"It's like a warning to me...... Stay still, Shakey, and you'll turn to rust and dust....... So I keep on moving" -Neil Young
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Neil-Young-Trans-World-Tour-80562.jpg (JPEG Image, 278x400 pixels)
This is similar to a poster that my friend Jen just gave me...i LOVE it...
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Things I learned Last Night
1) You HAVE to memorize your songs. The papers get in the way of your interaction with the audience.
2) Save the gravelly songs to the end, when your voice is gravelly....
3) Do the vocally challenging songs in the beginning of the set.
4) Have a good time. It shows.
5) Take a break, don't play and sing for two hours without some sort of break...even to change instruments or SOMETHING.
6) Let them see how much you love the songs, the music, the being there. It shows.
7) Seems to work to put the real downer songs dispersed in the set.
8) Focus on the music, not you and not the audience. It shows.
2) Save the gravelly songs to the end, when your voice is gravelly....
3) Do the vocally challenging songs in the beginning of the set.
4) Have a good time. It shows.
5) Take a break, don't play and sing for two hours without some sort of break...even to change instruments or SOMETHING.
6) Let them see how much you love the songs, the music, the being there. It shows.
7) Seems to work to put the real downer songs dispersed in the set.
8) Focus on the music, not you and not the audience. It shows.
Yard Work
The buttom pic is what I have done in the yard so far....listening to Fork in the Road is good therapy...
The next is my forsythia bush.... :( not much to it this year...
The third up is the neighbors brush fire pile....the cops were here this morning along with the firemen...yep, it caught back on fire (they did nothing to put an end to the smothering....) and they are gone for the weekend. Hope they are having fun, won't be fun for them when they return.... :(
The other two pics show you what I have left to do.....better get out there and get to it, heh?
April 17, 2009, Marketplace Cafe, Sheffield, MA
Set list from last night (not exact, this was the planned list though)(yes, i AM an old folkie...)
Helpless
Dead Flowers
Don't Hit Send (original)
The Losing End
Folsom Prison Blues
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Four and Twenty
The Cruel War
Spanish Pipe Dream
Pain (original)
Hallelujah
Day is Done
Rich Man's War
Crater (original)
Big Yellow Taxi
Country Roads
For Baby
Star of Bethlehem
On a Saturday Night (original)
The Old Laughing Lady
Helplessly Hoping (with david)
Nights in White Satin (with david)
Powderfinger (with david)
The Fiddler (with david) (original)
Expecting to Fly
Out on the Weekend
Coming into Los Angeles
Sweet Baby James (being in the Berkshires, you know...)
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Angel From Montgomery
Helpless
Dead Flowers
Don't Hit Send (original)
The Losing End
Folsom Prison Blues
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Four and Twenty
The Cruel War
Spanish Pipe Dream
Pain (original)
Hallelujah
Day is Done
Rich Man's War
Crater (original)
Big Yellow Taxi
Country Roads
For Baby
Star of Bethlehem
On a Saturday Night (original)
The Old Laughing Lady
Helplessly Hoping (with david)
Nights in White Satin (with david)
Powderfinger (with david)
The Fiddler (with david) (original)
Expecting to Fly
Out on the Weekend
Coming into Los Angeles
Sweet Baby James (being in the Berkshires, you know...)
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Angel From Montgomery
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Neil Young - Words (Live in St. John's, Newfoundland)
I know it is bad. It is sick. But I wanna see neil again. Soon. Got a ticket...need a day off....(well, two, actually!!!!)
From my friend Jill
Fate is a strange bed fellow, and time is a healer.
Busy days and nights cause distraction from the unpleasant.
Or is it just that time is a healer?
I am not sure.
What I am sure of is April 7th is here. A day I have dreaded for the last 7 years.
It's the day I last held my father's warm hand, laid my head against his chest, listening to his heart beat, as we all told him, it was OK to go, to give up his fight, making promises to take good care of his bride of 54 years.
Yes, my parents were still in love. On their 50th anniversary trip, a cruise in France, people thought they were newly weds, and instead of cringing like little kids would. Don and I and some of our close friends marveled at the depth of love my parents felt towards each other and how long they had loved each other for.....till the end. A few months shy of 55 years.
Fate, a strange friend, I hadn't realized April had come. I do recall trying to think of an April fools joke to play on Kyle and Don, came up with nothing. Last week was to busy to spend time on things like that.
Don and I attended concerts in the night, and the normal weekly activities and a lot of pouring over travel books planing our 30th anniversary trip this summer to Alaska.
We missed seeing the travel agent on Sat, and set off to meet with her on Sunday..but failed. We got there at 3:00 p.m. and, oops they close at 3:00...and then it happened.
We were driving back home, talking about this weeks plans. Who's going where when and so on. Tree people coming and going and trying to figure out where to fit in family time. And Kyle going to Ct. to see a show with Ethan and Ethan's other half, Kelly.
Kyle didn't seem ready to drive to Hartford alone, and it became clear, I would drive him half way, and meet up with Ethan at a rest stop, and do a pass off. The rest stop is also the half way mark between our house in NJ and our house in Ma. That was my parents house....and that's how I came to find myself here, on the cusp of the passing of my father.
Comfort, I find inside these walls. I hear my parents laughter, and my father, the only time he'd get annoyed with my mother, her soft voice calling from another room, and he couldn't make out what she was saying. No one could. So after a few tries, seeing his frustration growing, I'd get up and play translator between the two, relaying messages between the 2.
Once annoying, now something I miss.
The long breakfasts continue. Several cups of coffee around the round table, till the coffee is cold, leaving rings inside the cold china cut. That tradition continues and is part of what makes this house a home.
This morning, bundle up.
Put muckers on my feet.
It's raining, raining and it's mud season in the Berkshires, and add in the rain, it makes the cold wet mush shin high mud in some places.
Take my parents memorial stones I made, out of their winter hide out and place them in the garden. Go back inside the house and fetch a hot cup of coffee, and lawn chair and share quiet time with my parents once again. Giving thanks for the wonderful life they gave me, filling them in on their amazing grandsons, and filling them in with what they have missed, the awesome women my sons have chosen to spend their time with.
That some how, when I never thought I would ever smile again,
from deep inside, spreading all over me on the outside, I have.
When I thought I could no longer put one foot in front of the other,
somehow I have.
When I thought I'd never see the bright sun inside of my soul, I have.
Fate is a strange friend
and time is a healer.
It was 8 years ago today, since I held my father's strong hand,
Yet somehow, I can still feel him.
Love your parents today, thank them today.
Love your friends today and tell them so.
Treasure your children, even when they get on your last nerve.
Tomorrow is a gift, promised to no one.
ENJOY THE DAY!
I'm thankful for my country home.........It brings me PEACE OF MIND!
Busy days and nights cause distraction from the unpleasant.
Or is it just that time is a healer?
I am not sure.
What I am sure of is April 7th is here. A day I have dreaded for the last 7 years.
It's the day I last held my father's warm hand, laid my head against his chest, listening to his heart beat, as we all told him, it was OK to go, to give up his fight, making promises to take good care of his bride of 54 years.
Yes, my parents were still in love. On their 50th anniversary trip, a cruise in France, people thought they were newly weds, and instead of cringing like little kids would. Don and I and some of our close friends marveled at the depth of love my parents felt towards each other and how long they had loved each other for.....till the end. A few months shy of 55 years.
Fate, a strange friend, I hadn't realized April had come. I do recall trying to think of an April fools joke to play on Kyle and Don, came up with nothing. Last week was to busy to spend time on things like that.
Don and I attended concerts in the night, and the normal weekly activities and a lot of pouring over travel books planing our 30th anniversary trip this summer to Alaska.
We missed seeing the travel agent on Sat, and set off to meet with her on Sunday..but failed. We got there at 3:00 p.m. and, oops they close at 3:00...and then it happened.
We were driving back home, talking about this weeks plans. Who's going where when and so on. Tree people coming and going and trying to figure out where to fit in family time. And Kyle going to Ct. to see a show with Ethan and Ethan's other half, Kelly.
Kyle didn't seem ready to drive to Hartford alone, and it became clear, I would drive him half way, and meet up with Ethan at a rest stop, and do a pass off. The rest stop is also the half way mark between our house in NJ and our house in Ma. That was my parents house....and that's how I came to find myself here, on the cusp of the passing of my father.
Comfort, I find inside these walls. I hear my parents laughter, and my father, the only time he'd get annoyed with my mother, her soft voice calling from another room, and he couldn't make out what she was saying. No one could. So after a few tries, seeing his frustration growing, I'd get up and play translator between the two, relaying messages between the 2.
Once annoying, now something I miss.
The long breakfasts continue. Several cups of coffee around the round table, till the coffee is cold, leaving rings inside the cold china cut. That tradition continues and is part of what makes this house a home.
This morning, bundle up.
Put muckers on my feet.
It's raining, raining and it's mud season in the Berkshires, and add in the rain, it makes the cold wet mush shin high mud in some places.
Take my parents memorial stones I made, out of their winter hide out and place them in the garden. Go back inside the house and fetch a hot cup of coffee, and lawn chair and share quiet time with my parents once again. Giving thanks for the wonderful life they gave me, filling them in on their amazing grandsons, and filling them in with what they have missed, the awesome women my sons have chosen to spend their time with.
That some how, when I never thought I would ever smile again,
from deep inside, spreading all over me on the outside, I have.
When I thought I could no longer put one foot in front of the other,
somehow I have.
When I thought I'd never see the bright sun inside of my soul, I have.
Fate is a strange friend
and time is a healer.
It was 8 years ago today, since I held my father's strong hand,
Yet somehow, I can still feel him.
Love your parents today, thank them today.
Love your friends today and tell them so.
Treasure your children, even when they get on your last nerve.
Tomorrow is a gift, promised to no one.
ENJOY THE DAY!
I'm thankful for my country home.........It brings me PEACE OF MIND!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Losing a Friend
I grew up with the Connors. They lived in the little hamlet that we went to on Sunday mornings to get the paper. The store in that hamlet was Lighthart's, and we Miller girls loved the place....
And I knew where the Connors lived. I think the house was yellow back then, like mine. I was only in it once, for a very brief time, to pick something up.
I knew Robbie, though. He was in my class in high school. What I remember most about him was his smile. Always smiling and always friendly, even to me (i wasn't very popular). His best friend was Tom. I knew them mostly through Debbie. They were the friends that I think would have been better friends if we let ourselves know each other instead of trying to be cool, like we all did back then.
I found out that Robbie is dead today. I guess from cancer (family requests donation). I am so sorry. I am not sure where I saw him last, but it may have been my class reunion. I think it was Robbie (or maybe Tom) that said one of those perfectly defining 'statements of the moment'.
We were having a picnic as part of our reunion weekend at a park that didn't exist when we were graduating high school. As we made our way into the woods....a small group of us, each looking back over our shoulders at the classmates we left behind....Robbie said, 'Some things never change'......You probably had to be there.
Robbie was a friend of mine.
An old friend. Funny, I was thinking today of his brother, Donnie. He plays guitar and we had spoken about getting together and seeing what we could do. Found out when i moved here that he did the plumbing in this house that I live in....
It hurts that I will never see Robbie again.
He was not only a good person, he was a special person. I always knew that, and always wanted to know him better. Now, i will never have that chance. That is sad.
Seize the day. It is the only one you have.
And I knew where the Connors lived. I think the house was yellow back then, like mine. I was only in it once, for a very brief time, to pick something up.
I knew Robbie, though. He was in my class in high school. What I remember most about him was his smile. Always smiling and always friendly, even to me (i wasn't very popular). His best friend was Tom. I knew them mostly through Debbie. They were the friends that I think would have been better friends if we let ourselves know each other instead of trying to be cool, like we all did back then.
I found out that Robbie is dead today. I guess from cancer (family requests donation). I am so sorry. I am not sure where I saw him last, but it may have been my class reunion. I think it was Robbie (or maybe Tom) that said one of those perfectly defining 'statements of the moment'.
We were having a picnic as part of our reunion weekend at a park that didn't exist when we were graduating high school. As we made our way into the woods....a small group of us, each looking back over our shoulders at the classmates we left behind....Robbie said, 'Some things never change'......You probably had to be there.
Robbie was a friend of mine.
An old friend. Funny, I was thinking today of his brother, Donnie. He plays guitar and we had spoken about getting together and seeing what we could do. Found out when i moved here that he did the plumbing in this house that I live in....
It hurts that I will never see Robbie again.
He was not only a good person, he was a special person. I always knew that, and always wanted to know him better. Now, i will never have that chance. That is sad.
Seize the day. It is the only one you have.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
I liked this. The tree looking one way beneath and another at the top. My walk. I felt that spring is finally here today. She arrived. It may stay cold off and on, but winter is done, it has lost its hold. Spring is here. I heard the birds calling this morning. I said on facebook that they were not giving up on spring. And this is why....
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