I wrote a song this week. It was the first song that I've written for a while, the infrequency due to my frantic past few months. It takes some space in the mind to write a song, to be still enough to let something grow. It's like making bread. You have the yeast, which is the idea, you mix it with ingredients and it rises and grows into something puffy, if given the right conditions. I'd had this song idea in my mind for 3 years, then all of a sudden it came out. It did require a little research along the way, but I more or less concentrated on it for a good two days after which it was fully formed, baked and browned.
This song is about the legacy of mixing heritages, describing subtle beauty in how generations carry things on. It's based on the history of the Celts intermingling with Hawaiian royalty through marriage. From that joining, and with it a population of Celts on the islands, there began a legacy of people celebrating both cultures. I witnessed it when I first went to Hawaii in 2008. I was performing at a music festival and heard some young girls, most of mixed descents, singing traditional Celtic songs, in tartans and leis. I was struck by one girl especially, as she sang Sally Gardens in a soft Hawaiian-style falsetto, like the breeze off of the ocean. The Scotsman who married Princess Likelike in the 1800s, I'm sure he was not knowing of the possibility of me hearing this young girl sing so many generations later, and then writing about it in song. I'm sure Princess Kaiulani did not expect to be the subject of a chorus composed by a musician writing from the state of Utah, but I'm very glad to have included her in a song. She's a beauty and is worth singing about. It was my pleasure.

I've had the chance to create and share a lot of music with a lot of people over the last few weeks. From singing Robert Burns' songs with Natalie Haas and Christopher Layer in Moab, UT, to touring with the Utah Phillips Tribute CD gang of songwriters throughout the NW states, including Winterfolk 23 in Portland, OR, the past few weeks have been completely engaging. I live for making sound, so despite the traveling, the engagements are worth it. I have a couple of weeks of quiet now, but will enjoy the ringing notes of the past few weeks as they carry me through my tax work.

Today is the beginning of a new year, a year with many wonderful things on my calendar. We will start off with the release of the Utah Phillips Tribute CD that I worked on for most of 2010. There are approximately 30 musicians on the recording. It was quite a feat of organization and I must admit, more work than I had originally estimated. But recording projects usually do seem that way while you are in the middle of them, they "take over." The first and most elaborate CD release concert will be held on Thursday January 6, 2011, at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City, UT. In honor of Utah Phillips' untiring work for social and cultural improvements, the ticket sales will benefit Salt Lake's Crossroads Urban Center.
More wonderful things are on my calendar...it's going to be a full year.

Food Banks and Kickstarters

I am raising funds for my life and raising funds for others, at the same time. Last Saturday night my music duo partner Kat Eggleston and I played holiday music at the Quartermaster Inn on Vashon Island, WA as a food drive for the local food bank. And during the past 30 days our kickstarter.com pledge drive has helped us organize a way to fund the completion of our second duo recording. It's all about ebb and flow. My job is to remain constantly in the presence of the presents, and to play beautiful music in honor of all moments.

I'm 49. That means I am going on 50. And I'm proud of that. Yes, I am. Because I now know some things. And I know myself better. I see things from a different perspective, from somewhere up a mountainside. I don't feel a day over 18 even though I sometimes feel as though I've seen enough and am ready to go. Being ready to go is ok, it leaves space for surprises and clears the weeds of personal agenda. And the best part is...when I have fun, I genuinely have more fun now, now that I am going on 50.

I've lost many performance opportunities because I am over 30, or over 40, or over whatever age it is that makes one too old to listen to, unless one is famous. Ha! The truth is...I have much to say and I say it in my songs. The best is yet to come. So listen up!

I guess the question is... "Why do we do things...anything, what we do, for fun, for a living, who we love, why, with our time, our thoughts, when, where, and for what end, satisfaction, community, family, money, environment, security, habit, dysfunction, desire..."
Well, I guess that is more than one question. But, I think about all of this while I work, on music. I work on music most of my waking hours, between the performances, the teaching, the recording productions and the private practice that I schedule in just to keep my hands in shape. Well, I do believe that when one is creating something beautiful, especially with other people, something good is happening, balancing out, not contributing to violence and destruction of our world. While attending the violin-making school many years ago, we had a graffiti statement that we would leave in the public bathrooms in Salt Lake City...make violins, not violence. I believe in that. I also believe that singing is good for humans, in many ways, and that people should sing every day...in the shower, in the car, and especially with other people.

Lunch With My Guitar

Have had a good time producing recording projects this summer, all of which will be out in 2011. There will be a new recording released with duo partner Kat Eggleston, look for news about that on our websites. Kat and I are producing singer Rose Laughlin's upcoming recording. Also in the recording stage is the Bruce "Utah" Phillips tribute CD from the Utah region. Sometimes I spend so much time in the recording studio or on the internet, that I almost forget that I play musical instruments. When I finally find time to pick one up and play again, I feel as though I'm having lunch with an old friend at a fine restaurant in Paris.