Saturday, February 16, 2013

Test Drive

       Yesterday was a crazy, long day.  I had to work in Asheville at a jewelry store.  It is in that new little village they built off of I 26 where the new Biltmore theaters are at.  We had a very complicated, carpet installation to do and ended up working until 5:00.  I had to be at City Lights Cafe, in Sylva, ready to play by 7:00.  I made it home by 6:15 and Donna told me our son, Lukas, had totaled his car that afternoon.  That's right, I don't have a cell phone.  They cost too much.  Anyway, he was fine.  Just a little sore, thank God.  I left home and got to the gig about five minutes before we started.  Needless to say I was exhausted.  I had decided I would test out the new guitar and see if it played and sounded good.  It took me a few tunes to get my focus, and then the sound of the instrument caught my attention.  The sound is very large and rich.  It has a darkness to it like Fall.  The way you feel when the summer air first turns slightly cool and the humidity is gone and you know a change is coming.  It seems to love to sing sad songs.  Don't get me wrong, we played plenty of fast swing tunes, and it's voice was wonderful, but I can hear this guitar in a year as an instrument that has a voice to sing ballads.  What I mean by that is, it takes a year or so before the guitar opens up and becomes what it will be.  And to play a ballad properly you need an instrument that will sing; like a voice.  That's why a sax, or a piano is such a good choice for a lead instrument.  I think this instrument is just as good.
           Having said all that, there's a buzz on the G string on the fifth fret that I need to fix.  I could raise the action and be done with it, but I love the way it plays, so I'll file some frets and fix it.  Maybe tomorrow.  Chris, you better come get this instrument before I fall in love and decide to keep it.

            Here is the prayer for the day.  This is another prayer I have spent months meditating on.  If you spend time with a prayer, or poem, it becomes something else.  It becomes a part of you, or you become a part of it, or you become a part of the person who wrote it, or they become a part of you, or perhaps you catch a glimpse of what we're really all a part of.

This morning, as I kindle the fire on my hearth,
      I pray that the flame of God's love y burn in
      my heart and in the hearts of all I meet today.

I pray that no evil or malice,
      no hatred or fear, may smother the flame.

I pray that indifference and apathy, contempts and pride,
       may not pour like cold water on the fire.

Instead, may the spark of God's love
        light the love in my heart,
        that it may burn brightly through the day.

And may I warm those who are lonely,
         whose hearts are cold and lifeless,
          so that all may know the comfort of God's love.

from The Ortha Nan Gaidheal

1 comment:

ctsavatewa said...

I hope to be there very very soon ! Maybe next week ?