Advent: Wait Training, Blog, Week 4: Samuel
The improvising musician realizes the need for waiting is necessary to the creative process. The question is, what are we waiting for? Is it inspiration? For me, the problem seems to lie with the simple fact that each and every time I sit at the piano I find myself...
Advent: Wait Training, Blog, Week 3: John
This week on Darkwood Brew, we ask an interesting question ,”What Is Light?” We have all experienced light but do we really know what it is? Wikipedia defines it as, “Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human...
Advent: Wait Training, Blog, Week 2: Mark
We have become conditioned to expect instant gratification. All the TV commercials and newspaper ads tell us that we can have anything we want. We deserve it. Just go out and buy it. Huh? Whatever happened to saving for something? We no longer wait for anything. We...
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 8
Hope is always found in spirit. They are forever linked. Hope is the essence of the energy force that drives the spirit. To be “in the spirit” one needs to feel hopeful. To win in sports, we must have the will and hope to succeed. To be successful in...
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 6
This week we look at Matthew 6: 19-34. 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and...
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 5
This weeks reading from Amos 5: 21-27 couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. I am reminded of the scene in DeMille’s movie The Ten Commandments where the slave driver Edward G. Robinson (bad casting) reminds the Israelites of their former life in...
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 3
This week we focus on the body and how hope factors. Use of the body in spiritual context is not a new concept. Yogis have been integrating meditation and physical movement for centuries. The Chinese use Chi meditation as a way of integrating mind, body and spirit....
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 2
I have been reading some of the work from my fellow bloggers as well as some of the FB postings and must say that I am impressed with the depth of thought and spirit that people are sharing. The content of the writings and talent of the writers is first-rate. It is...
Blog, HOPE: A PESSIMIST'S GUIDE, Week 1
Each week we begin the Darkwood Brew show with a theme song entitled The Call. I wrote this several years ago. The inspiration came from years of working with students at Arizona State University. There were many examples of unhappy kids who were in college studying...
Blog, Can We Talk? Rant. Rejoice. Reimagine. The Psalms
The following was written on a plane flying home to Louisville after playing at DWB. It is an attempt to answer questions from viewers of DWB about from where inspiration to compose and improvise comes. ——————- Music is sound...
