I”m not gifted. I’m not talented. Not today. Probably not tomorrow.

Then again, I could be wrong.

The family’s been around due to the MLK holiday. The normal peace and quiet didn’t enter into my day until late.

I feel a little less in control on those days.

But as I bantered back in forth between the running book of blues dialogues in my head while my sister and I watched Book of Eli, I started to wonder if I was simply overwhelmed by all the projects I’ve bombarded my plate with.

And I realized that I stopped feeling lethargic when I got in the car and got on the highway.

So I came to this conclusion:  I’m one of those people that doesn’t get moving til I feel the day moving forward.

And once I get perspective on my day, I get a proper view of my projects and what I’m able to do on them that day.

And the day gets a little better.

Now if I can only get them going sooner…

Anybody else have little tricks that help them start their day?

(photo credit:  Jammy via Flickr)

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I’m on Southwest Flight 138 in Fort Myers, headed for Chicago w a stop in St Louis. And my judgment is skewed, subjected to my bittersweetness of leaving oldold man Finn, my love for my second home – Ft. Myers, Margaritaville – and claustrophobic barriers being pummeled by an unusual selection of self-centered passangers not wanting to share seats. my need to escape this eerie chi is only magnified my feeling that this flight is ominous.

I hope my senses are off.

luckily 1) I got the aisle and 2) the nicest person in the cabin is now sitting next to me. He’s a boy, not much older than 12. Already lost in his book, he seems to share my need to simply get this flight moving. he doesn’t hold the same angered expressions the elders in the front held.

time to shut this down. don’t need the iPhone wordpress app to be the predestined reason for my fears.

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Ever since oldold man Finn woke up sick after our gulf-to-ocean-and-back road trip, I’ve been consumed by the question:  “Legacy or Longevity?”

In a couple hours, I’m going to go back into Book of Blues. I’m finally in uncharted territories. I know where’s it’s going. I know how it’s gonna end.

But I don’t know how to answer the Legacy / Longevity question.

I started thinking of how music heroes. I often think of Sam Cooke. Like Otis and Marvin, Sam’s flame extinguished while burning bright. My lifeline is closing in on his length. So long as I can stay away from women of the night near LA hotels, I might live a little longer.

Will it be worth it?

By this time, Sam Cooke helped bridge racial gaps in music. Several crossover hits, support for the civil rights music, and a smile that shown through the darkest of nights, Sam Cooke was a magical artisty whose Soulful craft as continued to transcend the generations.

I’ve written a book of blues that could be two books of blues – pending, and have started a prequel. And i’ll work on it once the season premiere of Chuck is over.

I’ll probably live to see tomorrow if the Southwest Florida deep freeze of 2010 doesn’t get the best of Fort Myers, Margaritaville.

I have the longevity, he has the legacy.

Who do you think has had the better life?

(photo credit:  African Goddess 02 via Flickr)

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So I was falling asleep on the couch after dinner Saturday night as oldold man Finn watched The Lawrence Welk Show. An uncommon occurrence indeed. Somewhere ’round the end of “Huckabee” I woke up with a tune in my head.

I thought the tune was played on The Lawrence Welk Show, but then I remembered the show’s theme was Disney and that I couldn’t have fallen asleep faster to the alluring sounds of The Mickey Mouse Club Mambo.

What the hell?…

The tune in my head wouldn’t have fit the pattern. Merle Haggard would have set the set of the show on fire if his outlaw gem was in the same show as the Mickey Mouse Club Mambo.

No one could steer him right, but Mama Tried, Mama Tried…

If you check the playlist above, you’ll find some great renditions of the definitive outlaw song:

• Merle Haggard’s (studio cut)
• Johnny Cash
• Grateful Dead at Woodstock
• Everly Brothers on the Smothers Brothers Variety Show (What the F*CK?)
• David Allen Coe (and if that ain’t country, you can kiss his a**)
• Willie, Merle, and Toby

Road Tested

The oldold man & I tested out several of this classic as we headed back from the Ocean on our road trip.“Mama Tried” became our unofficial theme song of our road trip.

Yeah, I’m finding Grateful Dead covers he’ll hum along too. His repressed outlaw is coming out.

The more I research for Book of Blues Prequel and the farther along I go in Plan B, the more I can’t escape the bond between Country & Western Outlaws and Blues leaders. I didn’t place “Mama Tried” in the Book of Blues – nearly a shame but for the fact I can put it in the Prequel, and perhaps the Blues Book Sequel. I think I know how I’d do it to.

But getting back to that Saturday night, as I hummed the chorus:

It dawned on me where I heard the song…

As I was in an out of consciousness before The Lawrence Welk Show, oldold man Finn was watching the Time Life Gold Age of Country infomercial.

F-in’ infomercials. Will I ever escape them?

It only shows that inspiration can come from damned places.

Speaking of oldold man Finn

He made it out to the Florida Gulf Coast University men’s basketball game just fine last night. And he still made his bike ride, too. The old man is still leaving footprints.

And I’m breathing easier.

(photo credit: J.W. Doran [and MERLE!] via Flickr)

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I woke up today still jazzed that oldold man Finn and I actually decided to roadtrip from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean and back. How many times does that get to happen?

I woke up today ready to write about the mushroom clouds of smoke and the apocalyptic haze we drove through as the sugar cane fields burned around us.

But as I woke up today I found oldold man Finn passed out on his La-Z-Boy. He had an upset stomach and said he went to bed with a bit of a chill. He talked with a bit of a drawl…

“You’re speech has me concerned.”

“You’re speech has always had me concerned.”

And after a couple yawns his cadence retruned.

After another nap he had more of a pep in his step. He thinks he’s going to go biking since it’s finally nice weather (~ 72 degrees) and that we’re still going to dinner and the Florida Gulf Coast University game tonight.

“Where are our seats tonight?”

“In the gym.”

But I couldn’t help but be concerned.

When do you tell the oldold man to ease up? Or do you?

Is it better to wear yourself out doing something you love or better to hold back and live to fight another day?

This is actually the initial question I explore on my Book of Blues Prequel. The repercussions of the situation are reverberated throughout the Prequel, Book of Blues and, eventually, the Sequel.

It was life imitating art imitating life.

I felt like I was living two nightmares and I didn’t know if I was creating the chaos. But that’s probably me giving myself too much credit. Either way, I need to realize I couldn’t think objectively at that point.

I still don’t know the answer. And that concerns me.

And in the end, I don’t know whether or not it was a good thing. Maybe it’s good to push a little if it brings the memories along with it. Maybe I’m selfish, concerned about tomorrow and making sure he’s a part of it.

Maybe life isn’t about longevity so much as it is about the footprint you leave behind.

Even if you wake up in the morning feeling a little closer to death.

Either way, I’m the one that’ll have to deal with the tomorrows.

What Do You Guys Think?

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