This is an old interview with Jack White that I saw on AXS TV the other day.
I didn’t listen to much Jack White music before this interview, but I’m going to.
It’s always good to see somebody who is a real artist….instead of just a manufactured pop star.
He’s an interesting guy with a lot to say….and Dan Rather did one of the better interviews I’ve seen.
Norman Greenbaum!
I don’t know about the theology….but it’s a good tune.
He became a chef after the pop career.
Oh….and check out this cover!
The Blind Boys of Alabama!
I am walking through the silver morning
And….I feel the music inside me
What did I find?
Was it peace of mind?
Gonna bring it home
to you…
The water is cold and, in the coolness, my hands grow numb…..fingers splayed and grasping, reaching for something that I think I see beyond the glare of the hot sun on the surface of this river.
I am desperately optimistic.
Or, maybe I should say that I’m desperate to be optimistic?
I think that there must be a difference.
Sometimes it feels like trying to be optimistic is like fishing by hand.
I can’t see a reason sometimes to see any potential for optimism beyond the glare of the pessimism I bring to this stream.
Most of the time,though, I know that the “fish” are down there….and sometimes, when I look at the water just right, I can see them flashing by, beautiful and attainable, ready to be brought up if I reach out with positive expectations.
Beyond the glare, I see what I know is there.
Every once in while, it’s only glare that I see on the surface of the water, though.
It’s only the surface that keeps me from seeing, anyway.
“Surface” is all any of us have.
We’re not patient enough to see beyond it.
Anyway…maybe optimism isn’t about being able to see the fish all the time?
Maybe it’s about knowing that they’re down below the surface…because I’ve seen them there before?
Maybe optimism is the same thing as faith?
I am desperate to be optimistic.
What do they say about teaching a man to fish?
How do you build the skill of always having the faith to reach out for something that is hard to see?
How do you learn to charge towards optimism?
I would stand with frozen hands, waiting and hoping….always fishing…. before I’d give up on something good happening in our lives.
I will go down fishing.
Here’s a Kenny Rankin song that’s on my mind this morning.
I don’t think that he mentions “fishing” in the song….so it doesn’t really have anything to do with this post.
Kenny Rankin “Killed a Cat”
My daughter just got home from….THE BIGGEST APPLE (!!)….after installing Mel Chin’s sculpture “Wake” in Times Square.
Of course, she had some help.
The thing was huge.
She couldn’t do it all by herself.
This was a big deal and a fine senior project.
Thanks to all the folks at STEAM Studio in Asheville NC….and to the vision of Mel Chin….for this great opportunity for my daughter!
I hope that this is just the beginning of a great number of exciting opportunities for her!
Man.
I am so impressed!
My daughter is the little Norwegian in the grey tank top!
Here’s the most recent one from Foresty Forest.
Always such good stuff.
To be out in the big world!
How does that happen?
Maybe it’s just about opening your eyes and opening your door.
No great mystery….only the Nike trademarked cliche…..”just do it”.
Good for you, Foresty Forest!
Thanks for another great video!
My Father used to make some amazing pickles.
Best I ever had.
That’s not hype.
That’s no joke.
That’s the truth.
They were crisp….really crisp….and really “dilly”.
He grew his own cucumbers and we usually had a couple of cases of dill pickles in the closet after gardening season was over.
I was thinking about pickles for some reason this morning before I got up.
I was thinking about how, no matter what your situation or circumstance, how important it is to have things that you do that make you feel good about what you’re contributing to the world.
A pickle is a pretty mundane thing.
A really unusually fantastic and memorable pickle is different.
Make great pickles.
Here’s the famous “Naked Cowboy” in front of the Mel Chin designed Jenny Lind statue in Times Square.
My daughter had the option of working on a bunch of quad copters….or helping design and engineer this giant sculpture….and then travel to New York City to erect and troubleshoot this piece of art….as her senior project in the Mechatronics Engineering program at UNCA.
I think that she made the right choice!
Quad copters are kind of cool….I guess….but this sculpture is a better kind of cool.
(The photo is by Ben Davis)
Here’s a great article about the project:
Jenny flew up this morning….missed her original flight because she was held up in security….but got there a bunch of hours later when the ticket agent took mercy on her and booked her on a later flight.
Subways and city buses can be kind of imposing…even if you have some experience with them….but Jenny navigated and was in the Barrio with Zoe when she called me at home.
Read that article!
This project is pretty impressive!
And….you might get to see a guy playing guitar in his underwear if you make it up to the Big Apple to see Jenny Lind!
BONUS!!
(Actually, Jenny could see a guy playing guitar in his underwear at our house in NC. She doesn’t need to go anywhere to see that…..)
OK.
Check this out.
Somewhere in this picture, my oldest daughter (who is still pretty young…in spite of being “oldest”) is working on this giant mechatronicaly (a word that I invent can be spelled any way I want, right?) animated sculpture in TIMES SQUARE!!
That’s “TIMES SQUARE”….like, as in, NEW YAWK CITAYYYYYYYYYY…..Times Square!
How cool is that?
She’s up there….helping make this senior project and major (Mel Chin designed) art installation come together.
Even cooler….Jenny is going to be flying in to New York tomorrow….to spend a couple of “jet setting” days in the Big Apple…seeing what is up with this giant thing.
Giant thing.
Man.
That’s some intense excitement.
Man….I love art.
I love the excitement that comes with this strong effort that is paying off!
I love having at least a tenuous connection to that world!
Thanks, Zoe, for bringing me back to what I knew for a while…if only vicariously (this time)!
That’s a good feeling.
Let’s see this lady move around…in the BIG APPLE!
Shake it, Jenny Lind….SHAKE IT!!
(read more about Mel Chin here….)
Found this looking up videos about Jeeps….trying to figure mine out.
Check out this young bass player backing these guys up!
What a low-end zen master!
“Low-end” like….bass…low end.
Man….there’s a lot of interesting stuff in the world!
The band is The War and Treaty…..the song “Jeep Cherokee Laredo”.
And….CHECK OUT THE KID PLAYING BASS!!