Monday, January 25, 2016



Great article by Will Wilkinson about David Bowie.

The sickness of my generation is a zealous attachment to “authenticity.” It is stultifying, oppressive, maybe even deadly, and premised on false assumptions about the nature of personal identity. Bowie is the antidote. He taught that persona is performance. If there is anything like authenticity, it is fidelity to a higher-order sensibility, a sort of governing taste, which is mutable but in some sense still coherent, which regulates the style in which you perform yourself, but leaves open the question, maybe even sets aside the question, of who you really are. Rather than demanding authenticity, which is inherently paradoxical–trying to be real is embarrassing and fake–Bowie-ism instead asks for playful imagination in the artful construction and performance of persona. You can’t aspire to Bowie’s level of virtuosity in this regard, but it is liberating, especially for a Gen X-er drawn toward the grimly earnest misguided intensity of the authenticity cult, to see life as a playful pageant of role-playing that can be done with more or less art. Bowie is why I tell my writing students that there is no “voice” to find, no voice that belongs to the true you, because there is no true you, only ever versions of yourself you have learned to perform, and the voice of the character you play on the page is up to you. The question is not who you are but what connects, how much courage you have, how much guile, what you can manage to get away with.

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Quiet time with planets is rewarding. Big event coming up.


here is the link

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/20/science/space/five-planets-align-mars-jupiter-mercury-saturn-venus.html

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This made me feel better about my mental health. At least that is what I told myself.



http://expandedconsciousness.com/2016/01/17/5-reasons-why-people-who-talk-to-themselves-genius/

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Oh yeah!

Check out Steve Cutts.

http://www.stevecutts.com/


Monday, January 18, 2016


Wonderful interview with John Prine.

He talks about writing Hello In There.

And going to an open mic, the first time he ever performed in public, he played Sam Stone, Hello In There and Paradise.

Wow!

https://youtu.be/SW5Q3kIvyXQ





Willie talks about Trigger.

He bought his Martin N-20 new in 1969.

The rest is history.

https://youtu.be/b6IB0trJoJU





Monday, January 11, 2016



My appearance on the Jerry Springer Show has been released.


Episode 35



Fun stuff!





Dennis Hlynsky films nature.

Very interesting video showing movements of bugs and birds.
Just like melody waves in a song.
Just like a peek into Mother Nature's sketchbook.


Many more on his Vimeo page.












Ran across these two cool learning sites.
Highbrow and Drawspace.
Many courses are free.



Always time to learn new stuff.



Monday, January 4, 2016


Oh no it's Monday morning and I promised to post something to my journal.

Pressure.



I have felt like an impatent octopus over the last few weeks. Had arms reaching in all directions like Medusa's hair stylist.



Couldn't settle in on a task for more than 30 minutes.

Play a little bass, attempt another watercolor, play my strat while the watercolor sky dries, go through my piles of files and find Whiskey Before Breakfast. Find Blackberry Blossom and get out my Martin to play that a few times.

Answer the phone. Seems like I get more calls since joining the no call list.

Let the dog out.

Help Peggy cut peanut butter fudge so I can eat a few and ride a quick sugar buzz.

Stare at the 4 pages of notes for the "Christmas" prompt song. Stare at the 3 pages of notes for "something familiar" prompt song.

Start another watercolor.

Maybe I should play some bass.

Using an egg timer to learn jazz chords. 3 minutes. Even that seems like a long time.

Early stages of going mad?

Late stages?

Holiday stress?

Like Prego, all three are in there. Mixed in life's simmering journey.



Anyway, time to settle down. Maybe switch to decaf. Already cut out the salt and sugar (day 4).

Settle in, enjoy.

Every flip of the timer.




Saturday, January 2, 2016





 497 daily posts.
 Not that big of a load.
For a mule.
Decided to post on a weekly basis.
Check in on Mondays.
Gonna hit the road and travel.
Get a few loose ends tied up.
Untie a few knots.
And loosen up a few hale muscles. 



Friday, January 1, 2016



Happy New Year!

Heard this song for the first time last night.

Perfect message for today.

No lyrics online, but easy to understand.

Enjoy!