Styx Concert

Last night Joe took me to the Styx concert at the Mountain Winery venue in Saratoga. Not ever knowing which bands sing which songs, it turned out I knew most of what Styx sang. I enjoyed the evening, not only because of the music, but also because of the fans and the way the musicians deeply appreciated their fans. It was this mutual admiration that created a great sense in me of the glory of mature people manifested in this unity of music. Four decades of knowing the music, memories of the time of the genesis of Styx and the richness of the musicians' obvious commitment to their gifts of music and song writing. I could not help but observing the lady next to us who clearly was overjoyed to be there and swayed with her arms in a majestic adoration of each musician and the 4 "buddies" in front of us who clearly were enjoying a time of their own air guitar and air drum playing dance moves, making me think that at one time in their high school days they probably did these same moves in their own bedrooms while listening to Styx on the radio or the record player. Styx continued to play beautifully and not too loudly or was that my ear plugs which Joe knew to bring for me as we had seats just 5 rows from the stage. Throughout the concert Styx threw their guitar picks to a very excited crowd and at the end threw more stuff, Frisbees, "green" bags and other little items with their Styx logo and the fans and Styx seemed to be fully satisfied with the evening. I too left with Joe deeply grateful to have participated in the musical reminiscence of a was probably for most of us a time of great freedom and joy before the responsibility of maturity had begun to stifle us from the simplicity of our high school and college days.

What to Wear

As I was hanging clean laundry, I pondered what to wear for work day today and my thought was put on love. In fact it was this thought of what to wear that inspired me to write a blog entry. As I begin to realize what is most important to me, prompted by a very challenging market place, with major financial institutions failing, capital markets rapidly declining and general worldly malaise due to continued war, US presidential candidates focusing on defending themselves and attacking each other versus describing the value they bring to the US, and other world suffering, we need more love.
Wearing love brings out our best, spurs support and inspiration and ultimately can bring the world back to a place of meaningful living. Where did we go wrong, perhaps we put on materialism that has led to continued greed and in the end revenge causing a world of hurt? Today I put on love and wear it in hopes of a new day and a bright tomorrow.

Becoming Connected

In the silence of this morning, with a candle lit, I did my meditation. I have not done this in some time. In this silence, there is a peace that is beautiful and wells up from within. This past weekend I went to Burning Man, which is an annual event where people fully express themselves through art, body painting, nudity and many other forms of self expression. While Burning Man was something I resisted more than I appreciated, I did enjoy seeing and praying in a beautiful temple honoring people who have died, a tented camp with homemade instruments that I played and that amplified this tremendous melodious vibration and two sculptures of a man and woman made of metal. In my reflection even now, I know that for each there own. As for me, my full expression of Self sits in silence in a grateful state of being as the universal cosmos brings to mind all that is good and all that is and realizing with all I am connected.