May Peace Be With You

His words are simple
Love and peace for everyone
When do we begin?

A star shines brightly
pointing to a path of peace
the road less traveled

All you need is love
Waiting on the world to change
Someday at Christmas

Mellencamp Intermezzo

just another day
watching girls walk by on street
that's alright with me



Bonus: Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)



(The last line of my previous haiku become first line of this one, its called a daisy chain, feel free to participate, inspired by Mad)

Fret Killer

Do yourself a favor. Go to Fret Killer's channel on youtube if you want to be entertained. Awesome guitar playing on covers of classic folk, pop, and blues music.

Mad World - Again

Because I just love this video:

Pirate Buffet

nibbling on sponge cake
watching the sun bake tourists
margaritaville






(Facebook quizzes are so far off the mark it's ridiculous, if I'm any song of his, it's the I-95 song. Do you know that one?)

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA:
Jack Johnson with Dave Mathews cover Jimmy Buffet
- It's as good as a snickerdoodle cookie.

Aimless

A holiday post from Fred over at Morning Martini reminded me of this old holiday song.

Snoopy's Christmas

I hope this season brings you Peace.



My Annual List of wishes:

World Peace.
World without Hunger.
A Healthy Earth.
A Poem or a Song.
More Diversity.
Clean Air.
Piece of Pumpkin Pie.
Acme Corporation Rocket Powered Running Shoes. (Never mind, already bought them)
Rain.

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm Happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right? - Snoopy

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Exclusivity

Happy Sunday! The weather is great, and I have a the whole day to celebrate life. The universe has granted us a precious gift.

"I want to run
I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls
That hold me inside...."

"we can't go 'round measuring our goodness by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist and who we exclude... we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include."

Sunday Song: Where The Streets Have No Name - U2

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Peaches On My Mind

The voices scream at me when I'm out running. I wish I could store and review all the great ideas and rants I have while I'm out running. By the time I get back to the keyboard, the voices are quiet, or I decide they might have been little too harsh.

I can write whole blog posts in my head while I'm out running, even organizing and rearranging different ideas of the post. By the time I get a chance to put the ideas on the blog, they are gone. I remember what I wanted to say, but can never seem to put it down the way I internalized it, or I can't get motivated to write it out.

Sometimes my favorite music plays in my head, or tunes that annoyingly get stuck on repeat. When that happens, time and miles seem to go at faster pace. I like it when the music plays. I don't use headphones during the runs, since I'm on the road and want to hear the car or Dog chasing me. Besides, they interfere with the voices, and they never agree on what music they like.

This weekend is the annual Peach Run 10K in Clanton Alabama. All awards include a basket of peaches.

"Millions of Peaches, Peaches for me, Millions of Peaches, Peaches for free,....."

Last year, I had that song stuck in my head: Peaches. Please play it, so it gets stuck in your head, because I know it'll be on endless repeat in mine during the run, again, but that's a good thing. I'd rather have music than the voices.

2007 CHILTON COUNTY PEACH FESTIVAL - PEACHES, PAGEANTS AND PRETTY GIRLS (That's Alabama for you)

Don't forget to play that music: Peaches

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Handle With Care

I have nothing for you today, call it blogger's block, or as I told Nancy this morning, I'm suffering from brain deadness. The coffee isn't helping. I should enjoy this time when the voices aren't shouting at me.

So today, I will showing off my middle-aged mediocrity. I leave you with an old song from the past supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys, whose entire collection will be re-released today. They have been unavailable for some time, the original releases becoming collector items. I have the originals tucked away in some box somewhere, from an age before digital music.

Music: The End Of The Line
Lyrics Here

Running In Circles

( Click on comic to enlarge)

Step one: We need to talk.

Hello, it's me. I have not changed. I have only given the voices an outlet.

Today's Music leads to this: bittersweet inspiration

"Between the lines of fear and blame

You begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness"

- The Fray, How To Save A Life

Thank Dog Its Friday

I'm sure we've all heard that phrase, I know a couple of my unreal sicko blog friends shout that phrase at me knowing I find Dogs more spiritual than the human inspired gods.

Dogs know what love is, they seem to give it unconditonally, and they keep showing us how to love, no matter how badly we behave to them or to each other. They treat us as if we are are their gods - we don't deserve it.

In keeping with my theme this week and shouting out about my favorite bloggers, I saved the best for last. WhAt'S oN mY mInD? is the random "babblings" of Nancy, the slave of Luscious and Honey. These three beautiful creatures remind us, even when we think that life seems too difficult to continue, there are many people fighting to live. It's worth the fight, and she only has too look at her two canine companions for all the reasons in the world to live. She will say what is on her mind, rant about the challenges the universe has created for her, and babble about the wonderful people and canines in her life, letting us know "Life is Good".

Anyhow, I surf my way over to her blog to scrape up some material for today's post, and there she is blogging about some guy who hears voices. That's great, all we need is another sicko blogger hearing voices in his head, how many mentally abnormal bloggers can the blogosphere hold. However, the other links to the blogs she babbled about today in her Interesting Concepts post are great, she does have good taste in blogs, but don't pay too much attention to the guys with voices in their heads, they'll be trouble.

Nancy, I want to imbed a song here for you. I don't have time at the moment, but I'll come back later and try to do that. It'll be something new for me to learn.

The song is Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall. (Click title to play song)

If I Were A Blogger

Yesterday, as I was scanning the "interweb" for the information on Jesus Christ Superstar music for my Easter Jesus post, I was reminded that the director of that movie, Norman Jewison, also directed my favorite musical of all time, Fiddler on the Roof.

The story for the musical, was adapted from Sholom Aleichem's Jewish folk tales about family, faith, tradition, and the persecution of the Jews in nineteenth century Russia. The stories of Tevya the Dairyman and his daughter's are even better than the movie, but without the music.

One my favorite scenes in the movie is when Reb Tevya is talking to G-d, and pondering his fate of being a poor farmer. If I Were A Rich Man, was adapted from Sholom's folk tale If I Were A Rothschilds.

[VIDEO]
[Jewish Punk Music Version]

I don't have anything philosophical to relate to this song, I just enjoy the movie and the music. I understand the voices in Reb Tevya's head.

"Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum"

Ok, Time for a deluded old man to throw some shit.

Heaven On Their Minds

Click on the picture of the Easter Jesus for some Holiday Fun.

In Honor of Easter, I'm posting the lyrics of Heaven on Their Minds from the Rock Opera Jesus Christ, Superstar.

These words STILL ring as true today, as they were when Jesus tried to teach us about a "Higher Love". Very few understand what he was trying to teach us.

[Video]

This is Judas singing:

My mind is clearer now
At last
All too well
I can see
Where we all
Soon will be
If you strip away
The myth
From the man
You will see
Where we all
Soon will be

Jesus!
You've started to believe
The things they say of you
You really do believe
This talk of God is true

And all the good you've done
Will soon be swept away
You've begun to matter more
Than the things you say

Listen Jesus
I don't like what I see
All I ask is that you listen to me
And remember
I've been your right hand man all along
You have set them all on fire
They think they've found the new Messiah
And they'll hurt you when they find they're wrong

I remember when this whole thing began
No talk of God then, we called you a man
And believe me
My admiration for you hasn't died
But every word you say today
Gets twisted 'round some other way
And they'll hurt you if they think you've lied

Nazareth's most famous son
Should have stayed a great unknown
Like his father carving wood
He'd have made good
Tables, chairs and oaken chests
Would have suited Jesus best
He'd have caused nobody harm
No one alarm

Listen Jesus, do you care for your race?
Don't you see we must keep in our place?
We are occupied
Have you forgotten how put down we are?
I am frightened by the crowd
For we are getting much too loud
And they'll crush us if we go too far
If we go too far

Listen Jesus to the warning I give
Please remember that I want us to live
But it's sad to see our chances weakening with ev'ry hour
All your followers are blind
Too much heaven on their minds
It was beautiful, but now it's sour
Yes it's all gone sour
Ah --- ah ah ah --- ah
God Jesus, it's all gone sour

Listen Jesus to the warning I give
Please remember that I want us to live
So come on, come on, listen to me.
Ah --- ah
Come on, listen, listen to me.
Come on and listen to me.
Ah --- ah

The Back Door of Rosa's

Last August, in a post titled Both Sides, Now, I mentioned about my Pavlovian response to country music . Some country music makes me sick. Literally sick. Headache, Nausea, Dizziness. For the longest time I figured I just had a great dislike for this music.

Sometime in my twenties I figured it out. The only music that made me sick was the music my Mom played when she drove me across town to nursery school before I was 5 years old. With being small and seated on the seat, I couldn't see out the windows, so I often become car sick. My mother's radio was always tuned to the local country music station playing Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, are a few of the names I remember of the music on the radio. The country music I heard years later did not have the effect on me. I've never liked country music much, but there some country artists that I like and respect, Willie Nelson being one of those. I also enjoy authentic Bluegrass music, but even now, over 40 years later, when I hear those songs that were played on the radio when I was getting car sick, I still become physically ill.

Where did all this mental conditioning took place? "Out in the West Texas town of El Paso........"

Steve Martin version: El Paso (spoof)

Now if I can only stop drooling everytime hear that song. This is another freaky thing about me. When I lived in El Paso, my mother often took us to this German Restaurant, Augusta's Stube, and the owner would play that Marty Robbins song over and over and over again while we dined on Schnitzel and home-fried potatoes. That song makes me hungry for German junk food. Until today, it had been years since I heard that song. Weird! Because I avoid junk food these days. DAMN IT!

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Van Gogh Knew

Some people listen to music for the, uh, music. Nice beat, good melody.

I have found that the songs that stick with me, the ones I remember, the ones I want to hear over and over, are the ones with meaningful lyrics I can relate to my life. I listen to them and think "Wow, that person is living the same life I am", because the lyrics represent something past or present in my life.

If you been reading my ramblings for a while, you would find that I have been through the mid-life crisis, and came out completely opposite of what I once was. It was depressing, it was depression that caused the problems, it was caused by physical changes in the body's chemicals, not by the people or events in my life at the time. (Warning: When going through depression, don't let your doctor prescribe anti-depressants. The suidical link is real, and not just for young people.)

Anyway, back to my reason for today's post, song lyrics that hold meaning in my life, that become my favorites. I have written about Closer To Fine and why I can relate to those lyrics.

Today I pick another of my recent favorites. John Mayer's Why Georgia. (I'm old, the 90's are recent to me.)

Why Georgia - John Mayer

I am driving up 85 in the
Kind of morning that lasts all afternoon
just stuck inside the gloom
4 more exits to my apartment but
I am tempted to keep the car in drive
And leave it all behind

These words came out of the radio one day when I was driving on 85, just a few exits from my apartment and I was always tempted to just keep driving and "leave it all behind". But did that once and it turned out bad, now I'm too scared to do it. Even when one of my favorite songwriters tempt me.

Cause I wonder sometimes
About the outcome
Of a still verdictless life

Always wondering about my life, what will be the outcome?

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right? The voices whisper this to me
Why Georgia, why?

Georgia, where I went for my failed attempt at a new life. Confirmed my fallibility. Big crash, lots of damage.

I rent a room and I fill the spaces with
Wood in places to make it feel like home
But all I feel's alone
It might be a quarter life crisis
Or just the stirring in my soul

Yeah, me too. I rent a room, and try to make it feel like home, but it just feels lonely. Was my mid-life crisis a "stirring"?

Either way I wonder sometimes
About the outcome
Of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why Georgia, why?

So what, so I've got a smile on
But it's hiding the quiet superstitions in my head
Don't believe me
When I say I've got it down

I try to smile so people are not always asking me "what's wrong?", but it is hiding a lot of buzzing voices in my head, and self-inflicted pain. I don't know what I'm doing here.

Everybody is just a stranger but
That's the danger in going my own way
I guess it's the price I have to pay
Still "everything happens for a reason"
Is no reason not to ask myself

I can relate to all those things, trying to be an unique individual. Trying to do what I feel is right instead of just following the crowd. It makes me a stranger to most people, except for a few kindred souls I've found here in the blogosphere. "everything happens for a reason", I'm not too sure about that, but I hope so.

If I am living it right
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why Georgia, why?

Why did this happen to me? Am I doing this right? Are there answers to those questions the voices keep asking me?

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Redemption Rap

The Shawshank Redemption has been remade as a rap video:

Shawshank in a Minute

Brought to you from the creative minds at JibJab

Also see the Year in Review:

Nuckin' Futs! The JibJab Year in Review

"... As the New York sunset disappeared..."

Empty Garden

What happened here
As the New York sunset disappeared
I found an empty garden among the flagstones there
Who lived here
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop
And now it all looks strange
It's funny how one insect can damage so much grain

And what's it for
This little empty garden by the brownstone door
And in the cracks along the sidewalk

nothing grows no more

Who lived here

He must have been a gardener that cared a lot
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop
And we are so amazed

we're crippled and we're dazed
A gardener like that one no one can replace

And I've been knocking but no one answers
And I've been knocking most all the day
Oh and I've been calling
oh hey hey Johnny
Can't you come out to play

And through their tears
Some say he farmed his best in younger years
But he'd have said that roots grow stronger

if only he could hear
Who lived there

He must have been a gardener that cared a lot
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop
Now we pray for rain, and with every drop that falls
We hear, we hear your name

Johnny can't you come out to play in your empty garden

- Empty Garden, Music by Elton John, Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

in Memory of John Lennon, 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980

For your Friday Spirituality. Listen to John Lennon's Imagine. Shed a tear.

Note: (Dog/Spirituality Friday blogging will return next week).

Shining

BBC reminded me of this amusing kids song, my kids loved this when they were younger. I found a video for it: The Cat Came Back

If you know the song, it is based on this Irish Folksong, that sounds like it could of come from the hills and mountains of Appalachia: The Moonshiner

Mad World

Melancholy creeps in....

I haven't had much desire to write lately, but I want to keep the blog current.

Video: Mad World, Tear for Fears
(Gary Jules cover, from the movie Donnie Darko)

all around me are familiar faces
worn out places
worn out faces
bright and early for the daily races
going no where
going no where
their tears are filling up their glasses
no expression
no expression
hide my head i wanna drown my sorrow
no tomorrow
no tomorrow
and i find i kind of funny
i find it kind of sad
the dreams in which i'm dying are the best i've ever had
i find it hard to tell you
i find it hard to take
when people run in circles its a very very
mad world
mad world
children waiting for the day they feel good
happy birthday
happy birthday
and i feel the way that every child should
sit and listen
sit and listen
went to school and i was very nervous
no one knew me
no one new me
hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
look right through me
look right through me
and i find i kind of funny
i find it kind of sad
the dreams in which i'm dying are the best i've ever had
i find it hard to tell you
i find it hard to take
when people run in circles its a very very
mad world
mad world
enlarging your world
mad world

Question

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
'Cos when we stop and look around us,
There is nothing that we need,
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed.

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the war of love is for

It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way that you mean it
When you tell me what will be

And when you stop and think about it
You won't believe it's true
That all the love you've been giving
Has all been meant for you.

I'm looking for someone to change my life,
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me,
To lose the love I knew
Could safely lead me through.

Between the silence of the mountains,
And the crashing of the sea,
There lies a land I once lived in,
And she's waiting there for me,
But in the grey of the morning,
My mind becomes confused,
Between the dead and the sleeping,
And the road that I must choose.

I'm looking for someone to change my life,
I'm looking for a miracle in my life
And if you could see what it's done to me,
To lose the love I knew,
Could safely lead me to
The land that I once knew,
To learn as we grow old
The secrets of our soul.

It's not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me
It's more the way you really mean it
When you tell me what will be

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war?
'Cos when we stop and look around us,
There is nothing that we need,
In a world of persecution
That is burning in its greed.

-- Justin Haywood (Moody Blues)