mom...the best. I don't go to church, but I'd like to believe. I eat too much junk food...my sweet tooth is the stuff of legends, but I have shaken the pastry monkey from my back. I used to love that band Trixter, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I hate cold. I miss California. I love Nashville...most days. I don't sleep much. I hate idle time. I think Elvis Costello's "Man Out Of Time" is quite possibly my favorite song of ALL time....not sure though, and it's looking like The Afghan Whigs' "Crazy" might steal the prize. I'm red/green colorblind if anybody wants to mess with me at a traffic light. I guess that's all for now....more later.
