Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Another late night of typing and musical appreciation. I am challenged in my typing not only by the darkness that surrounds me, but the bandaid on my right mddle finger.My hands tend to dry out in the cold of winter.
I must apologize to the readers out there who've been waiting patiently for an ending to "Fanatic". It really is developing, but my mind is lazy and undisciplined lately.
I've reached the letter "G" in my CD collection listening project. I've hit my mini-collection of albums featuring Steve Goodman. His music makes me reflective and happy all at the same time. I'm lifting a Guinness to my mouth and taking it all in.
Leslie and I had a great Christmas. We went to her sister Cindi's house in Elgin, Illinois for what always seems like too brief a stop. On Christmas Day, we spent the day at Leslie's sister Kim's place in Woodstock, Illinois. I got a lot of music this year for Christmas, as well as two shirts, a few gift cards that I turned into music, a book on astronomy, some dark chocolate and a book light for reading. I have another day off next Monday, then nothing until March. Herein lies the intrigue....
After tearing our hair out about going to Hawaii for a wedding, we decided to go to Las Vegas instead, based more on the airline reservations than on any other factor. The magic date is Sunday, March 13th, 2005, which is the fifth anniversary of the two of us meeting online. An aura of calm fills me and everything around me just thinking about it all. We finally get to seal the deal. I'm not quite the person I want to be yet, but just having Leslie in my life makes the journey to that place quite a bit shorter. We'll spend about a week out there with assorted friends and family until the big day. It should be quite a week.
Tomorrow night (later today by now) is a meeting/practice at Studio 305 for the big Project I Am gig on January 13th. I'm looking forward to that. I must keep playing and singing to survive. For now, A Guinness and Steve Goodman will send me to bed to lay next to Leslie with every happiness. I wish the readers the same.

Monday, December 20, 2004

I'd like to take this opportunity to let everyone in BlogreadingLand know that I have NOT abandoned this space. It bears noting that "Fanatic" has left me drained and a bit flummoxed. I promise to finish this story, plus another one which is in the bullpen, in short order very soon. All IS right with the world. I'm just a little mind-congested. This too will pass.
Oh yeah.......and Bush sucks balls!!! You knew that.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

It was right about now....
1980. I was 14 and living in Philadelphia. My mother was falling asleep in front of the CBS Late Movie. Back then they didn't have a talk show in that time slot. They would just show old reruns of old TV shows like "The Saint" and "Harry-O". I could here the television from my bedroom. I was reading or laying in bed trying to fall asleep.
A news bulletin came across the television. It was the familiar voice of Larry Kane, a long time Philly news anchor. He came on and said John Lennon had been shot outside his New York apartment building and was reportedly fighting for his life at a New York area hospital. He repeated himself and sent us back to the CBS Late Movie.
I turned on the light in my room. I looked to my wall. On it were the posters I pulled out of my copy of the White Album. I looked at the picture of John; stringy hair, the famous round-rimmed glasses, the dungaree jacket and blank expression. I pictured him months later giving his first television interview with Yoko by his side, saying that it had been a long recovery, but that he was getting better. Yoko would say that the get-well wishes keep coming. John would say that the whole experience had strengthened his resolve to fight for a better world.
About five minutes later, Larry Kane came on again. John Lennon was dead. A suspect was in custody.
In my experience, kids tend to discover The Beatles between the ages of 12 and 14. I was in full-on Beatle mode at the time. I was, and still am, devastated by the loss of one of my heroes. It happened in December. For the rest of that month, the main Christmas song that was played on all the radio stations in Philly was "Happy Xmas(War Is Over)". That song still makes me cry. Every time I hear it, all those memories come flooding back to me. My brothers and sister, not understanding my sense of hero worship, made fun of me for being so sad for so long. I don't think I ever truly forgave them for that.
John would have been 64 this year. If only the world could recapture just a little bit of the love he left behind for all of us. It's a dark time in the world right now. There's no love out there. There's no peace being given a chance. For all of you who read this out there in the world, and for all of you who create rather than destroy, I pray that we all band together as one and shine the light of truth into the hearts of the seemingly heartless. Throw down your guns, live a little, laugh a little and be tolerant of one another. Go out of your way to make this a better place.