The Question of a Lifetime!!!

My dear friend Robin Eve posed a question! It is a hard one to answer but I gave it a shot nevertheless (is that one word?).

In the past 20 years, what is the most important thing that you have learned, and why? I replied:

Dear Robin,

As I approach my 50th birthday, this question is extremely prescient. The answer is really quite simple. It is simply to make the most of your life and your potential. Make every day important to yourself and to everyone you touch. Complacency kills the soul. The wonder of new experiences are at all of our fingertips. Don't be afraid to overturn the apple cart and upset a few people on the way because if you do it in the right way, they will eventually learn something. Far too many of us go to our mundane jobs, then sit in our little boxes, watch TV and forget what real feeling is all about. I did that for a long time. I loved my family, coached little league, and worked hard. I was turning into my father. I loved him, but something was missing.

Three events changed my life.

The first was in August 2001 when a music idol from my youth, virtually came out of retirement, and made an album that spoke to me in a profound way. That was Ian Hunter. His CD "RANT" and his ballad "Dead Man Walking" started me thinking that if a 60 year old man could still rock, then maybe I could too. I picked up my guitar again.

The second was 9/11. On 9/12 and 9/13, I stayed up all night writing "Tower To The Sky" through tears and catharsis. The floodgates opened. I wrote over 50 songs in the following years. There was no more TV for me, ever.

The 3rd was when my love, Magge, made me get off my butt and suggested that I should play these songs for others to hear. I found a little bar called The Village Pub South that had an Open Mic Night hosted by a talented young woman who accepted me, and my songs, immediately with no question. The crowded bar cheered for my "stupid songs" and I realized at that moment that I had something to give.

I never looked back. From that moment on, I decided to shun complacency forever and always look forward. My life has been amazing since these revelations. I have made more real friends in the past 7 years than in the previous 42. I have played in front of huge crowds and intimate rooms. I recorded 2 full CDs and more. I have played with hundreds of amazing musicians. I have met and partied with rock stars and roadies and had dinner with the CEO of Bambu rolling papers! That was interesting!

The most important thing I learned in the past 20 years is to live life every day as though it is the final day. Don't ever look back. Be a participant, not a spectator.

The Late Great Erma Bombeck wrote while dying of cancer:

"I should have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life."

I am no longer a spectator. I stopped watching the evil tube years ago. TV is the bane of our existence. It is the Liar in the room. If you want to see something really cool, watch the sunset, or the stars on a clear night. I don't mean Dancing With The Stars. Listen to some music. Write something. Read something. Talk to someone. Send an e-mail.

TV can be a useful tool. Treat it as such. Watch a live sports event, a political debate, some breaking news, but when it devolves into bad drama, with bad actors, terrible writing, trite commentary, and streams of commercials, turn the box off! Think!!!! Discuss!!! Dream!

You have one life! Don't waste it watching false laughing and fake crying. Watch the trees or read Joyce Kilmer. If you need to see flickering images, then watch a movie that will make you feel or think. There are many that transcend the mediocrity and have become art! But.. Make sure you watch them without commercial interuption!!!

DD