But fortune favors the bold. Succeed or crash spectacularly. I’m “all in” in every way imaginable.

“Even if I lose the game, I’m all in, I’m all in for life”

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Doing taxes today…and finding moments of doubt. Why strive? Why reach? Why work so hard?

Today, the answers are elusive.

Imagine waking up one day and taking a hard look back on your life so far.

Imagine if your reaction is only:
“Huh. Well…I thought I was focusing on something important.”

What’s the next step?

Kansas–Wayward Son

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Notice I didn’t say “quiet reflection”. I sing along to music. I scream at thunderstorms. I taunt the things out in the wild that would have my life…or worse…

Even more dangerous…I taunt those demons I carry within me.

I seem to have accumulated rather a lot of them…despite NOT mis-spending my youth. I wish I’d have known that IN my youth…I expect I’d have mis-spent quite a bit more of it.

clicky–> This song dredges up a lot of that sort of reflection. Give it a listen. Kidd Rock does it pretty well, and I’m riding that part of the country at the moment so it readily comes to mind.

This one is lost youth…that girl…that summer…and oh yeah, I remember. I will remember till I’m dead. No…that’s not true. I will remember far beyond that…I’ll remember until my soul is lost somewhere in the vast universe.

That time...Where the hell did it all go?

My Valkyrie runs on AAA batteries…you know this, yes? I stick a AAA battery in my mp3 music player and take off down the hiighway. If the music stops, often, so does the Valk whilst I search for another battery…another dose of music.

I can define or relive my life by the music I’ve experienced as I’ve made the journey…as I’ve traveled this road. Every album…from every artist…every record I’ve ever bought…every song I’ve ever liked…all of it…fits on my player with room for another 1000 songs (ANOTHER ONE-THOUSAND!). My whole life…in a player no bigger than my thumb. Scary that…but I DO love this technology.

So yeah…it was not 1989 (as it is in the song)…it was a large number of years earlier for me. Scary how many, really. Mostly I remember working…nose to the grindstone.

It. Bought. Me. Nothing.

That one summer though…it earned me my soul.

Food for thought.

Now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves began to change
or how we thought those days would never end
sometimes I hear that song and I’ll start to sing along
and think man I’d love to see that girl again.

Life’s short. Let’s ride.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Lots of food, great music, and pretty good weather made for a fun day. Lots of high-caliber artists with quality wares made for a “target-rich” environment for the discerning collecter.

I sold some books, made some friends, and generally mucked about having a good time.

Krashdragon came all the way out from Cleburne to pick up a book! THANKS for coming out! It was great to meet ya!

I expect to see the rest of ya’ll for next years festival!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

Music. Passion. Riding into the night. The shiver when dropping into a cool hollow. The adrenaline flowing when chasing the lightning in the distance…and the uncertainty when you suddenly realize you’ve no idea whether you are chasing it…or it’s chasing you.

Cool. Balmy. The unknown things lurking in the night.

Tasting the wind.

Y’all may know I ride extensively at night…the dayside too…but the night is where the magic grows.

Knowing the danger…and not simply knowing on an intellectual level. I’ve seen it. Felt it. Fought it. Experienced it.

Sacrificed much to it.

And yet still I ride. It heals the soul…or prevents it from breaking…or perhaps…it was broken long ago and the ride keeps it from simply wandering off.

We lift up our prayer against the odds
And fear the silence is the voice of God

I’ve never known for sure.

Music is important to the ride. Sometimes it’s the music in my head, sometimes the music on my player, sometimes it’s the music of the universe…but there is always music. The magic would die without it you see.

I don’t know if Emmylou Harris ever rode a motorcycle…but she understood.

I could write an essay on how this song relates to the rider’s way…and someday I probably will. For now, please, just indulge me and give her a listen. The lyrics are below. Follow along. See how it connects…if it does for you.

And then go fly…

Listen

The lyrics…follow along.

The Pearl

And we cry Alleluia Alleluia
We cry Alleluia

Life’s short. Let’s ride.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

This year the 2010 Clarksville Fine Arts Festival will be Saturday, May 22, 2010, from 9:AM to 4:PM on the historic square in Clarksville, Texas.

This year’s festival is shaping up to be a great one. There will even be glass blowing demonstrations!

I’ll be there signing books and will also have original art and some prints.

Art. Music. Food. Fun. What else could you need? Come on by and see me!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

I heard this song this morning…it popped out of my mp3 player on the way to work…I didn’t even know I had it. A message perhaps. Not the strangest thing that’s happened to me over the years (and miles). Not by a long shot.

I was instantly overwhelmed by intense feelings. A person lost to me and all the feelings we’d experienced together leapt to mind. It’s been a year now since that story…the untold tales…and the unlived chapters closed…unexpectedly and rather harshly.

It shouldn’t have been so hard…that year ago. My part in her story was over long ago…a decade? Two? I was not a part of her story way before her final page was written.

That final page…A year ago.

Really? A year? Perhaps that triggered the strongest feelings of all. Just where do all the days go? How do I not notice? What opportunities have shot by unnoticed as well?

I had to look in my journal to be sure…and that made me feel guilty. Once…I would have known the exact second…but there’s been so many over the years. So many seconds. So many memories. So many lost possibilities. The strength of the memories matters little, when there are so many of this intensity.

Passion as a principle has its cost.

Yes, it had been a year. More actually. That meant it was time to ride.

I left work…pushing hard into the heat. A hundred mile ride just to brush my fingers on the rough stone. The monument was cool depite the blistering heat of the day, but to my surprise there was nothing here for me.

That confused me even more. Surely there would be something special in this place?

Turns out there was only the dead.

It took a moment to realize…no…there was nothing special here because that essence…that presense I expected…as with many more that have touched my life…was with me all the time.

Never far away…

Passion as principle has its benefits too.

The journal:

Friday, February 01, 2008

I’ll see you on the road.
(end journal entry)

Steel and earth and fire and blood.
Never far away…

Yeah…

I’ll see you on the road.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

There were dozens of outstanding artists, a Friday night gallery show, some fine Texas wines, beautiful sunny skies, great food, rocking music, and a lot of friendly people.

Thanks for coming out…and we’ll see you again next year!

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer

The art of the song…

If you’ve been following along you probably realize I am nearly irrationally passionate about music…but not just any music, though it may seem that way at times.

The music that is art…THAT’S my music.

There is of course the music itself…the catchy tune, the harmony…but lyrics matter too…they should tell a story…but not just ANY story…sure they mean something to the author…but the good ones…well they should tell YOUR story…something you can interpret…something that touches you. That’s the way.

That’s the art of the song.

And then there’s the occasion where you wonder…just how the heck…did the writer reach right in and grab something of yours…in a literal sense.

Try this one on for size. It has specific meaning and memories for me…involving a bit of trouble, deep nights in the desert, new friends, and one of the first times I realized the universe was one HELL of a lot bigger (and stranger) than I had thought…I’ve been lost in that ever expanding universe ever since.

How about you?

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
I could see the city light
Wind was blowing, time stood still
Eagle flew out of the night
He was something to observe
Came in close, I heard a voice
Standing stretching every nerve
Had to listen had no choice
I did not believe the information
(I) just had to trust imagination
My heart going boom boom boom
“Son,” he said “Grab your things,
I’ve come to take you home.”

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer