Before leaving for my gig travels to Ohio last weekend, I noticed I only had two Burning the Boats CDs left. I wondered their fate, who would be the kind supporters of music that buy the last ones?
Ashley, the booking manager/bartender at Taffy’s was one of them. (The unsung heroes are in the little corners of the music industry. Thanks, Ashley!)
The other last one was sold to Claudia the Crazy Cat.
After my set at Six String Concerts, Claudia came up to me at the merch table bought all my merch, and asked me to sign my CDs. Claudia said, “You can sign them to Claudia the Crazy Cat! That’s what my friends call me!”
Claudia shared some unique stories about her love of live music, and Six String Concerts series, which is celebrating its 28th season!
I signed the CDs and waited for her to take them from me. One of the volunteers at Six Strings, whispered in my ear, “Mike, she’s blind.” Claudia was waiting for me to put the CDs in her hands. I didn’t notice her walking cane, leaning against the table.
CDs sales are ending, but I’m happy to know one of the last Burning the Boats is in Claudia’s hands. It’s you crazy, music-loving cats that make these travels worth it.
Diana Jones at Six String Concerts, photo credit Jim Grigsby
Setlists: Nov 13 & 14, 2015 – Columbus & Eaton, Ohio
Looking for a recording of a new song from a show? Download the music deal ($15 for 20 songs) at my Bandcamp site!
Nov 13, 2015 – WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus OH
Damn Fine Day
Burning Bright
A World That’s Bigger
Nov. 13, 2015 – Six Sting Concerts at Columbus Performing Arts Center.
Columbus, OH with Diana Jones
Damn Fine Day
Only the Rain Knows Why
A World That’s Bigger
Ohio (Neil Young)
Burning Bright
Do You Know Your Fears by Name?
Ghostwriter
Nov. 14, 2015 – Taffy’s
Eaton, OH with Pilot Rouge
Damn Fine Day
Don’t Mess Around with Jim (Croce)
Drift Away (Dobie Gray)
One Way Road
Ohio (Neil Young)
Drake rant/Going Home > It Ain’t Me Babe (Dylan)
A World That’s Bigger
Only the Rain Knows Why
Ring of Fire > Such Great Heights > Ring of Fire
Mahagony
American Girl (Petty)
Ghostwriter
Myth: Everyone can’t be an artist
I heard it uttered from a senior in my Advanced Placement English class: “Everyone can’t be an artist, Mr. Vial. Get serious.”
How quickly we forget elementary school, where everyone could be an artist.
As children, we pick up crayons and draw. As adults, we put down the crayons for more sensible things, yet forget we can still be sensible, and color.
And as adults, we can find a new type of paintbrush: Why can’t an engineer, a scientist, a politician, a nurse be an artist in their field?
One doesn’t need to narrow art to only crayons; but even within that narrow definition, art is waiting to be created by hands of all sizes.
Sure, everyone is not destined to make a business from their art, but business and art are separate things, often only intertwined at the whim of luck, and adults must remain sensible, shouldn’t we.
Which is more sensible: An artless life, or a life where you find the medium that inspires you?
New song: “Girl on the Mountain, Boy in the Beach”
“Girl on the Mountain, Boy in the Beach”
A girl climbed the tallest mountain,
And the light from the sun in the sky
She found a juvenile traveler
He was watching the moon die, the moon die
The girl ran down the mountain
The boy lay down in the beach
Passion gave in to power
The sun and the moon never reach
Did you need a little hope this morning?
Did you need a little hope, did you cry?
A father readied a journey
A mother made up her mind
Children fleeing their country
Can you give sight to the blind, the blind?
A girl ran down the mountain
A boy lay down in the beach
Passion gave in to power
The sun and the moon never reach
Did you need a little hope this morning?
Did you need a little hope, did you cry?
DADGAD, capo 3
I’m inspired by Detroit Free Press writer Stephen Henderson’s “Through the Doors of 7124 Tuxedo, Detroit, MI” (read article here).
Don’t tl;dr this.
Read every paragraph; pause; take a sip of your coffee, and ponder the complexity of what Henderson is embracing:
life through his hometown, his family, his past, and Detroit’s past and future, a corner of the Motor City that has been ignored.
7124 Tuxedo is 13 miles away from where I grew up in Dearborn Heights, and you know what? Those 13 miles feel like an Atlantic Ocean. Incredible. (My current house is almost the same distance away from the other corner of Ann Arbor, but it feels like the same place.)
He’s understand’s the complexities of his mission, too: This isn’t about swooping in and solving, magically, the deep, intractable problems of that neighborhood or the city surrounding it. This is one person’s idea for one house.”
7124 Tuxedo is a tangible action, yet also a symbol: one person, one house, one neighborhood, one commitment. What will your one mission be?
