Doug with his father at Christmas, 1976

It is 12/21/16, the winter solstice. I have been completely off all media since 11/2/16. Instead, I have been uploading my life history of music onto my iPod. Over the years, I have been creating what I call my “Radio Rainbow” cd series. Over fifty 80 minute albums of wide ranging assortments… right now my Ipod is playing the Mills Brothers singing Moon River…. Stuff from my dad’s album collections that I listened to as a boy (Kingston Trio, Brothers Four, New Christy Minstrels…), or stuff that I was growing up with (Moby Grape, Electric Prunes, Dave Clark 5…. To name some less obvious ones), or favorite classics such as Dvorak’s New World Symphony, or selections from Stravinsky… Bach’s Brandenberg Concertos….on and on). Lots of favorite progressive rockers… A bunch of jazz like John Coltrane with the Thelonius Monk Quartet… Miles Davis… Weather Report… the great Fred Randolph… I’ve got a lot of my stuff on there too, so that’s fun for me to hear. Around 1500 pieces so far. I have this little Bose player my brother gave me, and I carry it around to wherever I’m working… desk, kitchen, studio, garden…. Listening to the music of my life, and adding to it as I go. What a difference… I had been listening to NPR News for 30 years, often all day long. Now – nothing. My head has been slowly clearing from the endless stories I was taking in and trying to integrate. Now – Rainbowland Musical Myopia. When I removed all that clutter, I have been discovering the life right under my nose, with much greater presence. The world will do what it will do. I’m no longer playing. Instead, I’m playing the music of my life…. And with the greater space in my awareness, I am doing things, rather than getting things done. It’s been a huge change in my life-flow, and a fun thing to note here on the website.

To reference the chorus from the 2nd of my recent Solstice songs:

Merry merry happy happy yeah whatever make it real.

 

Whatever it is for you, I hope it is a real blast!

Doug