march 10th, 2012 – the love i give, returned to me.
10th March 2012 | everyday life | 1 comment
john mayer – continuum
yesterday morning, i woke up with a mission. after putting my glasses on {because really, i’m not awake until i can see clearly} i pulled out my record collection and excitedly put one of my favorites on. and i walked around feeling this strange right-ness with the world. a few hours later i decided to “catch up on the internet,” when i read this. john mayer is on an indefinite break from live performing.
but before i can tell you why this is hitting me hard, i need to let you know about some stuff that i’ve been thinking about lately. exhibits c, b & a.
exhibit b: otis redding. i also LOVE otis redding. and about a month ago i was listening to hanson’s song “been there before.” some of the lyrics are about otis: “the young man sitting on the dock of the bay, he took a long-term trip on a first class plane. now the whole world listens to that one man’s song.” and suddenly it hit me, that otis redding was a real person who really lived and really sang and then he died, without being one of those old guys that play at the grammys and the young kids are like “boooo-ringggg.” he didn’t get that.
exhibit c: harry chapin. my mom’s favorite, that i inherited. harry chapin died before i was even born, but my mom loved him.. loved him how i love some musicians. she saw him 5 times and even met him, a piece of information that stirs in my heart so much understanding. i found this harry chapin dvd at the thrift store and bought it for my mom. we watched some of it together and i could feel the emotion radiating out of my mom. her favorite musician, who never made new songs. who never went through life and adulthood with her. always frozen in time in that moment.
there could also be exhibit d, michael jackson. exhibit e, jeff buckley.
but i have recently developed this strong, sometimes tear-inducing fear of my favorite musicians dying. i remember with painful clarity the very moment i heard about michael jackson’s death. but what happens when it’s dave barnes or marc broussard or taylor hanson or matt nathanson or stevie wonder or josh kelley or brandon heath or matt wertz or teitur or…. john mayer. that’s been one that’s just a hard one for me to think about. john mayer.
so the news of john’s indefinite break from live performing due to health reasons has hit me really hard. it’s scratching the surface of my fear. but i will tell you that although john mayer album releases are always emotional {see image below} but this one is gonna move me to my bones.
31 Days of Song {1/31}
1st October 2011 | 31 days of song | 1 comment
If Annie and Marisa are doing it, then I must be a part of it as well because I think those two are cool. Read about it here.
I chose 31 days of song, because despite my verbosity in specific subjects or areas of opinions, I am awful at relaying my emotions. My real emotions, the things that keep me up at night or the stuff I have to write about over and over again in my journals. But you know what helps me figure it out? Songs. Other people’s songs. Safety in numbers, you’re not alone songs.
Madeleine L’Engle, in A Wrinkle in Time, describes a tesseract like this: the fastest way from point A to point B is not a straight line, but it is to bend the line and bring the two points together. A tesseract. Time travel. Bypassing the linear journey that takes you or took you somewhere. Tessering is a beautiful thought for me. And one day I realized that there is, indeed, such thing as a tesseract. Music. Certain songs have a way of transporting you from where you’re at to where you once were. and I love it.
So I am choosing to spend time every day for the month of October sharing a song. It might not be a well-known song, it might not be a song with much explanation needed, but I’m doing it.
Song #1: Corey’s Coming by Harry Chapin
{youtube video}
I’ve always attributed my imagination to Barney, but I’d bet that Harry Chapin’s storytelling songs had something to do with it. They’re all stories, and not just love stories. Since I was little I’ve carried around an image in my head of Old John Joseph, the man sung about in Corey’s Coming.
My mom loves Harry Chapin; he’s her favorite artist. I wish that I’d been born in time to go to a Harry Chapin concert with her. When she told me that she’d seen him and even met him a few times, my heart swelled with so much joy because I know how special those moments and those times can be.
But we do have some old VHS tapes my mom recorded of broadcasts of his concerts.
Don’t tell my mom, but I’m going to get her a Harry Chapin DVD for Christmas.
ps he’s the guy that wrote “Cat’s in the Cradle.”
