Friday, November 11
“Back Story Day”
David: Hey guys! We’ve been practicing together for a little over a month now. Really digging each one of you. Especially not only with your individual music talents, but how together you all blend really well with the other folks in the room. That is an absolute must-have. You’re starting to get a few of the songs down pretty well. Nice vocal blending on the opening a capella part of “Aged Face.” Then a good hot and heavy shift to “Transformation Traveling Road”! And the rock switch over to funky, with “Sidewalk Singing”! Smooth and wild at the same time. Sticks and Sal – keep that basement beat moving along!
You folks might remember from our Commission Ceremony services on Halloween that, along with the music, there is a specific mission here for the whole group. The mission has a message. The message is the Search for Simplicity. And Joanna and I will not be the only people talking to the general public when we tour. We all rally around that single simple message. And the good news? … Wait for it … Every single one of you will be getting a chance to share with the folks who you run into, before and after the concert, as well as the general public. So the quick session I’d like to have right now is going to be a different kind of practice session. It’s not an audition any more. The auditions are over. You are in! But this is a chance to see how comfortable you are sharing stuff with other people that maybe you haven’t been in the habit of sharing before.
Today the assignment will be simple. We’re going to go around the room, you’ll come up one by one, and we’ll ask you to share part of what is called your “Back Story.” That would be some event, or series of events or thoughts, that you’ve had in your life that somehow connect to your personally searching for a little more simplicity in your life. Since that is the message of the band, it is highly probable that it is also going to be the question that most people in the audience have for you guys. If they want their own lives to somehow seek and obtain simplicity personally, they are obviously going to ask you for advice! After all, every note you play and every lyric that you sing is somehow connected to this one single and simple message. There’s nothing to be nervous about here. We’ve already grown closer as friends. And there’s no right or wrong way to do this. Each one of you, one at a time, will be asked to share some simple kind of story. And if any of you other fellow band members s want to ask a simple question for some details or elaboration, feel free to do so. Jot ‘em down for later. Just be warned that, when it is your turn, people will also ask you questions! Have fun with this. But treat it as an essential part of what this band is going out to do. We now have been commissioned to do it. We have dedicated ourselves to do it. So let’s just sit around in a semi-comfortable circle, and chat!
Some of you may have already had side conversations where you discussed some of the things that were important in your life, But now I would like you to have those discussions with the whole band. I will start, and I won’t talk very long. I’m figuring that maybe each person will spend no more than five minutes maximum sharing what they want to share. And once we’re done, we are simply going to, … wait for it, … let the jamming continue!
So welcome. My full name is David Lee Hartland, I am a Libra. And I am very much a Transcendental Taoist! You’ll be hearing me quote Henry David Thoreau quite a bit for the next couple of months. I question everything. Much to my parents’ dismay, I did it as a little kid. Much to my teacher’s dismay, I did it all during school, even as early as elementary school. Some of my teachers loved it, some of them thought the year couldn’t go fast enough to get rid of me! My favorite things to question were topics that we read about in English classes. And the real life events that we read about in history class, and even some scientific principles that we covered. Math, of course, was always math, but I would still try to challenge the way I figured things out. If a math teacher told me that I could not tri-sect an angle with a protractor, of course I had to be the one to spend long hours trying to do it. The best part of my questioning nature was with literature and philosophy. Some literary works were so incredibly boring. Remember Dicken’s “Bleak House”? I thought to myself, why can’t they just simplify all this stuff? Do I need hundreds of pages to barely tell a story? And, heaven forbid, if religion was involved in the story, that absolutely had to be questioned, by all manners and means. I just know, like in some scientific principles, that there is a simplest way to understand human beings and how human energy works. I have already found a few of those simple shortcuts, that you will be sure to hear about sooner rather than later. Thoreau wrote, in Chapter 2 of his book Walden, that “we live meanly like ants!” And he encourages the reader to start getting rid of all the extra stuff that one no longer needs. Begin counting all the important items in life down to those which could be measured on a single hand. But to me, every facet of human life can be simplified to a greater and greater extent. Any questions? Wait, I just talked way too long. So gentle reiminder: if you have a question, jot it down now. We will definitely be holding a lot of these sessions over the next few months! Next?
Joanna: Hi, guys. As you know, I am Joanna Christine Peirson and I am an Aquarian, another member of the Air Sign family like David. No, Sal, I did not say that I am an Aquarium! But good try! Musically, I’ll be focusing on vocals and keyboards. My spiritual background is what I would call “inter-denominational Christian.” I don’t think any one of the churches is absolutely correct or absolutely wrong. But there must be some positive reason that some branches of the Christian religion have survived for over 2000 years. If I had a simple theme that runs around in my life and my head, it would be what I call “Allowance Love.” We all greatly overuse that word “love.” And most of us use it in a way to manipulate things or people around us. But when I think about things like Energy flowing between people, for me, to allow people to be who and what they are, is the greatest example and representation of true Love. Like the old poster says, if you love something, truly love something, set it free. Then stand back and see what that thing chooses to do. Hang around, or take off. It is no longer your problem. Let it be. I will probably work someday with a mission to help people who are hurting or lost. Not a doctor, but maybe a therapist of some kind. Thanks.
Debi and Denise, (speaking together, back and forth seamlessly): Howdy folks. I am Debi DeLuce Sharone, and my sister is Denise DeNoir Sharone. Light and Dark, get it? We are, duh, twins and not ironically, both members of the Gemini clan! But in our lives, irony prevails! One of us was born just before midnight on May 25th, and the other one slid out of the “womb tomb” a little bit later, on May 26th! So we actually do not share the same birthday! If you want to waste a bit of time, try to figure out who came first! Our collective major field of study is Psychology. Because we wanted to figure out how other people work, especially people who have the rare opportunity to be so close to their best friend. The study of Psychology covers two fields: one is Research, and one is Counseling. Each of us picked one or the other. One of the most common questions we are asked, because I guess people expect it from twins, is “are we psychic in any way?” Do we ever think so closely alike that we can finish each other’s sentences? And the answer to that, is a definite “yes”! We finish sentences, we finish chores, we create projects and ideas instantaneously together. And watching each other do that led us to wonder if that same trait could be possible with other humans who are not twins or so closely biologically connected to each other. That is one of the primary reasons we picked the field of psychology. We’re going to study our own closeness, how we achieve that, even though we were born as two separate babies, of course. And if possible, we would like to find some kind of way where we could produce a method for any two or more people to share those same kinds of traits. We also already expect that what we discover would be based on any two people creating a simpler life together rather than a complicated one. Simplicity is, well, simply less confusing! Complicated things have way too many more variables to consider. So, if it looks like we are both studying any of you a bit too closely, we probably are! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy it! If we observe something super profound, of course, we’ll let you know about it! Toodles!
Earle: Howdy. I don’t tend to talk way nearly as much as these other guys. For my own sake, I’ll keep it short. My name is Earle Randolphe Foster, but you will be calling me “Sticks.” I’m the drummer, so the name is obvious. Although I now live in New Hampshire, I used to live down around Austin, Texas. My dad worked for the windmill industry, and got moved up to Maine from Texas. I am a bit of a cowboy at heart. I love a great big chunk of red beef cooked well! I’m very familiar with the music scene, because every year I got to hang around the Austin Music Festival, also known as “South by Southwest.” Creatively, and I’m not at all embarrassed to say this, I like writing what you guys have probably never heard of, it’s called “Cowboy Poetry.” Yes, it really is a thing. I’ll show you some of it sooner or later. And, yes, my trusty cowboy hat will always be nearby. Oh yeah, since it’s now out there, I’m a Sagittarius. A fire sign, so you might want to stand back a bit, if you don’t like the heat. As far as simple stuff for now, I am here to keep the beat. Simple. Steady. Both with the music and with our mission. Most Cowboys have a tendency to desire a simpler life for themselves. That’s all.
Heather: Hey, my fellow spirits! My full name is Heather Lyndsey Deva. People often just call me Deva. Try it, you’ll like it. I am an Earth sign, Virgo, so I think of myself as very down to Earth. I grew up mainly around the Buddhist and Hindu philosophy, but not the airy-fairy kind. If you mess with me, which I know you won’t try to do, I am acquainted with several of the more “sympathetic” martial arts, including the use of sticks and swords. Maybe you guys can use me as one of the bouncers if we ever play clubs! I read a lot of things about meditation methods and found that, on this planet, there are literally hundreds of variations on ways we are told to meditate effectively. I don’t think that’s necessary! There has got to be some simple set of basics behind each meditation technique that makes it all less complicated. And much much easier to achieve the transcendental state we are looking for. My father is a know-it-all Harvard professor. But don’t hold that against him. I’ll be helping with vocals and some percussion type things. Maybe some simple stringed instruments and maybe some exotic trinkets I picked up from India, when I went to visit relatives. Namaste.
Brittany: Hello, Y’all. My full name is Brittany Brianna Belle. If you need to, I’ll spell that for you. I’m a Water Sign, Scorpio, I’ll try not to sting ya. I’m pretty good friends with Deva already. I also previously met Morrie, when we both spent some time down at Berkelee School of Music in Boston. I’d be doing some singing and some percussion assistance with the band. Religion-wise, I started out Holy Roller Baptist, as did most people of my African ancestry in the Christian church. But I, too, questioned the conservative Baptist culture as being way too repressive. Our religions should free us, not tie us down. So that is one of the most important things for me to try to simplify, not only in my own life, but the lives of my friends, family, and community. In this multi-cultural world, our heritage may seem important, but I sure wonder why it seems to be so difficult to just see people as fellow human beings. We’re all stuck on the same planet! As you can well imagine, I have seen a hell of a lot of racists out there. As if it’s a thing to be proud of. Not so, no way! So I am going to be gearing some of my revolutionary spirit toward waking up those ignorant masses that insist on challenging me based on certain pigment colors of my skin. I will call people “stupid” if I hear them being stupid. No brag, just fact. So I guess my personality includes a combo of traits, from nice and peaceful Martin Luther King, Jr, to the angry voice of Malcolm X. You’ll never know what you’re going to get from me until you try me! Thanks y’all.
Jackie: My turn, I guess. I am John Grayson Adams, but you will be calling me “Jackie.” As far as astrology signs, I’m another Earth Sign, Taurus. The bull. I am a “skeptic of all religions.” Part of my skepticism is based on certain life events I’ve been through. I grew up in a suburb of New York City called Tarrytown. Pretty rich exclusive little community. And I grew up in the music business. Since I am almost totally deaf, or to say properly, very hard of hearing, better yet, “hearing impaired”, you’d wonder how I could be involved in music. Once upon a not-very-long-time-ago, these ears heard everything personally fine! However, my family is in the business of show business, specifically producing concerts, specifically rock concerts. Loud concerts. The louder the better. Even at a young age, I was an unprofessional roadie for the bands that came to our concert venues. I’ll be doing most of those same chores with this band. I’m around on stage all the time. Back then, I hung out in front of the large amplifiers and kicked some serious “buttocks” with the best of them. But by my early teens, the heavy metal stuff especially started to affect my life’s direction. My hearing was shot, and it was not going to easily return. As you already know, I picked up sign language, and I’ve told you all to please face me when you’re talking to me, so I can read your lips and expressions as well. I don’t mind borrowing the ears of others, if need be. Deva and I have developed a pretty close relationship in several ways. Now, the most beneficial thing, she can serve as a second set of ears for me! I know that David and Joanna both took sign language courses when they went to high school. I hope some more of you guys are willing to learn a few things, because silence is a very interesting language indeed! Silence is power. I wouldn’t say silence is golden. But it is very precious in our lives. I focus a lot on sound: the presence and the absence of it. I study energy, waveforms, physical sensations and responses to sound, And if I happen to miss a few words of what people are saying now and then, I am much better off for it! People talk way too much! Wouldn’t it be nice if we just all got much simpler and spoke fewer words to each other. Like right now, for example. I am done.
Salvador: Hola, mi amigos and amigas! My name is Salvador Esperanza-Baptiste. Pretty long name, don’t wear it out, call me “Sal.” I currently live in Mexico, Maine, but I was raised originally in a different Mexico, much further away. I am a Fire Sign, Leo, and I call myself the “Catholic Questioner.” As long and as intense as the Catholic Church has been over the centuries, millennia, it has had way too much influence in our lives. Any things that last a long time tend to get more complicated, not simpler. So, like David, I question everything about the Catholic Church and its religious practices and its spiritual beliefs. I am very much like the character Don Quixote. Both of us want to “tilt at the windmills of the mind!” My bass guitar also has a name. You should have met him by now! He is called Freddie. The Frog. And I already have a simple rock and roll website set up which I affectionately call “The Frog Blog”! Dig It, but don’t croak! Ribbit, Ribbit! One of my specialties is the power of language, especially foreign languages. Sometimes I wonder how we have survived with so many languages on this planet. I wish there were a simpler way to communicate with everybody. As Jackie said, silence is good. Sign language is good. Our simple vocabulary is good. Here is a quote that I especially like: “Inspiration arises from the still silence within me.” So, along with keeping the rhythm going with Sticks, my bass playing will keep a nice solid floor beneath our feet! Hasta luego! Next?
Morrie: Hello. The full name is Morrison Daniel Jordan. You can call me Morrie. If you’ve simply watched me during the rehearsal so far, you see that I would be considered the scientist, the sound man, the programmer, along with working out the backup keyboards. As Brianna already told you, I also went to Berkelee Music School down in Boston for a little while. I am another Earth Sign, Capricorn. Maybe my life is pretty obvious. Science, but I also like Metaphysics. Like where they meet, and the world of quantum physics and mechanics. I read science fiction, and I look through the philosophical lens of science as far as how and why humans have managed to exist successfully for so long. Whether the human experiment has indeed been successful or not. Our differences – how they could possibly end up being that which destroys us. So I am going to follow the view of the scientist who seeks to simplify the mechanical things of the world, and possibly even non-mechanical aspects of the world. As a child, I was influenced by this one particular quote that some one mentioned around our house a long time ago. “My father spent his life looking for the God Particle, while my mother was looking for God itself.” So I guess, just as long as God was in there somewhere, we all got along pretty well. Anyway, if you have any electrical or technical needs, call me and I will help you out. Over and out.
David: Thank you all. Each one was perfect. Valuable. Necessary too. Jot those questions down, for later!
Also, band alert: Just so you guys will know, and be on the lookout, there were a few other folks who tried to join the band a while ago. Around the time we sent out the ad for applications. And now, some of them, they’re behind the scenes attempting to give us trouble now. No, let me politely rephrase that: They are “providing us all with opportunities for further growth”! I want to share a little bit about them with you, just so you know who they are. “Fore-warned is fore-armed!”
First of all, they have been in contact with me directly , and indirectly, and have written or said some pretty nasty slightly terrorizing things. Just so you guys know about it. As G. I. Joe loves to say: “Knowing is half the battle!” The other half? Well, we’ll figure that out as Time moves on. I have been getting messages from them, sometimes in emails or in on-line lists and message boards and chat rooms. These three people, especially, are local kids, and you may indeed have already run into them, or may personally know them. They aren’t college students, but they do hang around the campus a lot. Townies. However they have informed me, no, warned me, that they have an “organized” (in quotes) project to seek to reduce the effectiveness of our “Search for Simplicity” project.
The main reason we think that they are upset is because they didn’t get accepted with their application. The first, and primary, reason that Joanna and I chose not to accept the application is that the leader, a guy named Toby Weed, is the one who filled out a single application for all three of them! If you haven’t heard of them yet, they already have their own little heavy metal or thrash band that they call the Dark Trinity Trio. Their stated goal is to make music, lots of loud music. But in no way does that theme of their music match that of the Cross-Country Combination band.
In his application, Toby said that his astrology sign was Aries, the Ram. He was quite proud of that reference! And he also claims that he is of direct Aryan descent. Also known as White Pride, racist stuff, almost like German Nazi-type beliefs. His two cohorts are Ashley Ambedicto and Andy Crostic. The bass player and drummer. Yes, they all play music, but their favorite things to do are watching graphically violent movies and reading really dark types of literature. They do all seem to be emotionally, maybe mentally, disturbed people. Perhaps they are subconsciously seeking some kind of therapy by even entertaining the idea of working with our band. But some people will refuse adamantly to doing anything in which they could become more “Aware and Awake”. They’d rather prefer being seen as “Powerful and Precocious.”
Just thought we would inform you that these guys are out there, and they claim that they are watching us. Closely. I just hope that they don’t attempt to unofficially follow the tour group when we finally are on the move next spring and summer. And, here’s a kicker, of their astrology signs, Toby claims that Ashley and Andy are both Gazorbians!! Whatever that is! Obviously, not making a very sincere attempt to win us over with his charm.
Joanna: David, let’s cover the topic of truly weird things happening around us. I know that you and I in the past have talked about the fact that there are a lot of really unusual events going on with the formation of this band. The number of outside people who are sharing their influence, their “thoughts and prayers”. The synchronicity of certain kinds of names and numbers. The musical talents and job responsibilities of the people who applied. And I’ve got another even weirder one that you may not have even noticed yet.
David: And what is that new addition to the weird wild world of the metaphysical and mysterious?
Joanna: Except for the astrological signs of Pisces and Cancer, we have every single astrological sign represented in this group, or at least connected somehow to this group. Even this Toby guy who is Aries, and his two obviously wacky friends who list themselves as Gazorbians. If we had a Pisces and Cancer group member, we would have all twelve astrological signs represented. Which also means we would have a representative of every type of thinker, planner, creator, artist. In other words, the star-filled heavens themselves would be assisting us in conspiring to get this group planned, on the road, and maybe even providing it with a lot of really positive cosmic energy. That’s far out, that’s flipped out. I’m excited that the Heavenly Beings themselves are working with us here! Synchronicity. Coincidence.
Debi & Denise: For us, that represents the joining together, a blending, of multiple forms of belief systems into one overall belief system. With that collection of personality traits, all humans can share, and grow to appreciate each other more easily. It is our differences that must be examined to find not only our strengths and contributions within groups, but also where we need to begin to discern our differences and the energy waste that these differences can lead to. Again, back to the search for simplicity in human relationship-building!
David: Quantum Entanglement!! And with the almost magical ease with which our current authentic band members are blending together in their attitudes and their musical skills. I don’t doubt for a minute that the scientific phenomenon of the “Observer Effect” is causing our increased awareness to change the behavior of particles of matter, to our benefit! It is almost like an Eastern Philosophy adage I once heard: “Energy is directed by Awareness”! And if some of you don’t get what I’m talking about, just go ahead and spend some time with Morrie, the scientist!
The last thing I want to discuss with you guys today is about future rehearsal plans. We now have about a month left before we break up for the campus Winter Break. It is a good time to think about practicing some of the music pieces we’re going to be doing. I see that some of you are getting together in small groups on campus almost daily and working through a handful of the pieces. I would like to have the whole group gathering on every possible weekend that we can, from now until we temporarily split up in mid-December. And the best recent news is this: Joanna just told me that there is a special treat in store for us, another cosmic synchronicity moment. She knows some people down in Bar Harbor, Maine, who just happen to own a professional recording studio in a pretty nice and ritzy area down there near a golf course! And we have been invited to practice for free, yes, I said “for free”, at that facility once a weekend. So the plan would be like this, if everyone is available: We would all car-pool down on a Friday or Saturday. We’d stay over for a night or two. We’d work more on Sunday, too. And then bop-and-hop back up here during the week. The trip is about 50 miles, around an hour’s drive. Then, of course, we could continue to break up into our small personal groups as your classes allow you to do so. So, the hits just keep on coming folks!
All in favor, say something profound: (all simultaneously shout) Bazinga! Banzai! Hooray! Whoopie! Cushion!! Yippee-ki-yay! BooYah! Finisimo! Onward, Cross-County CowBoys and CowGals! Ay Caramba! I’m outta here! Ciao! Hasta Luego! Hasta la Taco!
Really????
Hey, before we all split up for the day, let’s get the gear back on, and run one more time through “Transformation Traveling Road.” One of our theme songs!
Hit it, Sticks! Lead us in!!
*****