Life After . . . ?

You can learn much about someone listening to them tell about their life after high school.
Let's face it, for some of us the door opened to a wonderful new chapter at a large university, with interesting people who (like you) have their whole future glistening (like the Emerald City) before them.

There are also those of us (I include myself in this group) that completed high school (with great tenacity) and had a chapter begin called "Now What?"

Yes, I have a high school diploma, class of 1970 (I don't like to brag) and THAT in itself was a big deal in my family. My father didn't earn one, my mother didn't earn one, my sister didn't and so on...

I had become an earner very early on - 9 years old I worked Saturdays at my father's car lot, and then actually got a real job at 11 years old (my dad lied for me and told them I was 13) in a family owned supermarket ($1 /hr under the table -  more than I made washing cars Saturdays at the used car lot). But this story is what came after high school.

Let me set the scene just a tad more for context. Many of my running buddies (I didn't have any actual friends) started their new lives knocking up their girlfriend and being forced to marry. congratulations. Many hung out at a park and drank Boones Farm wine on a daily basis. I joined them once. To be fair, I did know a couple of dudes who went on to college and thus fell into that first group I mentioned.

My high school job senior year was driving Chinese food to the hungry folks of Chicagoland. I did that after school last part of the semester, and through the summer. I had a moo goo gai pan lovin' customer called George who would engage me in conversation when I would show up at the door of his high rise on Michigan avenue. After a 3-4 of these 'casual' inquires into my life, George invited me to his office to apply for a job with his small company. Wow! 17 and working at a real company indoors and everything!!!

The siren song of Texas called when my girlfriend and I visited my family Christmas '71. Wow, great weather, and pretty easy living from what I could tell. Bye George, bye Chicago, I am (we are) heading for Houston!

Now my second year out of high school and looking to get started in a new town (Sophomore year for you college kids). I did a stint as a waiter at Steak and Ale, a short gig as an apple stacker at Rice Food Market, then worked for a family building an add-on to their house in SW Houston.
Now we are at year 3. During my Junior year at the college of Hard Knocks, I:

1. Got married (age 20)
2. moved to Austin and became a full-time musician

Senior year would be me paying the rent (playing 5 nights per week at a lounge) and working hard to bring the band I was in to 'money' gigs.
A month before my 22nd birthday, our band hit the road for 4 months with one month in Albuquerque NM, and 3 months in San Francisco (where we were, quite literally the toast of the town). Graduation!

Life had officially begun, a glistening city lies ahead . . .

Killing Me Loudly with his Song(s)

Like many my age (b. 1953) the music of Elton John has been part of my life since the teen years. The man has a career spanning more than 40 years. E.J.'s first hit album was 1970, the year I graduated high school. Already a free agent, I was living on my own in Chicago. I lived in a garage apartment (my landlord called it a 'coach house'). I was already the deal; drove a VW Microbus, with a pretty good sound system and radio was half-way decent back then.

One night on the way home from my job delivering Chinese food, I heard an amazing song (Levon) and it blew my mind. So much emotion and energy! So there was more to this Elton guy than "It's a little bit funny..." Being a fledgling piano player,I really appreciated the voicing and the chord changes in that song.
Between the music of Leon Russel and this new guy Elton John, I was ready to throw myself into piano playing for real! I took private lessons at the American Conservatory of Music and got an old upright piano in the garage part of our coach house.

Over the years, I have performed many Elton John songs in many contexts. Sitting in the audience during his show last week really brought it all home. In over 2 hours of hits, each had some place of importance with me at a time in my life. Here are the highlights from his setlist that night (March 28, 2013):

4. Levon - The song that grabbed me first. I had to learn it's secrets, both musically and lyrically. There is enough meat in the lyric to get whatever meaning you may need/want to get. An Elton Song book helped out with the chord voicings.

5. Tiny Dancer - I like this one for a variety of reasons. We worked it up and played it right away when it came out ('dropped' in today's parlance). A cool, personal story of observations. Used very well in the Cameron Crowe film Almost Famous. Tiny Dancer is still a go-to tune if I am on the spot - I can play it/sing it unconscious.

8. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters - One from the Tumbleweed Connection record. I worked it up just for the fun, never done it in a show. The Bernie Taupin words have a flow that that can still grab you by the heart to this day.

9. Philadelpia Freedom - one Elton wrote for his friend Billy Jean King (the tennis player). It uses what was called "the Philly Sound" in horns, strings and b,g. vocals. It's just a song that makes me happy.

10. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - a groundbreaking album for E.J. wonderful music coming from a whole new place, A song I enjoy playing in instrumental gigs, although the sentiment of the lyric is a tugger of the ole heartstrings.

11. Rocket Man - Two local men gave an art show. One was an astronaut who had personally set foot on the moon. The other man was his patron. He commissioned the astronaut/artist to make him a painting. I was hired to play music for the unveiling of the painting. After a brief lecture of what went into painting his work, what else could my first song be?

14.  I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues - We did this one in my 80's trio The Cadillac Band, It was therapy for drummer Bill as he went through his separation/divorce.

19. Daniel - another 'go to' song. 'Played it in many bands, contexts, still play it.

20. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word - Another tune performed nightly in a duo I worked in the early 80's. My partner (the singer) was in the middle of a love triangle.

22. Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me - A song I sang in 1974, We spent a good deal of time getting the backing vocals down. It was the first time I ever got a 'standing O'.

There are more, but I realize this has gotten past the length of a normal piece and the blogger police will surely be after me. Killing me loudly . . .  indeed.

Life of Plane (Air that is)...

I awoke in an airplane. A pretty decent airplane. I felt there was a reason for me to be here, and I'd better start working out what it is.

As time went on, I took stock of what I had going for me. A pretty good machine, enough food to eat, companionship, a family who loved me... not bad!

Since my life was happening on (in) the airplane, I threw myself into learning about it. What made it fly? How do you get it off the ground? How high is up?

Thankfully I would receive clues from others more worldly than me. "Never co-sign a loan" (a good one), "Save your money" another good one. "Work hard at what you love to do", "Choose your companions wisely". And so on.

Having come from a long line of men who "flew their own planes", my time spent working on other's flight plans has been relatively short: I worked for wages from high school until a couple of years after H.S.
After that, "the sky was the limit".

It has taken 2/3 of a lifetime to realize our journey (life) is like an assignment to fly a plane around the world.

I recall time spent trying to figure out what I would do, then how I would do it. The biggest moment of that period was realizing I had choices and they were more than just those I saw around me.

There were years spent climbing, gaining altitude, struggling to reach goals and milestones.

and

Years spent cruising at a fairly comfortable level, working but not struggling, worrying.

It is evident as I see my 60th birthday on the calendar, that this airplane is coming down at some point.

But for the time being, I wouldn't mind taking it a few thousand feet higher first . . . 

Sleeping on the Floor

I have been reading Adam Carolla's book "Not Taco Bell Material" a Memoir. His life and mine have a number of similarities, so reading it has been a compare/contrast exercise. One of his theories has to do with the correlation between how far off the floor you are sleeping and how your life is going.

Being one who has slept on hard floors and about 3 feet off the floor, I think I have the qualifications to comment on this. When I went out on my own as a teen, I was on the floor. First sleeping on a waterbed. I was working an entry level job in Chicago and lived with a roomate. Not the best of worlds, but not all that bad. A good few steps ahead of my high school buddies at the time.

From there, was Houston. Sleeping on a cheap foam rubber mattress. It had a flimsy frame to hold it. BUT WAIT - the San Francisco gig found my then spouse and me back on the floor on a small mattress. A minor local celebrity, until we went to crash.

Quick flash forward, my father discovered a method for raising the bed really high, you almost had to get a step ladder to get into it. I used that method as a (single guy) larger fish in the small pond then known as Clear Lake (Our Bay Area). I did enjoy that time and the tall bed.

That was a long time ago.

My "adult life" has kept the mattress a respectable distance from the floor, although our current bed is a little low. The head board is about right, while the footboard is low. This is due to my habit of chocking in my sleep without the incline. Here's hoping your bed is just about 30.5" from the floor...

One More Thing To Be Thankful For...

Ever since I heard this story on NPR about how extremists have taken over Timbuktu, the wonder of the psychology of  Totalitarian politics has been on my mind.
I guess it got personal when I heard a musician say "I had to move south or be arrested..."
Cleric don't 'low no music playin' here.

So it seems there have always been this ilk driven by a need to control others. In extreme cases it becomes a political system bent on dictating individual behavior and thought. Most of us who have any experience with it know it on the family level, a 'controlling boss', or perhaps a religion.

Imagine living in a society where your neighbor or family member will turn you in for speaking your mind?
That is my version of hell. Which brings me to another thought:

 "Glimmers of your life being heavenly is a sign you are on the path. Experiencing life as hell indicates you are off the path."

How to Get Along in a (Politically) Intolerant Society

'Heard a good (radio program) "This American Life" yesterday, 'dealing with the fallout of people who do not agree on political matters. This is a serious subject that effects everyone. They presented life-long friends who no longer speak, family members, who are no longer welcome at family gatherings, the works.

We all know people like this, and most of us have a personal experience in line with this. So what can we do about it? Make no mistake, this is everyone's problem.

First step: don't start a conversation around politics unless you are ready to have a civil conversation on the subject. Many is the time someone has started this conversation with me with the agenda of being affirmed.
If you ask me what I think, be prepared to accept "this is what I think". A 30 minute lecture from you is not going to "straighten me out".

Step two: Seek to understand (the other person) NOT be understood. That means letting the other person explain their thoughts. Not everyone is a political scientist, so often this takes patience.
 If the other party does not echo your belief system, IT DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE WRONG. It means their life experience, religion, etc. has led them to a different conclusion.

Step three: Please accept that being Americans means we have the freedom of having our own political beliefs, our own religious practices, even (just recently in some states) love who we are inclined to love. A demand that your way is the RIGHT way and anything else is the "wrong way" is a tossing out of the basis of what America stands for.

Step Four: Take a step back and really think about the BIG PICTURE. Are the thoughts in your head really worth alienating your friends and family members? I can respect your passion, but what are you accomplishing? I am not in charge of the world and neither are you. Try to have a little faith in people.

How I Spent My Memorial Day Weekend

Our annual retreat at U Bar U in the hill country, is something we all look forward to; this year no different: hitch up camper, arrive Friday, attend Folk Festival Saturday, hang out, relax, walk dogs around property, etc. Leave Friday come home Monday.
However, Fate had other plans. First, head dog (who has had terminal cancer) was really going down fast. She stepped on a rainbow Wed. night.
Second, I got a piano booked in Austin. This has happened before, I just went out to U Bar after the gig. This time Rita wanted to work in town on Friday, so we could only meet if we drove 2 vehicles. No to that. I decided to come back late Friday and drive us and the camper to the retreat center on Saturday morning.

Update: Saturday Morning

I wake up to Rita sick with diarrhea, “let’s wait and see if it goes away”. Bring piano to shop, come back to prepare to go, ‘still sick, “go without me”. OK, well, I’ll go and not bring the camper. Just the dog and a few other things.
As we get the Emergency Backup Dog (I guess head dog now) and prepare to load her into the van, she bolts off down the street, (maybe) never to be seen again. Well, she misses out, I’m leaving. As I round the block, I see her across the busy West Road, about to make contact with a local black dog that happens to be running around.
She sees me and comes across the street, but (of course) not to me. EBD stops in the middle of the street, so I jump in my truck and encourage her to move (with my bumper) down the street back to the house. All the time looking back at me in disbelief(!) Much like petulant teenager, testing me by stopping, but wisely jumping up to continue running when she saw I meant for her to keep moving.

Now running for the front door in full gallop, no second chances, EBD is staying home... I’m off to I-10 West, the Jewel of our nation’s Interstate highway system. Enjoying NPR as it is always best on Saturday morning, things look good. Right up until I get just past Katy TX. cars and trucks on the crowded highway come to a stop. And we sit. And sit. And...

2 hours go by with little to no movement. Here’s a “The More You Know” moment: “Did you know that when 10s of thousands of people are stuck on a major highway, the mobile internet is useless? Phone (mostly) is too. They are all doing what I was; that is, find out by the magic ultra-net what the heck is going on, and how much longer it will be going on.

Good ole 20th century technology kept purring right along and the radio continued. But the programing changed from comedy to tragedy, All the news of mass murder in Guatemala in the 80’s brought me down quick. That and the sensation of feeling trapped with nowhere to go on this damn road.

I gave it till noon then I’m turning back. We slowly crawled to the next exit and just before, I see the wreck that has I-10 closed, about 7 vehicles, in various states of damage, none that looked life threatening. A couple of Trooper cars there, but that is it, after more than 2 hours no emergency response. Tow trucks whatever. The cops at the scene sure didn’t seem care about the wreck or the thousands of cars now backed up. They seemed to be waiting for someone else to show up. I exited, U-turned and headed home, half a day shot.

Nice to hang out with the wife relax, good call Bil.