One magical Spring day in May three musical improvisationalists met in a rehearsal room to see what would happen when they played some music together. The result is this spontaneous video, live and unedited, giving a glimpse of what is hopefully a lot more to come.

The players are Andy, Angelo and me…
Andy Tate – Guitar
Angelo Rapin – Piano
Voice of Golden Eagle – Native Flute

It is with much joy that I present a song in celebration of the season!

EAGLE SPRING (click to listen)

A song to celebrate Mother Earth’s Rebirth in 2009. Composed, performed and co-produced with the assistance of very special musical guest, Andy Tate. This song uses one of my newest instruments, a three hole Eagle Bone (replica) flute.

Technical Notes

This song was recorded at Andy’s home studio, a marvelous facility that gives us total creative freedom. In this particular piece I’m playing the flute, mandolin and pseudo-sitar in addition to handling the orchestral arrangement.  Andy is providing the foundation with an array of wonderful electric and acoustic guitar work. Once the song was musically complete, we did the one thing that would take it to the next level; we had it mastered by LNix Mastering, located at Ardent Studios in Memphis. Once Kevin and Larry did the voodoo that they do so well, the song truly took flight!

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Click the listen link and hear for yourself as we celebrate the approach of yet another season of sunshine, growth and promise of renewal.

I have two sons, both of them fine young men in their late teens. I have many reasons to be proud of them both. They are warriors at heart with strong minds, bodies, and spirits. The blood of their heritage burns brightly in them both. They have excellent minds with scholarship opportunities and grade point averages to prove it. All these things in common, yet, they could not be more different one from the other.

Both of them strong willed with a determination to prove the truth as they know it, but with vastly different ways of expressing it between them. While the younger has always considered the “sage advice” of his wise old father when life requires reflection, his older brother pretty much considers the old man’s words to be universally outdated and irrelevant to this “new world” in which we find ourselves.

Yet, despite all these variances in approach, they are both so much like me in so many ways that it amazes (and frightens) their mother on a frequent basis. I have always considered my children to be unique spirits (in the words of Kahlil Gibran, “Your children come through you, not from you.”), and I have never desired making them over in my own image.  That’s a good thing too, because these two young bucks have had their very own – very strong – personalities since their first breath! I know. I was there.

These images of their childhood come flooding in at me this dawn as I adjust to the new reality that our family has begun with a startling suddenness. Last night, about Midnight, the elder son packed a backpack and left into the night without a word…

I couldn’t resist sharing this wonderful story.

I hope you enjoy it too!

…VoGE

Living under the water in a lily pond were a colony of water bugs. They were great friends and all lived happily together but, every so often, one of them would attach itself to a lily stalk and make its way up into the sunlight, never to be seen again.

One water bug in conversation with the others said he had noticed this and had often wondered why this happened and what was on the other side of the water and more importantly , why none of the others had returned to explain. All the bugs made a promise that if they were to go up a stalk they would come back and tell what they had seen.

Well, one day, the very bug who had made the suggestion found himself stuck on a stalk. He made his way up and through the water to the surface, breaking through he found himself on a huge lily pad. Things had changed dramatically – he was now breathing air and he’d gotten wings! Suddenly he took off in a flash , soaring through the air. It was glorious!

Just then he remembered his promise, “I must go back and tell the others” he thought. So with that in mind he flew down to the water’s surface, but much to his surprise he couldn’t get through to his friends below.

After several attempts he decided to abandon that idea hoping that all his friends would know he tried to keep his promise. He flew off into the sun knowing that they would all meet again, someday, when they were dragonflies too.

As Dawn greets us with sunshine and gifts us with new opportunities, many find their hearts clouded with thoughts of impending rain. This is a time of great change, worldwide. Societies are in painful transition and, like mice scurrying around the feet of wandering buffalo, we must plan our own steps very carefully. For some, if not most, this will be season of sacrifice and change in ways that are beyond our present imagining.

For me, today began as an introspective day. Dawn found me prayerfully searching the horizon, watching and listening for signs. Nature always has a lesson if we only pay attention! The sky was overcast, so searching for a message in the sun was in vain… The insects sounded muted and distant. Even the grass seemed too timid to have dew.

Just about then, a sign came to me in the form of a tiny mosquito… I watched her as she hovered above my garlic scented skin for almost a minute, wavering and hesitating, then sat down resolutely and began to drink with a shudder as if to say, “Regardless of how it tastes, I have to do what I have to do.”

I agree. We all must do what we must do. Which is why I killed that mosquito, who died with honor like a warrior.

From small things sometimes come big messages.

Creator, Open Our Eyes That We May See

AHO!