Because I’m home and Keegan is not in school quite yet, I have a lot of opportinities to more deeply discover his funny and joyful personality. He is really drawn into music which is cool. This video is funny and at times he is so focused then he moves to excitement, much as the piece does. This is the piece I posted a few days ago – Jon Schmidt and the cellist.
Subscribe by Email 
RSS Subscription
I cant recall if I shared this before or not but this is simply a fusion of two great songs that change the genre, direction and potentially the audience of the originals. This is what the freedom of music is about. The feeling you get watching this is just how it feels when you are in a zone with a band or songwriting and something great begins to happen. They really made this their own to say the least
Subscribe by Email RSS Subscription
The North American Brain Tumor Coalition (NABTC) is an advocacy group dedicated to educating policy makers and lobbying for increased research into brain tumor treatments. The overarching strategy of the coalition is to improve the quality of life and overall prognosis of brain tumor patients.
I mentioned in a recent post that there are various ways I have found to “give back” and get involved. I have found that by giving back and getting involved it not only helps other people who are heading down the same road I have been walking but helps me tremendously. Likewise, I have found people who are further down the road than I and they help me. This fellowship is important and it applies to caregivers as well.
The ways in which I get involved have different ways of impacting me which of course makes total sense. Some of the relationships I have formed have been life changing. I have email-only relationships with people that I pray for and keep in touch with that are special to me. I have other contact with people that may be brief but significant. Obviously one of the ways I have been involved and tried to give is with this blog. Blogging about my journey, based on emails I have received, has given some people hope and strength. It also helps me tremendously. My album River of Faith, although a piece of songwriting about the beginnings of my journey/trial as a brain tumor survivor, has touched other people which humbles me. Volunteering and connecting with brain tumor survivors seeking support through the National Brain Tumor Foundation is another way I am involving myself.
I know that for all us – I mean ALL of us – brain tumor survivors and everyone touched by the diagnosis of a brain tumor, this is frightening. It’s a dark world in the beginning but people shine light over it. You are not alone and I feel that God has been with me through this and He’s in the middle of this. For me, he has placed me in this place for a reason and perhaps my testimony is being used to help others. Whatever the case, I’m involved. I took care and continue to take care of my business. God is #1, my family is #2 and everything else falls someplace down below that. I am my own advocate and you have to be. I did my research and continue to do my research as necessary. Am I missing things.? No doubt about it. However, I feel I have done a thorough job. I have enough binders of material full of my independent research and have read enough books to feel very well versed on the subject of primary brain tumors. My point is that once I got past the learning curve (which I crammed by the way because I was so fearful regarding my cognitive abilities and mental acuity after the surgery) I moved on. I wanted to be involved – which takes me to the NABTC.
This coalition is the only of its kind so far as I can tell. There are a number of ways to be involved. You can become an advocate which really requires the most effort but it boils down to how much you want to put into it – an understanding of the issues, writing letters and getting involved with your Representative and Senator to help shape health care and advocate brain tumor research funding. Or, you can just be informed – just understand and help by spreading the word – attend webcasts, sign up for the newsletters from the NABTC, etc. Advocacy is important in the world. For us, it started when we were diagnosed with a brain tumor. We all immediately had to start being our own advocate – striving for the best care medical science has to offer. Once you know that you have that and if you are in a position to do so, helping further the cause is a great way to help us collectively as well as future generations, children and adults alike, ultimately overcome this disease.
Subscribe by Email RSS Subscription
I receive a lot of emails every day from people – a lot of brain tumor survivors, family members, friends of survivors and of course from fellow musicians. Every once in awhile an email comes through that really grabs my attention. Today was one of those days. Several days ago I received an email from a woman who explained that her father has colon cancer and that he was going to be leaving on a trip to receive some specialized treatment. She said that she really liked my song River of Faith which is the title track of my CD and that she had searched the internet high and low for the lyrics. She continued by saying that her family was getting together to see him off that she wanted to make a family circle at this get together, play my song and give everyone there a copy of the lyrics to take with them – as a reminder to hold on to strength and hope. I sent her the lyrics and told her that my thoughts and prayers were firmly with her father and her family.
Today she sent me an email just to thank me and said that listening to the song really touched her and her family’s emotions. What an amazing compliment and how humbling indeed. As a songwriter, certainly this is what we strive – to connect with people through our music. For me, this song was really something that came in the middle of my trial and was my way of keeping the faith – not swimming against it but letting it flow. What I was happy to hear is that someone else was able to garner the same strength, hope and faith from the song as I did. Of all of the songs on my CD, this song has also enjoyed some radio success. For me, this song along with The Messenger and Angels of the Night are closest to me for my own reasons.
Many times in life it’s the little things that make life worth living.
Site Search Tags: christian music, faith, inspiration, lyrics, music, my music, radio, songwriting
Subscribe by Email RSS Subscription
It’s been a bit more difficult to get to the blog with so much going on. Work has been really busy for me which is a good thing! I’ve been really busy – in fact, this is busier than things have been for quite a long while. I’m just about finished with a song. I know I have said this for awhile now! I have a few that are in the bag musically but I just didn’t feel it. I think I’ve talked about my digital graveyard before? It’s a place where songs go that just don’t seem to go anywhere. Sometimes they are just chord progressions and other times, as in two cases here, they were fully produced pieces with drums, bass, strings, guitars, grand piano, etc. etc. and I just didn’t feel like they were going anywhere for me. Perhaps it was going through treatment? It doesn’t exactly put you in a hugely creative mood, however, songwriting isn’t something you can force – either a song comes or it doesn’t.
Well, I do really like the sound and feel of the one I’m chipping away at now. The music is nearly finished so the grinding part will start with lyrics and vocals. For many songwriters and me included, it’s the hardest part. A songwriter once said “my favorite part of writing a song is the beginning and the end” and it’s so true! You are inspired in the beginning and once you are done it’s a great feeling to sit back and listen to a finished piece (providing you didn’t cut corners and slam it out), but the grind can be tough. Anyway, when it’s done I will post it here.
So I’m still dragging with fatigue. Seems that each week I come off chemo it takes 3-4 days to feel sort of normal again. It’s just the cumulative effect I think. Not much that can be done that I already am not doing with regard to diet, supplements and the like. I finished cycle 4 as of the end of this week (I’m off chemo this week which is the last week in this cycle) so I’ll begin cycle 5/6 on Monday. Once I get done with 6 I’ll have decisions to make. It will be a difficult proposition for sure. Many of the other drugs are as or even more harsh than Temodar – and discussion centers around adding one in addition to Temodar possibly. Of course one option going off of chemo completely and seeing where we go. Lots of options and we will deal with that when the day comes.
My next MRI is this coming Monday so I could use your prayers. So far, all of them have come back stable – praying for the same or better results here as well. I am tracking this serially every 60 days and my last MRI was at the beginning of December.
Our small group is going through a GREAT study right now on living the life you always dreamed of living. The book that we are reading is amazing. I was reading it last night and the author was telling a story about giving his kids a bath and how his daugther is just filled with joy for no reason at all – she’s a little kid and every moment of the day, for the most part, is joyous. He said that when she is filled with so much joy that words cannot express how much joy she feels, she just dances around in circles. They call it the dee dah day dance because she is so filled with joy that she has had a dee dah day. He goes on to say that one night he gave her a bath and when she got out of the bath she was doing this dance and he’s asking her to come over to dry her off and she’s laughing, dancing and he’s saying come over here – hurry, I need to get you dry – and he starts getting frustrated because she’s twirling, running away and doing this dance and finally with a more stern voice he says “please come over here, we need to hurry and I need to dry you off”. Then he said that she asked the most profound question: “Why?” The point he made and what struck me is that our lives are lived by timetables, when is the next meeting, where do we have to be, what is next, what happened last, etc. and as a result, we miss out on the joy of now. He said that after she asked that question, he got up and did the dee dah day dance with her and they just took their time. What a concept huh? For me, I have done this exact thing with my son in the bath – we need to hurry, it’s time for bed, gotta get out, blah blah blah.
Anyway, this is a great study for us. Again, I could use your prayers for Monday and by all means please continue to email any requests you have.
Best,
Subscribe by Email RSS Subscription
I was saddened to learn that Dan Fogelberg, one of my favorite, if not most favorite and inspirational songwriters had passed away this morning at 6:00am. He fought a brave 3-year battle with prostate cancer. Dan Fogelberg, in my opinion, was one of the best “storytellers” of our time. His songs, such as Same Auld Lang Syne, Longer, Heart Hotels and many others were written in a way that songwriters can only hope to write one day – and he did it in a way that seemed so effortless.
I remember when I heard the news back in 2004 that he had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and I was taken aback. Prostate cancer is a preventable disease (at least early detection is possible and thus, a strong chance of treating and beating it is possible) and he wasted no time in writing a very strongly worded “sermon” as he indicated on his home page at Dan Fogelberg.com that urged every man to stay on top of this and get a DRE and PSA test every year. On his birthday in 2005 I believe it was, he wrote a letter to his fans that was posted on his web site but after that there was no word from him or on his condition. I knew that he had moved back to Maine where he owned a home.
His primary residence to that point had been a sprawling ranch in Colorado called Mountain Bird Ranch. He named the ranch Mountain Bird after his last name – Fogel meaning Mountain and Berg meaning Bird. I noticed the estate went up for sale in 2005. Here are some pictures – the studio picture is beautiful – he recorded a lot here apparently – it’s sad to me to look at this.
I was able to see Dan live in 1991 and unfortunately that was the only time. He was to tour in 2004 and canceled the tour due to his diagnosis. He will be missed but his music lives on.
Subscribe by Email RSS Subscription
I have been meaning to add a page to the site called “storytellers” for quite some time. I received a number of emails from people who asked if I would be willing to tell the story behind each song that I wrote for River of Faith. I thought about this and thought it was a great idea and found it interesting that so many people were interested in the “back story”. For anyone that has seen the VH1 show in the US called “Storytellers”, the concept is very much in that vein.
To that end, you’ll find a tab at the top of the site called Storytellers. I have written narrative that explains the story behind each track on the album and have embedded an mp3 player that will play the track below the narrative. I hope you find it interesting and thank you to those that sent me emails!
Subscribe by Email RSS Subscription
I’ve been thinking about this lately – really over the past 24 hours or so. I haven’t written a song since “Angels of the Night” in mid-May which was the last track I added to River of Faith. That song is probably the one cut that has grown on me the most of all the songs I wrote for the album, probably that song and “The Messenger”. Anyway, since everything cranked up here with my treatment, and I had the album wrapped up about the time my surgery was scheduled (in fact, the cdbaby.com site was established two days prior to my surgery on June 29th), I haven’t even played a note, wrote a word down in my lyric tablet or had the notion to write a song. Part of this certainly is what happens after completing a project – there is a lull. However, a significant part of this is just being emotionally drained by what is going on in my life right now.
Today, however, I’ve been looking over at my studio equipment and thinking that I need to play – I need to write. As I type this, I’m in my studio and I believe that I’ve taken enough time away. And it’s not writing into a project, it’s writing some songs to get out what I need to – not really any different than what I did with the River of Faith album. So, I think I will fire everything up and just play the piano for starters – just stream of consciousness. I may not even write songs right now, but playing has a certain therapeutic value. It’s been over a month since I’ve touched anything in my studio – and I don’t blame myself what with the gravity of what is happening right now, but it’s time to get back to what I enjoy. The more normalcy I can inject into my life in the midst of the madness, the better! Slowly, I’m getting there…
Site Search Tags: songwriting, album, lyrics, studio, river of faith
Subscribe by Email RSS Subscription
Subscribe by Email RSS Subscription
on 6 months…moving forward can be difficult.
on 6 months…moving forward can be difficult. on Memorial Service Details on Current Status on CBS News: What’s Behind the Mystery Cancer Cluster?
Brain Tumor Headlines
