The Daily News
1 Wednesday. Allow me to preface by saying most of this was written last night. Not this intro, but the rest of it, to be sure. I have since found that we lost two friends recently, and I had no idea until after I had written this. Or after it had written itself. There was a spirituality guiding it, of that I am certain. So. Here it all is, in its base ignorance. I hand it over with a humble respect for families and friends. But I know it needed to be shared. That much I know. Here it is:
2 We're winding down, aren't we?
3 Like those pics of Maren and Isla?
4 I love them.
5 Eleven more DN's after this.
6 It'll be here fast.
7 It gave me pause.
8 Last night.
9 Only for a second, but it gave pause.
10 I've driven this rickety old thing over all sorts of roads, and zipped it through time.
11 I'm considering beginning the last one and working on it a little bit each day. What I don't want is the last one to be a rush job, but my experience of having written this for twenty years dictates the last one disappearing silently, but not fade away. And it's not just about that. Things change. That's the only thing constant. Things change.
12
13 My DN peeps won't be left hangin' though. It's just that I won't be publishing every day. At this point, I'm trying to figure out how to keep stuff out there without becoming a series of tweets.
14 Tweets will never do.
15 I joined Twitter a while back. I even got a name and an account and all. I remember going in to what seemed like an enormous aluminum building and saying a loud, "Hello?"
16 I got echoes. It was the weirdest thing.
17 Then a highway occurred where I swerved out of the way of a few tweets that tried to hit me.
18 I never quite got it. More recently, I "followed" Stephen King for a stint.
19 For a guy who I admire, I found he didn't have much more to say than did the next guy. He just said it better than most.
20 Anyway, I don't see spending days on end tweeting.
21 We'll have to see. I do intend to put something significant out there at least once a week. I just don't want to be held to anything.
22 So my decision right now is this: We'll see.
23 I haven't had time to think lately, what with the craziness of playoff sports, fast lives, babies, and all the rest.
24 The entire Paris artiste thing hit me after I spent the early part of last night taking random pictures of the baby girls. For no reason, I tossed my newsie cap onto Maren's head, and she became a model, at least in my frabjous eyes. I took a bunch, snapping away. I looked over and saw Isla looking like a Parisian sketcher. I again snapped away, different baby, different angle, and with feet and arms flailing every which way. It was a not unlike one's first attempt at Spin-Art.
25 What I wound up with was a whole bunch of fun pics.
26 I kept looking, snapping, and laughing. I imagine this happens to professional photographers all the time.
27 I'd never be able to do this, although I have done LOTS of candid shots over the years. I always feel that people look more natural than they do when they pose.
28 The trouble with candid shots is that you need to take lots of them, and you end up deleting the vast majority.
29 I enjoy taking pictures, always have. A lot of principles of staging, blocking, color, lighting, and other elements of theatre are similar, the same way a person who plays saxophone can often master the clarinet. It's one thing it's like uh...
30 This next part of today's DN just happened by itself. For whatever reason, Joni Mitchell's The Circle Game popped into my head. I found an old version, but I wanted a live version. The first one to come up on You Tube was this version. The reference to Van Gogh and Starry Night has always been considered an official "Heidi" trip, something I have talked about over the years. I pay careful attention to Heidi trips, and it is too long a story to share here, as I have shared it many times right around Halloween. You might cruise some of my old Halloween DN's; I guarantee you'll find something.
31 This morning my daughter Nicole re-posted a video tribute she made for Caitlin. She included two spiritual songs in the video: God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, and For Good, from Stephen Schwartz's Wicked.
31 This morning my daughter Nicole re-posted a video tribute she made for Caitlin. She included two spiritual songs in the video: God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, and For Good, from Stephen Schwartz's Wicked.
31 It is nowhere near Halloween right now, but there is something strong about this particular coincidence, the one happening right now. I'd rather allow it to finish on its own. There have been, by the way, a few Halloween coincidences that have happened in the past week, including a reference Caitlin made just today, when she questioned why she decorated the house for Halloween this year when the girls wouldn't have had any memory of it.
32 It WAS our first outing with the kids. We took them to a cornfield that reminded me of Field of Dreams and all. Anyway, I played the You Tube live version of The Circle Game, and Joni Mitchell had this to say to the audience before asking them to join in the singing:
"...and the major difference between, you know, uh... performing arts to me and being a painter...like a painter does a painting, he does a painting, that's it, you know? He's had the joy of creating it, hangs it on some wall, somebody buys it, somebody buys it again or maybe nobody buys it and it sits up in a loft somewhere 'til he dies but he's never, they nobody's ever said to him, you know, nobody ever said to Van Gogh, 'Paint a Starry Night again, man!' you know? He painted it, that was it...let's sing this song together, okay?"
---Joni Mitchell, introduction to The Circle Game live, 1974
Album: Miles Of Aisles - 1974 - Label: Asylum
The Circle Game
by
Joni Mitchell
Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like when you're older must appease him
And promises of someday make up his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell take your time it won't be long now
'Til you drag your feet to slow the circles down
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There'll be new dreams maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look
Behind from where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
And go round and round and round
In the circle game
33 I'm not sure at all how the DN morphed right there.
34 I listened.
35 The song touched me. It always did.
36 I think this DN is art that happened.
37 I had nothing much to do with it except simply to allow it.
38 I woke up this morning to news that two people in our own circles passed away. I had no idea, been too busy and all, and suddenly I found this news after having written this.
39 Kevin Wilson, a friend to many, has passed, and many of his friends and family are dealing with this. My heart goes out to everyone touched by this news.
40 And Dave Hollinbeck has also departed. My heart sank, and I give all my love and prayers to everyone.
41 I can offer little solace, not at least with words. I can say that last night, without the news, something, or someone, maybe two, steered my hand to Joni Mitchell. The name Heidi came up on the news this morning. It all rocked my soul, most all of it last night. I didn't know any of the news until about a half hour ago. So I share this, for what it's worth.
39 Kevin Wilson, a friend to many, has passed, and many of his friends and family are dealing with this. My heart goes out to everyone touched by this news.
40 And Dave Hollinbeck has also departed. My heart sank, and I give all my love and prayers to everyone.
41 I can offer little solace, not at least with words. I can say that last night, without the news, something, or someone, maybe two, steered my hand to Joni Mitchell. The name Heidi came up on the news this morning. It all rocked my soul, most all of it last night. I didn't know any of the news until about a half hour ago. So I share this, for what it's worth.
42 Gottago.
43 I'm at a loss. I hope this evoked hopes, and maybe even smiles. Look to the sky for answers. It's the best I could offer. Be strong, and cry when you need to. It's allowed.
44 See you again.
45 Have a soulful day. But gottago.
46 Peace.
~H~
fin.
No comments:
Post a Comment