Music Write-Ups
How do you know Chris Earley?
How many MP3s do you have on your hard drive?
What is the feeling when you’re driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see thier specks dispersing? It’s the too huge world vaulting us, and its good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.- Jack Kerouac
The inner-nomad. Everyone knows what it is. It’s that part of us that always wants to be looking the next of life’s mini-adventures square in the eyes. The Jack Kerouac of our multiple personalities, wildly screaming reminders in our ears that it’s in the not knowing where we find ourselves feeling most alive.
This is the song that has fed my own inner-nomad for years now. Every time I feel stagnant or find myself searching for answers that are completely unanswerable, I tend to turn to Sexton’s In the Journey.
Something about it makes me instinctively take a mental picture of where I am. Remember how inexplicably happy being with this person makes you. Remember the exiliaration of seeing this place for the first time. Remember this night. Remember this conversation. Remember this laugh. I become much more aware that life is essentially a glorious collection of these moments.
It would be interesting to hear what song(s) others listen to when inspiration is needed to take the next of life’s adventures.
P.S.- Martin Sexton is amazing in concert if anyone ever gets the chance to catch him.
-James McDonnell
Thank you Travis Byrd III!!
Is there any better moment in life than when a random thought makes you laugh out loud with complete abandon…especially when it happens in the most inappropriate of settings?
Around 2 pm this afternoon I had to attend a meeting in downtown Boston at a fairly big law firm. I have a financial planning practice and, sadly, was accompanying Joyce, a sixty-eight year old client of mine, who recently lost her husband following a three-year battle with Alzheimer’s.
We met at my office and exchanged the basic pleasantries during the drive in, but it was obvious that this woman, who, just three years prior, had run with the bulls in Pamplona, was emotionally exhausted. Who could blame her? She had just experienced a heartbreaking three years that had involved watching her best friend slowly fade into darkness. Now, in sub-freezing conditions, she was trudging into a downtown law office with copies of his death certificate so a bunch of men in suits could begin the process of updating her estate plan.
Twenty arduous minutes into the last meeting of the week, and my mind was already wandering over the basics: I wonder what’s on tap for the weekend? Haircut today…or can I get away with it until next week? If I’m Tom Brady do I choose Bridget Moynahan or Gisele Bundchen? Shortly after deciding that both would be the correct answer to the last dilemma, Travis Byrd III (no exaggeration on the name) stood up to speak and, unknowingly, became the day’s MVP.
Travis Byrd III. I immediately got this kid pegged. Somewhere around twenty-six, less than a year out of some Ivy League law school, expensive suit, awful southern accent (likely from the Carolinas), and taking himself way too serious for a Friday afternoon. Here’s the best part, though. Unfortunately for this poor bastard, he must have read an article in Cosmo designating bright pink suspenders, as the business-fashion MUST for Spring 2007. As if being at the forefront of a new trend would ever wipe out the nightmarish memories of the runner-up finishes during his grade school spelling bees or the multiple times his underwear had likely been yanked up past his shoulders. Strangely enough, however, he looked way too familiar. Then it struck me how I recognized this kid…
I was introduced to the Scissor Sisters about a year ago. The band’s definitely a bit quirky but I couldn’t help falling for this song. As I usually do when introduced to a new artist, I had gone onto YouTube to watch a clip of them perform live. Here is the link to the performance I remembered http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzDLeEggMQ8. Funny enough, there’s Travis Byrd III (or at least his look-a-like) running out of a golden egg wearing the same suspenders he had on today. I shit you not…the two look so much alike that I had to watch this clip again before I could be certain that my man Travis didn’t have a second career.
Juvenile I admit, but the mere thought of this stiff dancing around with a bunch of barn animals in his suspenders and feathers triggered a quick ‘chuckle-snort’ on my part which, understandably, seemed to catch everyone in the room off guard. Maybe it was the added tension of the situation but as soon as Joyce turned to see what it was that I had found so funny I accidentally lost all body control. I felt so bad, but I had started into one of those laughing spells where the tears stream down your face, as you try desperately to catch your breath and regain some degree of composure. God I hope she doesn’t think I’m laughing at her circumstances.
Nope. Rather than scoff at my social shortcomings, something in Joyce had obviously decided to let go. I wish I were a polished writer because I would be in a far better position to describe the rest of our meeting. My best effort would be equate it to one of those Saturday Night Live skits where someone loses it early in the scene (typically Jimmy Fallon) and then the rest of the cast can barely contain themselves as they try to press on. Over the next twenty minutes Joyce and I combined for about five fits of laughter…neither having any idea what the other found so damn funny.
It was embarrassing. It was completely unprofessional. It was absolutely fantastic!
Laughter is a funny thing (pun intended). Many scientists now subscribe to the healing powers of laughter, or, at least, concede that it can be a therapeutic displacement of anxiety, stress, and hostility. This afternoon around 2:30 pm it bridged the gap between generations and gave a much-needed distraction to a woman who has had a very daunting few years. Every once in awhile we experience a day that reminds us just how important the little things in life are. Today just happened to be one of those days for me.
So I thank you again, Travis Byrd III.
-Jim McDonnell