mastery….for the love of it

Posted on by January 10, 2015

I’ve been trying to get a “plan” together.

At almost 55, I think that it’s time to get some kind of plan together.

It only makes sense.

Of course, it’s always a succession of little plans….movement…..it’s an ongoing process…..make the plans and adjust as needed.

What did John Lennon say about life happening while we’re making other plans….life happening while we’re making plans? What was that exact quote?

Look at this video of Joe Bonamassa at 13. I will bet that he didn’t have some master plan for “world domination” when he was 13. He wasn’t thinking about making the BIG BUCKS.

He just loved to play the guitar.

He just loved to play.

He was a kid….of course he loved to play.

That’s what kids like to do….play.

He just played the guitar.

He played the guitar extremely well.

Maybe what I’m feeling at 54 is the need for efficiency.

That’s kind of depressing….recognizing that I better hurry up and finish something good or “get off the pot”…..quit talking about it already….do something….even if I do it wrong.

Paying attention too much to your personal mortality isn’t something that helps you remember that it’s pretty important to JUST PLAY!!!

Freaking ants….it’d be a whole lot more fun to just be a grasshopper for a while.

So….what happened with Joe Bonamassa? That whole “old soul” concept isn’t really compatible with Christianity.

It’s a “one go round” kind of thing if you are a Christian.

But where did Joe Bonamassa come from?

How did that happen?

He’s no old soul….he’s just a really precocious guitarist…right?

I guess Mozart was pretty talented at a young age…but he wasn’t an “old soul”, either….maybe.

That’s not the point, though.

Just do what you love….love….and if you get some money, that’s good.

But if you don’t get the money….would you necessarily notice?

Would you notice….or would you be too busy doing the thing that brings you joy to pay attention?

I don’t really know.

I want the joy….and I want the money.

I want both.

And I want to play the guitar more like Joe and less like some club handed shlubb.

I never stop wanting.

I’m a “want machine”.

 

geeks and guitars

Posted on by January 9, 2015

If I start talking “guitar talk”, Jenny’s eyes glaze over.

It’s incredibly boring to hear me talk about guitars.

I don’t know a lot about guitars.

Maybe that’s what makes it boring.

That’s what these two are doing….talking about guitars.

They’re talking about putting an “affordable” combo together that someone could play in a small club with.

Affordable is just a little over 600 dollars “American”.

Of course, that’s new equipment.

You could scrub together something old and weird for a lot less….but it probably wouldn’t sound as good.

“Sound as good”…..maybe that’s the thing about this video that really hit me.

You can buy budget equipment….but if you really know how to play you’re going to sound a whole lot better than I would if I had a shiny new Paul Reed Smith guitar and a decent Mesa Boogie amp.

That’s just the way it is.

If you can play, what you play on might not matter as much.

I guess that “the ‘clothes’ don’t make the man” applies in a lot of places.

It’s fun to shop for guitars….even if it’s only always “window shopping”.

Who has time for that these days?

I’ve got priorities, you know?!

 

 

 

all my relatives

Posted on by January 8, 2015

Does he say, “Slicky roads” in this video?

 

It’s cold here this morning.

5 degrees. Fahrenheit.

That’s pretty cold for here.

I think that it’s the wind chill that really makes it feel chilly, though.

If 5 degrees wasn’t cold enough, the wind chill will remind me that it’s kind of ….chilly.

Jenny was talking about how easy our winters really are…..how short….how comparatively mild….and I’d have to agree.

We have it pretty good. Nothing too harsh.

But when it gets bad for a while, it really feels “bad”.

I suppose it’s just because we know what “good” feels like that we notice the bad?

Nah….it’s cold. I don’t care where I live, temperatures like this feel cold.

No matter what “relative” I choose to compare the situation to.

Why, relative to my relatives in Idaho, I’m probably pretty consistently warm.

It just depends on how I look at it.

My blower motor for my heater is acting up. I never know if it’s going to work or not….and when it does, it usually only works when I have the window rolled up…..motored up….

It only works when the window is closed….so when I’m delivering the mail, the fan won’t go.

I miss it.

There’s something to be said for warm air blowing on me in comparison to all this cold air that I expect today.

But….relative to what it would feel like to have to deliver the mail on a motorcycle, I’m pretty warm.

The windshield really does block a lot of cold air, even if some does blow in my open side window.

I’ve got it pretty darn good.

Little woodstove in the house, plenty of dry firewood, food in the refrigerator, gas in the Jeep, a two hour delay for the kid’s school….I’ve got it pretty darn good.

So what if it’s cold?

Here’s a band that I hadn’t thought about for a long time….used to play them on a radio show they let me do when I was in college.

Christian hard rock….imagine that?

“paint a picture” Resurrection Band

my friends give me some money

Posted on by January 7, 2015

fort knox

I got a number of emails this morning that told me that a bunch of money had been deposited in my name all over the world.

It felt like my lucky day.

It’s happened before…..

I get emails all the time from friends telling me that “the sum of….” has been deposited into a British bank because they just can’t figure out what to do with the money if I don’t help them out by sending them a valid routing number.

It’s a scam…..for the most part.

I’m sure it has to be a scam.

Who would give me 6.5 million dollars just for being in the right place at the right time?

Nobody that I know of.

But….what if it wasn’t a scam?

Here’s a business idea:

A “scam free spam provider” portal….

Any message that shoots out the orifice of the portal has to be sincere and legitimate.

If you write someone and tell them that 6.5 million dollars has been deposited in a British account under their name….just because the money needs a soft place to land and they don’t want it seized by the ruthless regime currently in power….well, it better darn well be true or there’s going to be hell to pay with the governing board of the “scam free spam provider” site.

I don’t know what kind of crazy business model I’d use to present it though.

6.5 million dollars is a lot of money.

I don’t know how often people would be able to legitimately give away such large sums and survive as a business.

Maybe, as a gesture of good will and as a good businessman, I could take a small percentage of each transaction…..say, like, 1 or 2 percent?

It would work for me to take 1 or 2 percent of a million dollar exchange.

I don’t know, really….I’m just thinking out loud.

If….if….IF….it was true, though…..

Wouldn’t it be cool if one of these offers was true?

Millions….just for being in the right place at the right time?

Nah….I’m not going to write these guys back.

Who has the time to take a chance like that?

Even for millions.

If I could guarantee that the offer was legit, I’d go for it.

Until then, I’ll just have to keep saying, “Thanks for the offer…but no thanks.”

Not today, thankyou.

“spam, spam, spam” Monty Python

it needs a battery

Posted on by January 6, 2015

I have a guitar that I bought pretty cheap at the pawn shop that was having some problems.

I stopped playing it (badly and loudly) because it just didn’t sound right anymore.

I thought there was something wrong with the output jack….maybe the pickup wiring….maybe something else.

Maybe ALL the pots had slowly gone bad?

This guitar was cheap….and kind of old. It made sense that I’d cheap out and buy something that didn’t really work if I thought that I could save some money.

I didn’t enjoy playing that guitar that didn’t work. I left it alone for a while.

I was thinking about that guitar again recently, though….after leaving it in its case for a year or so….and realized that the battery….if those EMG pickups were like all the other ones I’d seen and needed a battery to work….that those pickups needed a fresh battery.

You won’t get any sound out of a bunch of pickups with a dying/dead battery.

So I took the strings off….took the neck off….took the pickguard off….took the battery out….replaced the battery with a fresh one….put the pickguard back on….put the neck back on…..put some new strings on it….tuned it….and VOILA!!!  I COULD PLAY BADLY REALLY LOUDLY AGAIN THROUGH MY CHEAP AMP…..the amp that needs some attention, too.

Here’s a guy I saw on Austin City Limits back in 1984….and when I asked about him at the record store the next day, no one knew who he was….

Eric Johnson….

I think that he keeps his guitars in better shape than I do.

I think that he uses fresh batteries.

That’s why he sounds a lot better than I do.

His batteries….are fresh.

I’ve never heard this song on any of his albums that I remember.

This performance was before he’d released any mainstream albums….so it made sense that the guy at the record store didn’t know anything about him.

Eric Johnson….one of the greatest guitarists I’d ever heard….and no one knew anything about him.

That changed….pretty quickly….when he released Tones…..

Here’s another performance from that same show back in 1984….

This is a “signature tune” that did make it onto his first album, Tones….

It is amazing what fresh batteries can do for you.

(I’m kidding….I don’t think that he plays any guitars that need a battery.)

My guitar needed a battery…..and it’s a fresh one now.

So….I can play really loudly again.

My battery is fresh.

Cover your ears.

 

(The link to the “Tones” album is missing the song “Zap” for some reason. Look it up if you want to hear it…it’s a good one….)

hello, GROOVY PEOPLE!!

Posted on by January 5, 2015

My friend, John, had tickets for a concert when we were in High School.

His sister gave him the tickets….and he asked me if I wanted to go.

The concert was in a big church.

The church had a stage that was set up for a full band when we got there….and we sat for a while and waited.

In a while, this little guy came out on stage, strapped on a sunburst Les Paul, and walked up to the microphone.

“HELLO, GROOVY PEOPLE!!”

His voice was kind of high.

He was a little guy.

John and I looked at each other….”Who the heck is this little guy?” we said to each other….but before we had much chance to ponder the answer, the little guy started to play his guitar….just this little guy, playing by himself for a moment before his band came out on the stage.

I think that we thought we’d come to see some little fruit.

We were wrong. That “little fruit” could really play.

Oh, goodness. This little guy with the guitar that looked big on him could rip.

I’d never heard anyone play guitar like that.

I know that I’d never seen anyone play guitar like that.

That was the first time I was exposed to Phil Keaggy’s music.

It was a good introduction.

“true believers” Phil Keaggy with Glass Harp

Phil Keaggy is a Christian.

He’s a Christian….and a musician….and a great guitarist….so I guess that makes him a “Christian Musician”.

What a shame that we have to pigeonhole all our “Christian Musicians” like that.

I don’t think that the Christian community is always very good to the performers in the community.

We should be the best at supporting them….but I’ve been pretty cheap with my “sharing” at some of the “love offering” concerts I’ve been to.

Maybe I’m the only one I have to admonish for cheapness…but I don’t think so.

I wonder if it isn’t hard sometimes to be a “big fish” in Christian music?

I think that I heard another Christian….. musician, Mark Heard, address that in a “liner notes” (back when we still had albums) interview. He said something about being a Christian ….and being a musician….but that he didn’t only play Christian music.

It was something like that.

Bruce Cockburn is a good example of that….a Christian who is also a musician.

Anyway, that’s not the main point of this, I guess.

Phil Keaggy is a great guitarist who plays Christian music….and plays guitar.

Some music is just music.

All music can be a prayer.

I really enjoyed getting introduced to Phil Keaggy’s music.

It’s been a big part of my life.

 

“let everything else go” Phil Keaggy

my adventurous life

Posted on by January 4, 2015

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I guess that a trip that doesn’t become an adventure is just a trip.

Maybe you can’t plan an adventure?

I don’t really know.

I think an adventure comes out of mistakes….the real adventure doesn’t start until something starts to fall apart.

If that’s the case, then I guess that I’ve had my share of adventures.

I’ve taken some wonderful trips, where everything worked out and nothing shook me up.

I’ve had people in my life who were good at planning….and planning seems to be an element that keeps a trip from falling into adventure.

You can have an exciting trip that doesn’t turn into an adventure.

Maybe it’s the willingness to step out into a situation that can’t be planned out completely that leads to some fine adventures?

I love to watch movies. I’ll sit on the couch with some popcorn and my family and watch movies all day if you let me. That’s kind of sad….I guess.

What could I say? I love movies.

Watching movies is never going to turn into an adventure.

If I went up into the woods behind my house, sat down in the leaves, and just stayed out in this pouring rain all morning, at some point the excursion would start to feel like an adventure.

Even if I understood how stupid it all was to get that wet and cold….it would feel different than sitting on my couch, watching a movie in my dry house.

Maybe you can plan an adventure? Maybe if you place yourself in a stupid situation, even if you completely understand the probable outcome, you can kind of initiate something that feels like an adventure?

I don’t know. I’m just typing in the morning…trying to be quiet so that no one else in the house wakes up.

I still think that the true adventure comes when we go up against something that we don’t really understand.

I have had my share of adventures.

There’s a lot of things that I still don’t understand.

Speaking of videos….and adventure….we watched a documentary called “McConkey” on Netflix the other day.

It’s about Shane McConkey.

I get the feeling that most of these guys living a “big life” probably didn’t watch a whole lot of television.

I thought it was a pretty big show that Netflix shared with me.

I sat on my couch and watched this dude have some big adventures.

Wait until you hear the catalog of broken bones and injuries that they run down towards the end of the movie.

It’s like that old Baretta theme song…..”don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time….don’t do it…”

“baretta’s theme” Sammy Davis Jr.

 

What the heck? It’s all an adventure…..family, marriage….everything.

I’m just trying to figure it all out as we go along….and I still make mistakes.

That makes it an adventure.

this post has no title

Posted on by January 3, 2015

If you build big, you build big because you have some stuff that needs a place to land.

(Either that….or you really need a monument to achievement….some marker to say, “SEE!! The neighborhood!! The view!! The TAXES!! …..AND, maybe, the amenities!! Look at what we did!!”)

Not always, but…sometimes….. it’s a monument to achievement.

You need a shell that says, “I’m OK.”

(But….on the other hand….it would be kind of bizarre and cool to live in a mansion or a castle….big spaces….little bells to ring if I needed the servants to bring another pop-tart or something….motes…it might be kind of cool. I guess it’s really sort of hard to say, though…)

If you build big, and you don’t already have a bunch of stuff, when you look into the wide empty space that your house is….you realize that you better get shopping….and quick.

You better get some serious shopping done so that you can fill up these giant spaces with stuff.

Big inside spaces need stuff to fill them.

Of course, outside spaces are a different deal.

You can’t have enough stuff to fill up some outside spaces….

P1060646

Maybe the solution really is to only have the stuff that you need to live….and a little house that limits what you choose to decide is “enough to live” might be the only way (for me, at least) to set a limit on the stuff we have in our lives.

A tiny house….and a really big storage space for the rest of your crap.

If we can push our piles of stuff onto someone else’s space, we should be able to live small….with a small pile of the stuff that we decide we can’t get rid of….that we selectively fill our tiny space with.

It’s easier to be selective if the other stuff is safely stored out of our line of sight.

Either rent a storage facility….or just leave all your crap at your parent’s house.

That’s crummy…don’t pawn it off on your parents.

That’s crummy.

I have a lot of stuff….books….too many books….musical stuff….clothes….

I’d have to do some heavy duty paring down to move into a tiny place.

If you have a space that’s too big to be called a “tiny house”…..but too small to be considered a house that a family can comfortably live in….for some reason, you don’t consider (radically) paring down as much with a “mid-range house”….you think about getting a space big enough for all the stuff to fit into.

The “in-between” house isn’t hip enough to make you define what you hold onto….or big enough to let you avoid deciding what to hold onto.

I don’t have the power to define my space just by being in it.

Why do I let my spaces define me?

Why do I think out loud?

It’s hard enough when I keep my thoughts to myself.

Tiny thoughts in a mid-range house.

 

sometimes….the good guy wins

Posted on by January 2, 2015

James Taylor posted this video on his page sometime late last year.

James Taylor is one of my friends….or maybe I just “like” him.

I don’t remember how all this Facebook stuff went down….all I know is that from time to time, he contacts me with little bits of information.

Some of it, like all Facebook stuff, is kind of self-absorbed.

Some of it is really interesting.

This video, about the fellow who built many of his guitars, was one of the interesting bits.

The vision of a master craftsman talking about a new guitar order with a client while scrubbing out toilets in the ladies’ room will stay with me.

Mr. Olson is a cool dude…and a great guitar builder.

There are a lot of great people doing interesting things in the world.

There’s a lot of people quietly excelling at something they love to do.

James Olson is one of them.

Here’s a “different James” video where he talks about some of his guitars a bit….and one of his Olson guitars.

It’s good to see one of the good guys “win”.

I’ll do.

Posted on by January 1, 2015

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The easiest thing in the world ….the very easiest, no sweat, accomplishable task….that I can think of is to talk about what I plan to do.

How cool is it that January 1st is kind of a traditional day for big promises and dreams?

I’m making plans to start planning something fresh and interesting….life changing and invigorating….as we speak.

As I speak.

As I type.

My resolution is to plan something that will knock my socks off.

Flat off my feet.

Plan something.

But what?

I have a lot of irons in the fire….I have a lot of stuff to do.

I have a lot of things to try and hold together….and here I am, wanting to put a veneer of excitement on something and start the New Year off doing something different than what I’ve been doing the previous year and make our lives more VITAL somehow….or more effervescent….or just a wee bit FRESHER…. somehow.

OK, here’s a resolution….I’m going to try and bloom where I’m planted this year…and if I need to change something, I’m going to make what I do already a little more sophisticated and refined…..make what we have already a little more beautiful….get my stuff together, in other words.

No need to upset the apple cart….maybe just clean it up and make a bunch of pies with the apples I already have.

I don’t know, though…..the “big plans” sound so much more important.

“This is the year of the walkabout, the South American joy ride, rebuilding the VW bus and taking off for the wild and free….no, I’d describe it best as the ‘vintage VW bus’…..building the business that rockets and sustains, being more than anyone ever expected….AND having the number one viral video on YouTube….a video about something really cool and unusual….a video that will make us RICH….R…I…C….H.”

Or…..

“Find a way to end world hunger and educate the masses.”

I think the selfish thing sounds more fun.

What’s fun, though?

A resolution.

A revolution.

I think that this year I hope to stay off Kim Jong-Un’s radar.

I don’t know how to do that….maybe never mention him in a blog? I really don’t know…..but it’s a reachable goal and probably kind of smart.

Any of these plans sound OK….

Anyway, I’ve read that “if I’m not planning, I’m already planning to fail” ….or something like that.

No….I remember! “Failing to plan is planning to fail”. That’s the one I couldn’t remember.

I don’t plan to fail.

I just don’t always know what I’m planning to do.

Big plans sound cool, though.

Today is the day! I’ve got to put some kind of plan together.

That’s a good enough resolution for me.

“part of the plan” Dan Fogelberg