mitch said it was, 'another one of joe's sermons' as he and dave wasson and i chatted outside the old jersey lilly at the now suddenly hip pearl brewery, waiting to play the last set of a very laid back, easy going, high paying swindles gig. there was a a nice little breeze blowing across the parking lots.
he did add that he enjoyed them, which i thought was nice.
but as the word 'sermon' floated through the air, through my ears, to my brain, i pictured me in a room with my mom, listening to her and her friends from church, as she declared that i was definitely going to be a priest or a minister. i was destined, according to her. i had this gift.
i'm pretty sure at that time in my life, my sole purpose was to listen to all the beatles' albums as much as i could and try and jump my bike off of homemade ramps in the downtime between listens.
but i now notice that i constantly talk about music and it's healing powers and the mystery behind it's creation. much like someone who loves a certain savior.
so now, at 4 am in the morning, i think my mom may have been right. i talk about music to everyone i know, all the time, in very much the same way some people speak of a god. we heard and saw a lot of talk about god in our home growing up. but it never interested me in the same way that music did. at the time, we all just thought our mother was being a bit overzealous about her religious beliefs. now i realize that i'm just as obsessed about music as she was about god. she didn't live to see where music would take me, but i think she'd be pleased to know that it took me to what i think is a great place.
but most of us, if we continue to search, will find something in this world we connect with deeply that is not a person. it could be a place. but it's most likely a thing.
and with the deep love of this thing fully shaping us, we navigate the world while we're here. we find solace and gratitude and humility through this thing and with a true devotion to this thing, we can be lead towards a better, fuller life.
maybe i have the same desire as that of a person of faith: this need to proselytize, to utter forth with great will and conviction the attributes that this thing possesses -- "it will change your life." our mother was deeply religious, but now i feel that she saw how it could take someone's focus away from themselves and aim it towards others. which, yeah, i think is what music or science or art can do too and which i firmly believe can make a person's life better.
i know it would make my mom happy to see that i am indeed a preacher; one that tells everyone he knows that there's something special and beautiful and necessary in this world and it's called music. so thanks, mitch. i'm glad to be playing music with you. so is my mom.
