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takeaways from 1RiffADay

September 30th was the last day of a thirty day challenge called 1 Riff a Day (or #1RAD) sponsored by She Shreds magazine. The challenge is simple - just post one "riff" - on acoustic guitar, electric guitar…

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white flowers

Tomorrow is the March For Our Lives to promote sensible, regulations to our out-of-control gun situation. 

Made me think of a verse for a new song we're working on for Silver Cloud Express called "Here and Now" and…

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every damn day

Gratuitous sunset picture from our backyard

Just read this blog post about having an 'Every Damn Day' list and I really liked this idea! I mean, I have my WHOPPING list of all the things I WANT to…

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the broccoli tree

Midsummer Special - by Patrik Svedberg

I was pointed to this video by my favorite Friday read, Austin Kleon's newsletter. I was just stunned by not only the story of the broccoli tree itself - a series…

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bass meditation

With a title like that, you could assume this will be a rumination on the nature of playing bass, the purpose of the bass instrument in Life, of or even a little haiku on the joys of bass! But no…

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to the bone

It's not easy being a musician. All the instability and stress of scrabbling to make ends meet along with the mental instability and stress of putting your most vulnerable self out into the world for others to jeer or…

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full moon rotation

Happy Full Moon Fever! 

I've always loved the moon. Whether it's because I'm a moonchild Cancer or just a romantic at heart, I've always been fascinated by our closest celestial neighbor and do like to write songs about her…

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like rain in the desert

Photo by Bill Gracey

It's raining! Been raining since deep into the night, when I awoke to that lovely gentle patter on the roof. Winter rains are the sweet cousin to our monsoon season. Instead of the crash…

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remembering the music store

Here's a reprint from 5 years ago - I was just reminded of it by a kind message from Freddy Paulus' grandson, Nicholas! Thanks for getting in touch, and all the best to your grandfather!

Most girls growing up…

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music is life

Someone posted this quote in a forum on FaceBook and it struck me so deeply, I had to share. I knew Bruce was a poet but it still is lovely to see his writing outside of his iconic songs…

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blue blood super full moon fever

This photo of the moon was taken by my talented friend Julius Schlosburg.

 

“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of our desire to understand.” 

-- Neil Armstrong 

So Wednesday morning was a…

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girls just wanna be heard

My beloved sent me a link to an article on Billboard magazine, New Report Shows Major Lack of Representation by Women in the Music Industry, and it is an EYE OPENER!

This is a subject I'm of…

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your own Golden Age

I believe that we, that this planet, hasn’t seen its Golden Age. Everybody says its finished … art’s finished, rock and roll is dead, God is dead. Fuck that! This is my chance in the world. I didn’t live…

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Ol' Tom: The Long Road to Simple FolkMusic Guitar

Here's another stream of folk consciousness from my veteran folk singer dad, Ol' Tom. It's brought up a lot of my own thoughts of what it means to make good ol' simple music that I'll post another time. Enjoy!

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Happy New Year!

Yes, I took a few days away from my computer as 2017 wound down.  It was pretty delicious! It's been a very sweet holiday after all - I felt like I was stepping away from the "shoulder to boulder" mode…

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the lovely in-between

Just swooping in here post-Christmas so that I don't totally forget how to write during this lovely in-between time. I work for a university (not as a professor, but as part of an associated research division) and one of…

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another holiday video playlist

Oh, sure everyone's doing it. But what the heck, I don't see these listed anywhere, so this is what I'm bringing to the holiday turntable!

Jill Sobule's version of "Merry Christmas From the Family"  - originally penned by…

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sonic solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year - celebrated since humans had fire to fight back against the dark. It also reminds me of a lovely solstice day Jamie and I had a few years back in 2009…

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what could be simpler right now?

Horoscopes to me are more like that idea of holding a question in your mind, then opening a book at a random page and blindly pointing to passage to find your answer. If the writer is interesting, then you're bound…

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guitar picks for the soul

 

My dad is a poet/writer and from time to time he sends around something cool by email (and sometimes I turn them into songs!) Here's one of his stream of consciousness jack-kerouac-meets-william-faulkner pieces about that ubiquitous…

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light in the dark

Even as the Arizona sun keeps shining down on us during our unusually warm December, I like to reflect on the meaning of winter holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah, Winter Solstice rituals and all the ways different cultures celebrate…

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the sound of space

The sound of space

The not-hum of the world just existing

The sound of the In Between

In between breaths

In between thoughts

In between one breeze and the next.

 

Sometimes called…

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Friday inspo: Every Moment

From one of those effervescent thoughts that bubble to the surface of my mind when I'm lying in bed at the end of the day waiting for Sleep:

Every moment has its own wisdom

Isn't this what…

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old vinyl treasure

This is one of those old vinyl treasures that pop out at me when I'm rummaging through a thrift store bin or at local record shops like Old Paint Records and Zia Record Exchange. I just love everything…

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om

Sitting still. Quiet. Focusing on your breath. In. Out. Just receiving the data your sensors pick up - bird song in the backyard, the sound of your beloved waking up and saying hello to your cat in the other…

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