My Little Brother

So I got a call from my little (not really) brother tonight. You see, Scott and his wife Alison moved to Titusville, FL last year so we don't see each other very much, well actually maybe we see each other more now than when he lived here in Maryland. They came up for Christmas and we were able to spend some time together and they are now talking about coming up for Spring Break, so yeah, we see each other about the same. Oh, by the way, I don't have a picture of my brother so I put up a picture of my dog Solomon.

So anyway, Scott calls me out of the blue tonight to tell me that he played a double header softball game. He got on base a goodly number of times and played solid defense at 1st base. These are the first softball games he ever played. He said he had to call me because he was so overjoyed at playing! He was busting at the seams to tell someone... and he called me. Can I tell you how cool that was? The more I listened to him talk about the game, the happier I got just knowing the honor I felt. I used to call my mom all the time whenever the simplest cool thing happened and now my brother was calling me. Too cool. Really... too cool.

So now what about this picture, you ask? Yes, it's kind of Scott related, but maybe not. When Scott was finished telling me about his softball game I felt the need to inquire about the weather and how was it that he could play softball in February. (Sure, he's in Florida but it is February for crying out loud!) He said it got up to 80 degrees today. Certainly softball playing weather. This weekend, he'll return to Disney World for his billionth visit since moving down south. He sucks. This picture reveals that things were starting to bloom in January when we had our own 70 degree weather. But now things are different here in the Border State. The massively intelligent people at the weather service have proclaimed this the 2nd coldest February in the D.C. area on record. Only one other February in 1938 was colder. Our wind chill factor has temperatures down to 10 degrees below zero. Not exactly softball weather. My living room thermometer has us currently at 61 degrees. That's in my living room. 61 degrees. Downright warm when you walk in from outside. So anyway, flowers blooming in January and freezing dead in February. I'm still waiting for the big snow storm. If it's gonna be this freakin' cold, it damn site better snow! And a lot! frozen precip is in the forecast for Monday and Tuesday. Cross your fingers.

One Song... Glory

One song
Glory
One song
Before I go
Glory
One song to leave behind
Find one song
One last refrain
Glory
From the pretty boy front man
Who wasted opportunity
One song
He had the world at his feet
Glory
In the eyes of a young girl
A young girl
Find glory
Beyond the cheap colored lights
One song
Before the sun sets
Glory - on another empty life
Time flies - time dies
Glory - One blaze of glory
One blaze of glory - glory
Find
Glory
In a song that rings true
Truth like a blazing fire
An eternal flame
Find
One song
A song about love
Glory
From the soul of a young man
A young man
Find
The one song
Before the virus takes hold
Glory
Like a sunset
One song
To redeem this empty life
Time flies
And then - no need to endure anymore
Time dies
The door...

An artist has a painting hanging in a gallery. More than likely, the artist is dead and cannot tell us about his work so it's up to us to interpret what the artist was thinking when he created his art. We see something in the painting. We see pain, love, sorrow, happiness et cetera. Art is more than just seeing what's in front of you, you must look at what's behind the colors, what's inside the canvas. I think the same holds true for music too. Music is art as well. A form of expression where we can hear the artists' pain, love, sorrow, happiness et cetera. Now we must learn to hear what's behind the music, what's inside the music and lyrics.

I was walking Solomon tonight in a light snow. Really cold outside. The night was very quiet but for the crunching of the frozen ground under Solomon's feet. Then, out of nowhere, a song eased into my head. ONE SONG, GLORY from RENT. Suddenly I felt myself entering into the song. How many times have I listened to the song, the whole musical, and taken it at face value. The colors of the song swam in my mind, yelling its definitions at me! One Song.

One Song. Glory. We have time on earth to create one good song. One deed. One song before I go. One thing to do before I die. One song before the sun sets on another empty life. Don't let life be empty. Perform one song in a blaze of glory before leaving! The end of the song is interrupted by a knock on the door. Don't let the song be interrupted by a knock, by something in life that will prevent the song from being sung. Sing as if no one is listening.