A "Secret" Ojai Show, Back to The Biggest Little Farm, and a Song Inspired by an Aging Banana
File Under: Just Let It Happen
Heyo. To brief you on my master system changes of late - life sans weed and Meta products is friggin’ glorious. It was an adjustment for sure, but I’m heaps more patient and far less easily aggravated overall. Maybe that’s not too big a surprise to some of you.
That surplus of patience is allowing me to be wholly present with some old buds: Feelings, Writing, and Discomfort, to call out a Big Three. It’s worth mentioning that I’m not and have never been the glue of the group - they all know each other separately quite well, too. But instead of sitting there all silent and sullen while they yap amongst themselves, I’m engaging each of them one on one. Interjecting the crosstalk, even! Without my old go-to quick-draw distractions, I can actually hold a pretty decent sidebar. Again, imagine that. A big, wet, heartfelt thank you to those of you who have offered kind and encouraging words, shared with me about your own changes, and simply opened and read these emails for the last year or so. So very appreciated.
Alrighty then. I’ve got three things for show ‘n tell today, and I’m jazzed about each of them.
I wrote a song a few mornings back, of the ultra rare (for me), “one fell swoop” kind. As I boiled water for coffee, I leaned forward, heavily, on the counter and my gaze happened to rest for a beat on two moderately spotted bananas. They were relaxing just so in our fancy-ish ceramic bowl. Snuggled up were two orange heirloom tomatoes, also moderately spotted, and also looking relaxed. At ease, everyone.
Picked Fruit!
The phrase announced itself with an air of over-importance, like some enterprising serf might while peppering the court royals with an opportunity they most certainly would never need. Any other day, I might have neglected the urgency. I can’t say why I didn’t this time, and that’s the weird gooey stuff I can’t really explain about songwriting. The presented phrase just felt like an E7 chord. Past Me had already ground the coffee beans the night before, so I hobbled downstairs (Monday is leg day) for a guitar, curious about this whole fruit/chord development. A few steps from the bottom, another phrase - Blue Suit. Wow a rhyme, clever! As I gently chastised my still groggy inner critic, I thought of a woman in a suit at a window, holding the picked fruit. Maybe the suit appears blue from pre-dawn light, or maybe there’s a blue light from a restaurant sign across the street, or… maybe this is a scene in a little black box theater play called The New You and the suit actually is blue. After a big fallout, and only when the heart is good and ready… there might be: new hair, new clothes, fresh picked fruit, maybe even a date or two…
Now, I’ve heard songwriters say things like “this song just kind of wrote itself”, which of course is physically impossible and only an idiom would say that. In the case of the banana giving me a line though… there I was being pulled gently along by some invisible thread… gamely allowing this all to happen while simultaneously being encouraged to fill in blanks along the way. “You know, for fun, NBD, only if you want to.”, some disembodied voice maybe was saying. FAR more believable than a song writing itself, which again, is total bullshit, probably.
Anyhoo, I’m liking it so far, and maybe it sticks around, maybe not. Time will tell. Well it probably won’t tell, per se. I’m honestly good with any outcome. It was a joy to write, and blessedly that’s plenty for me these days.
New You (demo):
The other two things:
SEP 21, 2024 - BWJ live at the Harvest Moon Festival
Apricot Lane Farms Moorpark, CA - 4PM
The event is family friendly, and in addition to a solo set from me, a band set from Alex Siegel, cute farm animals, good food, and an artisan marketplace, the evening will close with a sneak peak episode viewing of the farm’s new upcoming National Geographic television series. It’s a really sweet spot for music, come hang? I’ll probably play the song! Tix here. Use Code MUSIC for 20% off.
OCT 6, 2024 - Echo Magic Presents: Damien Jurado Live in Ojai - 5PM
Public On-Sale COMING SOON - Tap the button below to join our WhatsApp Community and get early priority access to this “secret” show and future events:
Recently, I wrote here about how finally seeing Damien Jurado live really moved me, and indirectly sparked me to make some healthful life changes. I’m so damn excited that we’ll be bringing him and his band to Ojai to play the beautiful new amphitheater at Topa Institute. On a lengthy U.S. tour with my old band Grizfolk back in 2016, Damien released Visions Of Us On The Land, which was on repeat for thousands of miles, and is still one of my favorite albums of his. Highly recommend if you need an entry point to his music.
Hope to see you soon. Much love!
~ B
Dude, stop making me cry. So happy to read your newsletters and so glad you included that song. Feels like I got my own private version of Storyworks here in Oslo, while gazing at the mountains I miss so dearly in that photo. Oh well, a few more weeks and I'll be back.