May 20, 2003
Kerrville, TX
It's May in Texas, so the daily temperature on the Quiet Valley Ranch is in
three digits. I'm not complaining, though. Somehow in spite of frequent travel
to warmer climes this winter seemed interminable. I'm pretty sure spring is
winning, though, and summer not far behind. The leaves have filled in at home
in North Carolina and the house is shadier than it was a month ago. I'll be
home to enjoy that Sunday night. Right now the heat feels good.
Having grown up in Florida, I didn't really experience seasons the way we
do in the Carolina mountains. There are four of them in Black Mountain. In
my memory, at least, Sarasota only offered a cooler period for a small part
of the year. Other than that, the seasons were pretty subtle. I love seasons,
not only for the variety and the shine that winter gives spring just by accentuating
the anticipation, but for the marking of time. Somehow seasons seem to help
me heal. They allow me to feel in my body that the things I remember are receding
from the present moment, and now is what I have to work with. And not only
the moments that I'm glad to have distance from, but the sweet ones that I
might want to hold on to and would be healthier not to.
My great aunt Evelyn died a few weeks ago. "Great aunt" sounds like
a distant relation, but families don't always work according to the rules,
and Aunt Evelyn, as we call her in the family, was much more like a grandmother
than a great aunt. She was ninety-four, born in 1908, and she was a lawyer.
Add that up: "She" plus "1908" plus "lawyer."
When she died she left a room full of people that she loved, and left it peacefully.
She was still talking and present until the last couple of weeks. Really,
the only thing sad about her going is that we'll miss her. Most of the time
when I think of her I just smile. And I watch spring coming. It's good just
to stand in the circle with people like that.
I've been traveling plenty in the last few months and having lots of adventures.
While in Florida doing Pensacola's Radio Live show, I got to play at a couple
of elementary and middle schools and had great conversations with some younger
folks. It's hard to see "failing schools" such as these two being
punished in terms of funding. They are serving populations that are disadvantaged
and aren't able to compete on standardized tests, and therefore are being
denied school funding. One of the two I visited is in danger of being shut
down entirely. It seems to me that we're choosing to take money away from
the folks who need it most, and that seems to be happening more and more often
these days. I was glad to be able to hang out with these kids, though, through
the outreach efforts of WUWF radio in Pensacola. We had a good time, and they
liked banging on the guitar.
Also on that trip I played in Montgomery, Alabama, and while there I got to
visit the Rosa Parks Museum. I recommend it highly to anyone who is headed
that way. I learned a great deal about the Montgomery bus boycott and the
civil rights movement in general. And I felt challenged once again to take
on my share of the responsibility for where we are headed as a nation and
a world.
Maybe my recent tendency toward musing on time passing isn't all about the
season changing, though, or even about Aunt Evelyn's moving on, but is also
influenced by a recent birthday. In North Carolina we get new driver's licenses
on years that are multiples of five, and this was one of those, so I've got
five more years to live with this new bad driver's license picture. I celebrated
in three ways: I spent time with my family on Birthday Eve (my sister Margaret
drew the same birthday six years earlier so they can't very well forget!).
I played at the Acoustic Sounds Cafe in Little Rock, AR on the day of. And
on the way to Little Rock, while changing planes in Cincinnati, I dropped
my cell phone in a public toilet. Actually the last bit was accidental, though
I have often longed to do that on purpose. I adjusted fairly well to being
leashless for a few days, but alas, I eventually decided to get another one.
Now I just have to figure out how to use the thing. I'd bet it has more computing
power than NASA had in 1965.
It's not just the front yard flowers and the cell phone that are new, either.
It's a season of new stuff, and there's more on the way. New T-shirts are
currently being printed (finally!) and should be delivered in two weeks. The
really exciting thing about these shirts is that they are printed on organic
cotton and sewed by worker-owned cooperatives, so there's no sweatshop labor
going into the production of them, unlike the vast majority of T-shirts available
on the market. They're also printed with a special dying process that doesn't
need PVC-based inks, so these shirts are about as environmentally and socially
responsible as they can be. Design-wise, they look like this, though the colors
are different. The shirts on the right have the front graphics, and the left
side shows the back. Since we're working hard to get the new web site up and
running, we're not going to have these available for order by internet, but
you can call 1-877-357-8833 9 to 5 to order them from Rachel. As of this writing,
they're not quite in hand yet, but should be arriving any day.
There's also a new guitar on the way. Taylor has once again been kind to me
by giving me a special deal on a gorgeous guitar. This time, though, they
built one with some very special features, just for me. It's a K14, which
you can see on their excellent website www.taylorguitars.com,
but it has a cedar top, which will give it a much warmer tone. That's not
usually available with that model, but they're building one for me. A note
for guitar lovers: It will also have the new Taylor pickup in it. This was
just released in February, and I got to hear one in Nashville a week later.
They were designed by Rupert Nieve, and they sound magical. It's going to
be fun to plug it in. For those of you who subscribe to Taylor's newsletter
Wood & Steel, they ran a picture of me in the new issue, so I guess
I'm officially a rock star now (...or was it a folk spark?). If all goes well,
I'll have the new guitar in time for my mainstage slot at the Kerrville Folk
Festival June 7. That's a huge honor for me, and I'm already nervous. Amazing,
huh? I've done about 1600 shows in my life, but every now and then it still
feels like I'm starting over.
And speaking of new things growing, one of the most exciting events I've had
the honor of participating in lately was the Rolling Thunder Downhome Democracy
Tour. Jim Hightower, Patch Adams, Granny D and Laura Love were among the many
speakers, poets, musicians and activists who came together at the Asheville
Civic Center to be educated and inspired by each other and to work on building
ties in the progressive community. It worked, and more importantly, it's still
working. Patch Adams gave me a phone number for a friend of his that heads
an organization working to meet the medical needs of Palestinian children.
The Palestinian Children's Relief Fund is helping these children by taking
supplies in and by flying kids out to the U.S. and Europe for medical procedures
they can't get at home. These are people who believe that building is more
important than tearing down, and that it is our responsibility to make the
changes. Steve, Patch's friend, is going to show me around some next March,
when I'm planning a three-week tour of peace concerts in the Middle East.
It's amazing how things come together.
May peace be within, among and through us,
David