filler up with unregular please!

so this here online journal hasen't been getting much love in the past few days, weeks, months, but what can i say, it is the winter. nothing much has been going on that is blog worthy or maybe everything is blog worthy? you never know what people will read. well, the reason for this post is that i got posed a question last weekend and gave what i think was a totally lame answer to the question, so i am re-answering the question. even though the person who asked the question might not even see this post, i still need to re-answer.

i was asked, might i add very late in the early morning, what my favorite band was. in a drunkin' haze, i gave my answer based on the first band that popped into my mind. for the past week that response has weighed, not too heavily, on my brain. i really like the band that i mentioned, but in the overall scheme of the question, i really do not have a favorite band. i love music in general. music had been a big part of my life thus far and i can not see it going anywhere. i have had so many good times, travels, spiritual moments and realizations during moments with in the experience of music. from the first band i really liked when i was in forth grade, to my teenage years being a straight-edger that couldn't get enough of robert nesta marley, to the many concert runs of various bands throughout my life. music is here, it is real and it has no boundaries. from the rhythm being tapped out during the daily grind, or exercise, to the cosmic metronome of the sun and the moon conducting the growth of the green earth. it comes in all forms, from any shape and size, to our senses to be interpreted in anyway we see fit.

since i was young, i was very interested in creating music. i took basic drum lessons when i was in elementary school for a few years, but wasn't really into the structured format to learn what seemed like something that comes from within. i bagged the drum to later return when i was 18 once i heard the drumming of jim donovan, rusted root fame. i picked up a djembe and have been creating rhythm for the last 12 years. the best teacher for drumming, that i have found, is nature. the rhythmic patterns created by nature are the most organic and can flow consistently as long as you can. some of my favorite lessons have been with the local water falls, and with, of course, the energy of the lehigh river. as of late, i have been quenching my musical palatte with the guitar. this instrument has always intrigued me, and since my friend shawn showed me a few chords a few years back, i haven't looked back and have been learning as much as i can.

another great part of music, to me, is the way it makes you feel. hearing that same song over again that makes you think of good times, bad times, or the inbetween times. the feeling i get when i listen to a bootleg of a concert i was at, remembering my state of mind at the time or the memories of my old man and i hitting a few shows of the crosby, stills, nash and young reunion tour. that shit transcended generation barriers! the feeling is amazing not just from listening, but also from creating. joining in on a raging drum circle, to standing around in a friday night pickin' circle with some close friends, the connection is far beyond conversation and really can't be described in words, but can be conveyed throughout the surrounding area to connect everyone in the vicinity. this question has been on my brain ever since i gave the wrong answer, like it was a test or something, but i had to return with a proper answer. i can give one definite answer for right now and that is that one of favorite songs, right now, was written by joshua finsel and is called "the lehigh river song." the vibe in the room last night was brought on by the energy of that song. there will never be a definitive answer to the posed question from a week ago and i'm sure my new answer would have been better as conversation at the time of the question, but what the hell, it now has become some good reading. "You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin away." ~ paul simon ~