blessed by a current situation,

in return, I'll give my creation

Freedom for Free!

As if the anti-car blog I posted yesterday had a mysterious force behind it, a day later and my car is off my back!  Brother, newly promoted to head manager for a Kinko's, needs a reliable ride.  I will give him the payment, and cancel my insurance.  

What a great day!

Life is before me...let the Unemployment pay roll!

Time to get a beater-mobile and take to the road, USA here I come.

Freedom of Price

"Hell is not a place you go if you're not a Christian, it's the failure of your life's greatest ambition." -Immortal Technique

Another free day, another clean slate...being unemployed is hard to describe...friends coming and going....stupid car...just how much would losing my car ruin my credit?  Enough to keep me from purchasing a house in the future? And who do I even ask such a question to? Hmmm.  Re-inspired by Rachell to travel again and I don't think I can right now.  Was gonna re-read The Alchemist soon...shouldn't now.  Best years of my life here...stupid car...Re-inspired by Jim who drove all the way to the east coast and back, making friends along the way.  Hawaii...Seattle..Europe..New Mexico...South America...New York...I envision myself re-invented on the road...backpack and a knowing smile, driving some beater, probably unshaven...who knows...Meeting people as the me I am now, not the me I have been...

Don't get me wrong, I'm cool.  I don't think about this one much, I'm usually focused on music these days.  But I do regret buying that car...

Hiking Mt. Wanda

Found in Martinez, Mt. Wanda is the former estate of John Muir and a nice place to hike.  My brother and I went yesterday and I brought my camera.  I took all the pictures accept the shot of me and the ones of the butterfly; those were my bro.  The butterfly was patient with the photo taking process.  It let the camera get about a baseball bat's length away and even flew back to the same spot after getting into a tussle with what seemed to be a bee. Seeing my brother, big as he is make such graceful poses and movements to capture those pictures was a sight to behold.

YES!

Well, it looks like I found that reggae band I was looking for...!

It was a hell of a drive; commute hours out to Daly City.  I grabbed my guitar and walked into a building with small studios everywhere, hearing all kinds of music from all directions.  I found the room I was looking for and walked in.  The band was smoking spliffs and listening to reggae.  I introduced myself briefly and before I knew it, we were playing a song and I was learning the changes on the fly.  They weren't much for introductions.  I was nervous but tried to remain calm.

Three of them are black (drums, singer, guitar) which makes for an unstoppable groove.  The bass player is a white dude from Canada.  They sound freakin' awesome! I had to stop playing and just smile and listen... The singer had a great reggae voice and persona.  He was confident and mysterious, sparking a new spliff to smoke for every song we did.  I thought he was from Jamaica. I asked after he left and they looked at each other and said "...Kentucky." Haha

After a couple songs, they all seemed pretty impressed by me, which blew my mind. The other guitarist said I play from the gut, which is something I strive for.  It's hard to think of two guitar parts sometimes and even harder for reggae so this will require my best efforts.  But the fact that they want me back next week is indeed an honor.

The drummer and guitarist invited me to the ladder's house for beer and herb and I figured this was a good opportunity to get to know them.  It was a bit odd, being that I was younger than their oldest children,  but music is such a strong common bond.  I soon learned that these guys were really no joke.  Playing in bands since they were children of all different types, they were seasoned vets.  They were really nice and switched from role of peer to mentor. depending on the tide of conversation.  We listened to some old funk and some of the guitarists other projects before I took off.

There's nothing better than taking a chance on something new and having it work out ideally. 

Timothy White on Bob Marley:

For a man like Bob Marley, life and Jah were one and the same.  Marley saw Jah as being the gift of existence; that is, he believed that he, Bob Marley, was in some way eternal, and that he would never be duplicated.  He believed that the singularity of every man and woman is Jah's gift.  What we struggle to make of it is our sole gift to Jah.  He believed the process of that struggle becomes, in time, the truth.

Historically certain figures sometimes emerge from stagnant, despairing and/or disintegrating cultures to reinterpret old symbols and beliefs and invest them with new meaning.  An individual's decision to play such a role may be purely unconscious, but it can sometimes evolve into an acute awareness that he may indeed have the gift/burden of prophecy.  This realization may be followed by the public declaration on the part of such a person that he is merely an instrument of a new source of knowledge, a new direction and a new order.

For Jamaicans, and ultimately for much of the Third World, Bob Marley was such a messianic figure.  He maintained that spectral emissaries invaded his sleep to enlist him as a seer.  He was frightened by the responsibility, he said, but he had decided to assume it.   "By and by," he explained, "Jah show every mon him hand, and Jah has shown I mine."

A man who looked like a skinny lion, moved like a spider and lived like a ghost, Bob Marley died trying to control the duppies [ghosts] within himself.

Action Praise

Although hard to find at times in replies

Try an keep the love in my eyes, highest of highs

Even though some don't catch my ways

Try an bring my heart and it's strengthening praise

Made communion with the spirit that birthed me

Because I know that spirit personally, yes, I'm certain it's me

I know what feels wrong, I feel what knows right

I grow a new song, Ideal that glows bright

If a heart sings along, great deal of delight

For both our freedoms, walk through the night