Where Are You?
I got an email in my box yesterday. It simply asked: “Where Are You?”
Well, I’m in Campbeltown, Kintyre, Scotland…that’s the easiest part of the answer.
I’m 57 years old, so I’m probably more than half way through my life. That’s roughly where I am on my own personal space-time continuum.
In terms of my location as a human being, in a psychological and spiritual sense I’m in good place generally, becoming a better place gradually. With occasional visits to some really low down dives.
It’s a very personal question to be honest, and this is a very short answer.
But I’ll throw the question right back at you, anyway.
Where are YOU?
An Act Of Mercy
There is almost certainly a local songwriter near you who would love an opportunity to perform some of their own original songs.
I was listening to a local Campbeltown songwriter yesterday at the local library. He was excellent, and was just happy to have an opportunity to play. Told me he’d been on a bit of downer musically since the end of the summer, after the two local music festivals, just because of that lack of opportunity since.
So why not invite a local artist, or even a few local artists, to come and play for you in your own house one evening. Then invite some friends and neighbours. Call it a Homesong if you like. Call it An Act Of Mercy. Call it whatever you like.
But you might just find yourself getting addicted to the experience.
The Twelfth Man
You are sitting alone in an empty stadium, clapping and shouting for your team on the pitch. It’s going to feel futile.
But when the stadium is full it’s a different story.
They sometimes still refer to the support of the crowd for the team as The Twelfth Man. Of course, if it’s the women’s team being supported, we would, or should, be talking about The Twelfth Woman.
But the idea is that the support of the crowd is like having an extra person on the team.
Sometimes in life, when we are feebly trying to support a cause, it can feel as though we are in the stadium alone, and that our support is pointless.
But often there are other people adding support that we aren’t even aware of. Or perhaps, by clapping our support, we can inspire other onlookers to clap too.
Anyway, I’m sure the analogy is clear enough.
Let’s not underestimate ourselves or our potential influence. The players are the main event, but they value and are strengthened by our support.
Trigger Happy
Trigger happy?
In my experience triggers have very little to do with happiness.
Quite the opposite.
I’m talking about the triggers that other people inadvertently set off in me because of some long forgotten historical event that occurred, and which no longer matters in the slightest. If it ever did.
That event led to a reaction. And that reaction became a habit.
And it feels like that trigger happy habit is part of me. Part of who I am.
But it ain’t. And it doesn’t have to exist at all.
If our body cells can change completely over time, then so can our thinking patterns. I’m sure of that. Although it will undoubtedly require a great deal more awareness on my part.
I’m quite sure nobody else has this issue though…
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Another recommendation today. Go and see The Banshees Of Inisherin at a cinema near you. If you possibly can.
Martin McDonagh is the brilliant director and writer of this undoubtedly sad, heart breaking, and occasionally horrific film. But also one that is laugh out loud hilarious, tenderly compassionate and so very perceptive. Starring those superb actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who are brilliantly matched all the way by the rest of the cast.
The film covers life, death and everything in between in a tale of friendship gone wrong, that is also, and even more so, about our own relationship to mortality, suffering and the meaning of life.
I’m a lover of happy endings…give me some hope please…and though this certainly isn’t THAT kind of film, it still has some gently uplifting moments. And it certainly isn’t just battering the poor, helpless, cinema going soul with gratuitous darkness, in the manner of a particular kind of film that I find repulsive.
Instead, the whole experience, and it is an experience, holds the viewer very close, and breaths out a very simple message in the midst of tragic comedy.
One life. Don’t fritter it away.
The Relationship Begins
An empty page can be filled. It doesn’t care who fills it. The empty page has no feelings. It’s empty.
But as soon as something, anything, steals away it’s empty space it starts to speak. To you.
It says “Not that….this!”
And then the relationship begins.
All About Me
In the moment.
No, not that moment, this moment.
And now it’s gone. Another one bites the dust.
These moments continue to be precious though. And what I do with mine, and what you do with yours are so very personal.
Mindfulness is very trendy at the moment. But that sort of moment is irrelevant. It’s not what everybody else is doing that matters.
Because there are moments which belong to us alone.
Sometimes it really is All About Me.
I Hope You Dance
There is hope.
It is probably something we have to nurture and maintain in our own mental universe.
But until something is beyond the realm of possibility, then it is possible to say, completely truthfully and without necessarily feeling optimistic about the outcome:
There is hope.
And after the presence of hope is established we are free, if we choose, to work towards making that hope a reality, as much as it is within our power to do so.
I hope you dance.
Five Minutes, Then It’s Over
A recommendation today, which I think is worth a few moments of anybodies time. But especially if, like me, you sometimes give too much emotional attention to things that really don’t matter that much, when everything is considered.
It’s a beautiful little meditation by Sam Harris on The Lessons Of Death.
Five minutes, then it’s over.
You’re welcome!
Be Of Service
It might sound Way Out There, but businesses and organisations, like you and I, don’t need to wait for The Law to MAKE them do the right thing.
And anyway, they could be waiting a very LONG time in these days when Money is very much back at the top of the pile.
You may say that I’m a dreamer, etc, etc, but there already exists a kind of Social Enterprise where the bottom line is not about making more money, but simply enough money to be able to continue to Be Of Service to the people they could be serving.
Even if we don’t work for that kind of business or organisation, we can, and perhaps should, act as though we did.
Money For Nothing
I’ve recently received money from the Performing Rights Society for a song wot I never wrote.
I’m trying to give it back obviously. And I usually find that people who give out money are much happier about the receiving money back part of any transaction, so I’m quite sure this will be an easy job.
However, I’m a little bit gutted that, having recently received a decent payback for a song I DID write, it wasn’t the start of a trend.
But maybe there is another songwriter out there who is about to get a pleasant surprise. And of course, I wish the best of luck to ANY songwriters who share my name.
The songwriting David Fee’s of the world will stand forever united in the name of Rock…..‘n Roll!?
Onwards And Sideways
I’m feeling a bit out of energy in regards to writing about Homesongs, and how they are a very good thing, and everybody should have one, try one, etc, etc.
This blog shouldn’t really be a confessional though. That wasn’t the intention. Nor a diary. Also, not the intention.
But here I am talking about my life, songwriting, the world, and of course the fact that music in the community is something that can happen, not just in a community, but in a house. In your home.
I wanted to get other people on board with that idea, but I don’t think I’m succeeding at the moment.
Does that mean I should throw in the towel. Damn no!
It’s just an honest appraisal of where we’re at.
Onwards and sideways.
Fancy A Go?
Back in England. On the way home to Scotland on the morrow.
Apparently our trip back over the North Sea caused minor seismic disturbances leading to fragmentation in the Chaos Continuum all resulting in the resignation of another British prime minister.
Anyway, I was struck on the boat, reading the tele-script thingy on the news channel, by the comment of a political commentator about the upcoming vote for Somebody Else to lead the country.
Apparently “those MPs who fancy a go” will be putting their names in the hat very soon.
So I’m sure we can Trusst the powers that be to get it right this time round. Who are the powers that be? I’m a bit cloudy on that one.
But it’s nice to know that, when all the dust settles, The United Kingdom will still be the founding Mother and Father of Democracy.
Very proud.
Vote for me!
NO!
One Finger!
I know a blog shouldn’t be about how you write the blog.
But here I am again writing about how I wrote the blog. This one is being done with the One Finger Typing Technique on a phone keyboard.
You know how some folk (Young Folk) can do this at approximately 5000 words a minute.
I can’t do that.
This one took a while.
Hope you don’t feel like you’ve wasted your time discovering that information.
ps. We are putting ourselves into the hands of The Stena Sealink Captain for the return journey from The Netherlands today. Wish us luck!
Yours Sincerely
(Not) a new discovery.
It is easier to communicate with a blank page using a pen or a keyboard than it is using a voice dictation tool.
Having said that, the voice dictation tool is very good at picking up whispered swear words.But not so good at deleting them.
yes, I am trying to do it THAT Way again.
there is a reason why we TALK to people and WRITE scrip upon a blank page. There is also a reason why halfway through this blog I have given up editing.
So Siri, if you are reading this, Please feel free to take these words very personally.
A Human Been
Screaming At The Internet
I scream at the internet sometimes.
But truth be told, it’s amazing. Marvelettes!
I mean, imagine if I had to put addresses and stamps on envelopes, individually, by hand, in order to send this blog out to folk who wanted to receive it.
Everyday.
No. The Internet has got a lot of faults, but so many more possibilities. So, mainly, we work with the possibilities, and accept the new problems that arise as a necessary downside.
But sometimes I still find myself screaming at the internet.
The Hardest Of Work.
…en daarom moet ik zeg, dat het niet altijd makkelijk is om iedereen te begrijpen.
I am speaking Dutch everyday at the moment, as we happen to find ourselves in The Netherlands. (Yes, that Stena Sealink captain came to his senses in the end!)
I find it mind blowing to realise that, most of the time, even for English speakers like myself, the words being spoken around the world are incomprehensible to most other people.
English is the nearest thing there is to a “common world language”. But mostly people speak their mother tongue. And mostly that is a language which a fairly small minority of the worldwide population understand.
But even when we speak the lingo there is no guarantee that mutual comprehension will occur. Even among friends, and even among people who share a relatively similar world view. Considering how little of the time we manage to communicate well, it is remarkable how much we have managed to achieve together.
And what makes the difference, when we speak, comes to down to how well we engage the listener. That is creative work. And the difference when we listen comes down to whether or not we are really listening. Which is the work of empathy and patience.
Real communication is the hardest of work.
And the most rewarding when we manage to do it well.
Today I Threw My Brain Away
Today, I threw my brain away
Took it to the tip
Nothing else to say
Coz I threw my brain away
Lots of other people there
Doing the same thing
The brain thing
All together
It seems to be a trend
Perhaps you’ve done the same my friend
Probably the safest thing to do
In the end
Coz who needs to think
Now we’re beyond the brink
When we can gaily sink
All together
All together now
All together now
All together now…
Today, I threw my brain away
Took it to the tip
Nothing else to say
Coz I threw my brain away
(My apologies for the dark nature of this little ditty. It’s just, y’know, a way of getting stuff of ye old chest, and perhaps a little commentary on The Current State Of Affairs…but that is really only when we watch The News. Which I try not to do. But I do read a lot of what People are saying about The News. And sometimes what people says makes me wonder whether there is some Collective Lemming Like Instinct occurring.
Meanwhile, out there in the real world, are lots of reason to hope. And it’s not that we shouldn’t listen to The Voices. But there are definitely Voices that we shouldn’t be listening to).
Careful With Those Chemicals
Chemicals.
So many ways that they can interact.
So many forms of life that they can create.
The chemicals in our head are volatile and the infrastructure that contains them needs, unless we are very lucky, various degrees of maintenance. When things are going well it is easy to become blasé.
To drift.
And before you know it some dangerous combinations start hanging out together, like long lost chemical brothers, leading sometimes to heightened creativity, but on other occasions to some very undesired reactions in Ye Olde Thinking Patterns.
Careful With Those Chemicals. They are a precious resource, but you don’t want to make enemies with them.