25mm

it's all for sale /  by admin

©2011 gary garbett.com

During a recent field trip to a mega home furnishings outlet, I discovered amongst the rows and rows and rows of couches and chairs in every color and fabric option know to man that ornamental adornments, like most furniture, requires an acquired taste. Regardless of your flair, everything's for sale. We didn't carry one home with us, but for a few bucks, you can even mount a realistic plastic sculptured buck as the focal centerpiece trophy to your home decor.

farther along than i once was /  by admin

©2011 gary garbett.com

My closet and dresser are filled with years of gathered fabrics that I rarely ever wear. I just don't have the time or the place to, but each are on my list of things to one day accomplish. After not wearing one for several years, I purchased a new wristwatch last week. I use to always wear one and not really sure why I quit. I like knowing what time it is at any moment of the day. It's another tool to keep me on pace with my regimented routine.

Ah... routines. My father certainly had his. As a teen I promised myself I'd never fall to such day-to-day mundaneness. Seems as though time and age have both changed that for me. I'm always battling myself to find the time to accomplish even a few items each day that I've penciled in on my ever growing "must do" lists. Maybe what's really happening is that I'm really living someone else's life and theirs is just getting in the way of my living mine. Or even worse, maybe someone else really has mine. If so, I just hope their living it exactly the way that I planned it.

As for today, I can scratch, "post daily blog" from today's list. Enjoy yours.

exit ramps and larger voices calling /  by admin

©2011 gary garbett.com

I sang along with Crosby, Stills, and Nash on Southern Cross this morning while driving by the overpass. I've probably heard this song a million times. It's one of those tunes that I always find myself singing along with. But for some reason, this morning was different. For the first time during those million and one listens, I actually heard the words and felt the emotion of the lyrics that I'd harmonized with for so many years.

....and music is her name.

a mile of an open heart and a six string /  by admin

©2011 gary garbett.com
So much of how I perceive life to be is incredibly sacred. When I witness such an honest outpouring of it, it extends to me the greatest hope.

During my 6AM drive to the office a few weeks ago the expressiveness of a soul captured me. Along the monument of avenues was clearly the openness of a heart. One of pain, one of apology, and one of sincerity. Posted on each street pole for nearly a mile were single-line love notes, each beautifully hand written with a heavy black marker on random neon colored papers. Each were posted at the same height along the heavily traffic route, four to six per block. Without coming across as overly sugar coated, the mile of I love yous was the most sincere and genuine love letter I may have ever read. The sentiment was honest, confessional, joyful, sorrowful, and real. Following three sunrise mornings, random letters began to slowly go missing. By the end of the week, all were gone ....leaving nothing but a memory.

God bless the poets, the songwriters, and every love letter gone unread.

ain't sad because /  by admin

©2011 gary garbett.com

One of the closing snippet stories Brian Williams shared with me during the evening news last night was that Dan Peek from the group America had passed away the day before. It saddened me to hear this, though the blow seemed lessened with so many of my musical heroes having left the stage early over the past few years. This year alone, there have been too many to count. They all left far sooner than I'd like, but fortunately each of them left a wealth of their art behind.

As I do each evening, I spent  last night in my office with my turntable listening to a few albums in their entirety before marking off another day from my calendar. Among a few others, America's debut from 1971 just happened to make my playlist. The album shined beautifully like it always has, continuing to be a timeless collection of musical depth, sentiment, and human spirit. Hearing track two on side two was perfectly brilliant and my personal way of offering a nod to Dan. Enjoying it once wasn't enough, so I picked the needle up as the song faded out and laid it down carefully for a second listen. Thank you Dan for chasing those clouds away.


Rainy Day 
written and sung by Dan Peek, 1971.

Whenever it's a rainy day
I pack my troubles up in my room
I chase all the clouds away
I get myself back to the womb

But I know that you're gonna cry
Tears are runnin' from your eyes
The piece of my life you take
Is one that so often breaks

Whenever you are miles away
I think of you the way you are
Your shining lips, your auburn hair
And then it don't seem quite so far

Well I know that you're gonna cry
Tears are runnin' from your eyes
The piece of my life you take
Is one that so often breaks

Well I know that you're gonna cry
Tears are runnin' from your eyes
The piece of my life you take
Is one that so often breaks