It was more moonset than sunrise this morning. Slipping out of the tiny home to greet the day, I saw it through the trees – thinking it to be the sun but somehow strangely placed. I moved through the brush into a clearing and saw it was the moon! Full and glowing a light orange, as if reminding us that this is a new dawn, not just an ending. That these things are not mutually exclusive and, in fact, are ever present with each other... even in times that is not so visible. This morning it was visible.
I usually offer to the sun and accept from the moon. I’m very grateful for the sun, even when it’s trying to kill me. I work mostly by natural light. I rise with it, and try to settle in when it goes down. The moon brings the peaceful hours. The woods I’m in are way down and way out; as was I in ways when I came to them. Deep in the Texas “Hill Country” I slept under the stars and walked the sanctuary by moonlight. I learned Native words and spoke to the land in its language. I had no idea what life would be like; I was not following some formula of tradition I didn’t feel fit, I was never one to paint by numbers. It was just the path that called me on; the road that called me out had led me here and I noticed. So I kept going. And decades later, here I am, and here YOU are. (Here’s a pic from then.)
Had to push a couple of things I wanted to get done for some of you to next week, because THREE basses flew the nest this week. That hasn’t happened in a while, but that’s what shaped up and what they needed was what I needed to do. And, once ready, you know who packs them? This guy right here. You know who runs them out to the Mail Stop in town where they get picked up so they don’t spend the extra day going all over hell and creation out here in the back of a truck that extra day? That’d be me. So, I bounce and my bounces change as to what I hit as things happen through the days. I make my lists for Monday but by Wednesday they’re being rewritten. When there’s 20 things needing attention and stuff slots in, that’s what happens. When there’s only 5 things on the list for the day, slotting in one more does not require reconfiguration of the entire universe. Watch the builds page this week for some beautiful things happening…
The computer had some cleanup done and is working fast and reliably again. It will play mp3s and open a dozen pictures at once. Slowly over time it becomes more quirky to where everything has additional procedures to remember and special ways of clicking because the old just freezes it up or that button doesn’t make it happy so click on that other one over in the list if you can remember how to find it instead. You know what? Screw that. When it becomes that, it’s long past time to fix it. It’s broken even if it still functions. So I called my computer guy, in his chapter of easing out of his brick and mortar shop and balls-out schedule that got him there… into part time and the mountains of Colorado. The guy cleaned and fixed my computer FROM THERE. It's weird to watch the screen change and shit get typed in and the little arrow clicking stuff and moving around… but here we are.
Birdsong has a Reverb store now and stuff is starting to trickle up there. You might even see some overlap with the birdsongguitars.com inventory page. Occasionally the prices will be different. Reverb definitely slices off its “angel’s share” on a sale, so sometimes I have to factor that in on top up front. But I don’t begrudge them that – it’s their house I’m selling in and 90% of something beats 100% of nothing any day. Life’s too precious to get all indignant about somebody taking their cut. I mean, I’m half Sicilian. I understand the concept. There are some unique pieces going up in both spots, and selling fast. I’m helping a longtime client and friend liquidate his collection to defray continuing care costs. A few are from other builders, so they won’t be up on the inventory page. I’m slipping these in as I can, so stay tuned to both and jump on what you want. The world changed over the past years, but Birdsong keeps on rolling and there are always people who want them. I am so grateful.
In music news, I have a new album coming together. I have no idea how it will be released, or by whom, so if anyone has any ideas or an indie label they’d like a completed, release-ready acoustic-based album for, get in touch. I’m easy – I just want the stuff out. Hot on the heels of that one going off to be mastered by Billy Stull (absolute behind the scenes legend) down in his sunny paradise of South Padre Island, I’ve written and gathered material for an electric/band album to be ready in the spring. Fall is going to be VERY busy and I’ll record it after that, during winter break, out here in the woods on the same gear I used for one that happened 22 years ago that was called “American Bandwagon.” It will bookend that nicely somehow. Given time, things do circle around somehow.
Having come through this summer, uncomfortable in many ways yet sustained by the glory of life and the depth of what I do and those I keep close in the circle, I reflected as I deliberately took the time out back behind the workshops to watch the moon disappear down into the trees and past the horizon. My first summer out here was brutally hot and uncomfortable too, and in that were lessons and preparation that carried me 23 years on to this one. One could say had it not been for that test I rose to, none of what happened after could have taken form. There would not have been enough me; of me, to me, in me. I would not have understood as much as I would have needed; my focus would not have been honed or will been tempered by such specific adversity. I was being made into who I was needed to be for the next chapter. To all of you in change, which judging by who I know is quite possibly most of you, have faith in the way life changes.
And so, this morning, I offered to the moon – to an unusually large, orange moon itself reflecting the sunrise in its setting. I thanked it for all it has shown me and wished it a good travel around again… while knowing that, though I appear to stand here, it was as much me spinning along on my journey as well.
Ashoge.
Listening to: Bill Evans Moon Beams; Soundgarden Superunknown; John Coltrane Meditations; Creedence Clearwater Revival At The Royal Albert Hall 1970; The Ahmad Jamal Trio The Awakening.