A Very Lucky Man

This week two guys have been working at my house, sanding and staining the windows.  From 7 to 4 every day they've had a front row seat for my life.  Today I was leaving the house and I got to chatting with one of the guys.  As I wheeled my bike to the truck he said, "you're a very lucky man."

These Days

My uncle Dan gave me a Glen Campbell recording for my road trip.  Southern Nights and Gentle on My Mind are my favorites, but I was struck by These Days, a Jackson Browne song.  Listening to Glen sing I was reminded of an incredible performance of Pony by Tony Rice.  Both songs are written by individuals other than the performers but both songs capture these men at the end of their careers and both songs sound like they were written for them.

"I don't do too much dreamin' these days"

If you want to view paradise...

simply look around and view it.

Sometimes marketing works in ways I hadn't expected.  Pair a haunting version of Pure Imagination by Fiona Apple with a stark view of the reality of our food landscape and this is what you get.

Say what you will about Chipotle.  It's probably the same things you could say about Whole Foods, but the reality we face is that so long as the Market is deemed the ultimate in our food system, large scale distributers like Chipotle and Whole Foods have a tremendous opportunity to change the system from within while the local, non-GMO and organic movements seek to change it from without.  If you need food fast, it's good to know that at least one fast-food chain seeks to find harmony, or at the very least, elevate the conversation.

Covered

"The story goes like this: A decade ago, the 22-year-old Siskind cuts a remarkable album with producer Tucker Martine (Decemberists, Beth Orton) and guitar god Bill Frisell. Then Siskind gets sick. Very sick. The album disappears. Enter Justin Vernon, who stumbles upon a copy. His band, Bon Iver, happens. Vernon starts his own label and rescues Siskind’s criminally neglected work, whose emotional rawness is typified by this song’s sly chorus. “Baby, I got you covered,” Siskind coos, before completing her thought. “So covered, you won’t get out.”

"The record is layers and layers thick.  Sarah's voice, earthy and mournful, is brilliantly offset by Bill Frisell's dreamy guitar work.  The songs themselves play like a collection of tiny novellas leading you from one scene of quiet longing to another.  The album is moody, mysterious.  Even the album art is plain black and white, Sarah never looking directly at her audience.  It was only with many listens, weaving through the intricate ribbons of guitar and root-bound vocalise, that I began to unravel the stories, rich in detail and reverie."

Sources:

http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/sarah-siskind-un-covered

(From Covered, chigliak.com/artists/sarah-siskind)

Sunliner debut at Four Corners Folk Festival

Sarah and I have been making plans for a duo project named Sunliner.  Our first show under the name Sunliner went off Sunday at the Four Corners Folk Festival, fittingly, the place we first met.  It was completely inspiring, I'm looking forward to our finding time and a budget to record this amazing music.

Ruby was serenaded backstage by Darrell Scott.  Lucky girl.