Brian Wilson

Happy Birthday Adam (Also Known as Birthday Eve Eve)

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As some of you may know, my birthday is Sunday. Two days away. Let the festivities begin.

The place where I work let me go early in celebration. I ended up at McKay’s Used Books, Movies, Music, and More. I’m more sure than ever that it’s Nerd Nirvana. I’m sure heaven will look a lot like McKay’s.

I picked up my usual eclectic assortment of music. I got Johnny Horton, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Santana, Genesis, Ray Lynch, Jeff Buckley, and Brian Wilson. I think that covers it.

I admit that I don’t quite look forward to birthdays in the same way that I used to. Back in the day, birthdays meant milestones– turning 10, 18, 21, and so forth.

Now the only milestones I hit are the decades. Those aren’t quite as rewarding. Mostly, you just get older.

Still, I also admit that I am more grateful for each birthday than I was for the last. I know more and more that life in general (including birthdays) isn’t something to be taken for granted. No one is entitled to live to be 90 years old and to die in a comfortable bed surrounded by loved ones.

Too many of my family and friends won’t get to reach that ripe old age. Some who were younger than I am now are gone. Just about everyday, I read about someone else who died tragically way too young. That’s sobering.

So thank you, God, for year 44. Or if you like, the 9th anniversary of being 35. That sounds less painful.

I’m also all about celebrating for as long as I can, so I will probably still be going strong on Monday. I guess I should be thankful that I wasn’t born on February 29, or I’d be celebrating turning 11.

Oh, and I do accept all forms of currency for presents, including cash, credit cards, traveler’s checks, and coins. FYI.

 

All Those 10,000 Maniacs and That Toasted Graham Latte

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“These are days, you’ll remember
Never before and never since, I promise
Will the whole world be warm as this and as you feel it

You’ll know it’s true that you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you are touched by something
That will grow and bloom in you” (Natalie Merchant, Robert Buck).

Maybe I look at music a little differently than most, but it seems to me that certain kinds of music lend themselves to certain seasons of the year.

Obvious example: listening to The Beach Boys conjures up all sorts of images of summer. For me, a lot of 90’s alternative music makes me think of cooler temperatures and fallish weather. Don’t ask me why. It just does.

My soundtrack for the drive from work to meet my friend at Starbucks was the fantastic 10,000 Maniacs compilation, Campfire Songs. It covers the Natalie Merchant era and makes me want to wear a sweater. PS Maybe I’m old, but most of the new music I hear doesn’t even come close to the likes of 10,000 Maniacs or Natalie Merchant as a solo act. And it’s sad that it takes 8 songwriters and 3 producers to come up with something that pales in comparison to what guys like Freddy Mercury or Brian Wilson could do all by themselves.

I had every intention of enjoying a pumpkin spice latte, but the new toasted graham latte called out to me. Not literally, because that would have been super weird. More like a metaphorical kind of calling.

 

I’ve found that for me, the best kind of therapy is a good song at just the right moment. Music has a way of bringing me back from obsessing over the past or fretting over the future. It forces me (in a non-violent way) to be completely in the present.

Maybe that’s why I nerded out a bit when I found Patty Griffin’s newest album, Servant of Love, at Best Buy. It truly made my heart happy and immediately went into the CD player in my Red Sled aka my 1997 Jeep Cherokee with almost 293,000 miles on it.

God speaks to me most through music, and it doesn’t always have to be overtly Christian music. Sometimes a song that’s not even remotely about God can be a vehicle through which God speaks directly to my need.

God is good like that.

The end.

 

SMiLe

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Back in 1967, the Beach Boys recorded an album that never got released. That is, until 2011. It was the love-child of Brian Wilson, who was (and presumably still is) one one of the most brilliant (and eccentric) artists out there. And I mean out there.

Aside from Good Vibrations, Smile isn’t the most radio-friendly record ever made. From my understanding, what finally got released in 2011 is a not-quite-finished product that hinted at what might have been. It’ll probably take me listening to the whole thing at least two or three times before I can come to any kind of informed opinion.

That said, my advice for you today is to smile. God’s got this. You don’t have to worry that somethings going to pop up on the radar screen and catch God off guard. He knows it all and He’s in control, both of your life and of everything else in the universe.

It’s easy to fall into a state of anxiety over all the possible outcomes and all that could go horribly wrong in your life. But that does no good. Plus, worry dethrones God and puts you where only God belongs in the center of your life. That’s a scary place to be.

It helps if you  have two kinds of friends out there: those who will encourage you and see more in you than you see in yourself and those who will call your B.S. and not let you settle for less than your best. You need both. I know I do.

For me, music has been a great antidote to anxiety at those times when I felt overwhelmed. Art and beauty can do that. Most of all, I’m thankful that God is composing the symphony of my life and He alone knows that when it’s done, it will be a masterpiece. For that I’m most thankful.