A Budding Young Expert

This is the interview segment that occurred during my appearance on the G Spot, back in July of 2004.  I remember feeling amazingly relaxed during this session, and learning a ton.  Music recording was pretty familiar to me, but video production might as well have been Greek. I fondly remember the crew having a blast and being relaxed but methodical in their processes. 

The interview closes out with me performing a rendition of “Happy Together” by the Turtles.

Though Geoffrey is a bit of a loose cannon in this interview, he really does an amazing job of keeping it flowing.  I realize in retrospect that I was a too-cool-for-school 21 year old, and probably proved to be a hard interview what with my “clipped, vague answers” as one recent fan pointed out to me.  I give him lots of credit for making it happen.

“Tears In Heaven” by Eric Clapton.  This is some footage from about 7 years ago, back in the hay day of my guitar playing.  I was in my third year at Texas State University - San Marcos, and was, I’m sure, feeling pretty on top of it.  I’d had a wildly successful Junior Recital, and was spending the summer back in OKC decompressing. 

A friend of mine that I played ice hockey with had become involved with Geoffrey Michele, and the G Spot cable access show in Norman, OK.  They graciously invited me to perform and interview in their studio that summer.  This is one of the pieces that came from it.  

Rockefeller Plaza, Fall 2007.  It always surprises me how the City of New York has received such a bad rep for having unfriendly people.  I’ve experienced generous, door-holding, direction-giving, locals more often than not (except working in the coffee shops).  

To illustrate my point, I’m reminded of an interaction that I had during this trip to NYC.  I was sitting on a bench with my love, minding my business, smoking a cigarette and chatting of the days events. On the other side of the bench was a boisterous, but not entirely obnoxious man talking to a young woman who was selling art at the market we were visiting.  I couldn’t help overhearing his conversation which had drifted toward manicures and how he needed one and how the women the salon always looked at him strangely.  I piped in and agreed that it was my experience as well.  We went on to compare nails and talk about the excessive growth of his cuticles before turning back to mind our own businesses.  

Next thing I overhear is him describing his love of music and beautiful women that he developed in college, and giving his female companion advise on how to improve her appearance as well describing alternative means of bringing in extra income.  Finally, he warned her not to tell her mother that she had been talking to him.  He said that he’d be checking in on her again soon.  I couldn’t believe what had just transpired.  

Shocking, but who said the pimps in NYC aren’t friendly?  

When my job was to float up and down the Columbia and Snake River, we would pass through a series of 8 locks and dams, which were created to “harness the river’s power”.  And that they did.  The effect of approaching one was frequently what I imagine it would be like to be eaten by a gigantic monster and the engineering marvel that the lock and dam pair are is second to none in my book.  Many of the locks that we rode on the Columbia have water displacement levels in excess of one hundred feet.

Radical, but David Platt.  I found this book from Amazon, where I took a chance on their creepy accurate recommendation.  I’m enjoying it immensely, and though I had low/no expectations, I’m thankful that he’s following a theological path that I can get behind. 

There’s a quote that just tickled me, and though it’s not the essence of the book, I feel it’s a great comment on an argument that is so often thrown around in disagreement with God/Heaven/Christian Religious Views.  The argument is, “What about the person who has never heard the Gospel in his life?” and subsequent belief that he/she should automatically get to Heaven because they “weren’t given a fair chance.”  Platt says:

If people will go to heaven precisely because they never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus, then the worst thing we could do for their eternal state woudl be to go to them and tell the about Jesus.  That would only increase their chances of going to hell?  Before we got there, they were going to heaven; now that we’ve told them about Jesus, the might go to hell.  Thanks a lot!

Well put!  That cuts me to the quick.

Rockefeller Plaza, Fall 2006. This was one of my first times to NYC, and it soon won over my heart a found it’s place in my top favorite cities.  The opportunities for picture taking were unlike anything that I’d experienced up to that point and I found myself very inspired.  

And if I’m not completely mistaken, this was also the trip that I stumbled across the guy on the subway that had stolen a Christmas tree (see picture below).  He was Jewish, and the whole situation wreaked of the ironic.  I started chatting him up about his stolen tree, and he said that he had no use for it but was just going to take it a dump it on the doorstep of somebody that he hated.  I mentioned that if he was so anxious to get rid of it that I would take it off his hands, free of charge.  He refused, but said that he’d sell it to me for $25.  

At this point another fellow passenger piped in and said that it was a mitzvah, and that in order to make up for the theft of the tree it should be given away.  Long story short, the Jewish man wasn’t having anything to do with it, and promptly took his water bottle filled with vodka and his Christmas tree and left at the next stop.  

I slept well that night knowing that I’d given it my best shot.  

Some photoshop fooling around from earlier this year.

I’m almost finished reading Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit.  I’ve enjoyed the format of the book very much- it’s almost a square when closed, and fits nicely in the hands.  It has nicely sized text with key points highlighted in larger type and/or accented with red.  There’s tons of contrast in the chapter title pages, and lots of space for the eyes to dance throughout the book.  It’s memorable.  It’s very creative, feels fresh, and with a name like the “The Creative Habit” it pretty much has to be this way, right?  It’s like another of my favorites, Reimagine by Tom Peters.  These books are creatively formatted, and in turn make/inspire the reader feel creative.

Practice without purpose, however, is nothing more than exercise.  (p. 167)

A quote that strikes near and dear to my heart.  After spending a fairly substantial part of my life as a musician, and half of that at a professional or collegiate level, I can clearly see the difference in practicing with purpose and without it.  She also clarifies another proverb in the same chapter: “You’ve heard the phrase ‘Practice makes perfect’? Not true. Perfect practice makes perfect.” (p.163) 

The question that I would like to propose is:  How sure can one be that they are practicing perfectly having purpose?