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Greetings to my faithful Blaineaders. Today is World Water Day so it's a good time to revisit my "Water Song" video. It's been quite a while since I watched it and I remember there were a few little things that bugged me but I'm sure I won't even notice after all this time. It was my first attempt at a professional music video (ie I paid real $$$ instead of doing it myself).
The theme of World Water Day this year is "Groundwater." Groundwater is invisible, but its impact is visible everywhere. Our drinking water and sanitation, our food supply and natural environment – all these rely on groundwater.
And groundwater is linked directly to the soil above it, and both are essential to maintain life on earth. I have been following the adventures of an Indian sage called Sadhguru and he's on a mission to bring attention to the crisis that is happening under our feet. Soil needs 3-6% organic matter to be viable – otherwise it just turns to sand and thus begins the "desertification" of our planet. Check out www.savesoil.org
So I'm working on a new song that will be about soil and water. "Save the soil and make the water safe."
"C’est pas la fin du monde" translates roughly to “It ’s no big deal” but literally translated it means “It’s not the End of The World.” However these two things are “end of the world” level, soil and water, things that seemed so abundant they didn’t need protection and nurturing and now we’re a couple of generations from a “fin du mode” if just one of those items runs dry.
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Spring is in the air, but I have to admit there isn't a lot of spring in my step these days. I had to take a rest just walking a few blocks to the Dollar Store.
Sadly, I just declined a festival gig because it was just too far away – though it would have introduced me to a whole new audience. Anyway, I'm happy to leave a slot for an artist whose career is mostly ahead of him/her. And I'm still looking forward to playing for a live audience but the days of driving for 9 hours to play three hour-long sets are over.
Unless the next big thing is old white guys singing the blues, I think I'm probably not going to be too busy in the coming years. The thing is that from the musician's point of view, the rush you get from connecting with an audience is not dependent on the size of the audience. It can be 20 people in a house concert or 20,000 in an arena – that magic feeling is the same. But nobody is going to be interested in helping you unless you're "scaleable". The "business" part of the "music business" demands big crowds and that's when there's enough revenue to support your retinue (manager, agent, record company). That's when the machine kicks in, and once you are anointed, you're on the fast track to the big stages, the radio play and high-profile appearances.
Not to worry, I'm still playing and writing, in fact I've got a song percolating right now that makes me want to stop writing this Blainletter and head down to the studio. I play music because it lifts me up. I love it when the band gets lift-off. It doesn't have to be a groove that gets lift-off. It can be an emotion or the turn of a phrase that elevates you. But without lift-off, music is just a physical experience. You can dance to it but if the band isn't locked together in "the zone" then you won't be dancing on air.
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When did "progressive" become a dirty word?
As I'm watching the grilling of US Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Jackson (by Ted Cruz as I type this). I heard that she was being attacked because she used the word "empathy" and I guess some people find that word just as offensive as "progressive". Talk about a "great divide" – we've got a large segment of the population who are threatened by the concepts of progress and empathy. I venture to think these are the same folks who prefer to hang with people who look like them and think like them.
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“Water holds memory, she’s a carrier, she’s a shape-shifter in, on, and through the earth. She burrows through stone and is the better-half suitor to gravity as she rides the skies. She's as old as grandfather rocks, she’s an unfurling spirit, and is an ocean of memory through the age of this planet.”
— Digging Roots (about their new single, "Sweetwater")
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See you out there (eventually)
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And now I'm going to take part in a (virtual) pipe circle where I will sink into the deep silence and say a prayer of appreciation for the gift of water. Thanks for reading this far. I see that the Blainletter gets opened by hundreds of people but not sure how many read through it. But I always seem to hear from someone or other that they enjoyed it and that's what keeps me going. Feel free to forward this to any friend you think might enjoy my occasional ramblings (and maybe my music, too). These bits and more are always available on my blog, www.torontobluesdiary.com.
See you out there, eventually...
BrianB, aka Butch, Nappy, Shaker, Two-Lane Blain, Colorblind Brian, Stringbuster, Buddha of the Blues
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