Category Archives: Inspirations

“City of Night” Free Download

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Bruce Springsteen the PromiseIf you know me at all, you know that the release of Bruce Springsteen’s The Promise is in the running for the most anticipated event of my year. For those not in the loop, The Promise is a 3CD/3DVD combo set that includes the “lost” recordings from the sessions that led to Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town. I have loved Springsteen since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and while Born to Run will always be my favorite album, Darkness on the Edge of Town is the one where I figured it all out – the record where, at the grand old age of 11, Springsteen went beyond a pop culture phenomenon for me. It’s the first record that I remember listening to the songs and the stories on, the one where I truly fell in love with him as a songwriter. It’s a brilliant, magnificent piece of art and if you don’t own Darkness, or if you’re one of those people that always says, “I really should know Springsteen more than Born in the USA,” this is the album to get.

So…with that long, rambling intro… Amazon has “City of Night,” one of the outtake songs on The Promise up for free download today. Go grab it and love it.

50,000 words in a month? I must be nuts.

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I so envy my friend Shelia.

I say I’m a writer, but Shelia…Shelia is a WRITER. All caps. The girl has like four different books she’s working on at any given time and while she’ll tell you that she hasn’t written anything in nine months, nine months ago I read a completed novel that she wrote – and it is fabulous. Plus, she blogs like crazy (she keeps up at least two blogs of her own). I have no idea where she gets the inspiration, but I wish I could be more like her.

Me, I haven’t written anything for me in about five years. No stories. No poems. And you really can’t count this blog, because I hardly ever update it. I think about writing every day. I have scenes that happen in my head every day. Sometimes, I sit down to try to start, but it’s like that damn blinking cursor is taunting me. So I close up the computer and go play Angry Birds (or something equally as useless). Frankly, I’m ashamed of myself.

So, when Shelia mentioned that she’d signed up for National Novel Writing Month, an initiative that encourages all writers – even slackers like me – to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November, I thought, “Hm. Maybe I should do that.” The way I see it, it’s sorta like training for a half-marathon. If I know I’ve got a goal to complete, I bust my tush to get it done. Without a goal, I’ll just sit around playing Halloween Angry Birds until my thumbs fall off.

I figure writing a book might be more satisfying than exploding green pigs disguised as pumpkins.

Of course, now I’m freaking out that I’ve gone and signed up and wondering what in the hell I’m going to write 50,000 words about, but I’m praying that my creativity will get jumpstarted and I’ll have some semi-brilliant ideas to put down on paper.

If not, I can always go back to Angry Birds.

Wish me luck.

Be A Whistleblower for Peace

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A couple of years ago when I first met the guys from one of my favorite bands, Green River Ordinance, Jamey was wearing a whistle on a chain around his neck. Since we were getting ready to embark on a cruise, I teased him about being afraid of falling overboard. We all shared a laugh, but then he told me the story behind the whistle.

The amazing organization that created the whistle, Falling Whistles, is dedicated to spreading the word about the civil war in the Congo, the pilfering of mineral riches that continues to fuel the war, and the war’s youngest victims – children as young as 4 and 5 who are kidnapped, turned into child soldiers, and armed only with one thing: a whistle.

When a friend returned from the Congo with the story of the whistle and the children who wear it, a group of young adults got together and decided to turn the whistle into a weapon against the war and its causes. For less than the cost of a pair of jeans, you can buy a whistle to wear and the funds go to schools in the Congo that help rehabilitate these children who have seen more horror by the time they are eight than most of us can imagine.

The sad part of this is that most of us here in the U.S. don’t know about or understand the war in the Congo. What’s more is that we don’t understand that our hunger for cool electronic gadgets is part of what is driving the war. I love my iPod just as much as the next person, but I have to admit – when I think about the fact that children are being turned into vicious killers, and worse, dying because I want to have my music with my 24/7, it makes me kind of sick to my stomach.

So what can I do? I can wear a whistle. I can talk about it. Tell my friends. And I can encourage the companies I buy products from to use conflict-free sourcing to get their supplies. This is not the Congo’s problem. This is the world’s problem. And we should be ashamed that we’re allowing it to happen on our watch.

Watch this awesome video that Falling Whistles has put together. Then tell me that you don’t want to do something, too.

How to Really Be Alive

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On the way out the door to the beach last weekend, I realized I had forgotten to pack a cover up for the beach.  So I reached into the t-shirt drawer, grabbed whatever was on top and then pulled out a pair of old running shorts.  When we went to go to the beach the next morning, I realized it was one of my favorite t-shirts from college.  Older than dirt, and barely held together anymore.  The shirt was a favorite because it was a sorority t-shirt, but the message on the back was so great…it reminded me of a time when I was endlessly positive about my life.   I could really use a little bit of that college optimism this week, so I thought I’d post the message here.  Hope it inspires one of you today.

HOW TO REALLY BE ALIVE

Stamp out conformity. Drink sunsets.  Draw out your feelings.  Amaze yourself.
Be ridiculous.  Stop worrying.  Make yes your favorite word.
Spin yourself dizzy.  Invent new ways to love.  Transform negatives.
Allow yourself to feel rich without money.  Be who you truly are.
Believe in everything.
You are always on your way to a miracle.
The miracle is you.

Photographic Evidence …

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A chapter of my life is now complete…Christopher Jak live, check. It was as wonderful as I thought it would be and more.

Thanks, Christopher, for being so nice and humoring me and playing my favorites and requests. If it’s possible, you’ve one upped yourself in my book. Your music is a very big piece of my picture of beauty in a golden frame of mind.

Christopher Jak & Me