Man, if you've been reading my posts you all know what's been going on this year...certainly one of the most difficult and challenging ones of my life. Both my parents in hospital for long stays with spinal injuries early in Spring, several good friend's deaths, my Mother's three months of desperate hospitalization and subsequent death later in the year, my wife Cynthia's Mother's death two weeks later...it's been very hard. Combine that with rough financial times (well, you take off work to spend time in the hospital), and the interrelated depression and alcohol overindulgence that seemed to be bound to follow me on this journey...and well, I'm not unhappy to see 2013 leave.
I don't know what's in the future, but I know that I have many choices I can make to improve the world around me. And I want to do that. A wise Zen Buddhist said once, "Every action you take either makes your world larger or smaller". I intend to try for the positive actions! I may not have control over what the world throws at me, but I can try to have control over how I react to it. And I think I can do that...with help from my friends and loved ones, of course. I am fortunate that I have so many who care about me. And that includes you there, reading this! Yeah, I'm talkin' 'bout you.
My next steps are pretty easy to take...getting things together here, taking care of my Dad, readying myself for the new tour with Michael Katon. I got the word on that...we're out in the UK and Europe for 7 weeks! This'll be the first time I've traveled with him in over 12 years, and it should be interesting to see what the perspective of that time will bring to the mix of the road adventure. I can only think it will improve the experience! There may be faster young dogs out there, but we old dogs are wilier...so watch out!
And speaking of Dogs, I'm in the studio this weekend to finish off some demos of original material for the Shelter Dogs next album. I'm sure that when I get back those tunes will be completely unrecognizable in terms of arrangement! Pete and Tom are such wildly creative people, they may take them in unexpected directions. Which is the general idea. Hopefully we can start working with them when I get back.
And while I'm getting those done, I'll be looking at my next solo project...which I pretty much abandoned last year when everything hit the fan. I'll see what I want to keep and what speaks to me now, in light of everything that's happened since. Part of me has no interest in the solo thing, but another part seems to think it's important to my life in some deeper way. It's like exploring bits of yourself that you may not be familiar with...uncomfortable but good for you. Like Yoga. Hey, I gotta start that up again too.
Well, you can always tell which posts get started after the second cup of coffee!! If you're still reading this, my apologies for a lengthy entry. But I AM glad it's the New Year, and I'm glad I have such great friends and family, and a chance to make things better for myself and the world around me. I'm gonna give it a shot, anyway!! Happy New Year and the best to you all.
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