The Road Ahead envisions the world as a better place. This better place, like all human constructs, is only as real as you make it.
The song, Long Couple of Days, is about finding your groove. This, and other new songs, will be released as the Cosmic Cowboys.
The Road Ahead is like finding your way home. Coming Home.
See tags
The past is future
Positivity in motion
Cosmic cowboys ?
I can feel it in my teeth. The tingles gives one a feeling of both numbness and pressure. The rolling waves crushed me to the bones, but I was not afraid. From hammer to stone, it is my only feeling.
“Where will we go?” she asked as the canyons echoed.
I am a trapper, only by practice, and not of thoughts born still.
There it was all along, a piece of me that was so strong. I pulled it out from thin air and never stopped to think or care.
Until now I plead I am that strong, yet I forgot you were my song.
“God is manifest in contemplating.” Lyrics from an upcoming music release, “Live One.”
Contemplating is thus defined, “Whilst in the life of the intellect, ‘contemplation’, refers to thinking profoundly about something. In the religious life contemplation is a kind of inner vision or seeing, transcendent of the intellect, facilitated by means of practices such as prayer or meditation.” according to Wikipedia.
Sometimes ‘sleeping’ will do the trick, or is it ‘dreaming’ that I’m ‘living’ in?
Stay tuned for more #creativewriting and help me write the story of “ L I F E O N M A R S “ where I will engage fans throughout the writing process.
My 10-minute timer is ringing as I sit at my desk writing this blog post. I hop over my Robot Vacuum (RV) that has been cleaning my home today, and I have to pause:
RV can be stowed in its home base charging station under the couch. Normally, RV will cannibalize its own equipment that prevents a return to home base for charging. But now the life-giving extension cord is protected behind a make-shift ramp made of two long and skinny plastic covers (I will later find that this is not sufficient, and simply tape the cord to the floor like a pro).
These plastic covers were designed for its original use to hide the insides of my TV mount, like the armor of a brazen knight, that I recently removed from its nearly 9th year on my wall. It was stuck and audibly grumbled as I yank’d the 20lb mount.
As I make my way into the kitchen I can see the water has come to a rolling boil. I add the eggs as I have become accustomed to doing using a silver ladle spoon that cups the eggs perfectly for control and placement.
After the eggs are safely in their home I turn to my very tasty detox tea.
I read the label as the tea cools:
“Detox Tea, with cardamom, fennel, aniseed and licorice root. Here’s to new beginnings, shrug off old and embrace the new.”
Something tingled inside and I remembered the fortune cookie:
“Next month new beginnings…”
Moments later I realize I had not set a timer to help cook the boiling eggs. Normally I set a timer for 8 minutes using my Echo. I do some quick math and have difficulty arriving at the remaining time for boiling, so I set a 5 minute timer and a 4 minute timer. The question is have the eggs been boiling for 3 or 4 minutes so far?
I return to my freshly brewed Detox Tea and take a sip. “Aaahhhhh.”
I should stay here, but instead pontificate further:
In conclusion, I felt it was best to pull the eggs after 4 more minutes (mainly, to write this blog). This allows for a slower cooling method (insurance) so the eggs can continue cooking before adding cold water.
Later on I realize that I think I may have overdone it, and actually I forgot to set a timer for cooling as I’m once again prioritizing Our Story.
Priorities are fine, but this seems like a sign of what I need to watch out for: mindfulness.
Okay, it’s both, and: Scratch the timer issue as I did have a timer going and turns out I was a mere 10 seconds early.
Mindfulness. Relying so much on technology can be troubling, and it is I that does the doubling. Here and now, far and wide, my cells will not relent as they divide. What was there is now once more, a version of me within a Cosmic Score.
I swear I also made this same blog entry last year. Lesson learned, or was it? Swearing is fine, but I know for sure I wrote this post in 2019, and THIS here, now, THIS actual post NOW.
When I dubbed this gig “Unplugged” I did not know that I would actually need to be completely “Unplugged.” I should’ve sensed that something was up when my home PA malfunctioned by making a repeating, alarming, sweeping, ascending tonal sound… like what you might hear during an apocalyptic scenario. What the fuck?
I’ve been singing about going High or Low in a yet-to-be-released track, and as I’m writing this paragraph I am laughing out loud at the idea of a malfunctioning low to high ascending tone.
Okay, whatever. We all find parallels in daily life if we are willing to look, and pay attention. Mindfulness helps, and even when we’re not paying attention shit tends to slap you in the face when you least expect it. Of course, even though I search for good and pleasant inspirational parallels, I don’t always pay attention, mindfully, because of the nature of 21st Century life and the human condition in general. Technological distractions, malfunctions, ramming, prodding, vying for space. I just glanced at my phone and read another scary, nearly apocalyptic, headline involving a “brain eating amoeba” What the…
Apart from scary headlines, fear-based news in general, and other distractions, what else is up with mindfulness and better ways to delve into creative communication, sort of the point of this blog, Perspective In Sound?
I heard my song “Maybelline” on the radio earlier. Fuck yeah!
Broadcasting Live from Shannon’s Corner on Pine. KLBP 99.1 FM Long Beach, CA!
Also, I heard Alyssa Nighswonger, friend and multi-talented artist, on KLBP 99.1 FM Long Beach, CA while writing… She asked, “What’s the point?” which is what drew me to say what the point of this blog was above.
This is how my brain works. Don’t eat me, amoebas! Please preserve my twisting, interconnected, multiple-outcome reality as blood pumps through my trillions of synapses to form growing positive connections!
What else? Well, making sense of all this in 2019 requires a high-speed broadband Internet connection and well-functioning CPU. My 2012 iMac has not been cutting it lately, but it’s not Mac’s fault… It is I, the master of my CPU, that is holding on to too much content. Lately, I’ve been sorting through old content since I started taking pictures of mostly nonsense from about 2000 (y2k, baby!) up until I moved to Barcelona, Spain in 2007 where I got a chance to photograph more creatively. Just before I left for Spain, I bought the re-popularized Holga toy camera made out of cheap components to give the user a flawed photographic experience that over-accentuates the natural beauty of the Universe. Colors, light leaks, overexposure, etc. all adds to what has now been replaced by your Instagram filter, or countless other ways in which you can manipulate the world around you to suit your liking.
When I was much younger, barely a teenager, I made a few time-lapse videos using legos, fire, a Santa Claus doll, whatever I could conveniently get my hands on. Later on, my sisters and I made a film, Killer In the House, Part 1 and Part 2…
The goal is to make it entertaining. For better or for worse, at the moment…
So as I’m cleaning up my Hard Drive, thereby improving my CPU, I am working on how to stay centered, mindful and patient…
Back to the gig on Saturday, the 14th after our Friday the 13th Full Harvest Moon Adventure into the Wasteland. I started noticing the pull of this rare full moon the night beforehand on Thursday the 12th as my PA was malfunctioning… then during our Wasteland Adventure, and up until the gig on Saturday I was still feeling as prickly as a Night Blooming Cactus. Of course, as I got on stage my guitar pickup malfunctioned… so we mic’d my acoustic guitar, Unplugged. It’s weird how the Universe does that to you.
Saturday the 14th @ Dipiazzas
Keeping It Honest is all about the stuff that is out of your control and you shall not fight, it is embracing the chaos around you so much so that you become the chaos, figuratively speaking, just so that you can see things from a different perspective, also known as Empathy. Courage helps…
It’s been a ‘fun’ summer, learning these lessons, and I’m ready for Fall, falling into my next release series, including new music later this month, Live One!
Update 1 of 2: it turns out that the reason my guitar didn’t work at the gig was because the backup battery I had on hand was indeed also dead like the one in my guitar when I first found out the pickup wasn’t working. So either there are powers conspiring against me (and also for me in terms of the creative potential that it creates through its resistance) OR I did this to myself. Both can be true, but also just one of these options can be true, alternatively. I love alternative music, too.
Update 2 of 2: Live One was eventually released on March 10, 2020, just days before the world shut down due to COVID-19. Again, either there are powers conspiring against me (and also for me in terms of the creative potential that it creates through its resistance) OR I did this to myself (I did in fact have a clairvoyant moment the week before ‘the shutdown’). Both can be true, but also just one of these options can be true, alternatively. I love alternative music, too. But not death metal typically.
A character born in the abyss and raised by the sands of time
Moving into nothingness
A cosmic cowboy
Deep interstellar space is a place where I’d like to be. Apart from all the suffering of our own biology, and where we once came from in another form of matter. I’d like to be with you before I go splatter. The you here is we, and we are debris, from a regenerative force that continues to be… but where does it end and why does it matter? We’ll know sure enough when we go splatter…
A shadowy figure enters the doorway as my eyes lay claim to the rounded silhouette. I wonder if it’s him, the ragged drifter I’ve heard so much about around these parts. He walks with a limp from a shootout that nearly took his leg if it weren’t for the townspeople helping him. They were caring and providing for his well being throughout his recovery. I think we all should strive for the same fastidious presentation of purpose and community, especially when you’ve got an injured cowboy on your hands…
The next thing that happens brings a crowd to gather as he slowly approaches the bar… “a shot of root and bottle of your finest whiskey…” You see, cowboy here had a knack for the high life, what with his conquering riches amongst a competing vision of the land. He took what was in plain sight for the taking, while others sought to organize welfare systematically as a sliding scale of victory over the defeated.
I once saw a vision of the future in which all people were bubbling from a seemingly permeable force of love and understanding. I want to understand this further and I Think this is what should be the most important thing for humans…
Arriving in España reminded me of the time I spent here while studying abroad in Barcelona. We visited Sevilla at that time yet I could not really appreciate the city then the way that I do now.
For starters, our Airbnb was a great choice, and it’s exciting to be here for our friend Maria and Alex’s wedding!
Sevilla is beautiful, romantic, and cultured with a rich history of traditions like Flamenco and food like Paella and Iberian Ham. There are also stories of conquest, exploration of the Americas and stunning architectural design.
As we venture out into the city I am finding there are many parallels to explore as I am releasing my new single, C’est La Vie!
Sitting on our balcony with La Giralda in my view reminds me another time and place. Have you been to space?
Life on Mars is about expressing our best self while practicing empathy, courage and love.
Family is so important and I feel blessed to be able to spend time with them on this lovely vacation!
I’m excited to release C’est La Vie next Friday, June 28th! We are playing a release show at the Prospector the night before, Thursday at 10pm. Come say “hola” as I bring the Spanish vibes home with me to share in the LBC.
Playing on a new friend’s guitar at Luis y Luz (pron. “looth” in the Sevillian accent 🙂 My sister, Shannon, and new friend at the pre-wedding Paella and Ribs BBQ at Luis’ Maria’s son and Spanish father, Luis. He hosted the BBQ at his home in Montequinto, and selected a very special wedding venue. Alex and Maria
Upcoming notes:
it’s amazing you can perceive emotions so subtly on a living face. a face that’s alive, however far away or near you feel to it, can be detected by the viewer and in relation makes them feel alive, however far away or near you feel to it.
//
Rose petals are divine
Ancient
Eternal
Divine
//
Flamenco
Rumba
//
When the sangria and gazpacho becomes confused, it’s a good thing…
Perspective In Sound 