All aboard

man, how did we get here?

Seems to be a recurring theme. I should probably tackle that question just a little at a time. I'll begin by clearing one little mystery for anyone outside this circle who might be reading these posts. My lifelong friend, Winston initiated this blog. In the earliest years of our childhood friendship, he was known to me, and all of his friends, as Dubby. As we grew a little older, it became simply "Dub". You may see Dub refered to as any of the above - Winston, Dubby, Dub. They are one in the same. Just wanted to avoid any confusion, as going forward, I will refer to my friend as Dub - the moniker I am most comfortable with.

So, back to the thread. In an earlier post, Dub referenced the fact that I have been busy reinventing myself as a videographer. Judging from his most recent post. He has been doing some of his own reinvention - off on a new entrepreneurial adventure, more in tune with his nature. It occurs to me that perhaps neither of us are reinventing ourselves, so much as rediscovering some purpose that hitherto we have ignored, or least kept at bay while we busied ourselves making money, creating images, raising families and such. Not that there is anything wrong with any of those things - all of them chock full of experiences that are part of the answer to that question - "man, how did we get here".

So maybe this chapter in the journey should be titled "coming home". At least it feels that way for me. A couple of months ago I walked away from a fairly lucrative management postion with a major telecommunications company to pursue my love of music full time. I should say, this decision was not on a whim. Recent events in my life seemed to have been guiding me that direction. It seemed increasingly clear to me that this was the thing I must do. Others, including my family, were convinced had, (have), completely lost my mind - a possibility I have considered myself. Whatever the reason, I find myself driven to realize a vision. I'm reminded of Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters, building Devil's Towers from his mashed potatoes.

In my defense, I should tell you that vision I spoke of is not about me being a rock star at age 56. It is about promoting local, (mostly), music and musicians. It is about providing an opportunity for those people who make, and love, music to come together and share their passion. I was playing one day, some years ago, with some friends of mine. We had just finished a song, (can't recall what it was), and it was one of those rare moments when we looked at each other with that "where the hell did that come from" look. Someone commented that some of the best music in the world will never be heard on the radio, or on any stage for that matter. I thought at the time how true that was. There were people all over the country, (and the world) making music in garages, barns, around the kitchen table, anywhere and everywhere, that is solid gold. I began to feel the need to document some of that spontaneity and spirit that makes this music what it is -real.

To that end, I invested a considerable chunk of my savings in the construction of studio outfitted with audio and video recording gear. The intention was to provide a place to bring people together to make music in an environment that they would not typically have access to, or be able to afford. I should note that, to date, I have not made a dime off of this venture - but that was never the point. In conjunction with building the studio, I began hosting a web-site called The Jackson County Music Preservation Community. Please stop by and visit me at http://jacomusic.ning.com.

So here I am reinventing, rediscovering, or perhaps just finding my way home. There is a lot more to answering the question "man, how did we get here", but there's plenty of time for later. In the mean time, I have mashed potatoes to tend to.