Tag Archives: music

Blues Chords and Peace over Sacramento

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How odd… the woman who’d written to me a couple weeks ago saying, it sure would be nice to see you, then posted: I’m playing in Sacramento. There I was sitting in San Diego at that time, knowing I would be less than a hundred miles away on that day.

So here I am sitting in my hotel room after the concert laughing at how things work out.

I love EG’s music and I adore her. And it was fun to watch a whole new bunch of folk fall in love with the Georgia Songbird under the rising Full Moon. Such a beautiful, beautiful evening.

There she was with a band she’d never heard of just killing her songs! It was great. A few simple blues chords and some fascinating lyrics and the music poured out of those players. That’s the thing about music. It starts with something simple and becomes something magical.

That’s the thing about Peace. It starts with something simple, and, in the hands of the deep-hearted, becomes something magical. Players, giving Peace a chance.

And tomorrow I get to have breakfast with my college buddy. It’s a small world. And I like it like that! And after that? Grandchildren! (and their fabulous parents!) Peace? of a noisy, laughing kind!

GardenMoonLunacyAug1

 

Peace, Peace, cha-cha-cha, llvl

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Ah, it’s sweet to dance. Sometimes, I take my life for granted and then I remember, wait Steve Mitchell has my back beat! oh, yay! And I’ve got my good friend Sue who loves to dance, and so we do. Week after week. And then sometimes, one or the other of us is away and boom, we’re back in it. Welcome to living my wonderful little vida local!

Having been “the tall girl in class” I always had to lead anyway, so i got some practice there, and Sue’s a great follower — at least in dance. In other things she’s a heckuva leader!

And dancing is pretty completely disconnected from my brain in any conscious way… once in a while I’ll find myself saying, oh, try this… but that’s sorta it. Mostly it’s just rhythmic Joy — choreographed laughter.

How excited was I when my poet friend Tom wrote this? Very!

Good one today …
Everyday too
But this one’s
With cowbells

Cowbells and Peace. cha-cha-cha.

LLVL27July3

Music & Peace (right here at home), llvl

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I hope that where you live is as extraordinary as where I live. I’m betting that it is. If you’re not exploring that, oh, poor you.

Now, I completely believe that there are great and wonderful things about where I live, and my husband, and not simply because I love him and he’s my husband, is one of those things. He’s not simply a good drummer, which is wonderful, but he’s a generous drummer. He wants to make everyone sound good. And he plays with two musicians who can play anything (and do!). They’re in the hum a few bars school of back-up bands. Both the bassist and the guitarist sing, both do jazz, country, funk, rock and now Irish and who knows what else and Steve’s there with the beat. Hot town in the Summertime and the living is soooo easy.

And I must admit, the guy that owns the tavern’s pretty wonderful as well, recognizing that this could happen. Sure he’s making money on it, but that’s fine… because he’s made a place for a community to come together. It’s not every joint in town that is going to have jazz, Irish music, country, 70s peace rock, blues… you name it, all jumbled up into one big happy evening. Steve’s gotten what he wanted, our local musical heroes stepping outside their musical genres, stepping in and playing or singing back up, roaring to attention when the kidlets try something out. If you’d have heard the band singing along with one young man accompanying himself singing “Eight Days a Week” on the ukelele. It was a moment you’re sorry you missed. oh, and when that 15 year old went head to head with Elvis and didn’t do badly at all? that was another one.

I got to chacha with Sue, always a fave, sing back up with Charlie (we found that back up!), shout at friends over the loud music, and generally have a marvelous time.

If you live here and you don’t wander by at least once, you’re wasting your time… if you live somewhere else, figure out where to go where your village’s lines get all mixed up. This type of event builds relationships across all sorts of lines. It teaches us to be kind.

And score. I signed up two more musicians for the Love Flows concert I’ll do in the fall, (we hope!). Watch this spot for new songs. But in the meantime, find out where Peace is mixing it up. If you can’t find it, start it.

There’s science between what happens in our brains, bodies and psyches when we sing together. It’s why hymn sings work. It’s why Eight Days a Week (The Beatles, who ever thought of them as hymnists?) worked for everyone that night. Great community. Great fun. oh, yahoo…

It’s a river of Peace, it’s a river of Sound, it’s a river of Love… C’mon, Wade in the Water!

LLVL27July2

 

Peaceful Delights, llvl

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When things show up that are wonderful, it’s a good idea to notice them, revel in them, cherish them.

Life isn’t one halcyon day after the other. There are challenges, hills to climb, setbacks. If you, like me, have been having trouble with the recent news, local, national and international, then you’re often weighted by the world… And then you’re pushing yourself to see how you can make a difference. All of that can make life challenging.

And then there are the personal ups and downs in life. They don’t need detailing — you know them.

So when the good times roll, you have to open your arms and embrace them. Because they will sustain you through the other times. They will remind you what you’re struggling for and what helps you through.

So thanks, thanks, thanks, to the Bonnie Tallmans and the Good Time Charlies of this world who have the vision and the folks who help to make music available to all of us. Thanks to the musicians, who put themselves out there, doing what they do to help us feel what’s real. Thanks to the friends, those sweet and constant companions, who help us remember who we are, where we came from and what we’re about. Hooray for those times when your vida local overlaps with mine!

Peace is the work of many, many communities. Revel in it where you find it!

LLVL23June10