Monday, March 24, 2014

Plum


 

 

well my dear ones,

 

 

I’ve spent over a week trying to

write about something else, anything else,

but it’s just not working,

which is an indication that this

is what I’m supposed to write about.

 

“Plum” is a singer.

At least I always thought it was Plum.

But when I looked up that moniker,

it appears she spells her stage name “Plumb.”

She added a “b” in honor of her producer,

Matt Bronleewe, and his contribution

to her sound (which is cool, of course).

 

Anyway, her real name is Tiffany Arbuckle Lee,

which I guess she thought was too long

to fit on an album cover. *lol*

 

Originally, her songs were published as

Christian Contemporary Music,

but some thought her material too dark

for that particular genre,

so she branched out into Alternative Rock

and Electric Dance Music.

 

Plumb touches on some deep topics,

like her song, “Cut,”

(a song about small cutting,

 not suicide, but just trying to

 externalize the internal pain;

 I know many cutters, so I can relate)

which was featured on the Vampire Diaries,

or “Damaged,” a song about a girl

who is coping with being molested as a child.

 

Back in 2000, she was thinking of leaving

the music industry for good,

when a fan wrote to her about “Damaged,”

saying,

“Whatever you do,

 I just want you to never forget

 that you have changed someone's life.”

 

That letter inspired Plumb to stay in music

...and I’m glad she did;

I love her music;

I can listen to her for hours,

which I often do.

 

She has one song I must have listened to

like 57 times,

and I’m sure I’m good for another 57 or so.

“Don’t Deserve You,” is a song

written on two levels;

in one way, it’s about her son,

and how much he means to her life;

but it also has a deeper meaning

about how much God loves us,

or, as she puts it:

 

“You never give up

 When I'm falling apart

 Your arms are always open wide

 And you're quick to forgive

 When I make a mistake

 You love me in the blink of an eye.”

 

Something about that line of

God loving us in the blink of an eye,

no matter how many times we screw up,

really resonates with me,

 

(You can see the full lyrics,

 or hear the song, here:


 

When I hear a song like that

it gives me hope,

and it transports me

out of my day-to-day existence,

...lifts me up to where I can “see” heaven.

*shrugs*

Isn’t that what great music does?

 

Thanks, Plumb,

love you!

And please keep on writing music.

 

 

 

Have a great week, all! =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

the egg man




 

well my dear ones,

 

 

No, I’m not talking about the egg man

in the “I am the eggman” line

from the 1967 John Lennon song, The Walrus

(which was supposedly written to confound

 those who would analyze Beatles songs,

 written after John received a letter from

 a student at Quarry Bank High School,

 his Alma Mater,

 telling John that his teacher was

 conducting a class on the analysis

 of Beatles songs).

 

Neither do I mean “Egg Man,”

as in the fourth track of

the 1989 studio album, Paul’s Boutique,

by the Beastie Boys.

 

I’m talking about the actual egg man,

as in the guy who used to deliver eggs

to our house when I was a kid.

 

I was listening to a blurb on the radio

about things from the past

with which people from today

are not growing up.

 

The egg man

was the first thing that came to mind.

 

A friend of mine told me that you can,

in some rural areas,

still put in a request with a farmer

to deliver fresh eggs to your house;

but that seems like a special case;

when I was a kid,

the egg man was the guy who

took the eggs from the out-lying farm

and brought them to all the houses

in our suburban neighborhood.

 

Yes, no one I knew ate store-bought eggs

*shrugs*

...that’s just how it was.

 

And the egg man...

I don’t even remember his name,

because that’s how my Mom referred to him,

“The Egg Man,” like it was a title...

the egg man came to our house every week,

in his station wagon,

with stacks and stacks of egg cartons

piled up in the back.

 

He’d come in and check with my Mom

as to how many dozen eggs she wanted;

then he’d go back to his ‘wagon,’

get the specified number, and bring them in.

 

After that, he was in no hurry to leave.

(most people weren’t in much of a hurry

 back in those days...something to ponder)

My Mom, like my wife, is an empath;

she helps people by listening to their woes;

even when she doesn’t give advice,

people feel their burdens lightened

by leaving some of their load with her.

 

Hence, each week, the egg man would

sit at the kitchen table,

and talk about his Mom

(who had health issues),

or any other of his woes;

and my Mom would listen,

and inject a word here or there

to try and lift him up.

 

So, as I heard that blurb on the radio,

I thought,

“How sad that most people today

 won’t get the chance to

 sit at the kitchen table

 and learn about life

 as they watch their Mom listen

 and try to lighten the burdens

 of the egg man.”

 

Now we just go to the grocery store

and pick up a Styrofoam carton of eggs

from the refrigerated section...

it’s all very convenient,

but it seems like...well...

like we are touching life in fewer ways.

 

Yet as I think about it,

there are just as many, if not more,

people in need of a friendly ear today

as there were back then.

 

They won’t be walking into your house

and sitting down at your kitchen table,

but they could still use a word or two

to lift them up.

 

The guy stocking shelves

who has a daughter in hospital,

the girl behind the counter

who’s afraid her cat may not come back,

...how can we know about these things?

 

If we move a little more slowly,

and watch for clues to others’ emotions,

God will give us the chance

to see other people’s pain,

and to be a blessing to them

even in the most crowded and busy places.

 

So go ahead; move less franticly;

observe more intently;

and keep an uplifting word or two

in your back pocket.

 

I think the egg man would be proud of you.

 

 

Have a great week! =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave