whitesail

By the middle of this past February (2005), we had been off the road for a few months, winter had her claws dug in deep, and it seemed like a good time to get together and play some music. An invitation was extended to our older brother John to come and sit in with his guitar. We decided to give our gathering a context: we were all to bring along two or three songs, written by others, and the themes of the songs had to relate to war, violence, fear, greed, ignorance, loss….We hoped to reach a critical mass of material that would reach out and touch a couple of hearts and souls. Our goal was to create our own small document of hope. Over the course of five days we sat in The Clubhouse and interpreted the words and melodies of others. We let the tape run while we played and did our best to channel those early 21st century blues……

I have the new Cowboy Junkies record in my grubby little mits. I look forward to listening to it on the way to work tomorrow and when I do, I’ll post a review ASAP. This record is mostly cover songs by artists such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, U2, George Harrison and others. As Mike says, all the songs have a theme running through them and it is very political. Of course, since it is the Cowboy Junkies, it is also very spiritual and heartfelt. I have to get some sleep now, but I’ll leave you with another quote of Mike’s regarding the direction of the U.S.

I can’t finish off this round of the tour diary without touching on last Tuesdays USA election results. Politics has swirled around us throughout this entire tour. I was pretty dismayed at the outcome, like most out-of-touch-big-city-elites and like most of the democratic world outside of the US (except, apparently, for Russia and Israel). Analysis of the election results will, no doubt, continue for months and the long term effects (positive and/or negative) that it will have on the internal life of the US and on the rest of us outside of the US borders will be felt for years. But I have come to the realization that fretting about it will only give me sleepless nights and a bad stomach. So I have decided to be optimistic about the future and to search for the silver lining. I have come to the conclusion that the world that my children will come of age in will be a better and brighter place; 1) if God does indeed exist; 2) if this God’s temperament is more like the loving, just God of the New Testament rather than the vengeful, blood-thirsty God of the Old Testament or the psychopathic, hate-filled God of Osama and his pals and; 3) if George W is indeed getting his marching orders directly from this loving, just God. If these three things are true, then we should all be OK. I’m not quite sure what to think if any one of the three is false.

In the meantime, if I were you, I would hedge my bets: take care of yourself and your family and look after your neighbour (no matter who they voted for).