The Revolution Starts Now

It’s like Christmas. The BIG day is finally here. Today is Mid-Term election day nationwide. Other than doing my part by simply voting, I have wanted to do something additional, beyond the simple call of duty, to help the cause. And in the case in this case is the Democratic one. The balanced one and the moral one.

I realize that I do not have the power, clout or audience necessary to sway opinion with numbers necessary to show as a single blip on the voting radar, still, my soul says try. Pick up the acoustic axe and chop that cheatin' tree.

One of the secondary drills we preform while indoor cycle training, lifting weights, running or swimming is to relentlessly search for that place we call the groove zone. Called many things by many sects, from satori to flow-state, it can be described as the perfect balance, the optimal blend of a relaxed mind, a body at work and a spirit willing to experiment with sublime magic. In the practice of this discipline we often rely on the power and magic of music, which makes prefect sense because of its obvious harmonious and synergistic blend of poetry, melody and rhythm. As Duke Ellington was fond as saying, ‘It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got than swing.’ For our use, the swing IS the thing.

We were conducting our floor routine one day a few weeks back as the conversation turned again to music. Junior plays bass clarinet in the HS band and is learning the guitar. The guitar is an instrument I have some familiarity with. We talk structure, tone, styles, vibrato, delay, echo, sustain and descending chromatic scales as we plank, work core and stretch. He has a broad understanding for a kid who will be sixteen in three weeks, so I sometimes challenge him with lyrics from rock ’n roll standards;

• The sun is up, the sky is blue, its beautiful and so are you.
• Out here in the fields I find something real, I get my back into my business.
• There is too much confusion I can’t get no relief.
• I was born in a cross-fire hurricane wind.
• I’d trade all of my tomorrow’s for a single yesterday.
• Shake the hand that shook the hand of PT Barnum and Charlie Chan.
• As I got on a city bus and found a vacant seat.
• Where are you going now my friend where will you be tomorrow?
• It smelled like turpentine and looked like India ink.
• Kentucky women and Tennessee whiskey, there’s gonna be hell to pay.
• I was hiding in Honduras I took little risk.

And my personal favorite, and not simply because of the timeliness of the message, as I implore you here on election day 2018 to go vote should you not have already: The revolution starts now.

Here’s to the Blues.