“Black Boy” – Your Words Fought Well

There’s so much I want to say about this book. I want to be eloquent, but I don’t think I can be. Richard Wright (1908-1960) is a fabulous author. It’s jarring to read his autobiography. To realize. To try to understand how he became such a powerful author when tainted with such an oppressive past. Little schooling. Little love. No hope. NO HOPE. Every avenue blocked. Yet, in the end, books. Books saved his life. His mind. His being. His soul. With a consciousness full of words, he went North.

“With ever watchful eyes and bearing scars, visible and invisible, I headed North, full of a hazy notion that life could be lived with dignity, that the personalities of others should not be violated, that men should be able to confront other men without fear or shame, and that if men were lucky in their living on earth they might win some redeeming meaning for their having struggled and suffered here beneath the stars.”

I’ve Got A Singular Impression You Are Moving Too Fast

I got stuck driving through that horrible storm around 7:30 last night and was terrified. So terrified I considered throwing up. So I pulled over for a bit to collect myself. It is the only time I will ever willingly drive 20 mph on 270. I think I was more afraid of the bastards driving 50 mph than the rain itself. Freaks. Before I pulled over, I told myself I was being stupid and to calm down. No big deal that there was a solid sheet of rain on my windshield, I was on a highway and couldn’t see the lines and didn’t know when I might drive through several feet of water. It was just a life experience, I told myself. I am not normally bothered by bad weather. I’m not a person that it keeps inside. Just get where you’re going, I said. But in the end, it’s just not worth it. I only pulled over for a couple minutes, but it helped a lot. Note to the freaks: SLOW DOWN! You might choose to risk your life, but don’t risk mine damn’t!

Illustrate Me

All right Dab. Here’s mine. Um, no, I don’t have any green in my hair, but this hairstyle was the closest to mine aside from that. Not bad though.

Make your own here.

I Will Never Understand (For Our Troops)

The other night at their Atomic Cowboy gig, I nearly pulled out my lighter for this song. Not just because the Javier Mendoza Band is great and this song is great, but for our troops. This song was written by bassist David Karns. He is the producer on my album and after working with him for so long, he is my friend as well. This song is really thought-provoking. You can listen to an MP3 of it on their website under Media.

Blind
so many miles away
but right here on my screen
I don’t know what to say
about the things I’ve seen
people dying for no reason
lost their right to live for free
we all pay the price it seems
mothers crying while they watch their children bleed
I will never understand
an eye for an eye
I will never fail to see
how we’d all end up blind
I’ve watched it all in vein
don’t know what to believe
how can the greatest gift of love
be the hardest to receive
people wanting to believe
but they’re bound to those who lead
we all pay the price it seems
have we forgotten just what it’s like to need
I will never understand
an eye for an eye
I will never fail to see
how we’d all end up blind
now I can never change the world with a song
because I could never get everyone to sing along
I will never understand
an eye for an eye
I will never fail to see
how we’d all end up blind
and I will never change the world
no not I, no not I
I will someday fail to see
‘cause we’ll all end up blind

Matter of Time/Produced by Javier Mendoza/Co-produced by David Karns/Recorded and mixed by David Karns at/Miles Wonderland Studios

Yay for me

Last night in the studio, I laid down a guitar track and vocal track in one take each. That’s seriously cool. Of course, I have been working on this album forever and if I hadn’t gotten good at this… well… I dunno. Regardless, it’s unusual and very satisfying.

It’s all fun and games until…

So, I have posted before about my PodRacer obsession. Well, in my frustration at not being able to get past a certain level, and probably because of some other deep-seeded need, I have switched from racing to guns. Now, I play Perfect Dark pretty much every day. It’s like Bond, but better. Better guns, better characters, better levels and easier to play solo as you can run simulations against the computer instead of only missions. I’m up to Challenge 11 and getting my ass whipped. Am NOT giving up so easily though. I’m sure I will stick in some Evanescence tonight and go at it again. Yes, yes. I agree with all the violent video game stuff. Not good for kids. Probably not good for me. But at least I am working out my frustrations on MeatSims instead of something else.