Lalah Hathaway and Robert Glasper

http://youtu.be/gMee3BodHxw

Spirit Woman

It all speaks to her... The wind, the sun, the trees, the dreams, the time of day, the spirits of them all... The spirits.... They all speak to her and through her and to them she is a slave... No thought or feeling can she own as hers... She belongs to someone else... She belongs to something else... She's not her own... And like clock work, each day she offers herself to them all... Use me, she says and steps aside...

(c) 2013 Blackgold347

"A Love Like That..."

 There is nothing that will bring me down
It is only I who decides to stoop, to bend, to bow
They say "when the going gets tough,
The tough get going"
Life comes and
I keep walking
I keep talking
Feeling...
I keep moving
Even when it rains
On my parade...
I gather its' waters
And we become pure again
And sometimes
Sometimes...
We dance
And when I hurt
When I ache
You will not see it in
My strut
My stride
My glide

(c) 2013 Blackgold347 


 photo by Jordan Matter Photography

Last Week of August 2013

We are approaching our last week of August 2013. It always signals the last days of summer. Yet, with the changing weather patterns it seems that summer never ends until maybe December. We used to be able to count on the seasons... Summer to be hot, Fall to be cool, Winter to be freezing, and Spring to be warm... And while we still have seasons of change, I don't know exactly what they will bring. I used to know...or at least I thought I knew... Now, I know nothing. And for some weird reason I'm completely okay with that. It keeps the mystery going... keeps it exciting. For I remember well the days of predictability, sameness and staleness... I thought I was gonna die... And parts of me did... as I thought my sameness would keep me safe, secure. Routine has its place... the graveyard. 


Just kidding!

Routine does have its place... It's just not where the action is... When looking for action and excitement... Skip the routine, ho-hum, doldrums of routine! Life be at the corner of Unknown Street and I'm Scared But I'm Gonna Do It Anyway Avenue... I'll meet you there!

It is tough to write from one's heart when there is thought, concern, or fear of speaking one's truth. One of my favorite quotes is from a fictional character from Star Wars the movie... The character is the great "Yoda." Yoda says, "No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try." There is no space in between... either we do or we "do not." I mean, I can try this halfway "do" thing but it's a watered down version of what I really want to say. I take baby steps. Where I am today, I wouldn't have predicted a year ago. Change is incremental. We take little steps, and some days I run. Forward moving always.

I do know that I need some inspiration... Something, someone to vibe off of and with. I try to generate it within... A photograph can be my muse. A song... Just depends on what it communicates to me, and the conversation me and that thing can generate/have at the time.Conversations...

I remember back in the day when I was in college...1990... I heard this song by a young singer, Lalah Hathaway, called Baby Don't Cry. I loved that song. It came out around the time I noticed this guy on campus. We'd see each other and stare at each other while we walked and left the others view. Baby Don't Cry became a soundtrack of sorts... That one song. A soundtrack to the beginnings of a quick and intense love affair. There was something about her voice. Or was it just the song? ... I can't remember. Maybe it was something in the voice and in that song. So fast forward 20 something years. And I hear that voice again... Lalah's voice again. I've heard it over the years, and I may have liked a song or two. But then recently while searching YouTube, looking for or listening to something else, I happen upon Lalah Hathaway singing Anita Baker's Angel. And I've been.... I've been... I don't know what the word is... I've been opened up... my heartspace... has been opened up wide. I love music. I love music that moves me. The arrangement of the piece, the melody, the feeling of it all. Can I close my eyes and journey within? If I am going to love it, I must be able to take a journey within. See beautiful imagery, feel words and emotions that are attempting to escape from my heart. And with those words I can paint a beautiful picture. And there are a few songs that I have discovered that put me in that space. And for that I feel like I've been blessed by the gods. Inspiration can come from any place, any thing, any person. It just depends on what we are looking for. Which eyes are we seeing with? Some days it feels like inspiration is hard to come by. Over a 20 year period, I think that my heart has been equally closed and open... I want it to remain open..... I can't guarantee that it will but knowing what I know now. It has a good chance of staying opened. And if there is a need to close the heartspace, I now know that I can leave a little something in the doorway to hold it open. Can't be sealed up again. I find it interesting that the same artist's voice is relevant and meaningful in my music and love life over the past 20 years. There is something special about that voice...

I have rediscovered this place within
where I once closed the door
it's open again...
I used to hate the Love Song...
Until recently...
I opened the door
and I saw my self
my self preserved
just as I was on the day
I closed it...
and now I can't stop peeking in
looking at me
my self...
under the influence of heavenly melodies
and a heart's spell
that makes me swell
fuller than full
grander than grand
I keep peeking
peeking at me 
through that door
and feeling
love