Great Week

Had a great week in Tennessee. Cyndi and I drove out to Chattanooga, stayed at the Chattanoogan and Went up to Lookout Mountain, and enjoyed the sites. Ruby Falls was awesome, some 1200 feet under the mountain, a half mile walk through the cavern and wow. What a spectacular thing.

The latter part of the week I spent writing in Nashville. I’ve got a couple of great tunes that will be demo’d in a short time. I’m looking forward to sharing them with you. Great to be back in town. I’m actually heading north in Michigan for a few days, but will be back to the grind soon enough.

The South Has Great Restaurants

Cyndi and I flew into Nashville this morning and drove to Chattanooga for our anniversary. As we left Nashville we stopped for lunch, and in Chattanooga we had dinner. After dinner, Cyndi said what I was thinking. “So far, the south wins”.

Not only in food. I realize that I may be displaying a greener grass symptom, but the food, quantity, and the service were stellar and reasonable so far, and the people friendlier. If they hated their jobs, they kept it a secret from me.

C’mon northerners.. let’s raise the standard! The south is kickin’ our butt in this category.

I’ll be back in Nashville tomorrow night. I’ll let you know if anything changes my mind.

Can You Name That Song?

I was online and someone was playing guess that lyric. You know, someone puts up a partial lyric and everyone tries to guess it.

When it was my turn, I put up this one:

There he sits with a pen and a yellow pad
What a handsome lad
That's my boy
BRLFQ spells mom and dad
But that ain't too bad
That's my boy
You can have your TV and you nightclubs
And you can have your drive in picture show
I'll stay here with my little man near
We'll listen to the radio
Biding my time and
Watching Scotty grow

Anyone remember that? Mac Davis wrote it, Bobby Goldburo sang it.

I was 10 years old and home from school for some reason. It was raining.. a cool Michigan fall rain. I had heard the song before, but this particular day, I did something for the first time. My grandparents lived down the road from us, and each afternoon, they would walk down and sit a spell. (This day I suppose they drove down because of the rain.)

Anyways, my grandfather was in the living room and we were playing chess. He preferred checkers, but played chess to humor me. I snuck into the kitchen and did something for the first time. I called a radio station and requested a song to be dedicated to my Grandfather.. Watching Scotty Grow. I remember waiting around for an hour before they played it... and I don’t remember my grandfathers’ reaction. At 10 years old, I guess I was more concerned with mine.

Not long after that, it was my first single purchase.. (wish I still had it.) It was the first lyric I learned.. or remembered learning. It was a song that moved me. It spoke to me. It was my musical awakening. At 9 years old, Mac Davis had awakened my emotions.

I had forgotten it.. and it all came back with a lyric challenge. So much I had forgotten. I could still quote a good portion of the lyric.

Anyways, a shout out to Mac Davis! Bobby too..

I’m sure you have a song that awakened your emotions. It might be hard to remember, but think about it. What was the song? Where were you when you heard it? What were your doing?

Work just got Crazy

So. I work a day job to help pay the bills and it just got crazy. We had to let someone go and for the time being, I get to do his job, too. Sorry for the delay in posting.

I don’t mind, but I’m pretty brain-dead by the end of the day, and my writing is going to suffer for awhile. I’m looking forward to my upcoming trip, though. That will be a good reprieve for me.

In writing, though, I’m working on a pop tune with my good friend Enda Cullen from Dublin, Ireland. We had an opportunity to do some writing for some female pop artists, and we both wondered if we could do it. Its definitely outside of my comfort zone, as well as Enda’s, but its been fun. I had a great recording session with my daughter and mixed her voice last night. Fun stuff. We’ll see where it goes.

Hiding in the Shadows

I was walking downstairs early one Saturday morning... (that’s when I tend to write most prolifically, while everyone else in the house is asleep).. and I looked outside. It was still dark, and there was full moon. The yard was this deep blue-gray and the sidewalk, almost blue. Under the eaves of my porch the shadow of the moon created this dark area against the wall of my house. It was really the only dark area outside, as the moon was so bright.. Even at night there was no hiding from the moon, except in the shadows.

I got to thinking of the times I hide. Not from the moon, but from my potential.. my abilities... my duty. The times I fear failure.. or success.. when I disengage the drive of my life and coast.. take a break. Not because I’m tired, but because I’m afraid.

I looked at that shadow. It was the perfect place to hide. It was as if I was found out.

Now, it seems like no one else gets seriously hurt when you hide in the shadows. How could they? You don’t do anything.. either good or bad. You just exist. The time seems to drag, yet it flies... and when its all said and done and I finally step back into the light, there’s nothing to show for those times. No failures. No mistakes.. No success. No impact. No one gets impacted... is this really harmless to them or myself?

I wrote this when I got to the bottom of the stairs:

Moonglow Shadow

Blessings,

Tim

Nashville Trip

I’m heading to Nashville again at the end of the month. I’ve got some writing appointments, and Cyndi and I are going to spend some time vacationing for our anniversary.

We’re flying into Nashville and driving out to Chattanooga for a day or two. Then we’ll head back to Nashville and Cyndi will enjoy the hotel pool in the mornings while I write and we’ll do the show thing in the evenings.

I’m writing with a couple of great writers, and have a few slots open that I hope to fill before then. I love the challenge of preparing for a write session. I“m pretty much a solo writer, and although I’ve done cowrites in the past, most have been long distance.

No matter how many times I do it, though, I’m always a little nervous going in. I’m meeting with some new writers this time, though, and I’m excited about the prospects. Nervous, but excited.

A Lifetime of Temporary Relief!

I was watching the highlights of the greatest catch this year in major league baseball when I saw a Craftmatic III Adjustable Bed advertisement.

It advertised, “Call now to find out how you can get A Lifetime of Temporary Relief with the new Craftmatic III Adjustable Bed.

It struck me that a lifetime is certainly temporary..

What struck me funnier was that I was watching ESPN.. and apparently its a pretty geriatric crowd demographic who watches with me.

Maybe they should offer a cable box and plasma to go along with the Craftmatic III? Plasma .. I crack myself up.

Write hard. Write often

T