Chad's Drivel
Nonsense About Music, Audio Recording, Poetry, Pictures and Other Stuff
Why do you allow these men who are in power to rob you step by step, openly and in secret, of one domain of your rights after another, until one day nothing at all will be left but a mechanized state system presided over by criminals? Is your spirit already so crushed by abuse that you forget it is your right — or rather, your moral duty — to eliminate this system?
White Rose Pamphlet... Hans and Sophie Scholl 1942 Germany
From Armstrongeconomics.com
I scored a great find today at the local Christian Association Thrift Store
What’s the difference between a rock guitarist and a jazz guitarist?
A rock guitarist plays 3 chords in front of thousands of people, and a jazz guitarist plays a thousand chords in front of 3 people.
"In any fight, it's the first blow that counts; and if you keep it up hot enough, you can whip 'em as fast as they can come up." - Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest to his artillery commander, Capt. John Morton
‘Honesty is the only thing that is satisfying about writing. And honesty is always filled with inconsistency. Since our opinions change, to be sure about anything, as if that opinion is fixed and can last forever- is to lie. Anything we say is only a snapshot of a passing moment.’
-Frank Schaeffer
Musician: someone who crams $5000 worth of equipment into a $500 car to drive 100 miles to do a $50 gig
I buy books. I start to read them. Some of them grab me, some don't. I am always on the hunt for used books. Thrift stores, flea markets, used book stores. Hundreds of books. Books are my continuing education. Access to ideas is knowledge.
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
Down a hill and around a curve as I lean over not too close to the center line cars are notorious for cutting into the other lane
There are dangers around each corner you can’t see
a dead animal, a stalled car
someone just mowed their lawn and blew all the grass out onto the road
despite the dangers
the feeling is almost perfect
the speed, the air, the vibration
braking quickly
Everything is going fast In traffic
I must look everywhere
at all times
The cars and trucks don’t like you
they don’t see you
they come at you without hesitation
sometimes not knowing you are there
other times knowing that they are much larger than you
you are not one of them
you are small and only have two wheels
Cheeks pressed tight in my helmet
eyes wide back wheel sliding while breaking hard
accelerating hard down a long straight road
the day is the safest time
night is too dangerous on two wheels
unless you are in a well lit city
I ride alone
I ride fast
I am careful
One mistake and it could all be over
As one said….
Ride fast, Don’t die
I just bought a drum machine that's so realistic, it shows up late for practice.
Eldorado
Edgar Allen Poe
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"
"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"
I remember her
by CS
I feel the whisper upon my neck
cold chills upon my spine
I turn to to see nothing behind me
but a shadow of something so familiar
As I walk from the house
into the fading light
the memory of her haunts me
it won’t go away
Try and try as I might
to leave that day behind
it comes back and back again
an unending brooding
I must resort to a sort of forced multi tasking… a regiment
that is required to get anything done
and not fall into a quagmire of loss
remembering I am alone
Time goes by and new friends emerge
good friends, thoughtful, happy
like a deep breath of clean air
after cleaning a shed where the rats
had taken over
But the stench of loss,
the kind that happens when a soul mate
is torn from your side
never quite goes away
you always know it is there,
no matter how faint
It is thought that time heals
and it does, but only to a certain degree
if you loose a limb or an eye,
You learn to adapt,
but you are never the same.
So it is for the one who has lost a soul mate.
Hmm....A bit low and to the left
Definitely one of the baddest dudes
Do not go gentle into that good night
Dylan Thomas
1914 – 1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
The Ghost of Tradition
I look at the day, sunny and warm
Yet my heart is bleak and dark
For everywhere I turn,
You hover there
A constant reminder of what you want me to be
I want to do good, I want to do the right thing
You are pointing at me
The spirit inside of me beckons me to ignore you
To act like you are not even there
The spirit tells me you are not right
Created by well meaning men
With good motives...
Haunt me no more you specter of others ways
Let me find the way myself
I want to pursue, the chance to be wrong
And find it out for myself
I want to pursue dreams and notions
I want to pursue life on my terms
I have the spirit to guide me old specter
From God I have received this gift
away from me, away I say
If the spirit moves me, let me go
Old ghost, you are very wise
you know many things, ways to make things work
Put aside your insistence, your unbending conceit
and allow me to take what you’ve given me and
expound upon it, to advance, to try new things
You will always be there old friend
waiting in the shadows, waiting to tell me
‘I told you so’ but you may be surprised
Not all is lost if I stray from your way
and find peace, and love and worth
Old specter, haunt me no more
for you are already part of me
for we can never be separated!
"My, This is a noisy world"
Fred Rogers in an interview with Charlie Rose
Where Have You Gone My Friend
1) Where have you gone my friend, why haven't you called me again, The days grow much longer and I'm losing that something again
2) Why did you turn from me, is it something that I couldn't see I've searched our old places but I just don't know where you could be... My friend
Some of the time I know: Some of the time I care: But most of the time I just realize, you're not there
3) Is it something I said to you, something I did or didn't do, Or is there something so painful in the way you treated me too... My friend
Some of the time I know: Some of the time I don’t care: But most of the time I just realize, you're not there
4) Where have you gone my friend, why haven't you called me again well life must move onward, but there's an empty space and I cannot pretend... Cause you're my friend
Love letter Suzanne Somers’ husband gave her before she died
The original letter was all in caps.
Love, I use it every day, sometimes several times a day. I use it at the end of emails to my loving family. I even use it in emails to close friends. I use it when I’m leaving the house.
There’s love, then love you and I love you!! Therein lies some of the different ways we use love. Sometimes I feel obliged to use love, responding to someone who signed love in their email, when I’m uncomfortable using love but I use it anyway.
I also use love to describe a great meal. I use it to express how I feel about a show on Netflix. I often use love referring to my home, my cat Gloria, to things Gloria does, to the taste of a cantaloupe I grew in my garden. I love the taste of a freshly harvested organic royal jumbo medjool date. I love biting a fig off the tree. I love watching two giant blackbirds who live nearby swooping by my window in a power dive. My daily life encompasses things and people I love and things and people I am indifferent to.
I could go on ad infinitum, but you get it. What brand of love do I feel for my my wife Suzanne? Can I find it in any of the above? A resounding no!!!! There is no version of the word that is applicable to Suzanne and I even use the word applicable advisedly.
The closest version in words isn’t even close. It’s not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction. Unconditional love does not do it. I’ll take a bullet for you doesn’t do it. I weep when I think about my feelings for you. Feelings… That’s getting close, but not all the way.
55 years together, 46 married and not even one hour apart for 42 of those years. Even that doesn’t do it. Even going to bed at 6 o’clock and holding hands while we sleep doesn’t do it. Staring at your beautiful face while you sleep doesn’t do it.
I’m back to feelings. There are no words. There are no actions. No promises. No declarations. Even the green shaded scholars of the Oxford University Press have spent 150 years and still have failed to come up with that one word. So I will call it, ‘Us,’ uniquely, magically, indescribably wonderful ‘Us.'
Interview: Fred Rogers with Charlie Rose...
Rose: 'Why is it that so many people come up short on self esteem and believing in themselves and having confidence to go out and take on uncharted waters'...
Rogers: 'Probably because very early on in our lives we weren't valued... The greatest gift we can give anybody... any little child is to let that child know, you are a part of our family and you are a welcome part and there are things you can do to enhance our family'
George Carlin once said, "We buy shit we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like."
Make your music as near ‘perfect with feeling‘ as you can.
Corruption
They lie to your face with a smile so sublime
with their words of comfort it’s a matter of time
you’re duped in their spell then you know for sure
they’re the high priests of knowledge they must have the cure
repeated repeated day after day
if you hear it enough it must be okay
and how could they lie they seem so sincere
but if you dig a bit deeper you’ll see that it’s clear
no law or constitution will get in the way
cause they have the money and know who to pay
they know quite well we can’t afford the fight
it doesn’t matter to them who’s wrong or who’s right
Like venomous snakes slithering round
destroying & maiming never making a sound
they have what we don’t and want it that way
they’re thirsty for power and they need us to pay
you’re just like a pawn cannon fodder to them
they have no regard for all lower class of men
to them you are nothing just a mere worker bee
that can’t be allowed to really be free
they have time on their side and money to burn
while we work and slave our whole lives to earn
just enough to get by but never be free
cause most of us work for their company
The moment’s at hand I think it’s safe to say
the corruption is out of control these days
so it’s time to wake up pull our heads from the sand
and do what it takes to take back our land..
