Sunrise
I wrote this song in 1992 while living in my "dream" house, high atop Kelly Mountain in West Virginia with my family. You can see some of the photos of this house if you go to MY PHOTOS link page.
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Give Me Space
This song came up when I was in the recovery stage after having radiation treatments daily for 2 months. I felt like I needed to be left alone. I wanted a lot of quiet time.
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Bossa For Ariana
My 19 year old daughter was the inspiration for this recent composition. I tried to capture her "energy" in this song.
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...and now the "bad news"
I spent time reflecting on the day I sat in the doctor's office in Baltimore in 1991 and was told that I had stage 4 throat cancer. This is what came up....
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No Way Out Of This
I was laying in the hospital in Baltimore one night, maybe 3 or 4am. I was thinking about my strange situation. My mind seemed to be healthy but, I was trapped inside of a body that was sick. In the beginning, the reality of that was incredibly disturbing and confusing. I felt so trapped.
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4am
Wrote this late one night many months after the trauma of the surguries and radiation treatments had passed but, found myself unable to sleep. I had many nights when I stayed awake until sunrise...just couldn't sleep.
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November Bossa
I wrote this song during the same period as most of the other songs in this set. However, I was trying to capture the "groove" of the guys in Pittsburgh and put it into this bossa nova.
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louie@midfield
Three months ago, I had the great pleasure of watching my 15 year old son play on his high school soccer team. This is a free improvisation with Mike in which I wanted to project Louie's tempo and rhythm on the soccer field musically. Louie really is a very talented player...the sky is the limit for him.
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Why Me? Why Now?
Many people who have life threatening illnesses, ironically find that after the recovery phase, they start to self-destruct. Sometimes depression can be a more difficult battle than the life threatening illness that preceeded it. As I found myself in this situation, this song kind of "floated to the surface". But, I must say that I have never questioned why I got cancer. I've always thought it was just a normal part of life.....something I can learn from. This is why I have always been open about my experience. I think this kind of situation is going to affect most everyone at some point in their lives. Maybe I can help in a small way by being open and talking about it. Although some have suggested that I don't say anything (probably because they thought I was using my situation as an excuse and/or for sympathy for not performing at high enough level.) All I can say is that by surviving this situation I proved to myself what is possible...that's all that is needed.
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ps
Well....in this case, PS means Purple Sweater. Someone sitting in the front row at one of my concerts...that's all I can say.
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Sunset
This symbolizes the close of a period. A deeply profound, disturbing but, beautiful experience. I can't put it behind me (as many have suggested) because it is now a part of who I am. But, I can move forward with a new level of awareness of the world and a confidence that anything is possible.
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