I broke the bed yesterday. My nephew Cole and I broke the bed yesterday. Jumping on it. Taking turns jumping on it, rather. Pretending to be Olympic stunt bed-jumpers, complete with imaginary crowds, commentators, judges (9.7, 9.5, 9.5, 9.6), and even an imaginary stalker who, when caught, would be (imaginarily) hurled screaming into the building across the street. We would alternate between competition mode and training mode, humming the training sequence music for Mike Tyson’s Punch Out on Nintendo – the part when the game would show Little Mac preparing to enter each next division of difficulty. And then we'd back up, pretend to do preparatory stretches and loosening motions, get a running start and jump into various spins and flips onto the mattress. We (I) broke it good, being reckless, on repeat. Why wasn't I sorry?
Read MoreI don't know what the difference between a billboard, a beaver and a builder, a menu and a page, page content and a widget, and I just keep kicking around, discovering tiny clues, an hour at a time.
Read MoreI climb the stairs of Franklin & Marshall’s “Other Room Theater” on the morning of Wednesday, September 13th, 2016 with unusual quiet. It’s with presence and pause that I unlock the door into the drama space, wherein live decades of ghosts of homegrown art. On a regular day, the spirits that move here swirl and writhe through this room infused in white hot words spoken with the faith and abandon that only the young and the most brave can summon.
Read MoreThe band and I have been hammering away at the music for a year and a half now toward our long-standing goal of building three hours of original show-ready material. We're getting there, but it's been quite a process. There are stand-out moments, for sure. I find, for example, that I'm always a bit beside myself when I enter the practice room with a new song sketch. At once, I feel both nervous and excited to pitch new music out to Tim, Claudia, Tom and Jim. The anxiety comes from vulnerability.
Read MoreSame friend, different question - This time, it's "Why is your music valuable to your community?" Are we writing a manifesto or what? I have both witnessed and experienced the transformative power of music and art; the power to deepen, soften, steady, make still or spark the heart; the power to create compassion and healing, inspiration and movement, curiosity and awe, recognition, appreciation and most of all, love - all according to the needs of the moment.
Read MoreA new friend reminded me recently to continue to reckon with “why?” Why make music? An important question. So, for myself, for Featherburn, for anyone who might be into reading, I’ve come up with some thoughts. My own take for now, and maybe we can look forward to hearing just where and how the band weighs in. The first, simple reason?
Read MoreI’m often given a variation of the same advice from wiser, more deeply experienced folk than myself on live performance. They say, “Remember, YOU are there for THEM. Not the other way around.” If we’re reflective and honest enough for the message to hit home with enough power, we might proceed with a new awareness and perhaps a struggle of consciousness, between the self-seeker and the giver within. This is how it’s been for me, anyway.
Read MoreThere are few images that have, since I was young, pushed my heartbeat just for considering them. One has a spot on the map. Thalassophobia. Pertaining web-found pictures below. I figure I can count myself lucky in that growing up, I didn't have any powerful conscious fears. No horrible occurrences or losses. As far as I can say, most of it was pretty idyllic. Well-loved, secure and quiet child, creeks and forts in the woods.
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