“Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings’ end.” Semisonic “Closing Time”
The real-deal is that everything changes (time does that) and when something begins, it is always destined for an “end”. At least here on Earth.
Acceptance of change is often hard, and can lead to disappointment. It seems like so often disappointment a result of what we want to have happen- but doesn’t. We get stuck on the idea that if something doesn’t happen “exactly” like we imagined it should -then it seems wrong (we get angry or sad).
So hard to remember that. SO SO easy to let things get you down. Not like you can’t have plans or something, but they have to allow for the detours that life will deal us. Let one thing happen and be prepared to allow closure to the next. Hanging on to it can just make it harder.
So yeah- closing time… let it happen. Let it be the “last call” and the lights come up, because tomorrow is another day and “you can’t stay here” …..” in reality you wouldn’t want to any way. And that final “closing time” is somewhere in your future- you will go home to somewhere where forever is real. For now- keep moving. It’s gloriously more of an adventure that way – share it with the people you love on the journey ahead.
So here’s the challenge that a few my friends and I started around the bar stools the other day.
These are pretty common questions, but there is always interesting answers.
1) What are the 5 musical artists (complete works) you would want while stranded on a deserted island? ( Yes you would have some way to listen to them)
2) What are the 5 books you would want to while stranded on a deserted island?
3) What are the 5 movies you would want to have to watch while stranded on a deserted island? (Yes you would have a way to watch them too)
And yes you have all the other key stuff to survive. No you don’t have any idea when or if you would be rescued so these have to last for potentially the rest of your life.
I know it is standard issue kind of question. But waiting for your answers, then I can share mine too I guess. Just wondering what others would say.
I look inside myself and see my heart is black I see my red door and I must have it painted black Maybe then I’ll fade away and not have to face the facts It’s not easy facing up when your whole world is black
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue I could not foresee this thing happening to you If I look hard enough into the setting sun My love will laugh with me before the morning comes
(Thanks Mick and Keith)
Black and Red. Kind of like there are those contrasting days, those moments that we come up against when things change. I think they are my favorite colors (is black a color anyway?)
It reminds me of the song in Les Misarables ( the great musical) Red and Black.
Red – the blood of angry men! Black – the dark of ages past! Red – a world about to dawn! Black – the night that ends at last!
Change happens, sometimes for change-sake, sometimes because it has to. But it is.
You can change things from red to black. You may end up changing it back.
There may be times you just feel like painting it black – but red will have to do.
Some times it seems almost hard to believe. I am not really good at remembering dreams. I wake up and I can recall a dream for about 5 seconds, and then it starts to fade. But there are a few that keep coming back, like a late nite movie that keeps showing up every week and you can’t stop watching it.
There are a few things that are in black and white, and a few that are in color. I noticed that they seem to incorporate a lot of things in “real” life, but things that are not really connected that way. They are associated somehow in my sub conscious I guess, and so they get thrown into the soup of the dream.
What dreams do you have that keep coming back?
Okay so there is a huge psychological process to interpreting them and having them end up determining what kind of person you are. Not so into that, I think there is some merit to it, but really. Some of my dreams just come up because I have weird food before I go to sleep (like Frito-Lay products with spicy flavors-can you say “Doritos”?) or because I saw a strange movie (anything by Stanley Kubrick) or listened to some music (like Explosions In The Skyincredible music). Some are just there for whatever reason. But like I said they disappear in the morning fog of the first cup of coffee.
So this one dream. It has a soundtrack and a mysterious lady. The song (perhaps the inspiration after all) is Magic by Ben Folds Five written by Darren Jessee [see below]. It seems like a mysterious song on its own, perhaps about someone who has passed on, or who has lost their life or perhaps their life’s memory (through Alzheimer’s perhaps)… but it is always the sound track. I am watching it from above and it plays out with a lady dancing by the light of this huge moon (some times it looks like it is my wife, sometimes someone I don’t actually know). Along the way I the whole thing becomes distant, and then again really close. I am sad but happy at the same time. In the end it makes me calm that the world will continue and this person is in it somehow.
That’s it. All you dream interpreters can have a hey day on what that all means, and I guess I could spend a lot of time in analysis to discover my mom or something was at the root of all of it. But no matter what I do, it just pops up.
What dreams do you have that keep coming back? How do you deal with them? Where do they take you?
Magic by Ben Folds Five
From the back of your big brown eyes
I knew you’d be gone as soon as you could
And I hoped you would
We could see that you weren’t yourself
And the lines on your face did tell
It’s just as well
You’d never be yourself again
Saw you last night
Dance by the light of the moon
Stars in your eyes
Free from the life that you knew
You’re the magic that holds the sky up from the ground
You’re the breath that blows these cool winds ’round
Trading places with an angel now
Saw you last night
Dance by the light of the moon
Stars in your eyes
Free from the life that you knew
Saw you last night
Stars in your eyes
Smiled in my room
Music surrounds us every day, and there are some songs that colour our day in certain hues of blue, while other days they can be uplifting orange.
When I was a kid there was a revolution of music that covered the gambit of emotions in such a way that there was no way you could avoid it. When you turned on the radio, when you played your music on the stereo or drove your car there were songs that painted the moment.
I remember “Wear Your Love Like Heaven” by Donovan. Colors of the mind. There were all sorts of beautiful images that made up music during that renaissance of rock. There still are if you are listening for it. Sure music is to dance to, its to make love to, dream to, relax to and generally absorb yourself in it. But truly listening to it and letting it start that “movie” in your mind is just as unique. “Here Comes The Sun” “Good Vibrations” Back then they drew pictures as the rang their way out of the speakers to the ears.
Today to, so many great musicians are creating pictures and moods in the songs they create. Everyone has their favorites. I am not going to rattle them off because there is so much passion in the choice. Often some artists just capture the motions of your life. I have always been a fan of a band called Copeland, Aaron Marsh makes modern art with his music. Although the band has disbanded. I can tell you after decades of music listening, they hit me. I am sure that there are artists that are like that for you. What are they?
One of the coolest thing is that music breaks down so many boundaries. No matter where you live in the world, there are rhythms, melodies, songs of praise, songs of war, songs of love and loneliness, No harm diving into it. They can lift you up, bring you down, connect you to the past or bring you toward the future.
Recently this video was taken at Olympic Stadium in London. Some may say that Sir Paul should have done this song in the opening ceremony. but honestly it wasn’t his song to sing (even thow he was in the group). What is so very cool is that people of all countries (many Brits I am sure) are involved. One World singing such a simple command. Beautiful.
Tracks In The Dust 