August 2020: Get On With *These* Times
"Peanut Butter" and "Gatorade" throwback from Chattanooga last fall. Here's to playing with these guys again soon!
Confessions of a serial glass-half-fuller,
It's either mosquito season or we're on fire. Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings just recorded, "All the good times are past and gone." Nostalgia has become political. My local small town newspaper reads, “Dwarf mistletoe a problem in forests.” The Portland paper reads, “Federal Police Buy 1,000 pairs of Sunglasses to Protect Officers From Protesters' Lasers." The ground hog pops up and down, the screen stares back. "Someday I'll go and call up Rudy." Buy your tickets for 2021..maybe. The ice is melting. The dog is overheated and belly up on the couch.
Maybe all the good times are past and gone? Maybe now, we can get on with these times, wake up and give the ones we got all we got.
Rivers are running, the Uefa Champions league is back on TV, Ray Hudson is talking, people are voting, people are working round the clock to help more people vote, and next week I get to dig deep into songwriting with 10 middle schoolers for a week of in person socially distant music camp!
Your friend in hope,
Jenner
PS. "I know that in order to bring about change, we have to believe in change. There's just no way that a change maker can be cynical. It's impossible." – Ibram X. Kendi from his brilliant TED Talk on anti-racism (if you're short on time just his opening speech is great).
Upcoming Live & Livestream Concerts
August 17th - An Evening of John Prine Songs, On Tap, Bend, OR. 6-8pm. *Outdoor show, please wear a mask, and stay home if you're feeling sick.
August 23rd - Livestream – The World According to Middle Schoolers, Hosted virtually by Rainshadow Recordings (Port Townsend, WA). 7:30pm PT / 10:30 ET. Watch here & RSVP here.
August 26th - Livestream – The Hope Edition, Hosted virtually by Isis Music Hall (Asheville, NC). 4pm PT / 7pm ET. Watch here & RSVP here.
Thank you all for your generous support. For $3 a month you can head over to my Patreon page right now to check out a brand new live solo album!
Patreon is a platform that allows you to directly support creative endeavors that you find meaningful. Basically, it's a voluntary monthly subscription that you choose to pay because you believe in the artist and want to keep this musical spaceship orbiting. Any amount you contribute each month helps me get my music out there.
Fox Recommends
"You're Not Alone" – Mavis Staples on Live From Here. This came on the radio the other day and floored me. I had to pull over, kill the engine, and drink it in. When the right song comes on at the right moment.
Jason Reynolds, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. A new hero of mine. I heard him interviewed first with Krista Tipppet on On Being, "Fortifying Imagination." Then I fell in love with his weekly writing prompts, here. And I just finished reading his book, Stamped, Racism, Antiracism, and You, that reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future
Ron Artis II and the Truth. Or this video for a proper mind blowing. I got to see Ron at the Sisters Folk Festival's, "Close to Home," outdoor socially distanced concert a few weeks ago. Ron has an overwhelming amount of talent and great humanity on stage. If you get a chance to see him live, he's not one to miss.
Change it up. You can't go on that trip you had planned. But you can stay home and do entirely different things. It's not easy. It takes some imagination. But man, sometimes the perspective gained by simply changing it up is the most welcome of things.
PS.
“Your dream is the mole
behind your ear,
that chip in your
front tooth,
your freckles.
It's the thing that makes
you special,
but not the thing that makes
you great.
The courage in trying,
the passion in living,
and the acknowledgement
and appreciation of
the beauty happening around
you does that.”
― Jason Reynolds, For Every One