Since then — I am happy to note — more and more research has been done on the extraordinary community of beings who live in our guts AND the fascinating ways that they contribute to our mental and physical health.
All of this research underscores how profoundly our human lives are woven together with the lives of other beings here on planet earth — bacteria, viruses, plants (who provide us with oxygen to breathe, food to eat, and a bunch of medicinal options), fungi, and our fellow animals.
As you probably are well aware, medical science is discovering that it is indeed healthy to eat
A) High-fiber foods — such as whole grains, garlic, onions, leeks, and beans which are considered to be PREBIOTIC-rich foods,
B) Yogurt and kefir (without lots of added sugar) which are considered to be PROBIOTIC-rich sources of beneficial bacteria which can help to diversify and/or replenish our gut biome, and
C) Fermented foods — such as kimchi, kombucha, miso and sauerkraut — which also have lots of live, active, beneficial bacterial cultures.
There are TRILLIONS of bacteria in our guts, and the proportions of more-beneficial bacteria to less-beneficial bacteria are influenced by what we choose to eat.
As I say in my song, “the world within is calling for attention.”
What sort of attention do YOU give to your gut microbiome?
Even though I have not shared a new post for two months, my stats tell me that lots of people continue to visit my blog (maybe because I have over 100 past blog posts to choose from…?)
Whatever the reason, THANK YOU to everyone who keeps finding and reading my blog!
I just looked up the history of Labor Day, and discovered — no surprise — that it has roots in labor unions.
You can click here to learn more if you are curious — and to see a great photo of an early Labor Day float being pulled by two horses during a celebration in 1916..
I have read that union activity is on an upswing in the USA.
With a current CEO-to-worker compensation ratio estimated to be 400 — meaning that chief executive officers are likely to earn 400 times the annual average salary of production and nonsupervisory workers in their industry — the time seems ripe to re-balance this extraordinarily greedy state of affairs.
I am an inactive member of two unions — SAG/AFTRA (for film and TV) and Equity (for stage) — as a result of working professionally as a child and teenager.
Me modeling as a child…
Go unions!
They are a vital part of our human socety’s interconnected systems of checks and balances.
Deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
I originally featured this recording with pianist Doug Hammer of a great Gershwin Brothers song a couple of years ago as part of a very long blog post in which I shared the pros and cons of a chatbot-assisted music marketing strategy as well as some show business history.
Today’s post will be shorter and sweeter.
THANK YOU to everyone who has been streaming my songs in recent months!
“Gold In Them Hills” — which I released a month ago — has just surpassed 1000 streams on Spotify. This translates into approximately $4 worth of income — which is split, I think, between the person who owns the rights to the song (Ron Sexsmith and/or his music publishing company) and the person who owns the rights to this particular recording of his song (which is me).
“Nice Work If You Can Get It” — which I released near the end of June — has been streamed 685 times on Spotify.
So that will earn me another dollar.
Luckily I am in this for the long haul…and I earn enough money from performing at retirement communities and leading Music Together classes to cover my very minimal expenses.
I also feel very fortunate to be making and sharing music as a way to make a (very modest) living.
Music really is “nice work if you can get it.”
A musician named Bree Noble — who also does a lot of teaching and coaching of other musicians — recently sent out an email which I found inspiring.
She wrote:
“Did you know that releasing music — i.e. seeing a beloved project through to completion — can improve your mental health?”
According to her, “studies show that most people desire purpose and connection in their work, and without that, their mental health can suffer.”
“We thrive when we experience ‘birthing’ an idea and seeing it through (to completion) — taking on a project that is our ‘baby’ and nurturing it to ‘adulthood.'”
Releasing music “can give (us) the emotional and spiritual benefits of project ownership — taking on a new challenge, providing a goal to work toward, and giving (us) a …fulfilling event to look forward to.”
Best of all, “not only can the…process (of releasing music) invigorate (our) emotional and spiritual (lives), it can help (our) music reach new people who need to hear it, enriching their lives as well.”
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
I think this wisdom/insight can apply to any creative undertaking — even writing a blog post.
It also reminds me of an article I read recently about folks who live to be over 100 years old.
Researchers have been studying these people’s lives, and many common themes have emerged.
They tend to be optimistic — while also acknowledging the reality of their challenges.
They tend to feel connected with others — as part of an extended family, a circle of friends, a spiritual community, a bowling league, a quilting circle, a fraternal lodge, a blogging community or some other subset of beings here in the interconnected web of life on planet earth.
Their diets tend to be plant-based — eating more vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, and whole grains AND and more “cooked-from-scratch” meals (meaning less processed/junk food items…)
They tend to get out into nature on a regular basis — walking, biking, swimming, doing tai chi, painting, reading, playing games, etc. — rather than sitting at home and watching TV.
And they tend to have a sense of purpose — whether volunteering their time, sharing their wisdom, contributing to group causes, creating things, etc.
Apparently if we feel that we need to be here on planet earth — contributing in some positive way to our families, friends, children, grandchildren, community, watershed, ecosystem, political system, etc. — we are less likely to die.
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
I am curious to learn in the comments about what gives YOU a sense of purpose these days.
Here is a link to “Nice Work If You Can Get It” in case you might like to listen to it on a streaming service.
As I have shared in past blog posts, if you “like” it or “heart” it or add it to a playlist, that improves the algorithmic sharing of my music on that particular streaming service.
Thank you to the Gershwin brothers — Ira (words) and George (music) — for writing such great songs.
Thank you to Doug Hammer for playing so exuberantly on my version of their song AND for being such. a terrific engineer/producer.
Thank you to Stephen Fischer for his skillful graphic design work.
Thank you to labor unions for helping to counter-balance the greed which seems to be an unavoidable part of our capitalistic system of economics.
Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for their great images.
Thank you to whoever took my photo 50+ years ago on a front staircase somewhere in NYC.
And thank YOU for reading. and listening to another one of my blog posts!
“Music is a great encouragement to people in hard times.”
Deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
I also explain in this past blog post about how little money is earned by performers and songwriters from streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, YouTube, etc.
Spotify, which last year had an almost 50% market share of music streaming worldwide, still pays less than half a cent per stream.
Apple Music was the next biggest player, with almost 25% market share of music streaming worldwide — but paid a penny per stream (almost triple what Spotify paid…)
All of the other music streaming companies share the remaining 25% of worldwide music streaming — and paid anywhere from .00069 cents per stream (YouTube Music) to .017 cents per stream (Napster).
Here’s a graphic representation from this article of all of these numbers.
Suffice to say that I have not been earning any significant money as a result of people streaming the 37 recordings I’ve released during the past 34 months.
Deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
But I DO have the satisfaction of knowing that my music is out there in the world, being listened to by folks in fifty different countries — including the USA, Finland, Canada, Taiwan, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Chile!
“Music is part of what makes the world keep going.”
And in recent months my streaming statistics on Spotify have risen significantly (although my total numbers are still quite modest).
This rise in my stats helps me feel that what I am doing — releasing music — is not entirely futile, useless and/or egotistical.
And it gives me a small sense of hope, which is what Ron Sexsmith’s lovely song does, too.
Hope remains a blessed mystery to me.
I hope you feel at least a tiny kernel of hope in your life.
Recent regional elections here in the USA have renewed my sense of hope in our political process.
And small children — such as those who grace my Music Together classes — also give me a sense of hope as well as a reason to continue to work for a more balanced, sustainable, and respectful future here on planet earth.
I’d be happy to learn in the comments about what gives YOU a sense of hope these days.
Six weeks later, it grew into a pandemic — from which many of us are still recovering…
However, the WHO recently announced that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency.
This is good news.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
Apparently deaths from COVID are at their lowest point since the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.
This is also good news.
However, a lot of people are still continuing to die here in our Not-So-United States of America.
Last night I ordered a pizza and salad from a nearby restaurant, and after I picked it up, a woman waiting outside congratulated me on wearing a face mask.
She, too, was wearing a mask and told me in no uncertain terms that our COVID challenges are not over yet.
In fact, the 40-year-old son of one of her friends had just died from COVID.
Although this is a decline from a peak death toll of 2,500 human beings per day in early 2022, 150 per day still feels like a lot of people dying to me!
And all around the world, people continue to die — one every three minutes — “and that’s just the deaths we know about,” says WHO director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “COVID-19 is (not) over as a global health threat.”
Yet another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
I wrote the song in the player at the beginning of this blog post during the first year of the pandemic.
I was inspired — in part — by the months-long hospitalization of a fellow singer who was on a ventilator for a very, very long time.
Amazingly enough he has managed to recover — and resume singing!
He was cared for by a team of truly courageous nurses, doctors, and support staff who came to work day-in and day-out while most of us were sheltering in place at home.
I bore witness to the dedication and patience of many nurses, doctors and support staff during this time because — exactly as COVID was entering our lives — I was diagnosed with an obscure medical condition called PGNMID.
As the COVID epidemic grew worse and worse, I met with specialists at several hospitals, underwent kidney and bone marrow biopsies. and ended up being given three rounds of six-month-long-treatments — chemotherapy+immunotherapy+steroids the first time, a new immunotherapy drug the second time, and an even newer experimental immunotherapy drug the third time.
I appear to be responding well to the latest round of treatments — and may write more about this experience in a future blog post.
I mention it now because I saw firsthand — on a weekly basis — the brave and loving response of the medical community during that horrible time.
Recently another musical acquaintance shared with me that she stopped working as a nurse a year ago so that she could begin to recover from the stress and trauma of being a nurse during the COVID pandemic.
I know she is not alone…
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
It’s easy to forget — or ignore — the reality that most of the people who have died due to COVID were connected to a web of caregivers, family and friends who are now grieving their loss.
Deep sigh…
Millions of human beings around our planet — myself included — are now struggling to regain their hopefulness, their sense of connectedness with others, their equilibrium, their sense of purpose, and their mental health after being in survival mode for the past few years.
And some folks are also struggling with mysterious, lingering health challenges after being infected with COVID.
A recent interview on Fresh Air with a neuropsychologist named James Jackson reminded me that there are millions of people here on planet earth who continue to experience a wide variety of debilitating symptoms due to their COVID infection — the “long-haulers.”
As the Fresh Air webpage explains, these folks “struggle to remember things, perform basic tasks and solve problems” — which can lead “to a loss of employment, income, and important relationships.”
I have so many thoughts and feelings about COVID — as I am sure you do, too.
Maybe you will be moved to share a little of what you are feeling and thinking these days about the impact of COVID on our lives in a comment at the end of this blog post.
Part of me was tempted when writing this blog post to share a list of the high-profile folks — such as former presidential candidate Herman Cain — who downplayed or actively denied the significance of the COVID virus… and then ended up dying from it.
However, that seemed too disrespectful and schadenfreudey.
I did stumble across an interview earlier this year with a former Republican senator from Oklahoma — Jim Inhofe — in the Tulsa World, in which he explains that one of the reasons he retired was long-term COVID-19 complications.
At the time of his retirement, he said that he had tested positive for “a very mild case” of COVID-19.
But in this interview he admits that it has been much more serious.
I think he is referring to other US senators… but maybe he means members of Congress overall?
He also says: “I try to be careful, but I have to be reminded to do things like wash my hands. I have to do things I’m not used to and that’s difficult sometimes.”
I agree.
It can be VERY difficult for us to change our longtime habits and mindsets and patterns of behavior.
Apparently Inhofe has also been an outspoken climate science denier for decades — and we shall see how that ends up affecting him…and his family…and his former constituents…and all of the rest of the web of life here on planet earth in the upcoming days and weeks and months and years!
I think it’s been pretty hot in Oklahoma in recent weeks…
One final deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
Thank YOU for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts.
I am always surprised and heartened to check my WordPress stats and see that people continue to visit my blog even when I haven’t posted anything new in many weeks.
Thank you to all of my visitors!
And thank you to Pixabay for their wonderful and generous photographers.
Graphic design by Stephen C. Fischer.
And thank you to Doug Hammer for playing his Schimmel grand piano so poignantly AND for helping me to mix/master “Waltzing With COVID-19” via many Zoom sessions during the past two years.
If you are curious to hear more music, you can find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.
And you can listen to “Waltzing With COVID-19” on your favorite streaming platform by clicking here.
Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist will improve the algorithmic activity of my music there!
I am going to continue to wear a mask whenever I am inside a movie theater or a bus or a subway or a friend’s car (if the windows are rolled up) or a friend’s home or an office or a hospital or a retirement community.
This is a simple way we can continue to respect and care for each other.
We celebrated Patriots’ Day here in Massachusetts earlier this month.
As you probably know, Patriots’ Day commemorates the battles fought nearby in Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy (now part of Arlington) at the start of the American Revolutionary War between colonists and British forces.
All of these events happened quite near where I live — in fact, British soldiers marched past the end of my street (about three houses away) en route to these battles.
And there are historical markers up and down Massachusetts Avenue which document the skirmishes — and often the deaths — which unfolded two hundred and forty eight years ago in my neighborhood.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
I wrote today’s song, “Democracy Is Under Attack,” a couple of years ago after participating in a big march in Boston.
I was inspired by some of the chants I heard during the course of the day.
I am guessing that most readers of my blog are well aware of the astounding political events unfolding these days in the USA.
I had compiled a long list of them to include in this blog post, but today I realize that I do not need to burden or discourage readers in this manner.
I can let my song speak for itself.
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
The great lyricist Yip Harburg — who co-wrote classic songs such as “It’s Only A Paper Moon,” “Over the Rainbow,” and “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? — once said the following:
“Words make you think thoughts. Music makes you feel a feeling. But a song makes you feel a thought.”
I love this idea.
He continues: “Songs have been the not-so-secret weapon behind every fight for freedom, every struggle against injustice and bigotry.”
“(Think of) ‘The Marseillaise’ (or) ‘The Battle Hymn Of The Republic’ or ‘We Shall Overcome’ and many more.”
“Songs are the pulse of a nation’s heart — a fever chart of its health.”
“Are we at peace? Are we in trouble? Are we floundering?”
“Do we feel beautiful? Do we feel ugly?”
“Listen to our songs.”
Thank you, Yip!
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
When I am feeling overwhelmed by the news, I often turn to music for comfort, inspiration and balance.
I also turn to two writers: Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubbell.
Each of them shares a very thoughtful — and free — essay on an almost-daily basis which reflects upon what is happening in the USA as well as other parts of planet earth.
I am astounded at how many articles each of them is able to read and then synthesize into a cohesive and uplifting essay.
As I mentioned above, one doesn’t need to pay to read their work, but they DO accept financial contributions to support their work if one has the means to do that.
Here’s an example of Ms. Richardson’s writing from 3/23/23:
“In a democracy, the way parties are supposed to win elections is by making a better case for being in power than their opponents do. Losing elections is supposed to make leaders think deeply about how better to appeal to voters.”
“That system keeps all parties constantly honing their policies, thinking through problems, benefiting their constituents.”
“Our election laws are designed to try to hold the playing field level, and a party should want to keep the system fair in order to keep itself healthy.”
“But if a party is willing to cheat to win, it no longer has to work on policies that appeal to voters; it can simply game the system to dismantle the competition on which democracy depends and instead create a one-party state.”
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
Here are some thoughts from Mr. Hubbell’s post on 4/17/23:
“Americans are fed up.”
“A recent survey by the Navigator Group finds a dramatic increase in the number of Americans who believe gun violence is a top national priority. For tragic reasons, concern over guns is now the third-ranking priority among Americans—behind only inflation and jobs.”
“Strong majorities of Democrats and Independents believe that gun laws should be strengthened — as do 38% of Republicans.”
“The numbers are turning against Republicans on the gun issue. Combined with reproductive liberty, the climate crisis, and attacks on LGBTQ rights, MAGA extremists have picked the wrong side of nearly every major social and political issue challenging America. Although they can control legislation through gerrymandered legislatures, that is a losing game over time.”
“Democrats can win at the statewide and national level—where they can block G.O.P. lawlessness and enact gun reform.”
“We have a path forward — through grass-roots politics. It will be long and arduous, but we have a path forward. Let’s take it.”
Their essays are a welcome antidote to the firehose of information —and seemingly endless speculation — blasted at us by our media
Yet another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
So what to do?
I keep singing — with my Music Together families, with my friends Carole and Molly, with the residents of retirement communities and assisted living facilities, while I am washing dishes at home, and while I walk around my neighborhood.
And I keep giving tiny amounts of money to politicians — like the two young representatives in Tennessee who were recently kicked out and then reinstated — as well as organizations devoted to preserving/expanding our ability to vote.
And I keep reading my fellow bloggers posts.
And every now and then I write one myself.
I will end with a couple of quotations.
One is by President Joseph R. Biden (and/or one of his speechwriters):
“Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart. The battle is perennial, and victory is never assured.”
The other is by Mahatma Gandhi:
“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.”
Thank you to the photographers at Pixabay for the images in this post.
Thank you to Doug Hammer for his tremendous piano playing and expert engineering skills.
Thank you to anyone and everyone who sings-along — with this blog post, in my Music Together classes, at my gigs, while listening on a streaming platform, etc.
Thank you to Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubbell for your ongoing analysis and insights.
And thank you to YOU for reading and listening to this blog post.
If you are curious to hear more music, you can also find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing his Schimmel grand piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.
And you can stream “Democracy Is Under Attack” by clicking here.
Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist will improve the algorithmic activity of our music there!
So far this winter I’ve managed to avoid being infected by the flu, strep, Covid, RSV, and the common cold — all of which are leaping from one human host to the next here in the Boston area.
Maybe it’s because I remain an ardent wearer of face masks whenever I am indoors — leading Music Together classes, performing at retirement communities, shopping for groceries at Trader Joe’s, riding public transportation, or going to see a movie.
Deep breath of gratitude in.
Deep breath of gratitude out.
As some of you may be aware from news I’ve shared on Facebook, I was invited to participate in a 50th anniversary reunion concert with (most of) the remaining members of the original cast of the musical PIPPIN at a nightclub called 54 Below in the theater district of Manhattan.
I wrote a blog post in 2016 about my time as a standby for the role of Theo in PIPPIN when I was ten years old which you can read by clicking here if you are curious.
After I wrote that post — in which I wondered if any of the original cast members remembered me — I nosed around online to try and find contact information for any other original cast members.
I found one listed as a teacher at a performing arts school in Colorado — with what appeared to be a current email address — and sent her a message.
I was very touched to receive an enthusiastic reply in which said that she DID remember me!
She also shared that the remaining members of the cast stayed in regular contact — and that she specifically recalled a conversation we once had backstage about how I felt no pressure from my parents to stay in show business as I grew older.
I don’t remember that conversation, but it rings true…
Neither of my parents had any experience with the advertising/entertainment industries, but my mom had grown up in Queens, NY, and every summer my siblings and I and my mother would return to her childhood home and stay with my grandmother for a couple of months while my father stayed at our home in Washington, DC (he worked for the Department of Agriculture) and commuted up on the weekends to visit.
In 2017 I also wrote a blog post about how much I loved my summers at 47-39 197th Street — right on the border between Bayside and Flushing — and what it was like doing commercials, voice-overs, TV shows and movies as a child and teenager which you can read by clicking here if you are curious.
After I learned that I’d been cast as a standby in PIPPIN, I remember sitting on the brick stoop in front of my grandmother’s house and thinking very excitedly that my life was about to change…
And it did.
I think my parents said “Yes” to me being a standby A) because they thought it would be fascinating to see how a Broadway musical is put together; B) because PIPPIN would be previewing at the newly-constructed Kennedy Center in Washington, DC (where we had lived for seven years); and C) because most Broadway musicals end up failing…
But PIPPIN did not fail, and I ended up living year-round at my grandmother’s house — which meant that I could audition a lot more (for commercials, voice-overs, made-for-TV movies, and plays), and my career as a child performer took off.
Until it gently crashed back to earth a few years later, and I entered a prep school called Hotchkiss.
But that is another story.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
In the fall of 2021 I was surprised to be contacted by a journalist who was writing a book about how PIPPIN came to be created.
After stressing to her that I had just been a ten-year-old standby for the very small role of Theo and probably had nothing important or insightful to share with her, she still wanted to interview me.
So we had a pleasant phone call and — to my surprise…. as well as my chagrin — I ended up being quoted a couple of times in her book, MAGIC TO DO, which came out in October 2022 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of PIPPIN opening at the Imperial Theatre in NYC.
My third PIPPIN-related surprise was being contacted last summer by the original standby for the role of Pippin, Walter Willison, who has had an illustrious career in the entertainment industry.
He told me he was organizing a 50th Anniversary musical event at a lovely club in Manhattan called 54 Below which would feature original members of the cast.
And he wondered if I’d be willing to join this musical adventure.
I reminded him that I had only been the standby for the role of Theo.
But he very patiently persisted with his invitation, and — with equal amounts of excitement and fear — I finally agreed.
Another deep breathe in.
And deep breath out.
I found his invitation to be quite profound because I have had an anxiety dream at least once a year for the past fifty years in which I am asked to fill in at the last minute for one of the cast members in PIPPIN.
In this nightmare I gamely attempt to learn (and/or recall) the necessary dialogue, choreography and blocking while being rushed into someone else’s costume…
Then the curtain rises, and I hit the stage with everyone else, and I try to keep up with what’s happening all around me…
And then I wake up in a cold sweat.
So Walter was basically inviting me to live out this dream/nightmare in real life with most of the remaining original cast members as my companions!
One more deep breath in…
And deep breath out..
Long story short… the four performances at 54 Below happened earlier this week — and were very well received!
PIPPIN Reunion cast at 54 Below (I am on the very left side of this illustrious lineup!) — Photo by Stephen C. Fischer
I will probably write at least one more blog post about the experience — which was full of many funny moments, poignant moments, loving moments, anxiety-inducing moments, joyful moments and much, much more!
I am deeply grateful to have been asked to participate — and very curious to see if I ever have my PIPPIN-related anxiety dream/nightmare again…
Thank you for reading another one of my blog posts.
Thank you to Walter Willison for the HUGE amount of work he did to make these performances a reality — and for inviting me to participate!
Thank you to all of the beloved original cast members of PIPPIN who welcomed me back into their hearts — forty nine years after I had outgrown my role as standby for Theo and left the cast.
Thank you to the people whom I did not already know — music director Michael Lavine plus performers Joy Franz and Aaron Lee Battle) who also participated in this musical adventure.
Thank you to Doug Hammer and Mike Callahan for recording “Magic To Do” with me as part of a show we did at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston called WILL LOVES STEVE — which featured songs written by Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Sondheim, Steve Sweeting, Stevie Wonder, Stephen Flaherty, Cat Stevens and Steve Schalchlin.
And thank you to Stephen Schwartz for writing all the songs for PIPPIN — which people around the world (including me) love to sing!
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
You are always welcome to visit my website — where you can find many songs and learn more about my musical life here on planet earth if you are curious.
Any song you “like” or add to one of your playlists will greatly improve the algorithmic activity of my music there.
I hope you stay well.
And I welcome any comments you may be inspired to write.
I will close with a photo of the moon over Central Park which I took as I was walking up Broadway at Columbus Circle after our second afternoon of rehearsals…
They also both opened my eyes to how complicated, interconnected and corrupt our human-created world can be… especially when our wounded hearts lead us astray into greed, retribution, domination and revenge.
I watched several episodes before bedtime; so it is probably not a surprise that I woke up in the middle of the night and was unable to fall back asleep…
So I got out of bed and skimmed my inbox — which these days means that I deleted inumerable emails asking for money from all sorts of political candidates and organizations — until I found two uplifting pieces of information.
1) News that Catherine Cortez Masso is projected to win her senate race here in the USA.
As Michelle explains it on her Boomer Eco Crusader blog, ikigai is similar to the French idea of raison d’être — which means “reason or justification for existence.”
And one can explore ikigai by reflecting upon four ideas/concepts/topics:
You are always welcome to visit my website — where you can find many songs and learn more about my musical life here on planet earth if you are curious.
You can also find “A Beating Heart” on various digital music platforms by clicking here.
You can also find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing his Schimmel grand piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other digital music platforms.
Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to one of your playlists will improve the algorithmic activity of my music there!
This week I rode my bike from East Arlington (where I live) to Arlington Heights (where I lead Music Together classes three mornings per week) via a rail-to-trail bike path.
At one point there was a stretch of sugar maple trees with orange, red and yellow leaves silhouetted against a very blue sky.
And I had to acknowledge the beauty of autumn…
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
Dedicated readers of this blog may remember a song called “The Beauty All Around” which I wrote not long after taking a class called “Ukulele for the Almost Musical” led by a wonderful teacher, Danno Sullivan.
I recorded it using my ukulele and Apple’s wonderful GarageBand application, and then I recorded a new piano/vocal version a few years later with pianist/engineer Doug Hammerat his terrific home studio.
Among other things that church runs a much-needed food pantry and is currently hosting a family who managed to get out of Afghanistan earlier this year.
We’ve been rehearsing in the main sanctuary of the church, and it has been a great pleasure to experience the excellent acoustics of the space.
So much is happening right now in the USA — and all around this small, blue-green planet!
Accelerating climate catastrophes such as drought, forest fires, hurricanes, flooding, polar ice/ permafrost melting…
Ongoing health anxieties related to COVID, the flu, monkeypox, and whatever else may be coming down the pike…
The horrible war in Ukraine…
The rise of fascist political rhetoric and activity and actions here in the USA and in many other countries around the world…
And the list goes on and on…
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
My coping methods to deal with all of these challenges include:
1) Personalizing and sending lots of cards and letters to potential voters in swing states…
2) Riding my bike, walking, or taking public transportation…
3) Singing with the families in my Music Together classes and also with Carole and Molly…
4) Donating tiny amounts of money to tight political races all around the country…
5) Savoring moments of beauty in the non-human world…
So far we have not yet had a frost; so the cosmos, zinnias, and daisies in my neighbors’ front yards are still blooming brilliantly.
And the basil and marigolds on my back porch are still going strong, too!
Thank you to Carole and Molly for our ongoing musical journey.
Thank you to my Music Together families — past, present and future!
Thank you for a roof over my head, clean drinking water, food to eat (much of it from a local organic farmshare!), a steadfast and loving partner, and a still-beating heart.
Thank you to Peter Kontrimas, who did the initial recording of our eight songs, and to Doug Hammer, who helped us mix and master them via Zoom.
And thank YOU for reading and listening to another one of my (not-particularly-frequent) blog posts.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
PS: You are always welcome to visit my website — where you can find many songs (and learn more about my musical life here on planet earth if you are curious).
You can also find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing his Schimmel grand piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other digital music platforms.
Today we are experiencing unseasonably cool and windy weather in the Greater Boston area.
I sit on my back porch (wearing a winter coat for warmth) and listen to the cardinals, robins and mockingbirds who are all taking turns singing from the tops of nearby trees, roofs, and utility poles…
I also savor the marigolds, basil, kale, cilantro, and sunflowers sprouting in pots around me.
Sprouting seeds and growing plants fill my heart with hope.
It is such a weird and wonderful thing that a tiny speck of a seed can transform into a seedling!
To me it feels very similar to the mysterious miracle of how a caterpillar can transform into a butterfly…
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
I am deeply honored to learn that last Friday Michelle at Boomer Eco Crusader published an entire blog post featuring my song “We’re Running A Big Experiment.”
I have been reading her blog for a couple of years.
I always find inspiration about ways to improve my life right now — as well as ways to improve the future lives of our children, grandchildren, and all the other beings who will inherit the fossil-fuel-driven messes that we are leaving as our legacy here on planet earth.
If you are not already following her blog, I heartily recommend you check it out by clicking here.
THANK YOU to Michelle and to everyone else who has been listening to — and sharing! — this song after it was officially distributed to various digital platforms earlier this month.
Greetings after another long pause between blog posts!
I hope you remain well — fellow blogger or visitor from beyond the world of WordPress — and I am very grateful that you are reading this blog post.
I have continued reading (and commenting on) other blog posts during the past many months, but I didn’t have anything I felt compelled to blog about.
When I logged into my account yesterday, however, and looked at my stats, I was delighted to find that people have continued visiting my blog and listening to music even when I am not actively blogging.
Thank you!!!
Photo of Åland Islands by Lau Svensson — licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
It is truly inspiring to learn that — in the first three weeks of May — folks have visited from the USA, the UK, South Africa, Canada, Poland, Australia, Norway, Germany, India, Italy, China, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the Åland Islands (which I just learned are part of Finland at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea).
I’ll say/write it again.
Thank you!!!
Molly, me and Carole after a porch gig in Maine
Today’s blog post features a song called “Simple Rules” written by my friend Molly Ruggles.
Molly is a songwriter, pianist, arranger and singer who recently retired from her day job at MIT.
She created this lovely vocal arrangement for her and me and our friend Carole to sing — and we recorded it during a brief lull in the Covid pandemic last December.
Molly, Carole and I — as well as the recording engineer Peter Kontrimas at whose studio we were fortunate to book a session — were well-vaccinated AND wore masks except for when we were in our separate recording booths (connected via headphones with each other and with Peter).
We then fixed/mixed/tweaked/mastered it via Zoom with another great recording engineer, Doug Hammer — whose name will be familiar to many of my blog readers because he is also an astounding pianist with whom I have recorded many, many songs.
Molly’s song has inspired me to think about other “simple rules” that we human beings would do well to honor.
For example, this morning I read details on a BBC website about how many of the staff members at 10 Downing Street chose to ignore the official guidelines for appropriate behavior during a pandemic. One staffer explains that they felt that they were in a bubble (of privilege? of denial?) and thus ignored what the official guidelines were.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
One of my favorite “simple rules” is the rule/fact that we animals breathe out what plants need to stay alive (CO2) — and plants breathe out what WE need to stay alive (O2).
Photo of red panda eating bamboo by Pexels from Pixabay
I often feel as though we have done a very poor job educating each other about this profoundly simple rule.
Healthy oceans (full of plants ranging from single-celled phytoplankton to forests of kelp) and healthy forests (such as the Amazon jungle) and healthy agricultural fields and healthy gardens are not optional.
They are vital to every breath we are blessed to breathe — and which we hope to continue to breathe — here on planet earth!
Another simple rule/guideline which bears repeating again and again and again is the profound power of apology.
We all make mistakes.
In fact, making mistakes is an important way that we learn things — about how stoves can be too hot to touch, about how we need to look both ways before we cross a street, and about how lemon extract tastes more burningly bitter than delightfully sour (a shocking revelation which I learned at an early age when experimenting in the kitchen with my sister and one of her friends).
Apologies exist to repair human relationships when one person makes a mistake and hurts another person. Or another species. Or another community. Or an entire ecosystem.
In fact, I feel that much of the stress which we experience these days — directly in our own lives and indirectly from politicians, business leaders, and other authority figures — is due to past injuries for which no one has ever sincerely, authentically, and heartfully apologized.
Apologizing is not easy — but it is very worthwhile to do.
And if we are able to make amends for our mistake — taking action to make up for what has happened in the past — that is an even more profound act of healing.
Another deep breath in.
And another deep breath out.
I will end with one final simple rule: short blog posts are easier to read than long ones!
I am aware that I have written way-too-many, way-too-long blog posts in the past.
So I will cut this short and end with my customary thank yous… along with a lovely underwater photo of kelp (breathing in C02 and breathing out 02…)
You are always welcome to visit my website — where you can find more songs (and learn more about my musical life here on planet earth if you are curious).
You can also find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing his Schimmel grand piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Musicand other digital music platforms.
Carole, me and Molly performing in upstate New York
I earn only a fraction of a cent any time someone plays one of my recordings on a digital music service — but they all add up…
And if you are inspired to create a “Will McMillan featuring Doug Hammer” channel, that is even more helpful.
Lastly, if you live in the Boston area, Carole, Molly and I will be performing as part of Arlington Porchfest on Saturday, June 18th (rain date: Sunday, June 19th) here in East Arlington, MA.
We would love to see you if you decide to drop by for a song (or more!)
amusicalifeonplanetearth 