OHHH Life

....is bigger.

Bigger than you

And you are not me.

..But that was just a dream

Try, cry, why try?

That was just a dream

Just a dream, just a dream

Dream

When the day is long,

and the night, the night is yours alone,

When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on.

Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes

Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord,

Count your blessings.

The papers wouldn't lie!

I sigh, not one more.

It's been a bad day.
Please don't take a picture.
It's been a bad day.
Please.

I've got R.E.M. running through my head this morning for some reason so I looked them up and smashed some songs together. I never really realized how sad and depressing a lot of their songs are. [Thoughtful pause] Still cool though~very cool indeed. And apparently they knew what was really going on-a bunch of sad stuff you just can't do much about.

Well, it's the end of the world (and R.E.M.) as we know it. But I feel fine. (fine, fine)

Okay, I can't stop. Since my brain IS 80% song lyrics, I guess this is to be expected.

I just can't get out of my head how rough times have gotten for most of my loved ones lately. Where are all the lighthearted sitcom circumstances? All the shiny happy people laughing? It's hard to find it amid the job loss, money lacking, sickness and death we've been seeing around here lately. If there's comedy, it tends to be dark or short lived.

Hold on.

This is not the kind of change we were hoping for! (Oops, that was campaign slogan banter, sorry.)

Back to the jumble in my head. I'm starting to wonder if the Lord is allowing more people to pass away so fewer are here to worry as even harder times come. Or is the crowd only thinning lately from my perspective? My aging self.

This weekend as we watched a dear cousin suffer a fatal heart attack during our yearly Red Rock Canyon reunion, I found myself thinking "And now, of course, THIS is happening." I didn't feel surprise-just more sadness. More grief for those suffering.

Why does praying not seem like quite enough?

If I thought latch hooking a rug would help in these times of grief, by gum I'd be turning out tacky mats by the dozen! I just don't seem to know what to do with myself to aid in this pain. I guess I'll just have to keep praying and work on being a blessing to others rather than a burden(says the dramatic high maintenance diabetic.)

Consider this, consider this:

Everyone around, love them, love them.

Where tomorrow shines, gold and silver shine.

Throw your love around.

Happy, happy.

And on that note:

This one goes out to the one(s) I love.

(My apologies to R.E.M. for what just happened.)

XOXOX

Talent Show: Day 5

Talent is as talent does:

Well, now, any of you who know my hubby also know he really has no talent to speak of. ;) Poor guy, I know. Since we couldn't think of anything good enough to compare to some of the previous entries, I just decided to post one of his recent attempts at "entertainment" where he is showing us one of the ways he makes music with his computer.

Like I said, not exactly dog ventriloquy, but it is something. (Wheeze!)

Love Out Loud-numero deux

The Love Out Loud show was such a fun experience! Friday night tons of people came and got totally rock-us and silly with us. I was so concerned I would freeze up on my keyboard solos, like the one scarring time in high school when asked to accompany our football king and queen's coronation ceremony (Barry Manilow's 'Mandy' has NEVER been so unrecognizable since- I pa-romise you!). I just couldn't entirely relax and enjoy myself until I knew my hands wouldn't betray me.

On Saturday night (since there was obviously no turning back) I decided I was just going to have fun no matter what happened. What happened was the arrival of an entirely different audience! One where in between the contained claps and the next song, you could hear yourself swallow. Gulp. But, not blaming this country/folksie crowd for not easily adapting to techno, we motored on through and had more fun than ever. If I can get a snippet of something presentable(no not the facebook vids) I'll find it for you and post it.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the muppet-esqe video made especially for the opening song played each night. Jamey made a video for all 11 songs we performed, but this one we all got in on. I,unbeknownst to me at the time, literally was in almost every shot-which was not my desire considering I hadn't a stitch of makeup on. J had to photoshop bricks over my head for most of the song.

(That would have been a strange q and a had someone asked what he spent his Sunday night doing. "Oh, just bricking out my wifes giant head all evening. You?")

Jamey is a wealth of creativity and talent, and I enjoyed practicing along to all the subtleties of his music. How his brain comes up with it all and how he executes each instrument in his songs, I have no idea! I had fun being a part of it this time though.

Here are some more snaps from the event:

Herva

Trish and her fabulous purses

Fool For Now from Saturday night(So beautiful!)

Rick's handmade journals and Dean peering over

Freedom and Nancy(the hosts)with an artist whose name escapes me-oops.

Herva donning masks just because we go all the way for our fans. ;)

If you wish to hear the hubby's latest songs and some of the ones we sang for L.O.L., you can find him here.

Love Out Loud 2009

Calling all bloglookers(cheeky monkeys, YOU)!!! :D

This weekend (Sept. 25th and 26th) we will be in Fayetteville helping promote the Love Out Loud Art and Music show our Friend Freedom Rodriguez puts on to raise money for his missions work in Africa.

The descriptive from the Love out Loud 2009 facebook page sums it up like this:

"Love Out Loud is an annual fund-raiser promoting the use of creative gifts and talents in cross-cultural ministry.

This event is inspired by exploring the question of the purpose of creativity. We may not all be artistic, yet the truth is we are all creative in various ways — through our vocations, hobbies, our everyday lives are filled with creativity. This creativity is ingrained in our human nature. Yet where does it come from? The Bible says that we are created in "His [God's] image" and we are the "workmanship [craftmanship or poem] of God". What does this mean in our daily lives? Is creativity solely meant for self-expression? Or should we actively pursue to glorify God in our creativity? This and many more questions are being asked. What's your conclusion? Maybe your still seeking. Well, Love Out Loud is the place you can explore these questions and possibly find the answer. Join us and feel the love."

If you are in the area, we hope you stop in to this creative extravaganza. There will be many hand made and painted items for sale, wonderful music by our friends Tab and David from Fool For Now, and I will be there both nights giving my contribution by playing some keyboard and doing backup vocals for the ever talented Herva.

Now, seriously, are you gonna wanna miss out on that last bit? I'm in a band for Pete's sake!! (Can we just guffaw together for a moment? )

Ok, now, back to business.

Here's the video Jamey and Freedom put together for those of you who haven't seen it:

Host:	Vintage Fellowship
Type:	Causes - Fundraiser
Network:	Global
Price:	FREE ADMISSION - Art and gift items for sale, and donations made to OM-ARTSLINK will be accepted.

Date:	Friday, September 25, 2009
Time:	7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:	Vintage Fellowship
Street:	3416 N. College Ave
City/Town:	Fayetteville, AR

Live it. Love it. And then, buy the t-shirt(they're really cool)!!

Love Out Loud from herva on Vimeo.

Last night at Tabbitha's house

This broke out.  Freestyle jammin' with Tabs, David and Jamey.  Take a peek. We had such fun I actually suggested meeting at our house next time.  With the kind of social activity I've had lately, I don't know how I'm going to keep up my hermit act much longer! It's really gonna be touch and go.

OH MY MAMA!!

I've got lots of packing to do today as we are heading out at noon for OKC.  I just wanted to quickly point out my friend Trish's blog so that you could have a little laugh (or sympathetic groan) in Pierce Brosnan's general direction.  She's got a little snippet of him singing with Meryl Streep in Mama Mia that just says it all! 

 This movie was EXTREMELY entertaining but mostly because Meryl and her man crew seemed to be trying way too hard at different points to be "musical".  Meryl sang fine but tended to gesticulate wildly throughout the movie like an overly dramatic teen and it was too much even to be considered "campy".  Oh, she WAS a trooper though.  

I don't even want to get into the others.   You'll see the awkwardness if you want to and hopefully you'll enjoy it to the fullest.  I certainly did!

Speaking of uncomfortable performances, I'm racing out of town to make it to a rehearsal dinner of a friend of mine from the city.  She asked me to SING at her wedding and my heart is beating faster just typing that.  Yikes.  Where did this stage fright come from?  I'm dragging Jamey along to play guitar and sing with me to make it easier, but I'm getting Pierces bulging neck veins already and I haven't even gotten there yet!  It's goint to take some prayer, and then I  need to keep chanting  " It's not about me. It's not about me...." to work out the nerves.  That oughta do 'er!  Now if I can just remember the words....

Ok then, just wanted to check in and say "HI!"  since I haven't been making my rounds very well lately.  Have a great weekend everyone!!  

The Answering machine song

I'm busy with kids and cousins right now, so in the meantime here's a little bit of real audio from my college days at O.U. (Circa-1991).
A few years back Jamey found a tiny old answering machine tape- I think I had saved for its sheer cuteness alone-and he wandered through it Homeland Security Style finding this little batch of messages. I had perhaps been staying with my parents in the city(40 min away from my apartment) when this guy was trying to reach me. I swore he was always just a friend, but I did realize much later that he had a "thing" for me all along. I guess it was that When Harry Met Sally kind of thing about how guys can't just be friends. I don't know.
ANYWAY, this was on J's blog so I thought I'd share it wicha. He put music to the audio because it's joyously uncomfortable for men to hear. And of course, it's great fun for me as well. TEE HEE! Sorry John. We all had our embarrassing times from those dating or not-so-much dating days. Have a listen!

"The Machine (Blow Things Up)" download
 

Pause for Station Identification...

Ok, guys and gals.  I don't have much awake time left in my day today so I'm gonna make this a quickie.  It's time once again for me to  take off the old comfy sweatshirt hoodie and hang it back in the closet, because THE PURPLE PIMP JACKET is coming out again!  OH YEAH!! 

 It's time to take a gander at my husbands music site.  And your gonna want to look long and hard because he's got about 50 songs on there that he has constructed in the confines of his tiny studio right above me, entirely alone!

I know. You're wondering what it would take to outfit yourself  in this sweet sweet ride of digital musicality.  But the thing is IT'S  $$$ FREE!!  I'm not gonna charge you a shiny penny for any amount of downloads you embark on.  And don't worry if your tastes lean in a limited direction.  Jamey has M.M.P.D  (Multiple music personality disorder), so he spans the gamut from techno to acoustic- all the way to hand raising praise music.  THE CHOICE IS YOURS for the mixin' Maestro!  Can I call you Maestro?  

So take a look  and see what the husby is made of at: JAMEYCLAY.COM