I think I would share with you a link to the two songs I just listened to as I settle into the evening.
The first was "Breath of Life" by Florence and the Machine (from Snow White and the Huntsmen).
Breath of Life by Florence and the Machine
The second is a classic, what I consider to be a truly great love song by Warren Zevon - Suzie Lightning.
Suzie Lightning by Warren Zevon
I've been a fan of Zevon for a very long time, since the early eighties and "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School". T.R. pointed me toward Florence and the Machine with their first album and I count myself a huge fan there as well. Florence Welch has the most astounding voice.
It was a nice day, quiet, easy going, reflective. Work was a little meeting heavy, but they went smoothly enough and I eased into the evening. Had Italian with Tony at Mama Mia's, then home where I watched Selma Blair on Craig Ferguson. That takes me to this very minute, where I am going to spend a quiet evening straightening the spare bedroom. Life is good.
Showing posts with label Warren Zevon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warren Zevon. Show all posts
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Vast Indifference of Heaven
The Real and the Unreal
The experience of life is specific and local.
That is a strange thing to try and wrap your brain around in this quantum universe of ours.
We occupy a very specific location in space/time called "now".
Now is the only thing that is real. All the rest of it is unreal.
The past is done.
The future is an undifferentiated sea of potential.
The choices we make in specific and local space/time are largely independent of both the past and the future.
As we flow into the future we choose specific potentials from the sea of space/time.
Frightening.
Liberating.
What specific potentials are your choosing from the sea of space/time?
I choose moments I enjoy.
I choose moments of happiness.
There is a beautiful California sun shining out there today. I chose it.
Pretty cool huh?
In this moment, right now, what choice are you making?
Is it the choice you want to make?
If it is not, why are you not making the different choice?
"All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven..."
-Warren Zevon, "The Vast Indifference of Heaven"
The experience of life is specific and local.
That is a strange thing to try and wrap your brain around in this quantum universe of ours.
We occupy a very specific location in space/time called "now".
Now is the only thing that is real. All the rest of it is unreal.
The past is done.
The future is an undifferentiated sea of potential.
The choices we make in specific and local space/time are largely independent of both the past and the future.
As we flow into the future we choose specific potentials from the sea of space/time.
Frightening.
Liberating.
What specific potentials are your choosing from the sea of space/time?
I choose moments I enjoy.
I choose moments of happiness.
There is a beautiful California sun shining out there today. I chose it.
Pretty cool huh?
In this moment, right now, what choice are you making?
Is it the choice you want to make?
If it is not, why are you not making the different choice?
"All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven..."
-Warren Zevon, "The Vast Indifference of Heaven"
Monday, December 15, 2008
A Strange-In-A-Good-Way Monday Morning
Every day begins the night before.
On Sunday night, after a relaxing and lazy day, I ate a big bowl of homemade chicken soup, I watched a little TV, I wrote a few email, I had a nice conversation on the phone with someone dear, I read a chapter in my novel and fell asleep to the sound of rain falling on the roof and gurgling in the downspout.
I fell asleep early.
At about 5:00 AM I woke to a scent. It took me a moment to figure out what it was as I lay there in the darkness. I could hear someone moving through the apartment. I could hear music playing softly. I glanced at the clock and noticed the hour. I recognized the scent - it was Axe body spray.
My first thought was a cranky one. I thought about getting up and asking my nephew what the heck he was doing up at 5:00 AM spraying Axe when it was a Monday morning. My assumption was that he had stayed up all night and now, rudely, woken me in the morning.
Then my brain slowly clicked in. My nephew works all over the clock, based on need, and I remembered he had told me he was going into work at 5:30 AM Monday morning. I realized that he was just getting up to go to work, and there I was willing to get up and be cranky.
But, I also discovered that I was pretty much wide awake because I had fallen asleep early the night before. So I rolled out of bed and told him about my morning thoughts. He laughed and promised to go easy on the Axe!
My apartment has a square lay out. The living room, dining room and kitched are in the front half and the two bedrooms are in the back half, with the bathroom between the bedrooms. there is a small corridor that leads from the living room to the bathroom and bedrooms and on one side of that corridor is the furnace and on the otherside a coat closet.
The intake vent for the furnace is near the floor. It is an efficient little place - but the furnace intake catches scents and pushes them up and through the furnace into the bedroom. With the cold weather right now, my nephew blasted himself with his Axe and the aerosol fell to the floor and was sucked into the vents!
I had an early morning meeting today, so I rolled out, drank some coffee and got ready to head into the office, then I dropped my nephew off at his work place on the way in. He is fortunate in that he works just a little over a mile from the apartment so it is either a five minute bus ride or a thirty minute walk.
After I dropped him off I drove into work, stopping at the coffee shop on the way in. It was a cold morning, raining intermittently after a night of fairly heavy rain and the city streets were black and glistening in the amber glow of the mercury vapor street lights. Because of the early hour traffic was very light so the drive in was beautiful and pleasant.
I was listening to Warren Zevon on the radio and just enjoyed the drive in immensely. Since I came in early I got a good start on my email and voice-mail queues before beginning the morning cycle of meetings. One of the advantages of starting the day early is that it will end early - by the time I go to lunch at noon it will be three quarters over. So, let me return to the working world with one of the Warren Zevon songs on "Mutineer".
"Piano Fighter" by Warren Zevon, 1993, Zevon Music, BMI
Mom and Papa bought a Chickering
Every day I'd sit and play that thing
I practiced hard;
it was more than a whim
I played with grim determination, Jim
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
I worked in sessions and I played in bands
A thousand casuals and one-night stands
Here on Thursday, gone on Friday
Heading down the Dixie highway
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Maybe I'll go to Reno
Nobody knows my name
I'll play Claire de Lune in a quiet saloon
Steady work for a change
Ain't going down that long, lonesome road
Ain't going down that long, lonesome road
Got in trouble down in New Orleans
I must admit that I was strung out, painted in the corner of a limousine
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a thin ice walker, I'm a freelance writer
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
On Sunday night, after a relaxing and lazy day, I ate a big bowl of homemade chicken soup, I watched a little TV, I wrote a few email, I had a nice conversation on the phone with someone dear, I read a chapter in my novel and fell asleep to the sound of rain falling on the roof and gurgling in the downspout.
I fell asleep early.
At about 5:00 AM I woke to a scent. It took me a moment to figure out what it was as I lay there in the darkness. I could hear someone moving through the apartment. I could hear music playing softly. I glanced at the clock and noticed the hour. I recognized the scent - it was Axe body spray.
My first thought was a cranky one. I thought about getting up and asking my nephew what the heck he was doing up at 5:00 AM spraying Axe when it was a Monday morning. My assumption was that he had stayed up all night and now, rudely, woken me in the morning.
Then my brain slowly clicked in. My nephew works all over the clock, based on need, and I remembered he had told me he was going into work at 5:30 AM Monday morning. I realized that he was just getting up to go to work, and there I was willing to get up and be cranky.
But, I also discovered that I was pretty much wide awake because I had fallen asleep early the night before. So I rolled out of bed and told him about my morning thoughts. He laughed and promised to go easy on the Axe!
My apartment has a square lay out. The living room, dining room and kitched are in the front half and the two bedrooms are in the back half, with the bathroom between the bedrooms. there is a small corridor that leads from the living room to the bathroom and bedrooms and on one side of that corridor is the furnace and on the otherside a coat closet.
The intake vent for the furnace is near the floor. It is an efficient little place - but the furnace intake catches scents and pushes them up and through the furnace into the bedroom. With the cold weather right now, my nephew blasted himself with his Axe and the aerosol fell to the floor and was sucked into the vents!
I had an early morning meeting today, so I rolled out, drank some coffee and got ready to head into the office, then I dropped my nephew off at his work place on the way in. He is fortunate in that he works just a little over a mile from the apartment so it is either a five minute bus ride or a thirty minute walk.
After I dropped him off I drove into work, stopping at the coffee shop on the way in. It was a cold morning, raining intermittently after a night of fairly heavy rain and the city streets were black and glistening in the amber glow of the mercury vapor street lights. Because of the early hour traffic was very light so the drive in was beautiful and pleasant.
I was listening to Warren Zevon on the radio and just enjoyed the drive in immensely. Since I came in early I got a good start on my email and voice-mail queues before beginning the morning cycle of meetings. One of the advantages of starting the day early is that it will end early - by the time I go to lunch at noon it will be three quarters over. So, let me return to the working world with one of the Warren Zevon songs on "Mutineer".
"Piano Fighter" by Warren Zevon, 1993, Zevon Music, BMI
Mom and Papa bought a Chickering
Every day I'd sit and play that thing
I practiced hard;
it was more than a whim
I played with grim determination, Jim
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
I worked in sessions and I played in bands
A thousand casuals and one-night stands
Here on Thursday, gone on Friday
Heading down the Dixie highway
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Maybe I'll go to Reno
Nobody knows my name
I'll play Claire de Lune in a quiet saloon
Steady work for a change
Ain't going down that long, lonesome road
Ain't going down that long, lonesome road
Got in trouble down in New Orleans
I must admit that I was strung out, painted in the corner of a limousine
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a thin ice walker, I'm a freelance writer
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
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