"Words are only words but we turn them into gifts... then we seem confused as their meaning slowly shifts"

A night of many colors...

It may be called "Roy Orbison:Black & White Night" but the music is so full of color and richness it is staggering. Roy's songs have never been presented so well, in updated arrangements and with a band of heros including Springsteen, Waits, Souther, Costello, Browne and others.

It dates back to 1988 - so get ready for all these familiar faces looking a lot younger! But if you've never seen it, you should.

You can get it here: amazon.com

I happened to watch it again recently and was reminded how great Roy was. One of the band members describes him as "the only operatic rock singer." Personally, I think any attempt at description or categorization fails. He was unique.

I was also reminded of what a great job Tony Mitchell did as director for the DVD. I worked with Tony years ago down in Brazil. Nice guy.

Blogging Off For The Holidays...

Looks kind of like a Holiday decoration. But it's Ethanol.

Here's the thing. We all know that burning fossil fuels will soon be a thing of the past. Partly because of the diminishing supply but more pressingly because of the global climate change that results from their burning.

Problem is, the search for alternative fuels is not exactly that. Ethanol is made primarily from grain. Something the US has always had plenty of. So, naturally, everyone goes "Yeah! The answer." But it's not an alternative if it's already needed for another purpose!

If you haven't noticed yet the cost of food is rising extremely quickly. And it's going to get worse. The land that once grew grain to provide food in itself or to be used as animal feed to raise the meat we eat, is now being used to produce Ethanol. And land is one of our fixed resources. We cannot make more. Not on the scale that would be needed.

So if you've been thinking that Ethanol can solve our problems, you may wish to think again. What's the point of being able to drive a 'green' car if portions of the world starve as a result? And your favorite T-bone costs a day's pay?

Happy Holidays. And a thoughtful 2008.

The words he left behind

He started late but in the years he was writing Charles Bukowski sure was prolific. Of course, when you turn out so much writing it's not all going to be your absolute best. But nothing he wrote truly fails either. He was always experimenting, always aiming for something beyond the norm. So you have to forgive him when he couldn't quite get there and applaud the attempt. As you enjoy the many, many times he did get there.

I was reminded today just what an amazing gift he had. Without really meaning to I picked up my copy of THE LAST NIGHT OF THE EARTH POEMS. It fell open at a poem called Dinosauria, we which includes these words:

born into this
into hospitals which are so expensive that it's cheaper to die
into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty
into a country where the jails are full and the madhouses closed
into a place where the masses elevate fools into rich heroes

I hope we don't elevate another fool next year. The right person might begin to address those other three true statements.

Whatever you do...enjoy it

I think as human beings we need context and definitions. Some occur naturally like the seasons. Others we have created for ourselves like our calendar, that creates things like months and years. And the end of years.

The end of another year always creates in us a reflective mood. And I'm no different.

Today I was riding the New York subway and took this photo. It struck me that as most of us are enjoying the lights and decorations of the Holiday season, others will, as usual, be seeing just the lights of these tunnels.

Even on the days we traditionally put aside for spending with our families, some people will be keeping these trains running, so the rest of us can take mobility for granted.

I've spent years listening to well paid people in advertising complain about their jobs and just about everything else.

My suggestion? Look at this picture and think again.

And to all the people who do the practical jobs...the stuff the rest of us just assume is going to be there for us...thanks.

Dirt Farmer: The real thing

I was a fan of Larry Campbell long before I was lucky enough to have him play on my album, Raised In Vain. I was a fan back when he was Bob Dylan's right hand man. Literally. He stood to Bob's right on stage on most of the occasions when I saw them play. Being a fan of Dylan it's only logical that The Band is also up there in terms of my musical favorites. Now these two elements have collided. Beautifully.

After a battle with throat cancer that cost him his voice for some time, Levon Helm, member of The Band, has a new album out called Dirt Farmer. It's co-produced by Levon's daughter Amy and Larry Campbell.

Check it out. Great song selection. Great playing. Heartfelt vocals. And, congrats to Larry and all involved, it's nominated for a Grammy.

Art by accident

This happens to be the George Washington Bridge. A photograph I took on a helicopter ride over Manhattan.

But looking at it again after all this time I realized that you don't need to know what it is to enjoy it. And while it's technically a bad photograph, it is oddly enjoyable.

Then I saw that it was like most of my songs. Art by accident. What comes out at the end may have very little to do with what inspired me to start writing in the first place.

I guess it's why so many writers have a hatred for the same question: "What's it
about?"

But then those same people who ask that would look at my photograph and say, "What is it?"

I then momentarily hated myself for starting this blog with the idea of actually writing about what my songs were about. But I forgave myself. The last thing the world needs is another singer/songwriter who hates himself.