Whispering Pines

Not a bad Christmas haul.

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 05:22:18 -0500

Not a bad Christmas haul.

“Rick Danko on bass looked like he could swing Coit Tower” Ralph J. Gleason

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 14:48:00 -0500

“Rick Danko on bass looked like he could swing Coit Tower”

Ralph J. Gleason

Written by Robbie Robertson and originally performed by The...

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 08:50:34 -0400

Written by Robbie Robertson and originally performed by The Band.

Photo

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 13:22:06 -0400

Photo

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 11:24:33 -0400

Photo

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:32:14 -0400

Photo

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:30:01 -0400

Photo

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 13:28:06 -0400

Photo

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 10:52:46 -0400

Photo

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 13:20:19 -0400

Photo

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 06:35:00 -0400

Illustrated book signed by Ian Anderson himself

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:18:31 -0400

Illustrated book signed by Ian Anderson himself

Photo

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:36:53 -0400

Photo

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:09:00 -0400

They should never have taken the very best.

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:33:00 -0400

They should never have taken the very best.

And The Band Played...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 03:00:20 -0400

‘They should never have taken the very best’

Uttered beneath my breath for the departed alone to hear,

Should the sound be made living passing souls would be lost,

So, to myself, and my friend further on up the road from here,

Take my love along for the ride until the Acadian valley is crossed/

Push the pedal to the fore, and I will listen as many more before,

Hold his bird’s call where the strings sound soft and low,

Raise each man’s weary dreams into a welcome land over yonder,

In moments you’ll keep us in awe, long past your voice’s glow/

Make life a pulse in the backbeat of a journey’s long tale,

Ground his mystic melancholy so he is understood in joy,

The mysteries you keep remain; floating upon waters you sail,

We’ll think of you, long for your return, soon we’ll meet on high/

Tell us where she has gone; make us laugh at the back with Bessie,

Sit alongside him and offer him a song to calm darker thoughts,

Gone too early, like so many, but with each man is left his story,

Come back round, let’s do it again, teach as you were taught/

Pound the spring against skin so we know where to we’re beckoned,

Once more give your strength to his high pinch where family prevails,

Solitary men know the same but struggle when they’re seasoned,

Your final adventure shall find you with brothers, no love fails/

Go with your suitcase along winding roads to find peace in rest,

Knowing you’ve given us memories to live by, sleep with a smile,

Find your rocking chair; wait easy for the band you know best,

They’re all there, take a load off and sing to us all the while

For Levon

Other Side of the Street

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:31:52 -0400

You look for the one who would cross the road to have a better idea,

Seeking a smile from the one who you’ve not seen again since,

And you wouldn’t step out to find her alone, that’s always been clear,

There’s cowardice in you, a mutter to make any normal man wince

So you stand atop in the watchtower, aloft to escape from fear

Still, you can pass your eyes over a world that you find too dense/

Stand at your window hidden by the reflection from a hard sun,

It can burn your eyes but at least you’re sheltered in your mind,

Searching for a face far removed, one more love in a million

Hide your shame in the dark of your soul for nobody to find

You sin when you think there’s a chance of having someone

You turn weak, you tremble, your teeth cast hope to the grind/

On the walls around the city you can wander for many an age,

A sentry to isolation where it’s safer to fall than to ever be found,

There can be a crowd, grinning anger, a feeling you engage

Hunting the hateful is passion when you’re buried in the ground

So you’re embittered, you want to provoke and awaken rage

You see red, blood in your eyes; blind yourself only for the sound/

To the door you walk, almost to touch the handle in vain

A heart at the station where you left it, packed up and abandoned

You drift into the slightest scene of fulfilment, but fly away again

Flee from the exit into the arms of mother silently disheartened

If they were to drop the bombs you’d tie yourself in to escape rain

Yet you would see everything until the final body had landed/

You look in the room reserved for a dead breed of a romantic,

Try living there in optimism while your flesh slowly passes away,

Beneath the tower squeal the happy men, begging desire frantic

Meat for their bones or else their hearts will mould into grey

That prayer for light from a stranger is a dream to the pathetic

With an appeal to a man who has never known the real way/

You began where the beaming promise struck you head on;

Where the headlights found the moon on roads dancing ahead

Together they brought grace to the still night, where you belong

A peace in shadows that float by as quickly as they had spread

That pact made with the blessing of a thunderous love song

Lied to you, its veil lifted high, your heart on the tracks bled.

The Mountain Pass

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:25:00 -0400

Let your voice ring across the mountain for no one else will listen

Let your words echo against the sky for there’s nothing left within

Bring yourself to the peak of the pass and look off into the horizon

Take yourself to the heaven’s heights to the clouds you sleep upon

Rest your weary eyes above the earth that rises to meet you

In peace you’ll find solace that has been waiting to greet you/

When you began your journey at the bottom of the impossible hill

Where trees grew wild but nothing changed and time stood still

The youth of a flower stayed close to you lying gently on your chest

With a wealth of experience yet to learn from a traveller’s quest

There you set out to make your mark on the land, the sea and sky

There you were to leave an imprint while time passes on by/

With every stumble comes a new way to climb above the fall

The place where you let go is gone as if it were never there at all

Through the morning and into the creeping night you continue

What you can see in the darkest black separates you into the few

Over the ledge and away onto the rock face’s closest relative

Take form what you’ve lost so you have something more to give/

It’s a struggle made so you can prove yourself when you’re lost

When the paths wind into the same road, one you’ve already crossed

There the track approaches you so you must be there to greet it

Look a fellow wanderer in the eye before forgetting you ever met/

With the top so many miles away the enemy becomes the day

Taking from you the hours you so desperately want to stay

Your view is hidden and there is mystery past the ridge above

The further the ascension, the closer you get to what you can’t love

The end is out of sight and it won’t reveal itself until the last moment

Atop the mountain there will be a remembrance for the places you went/

Your voice becomes a mist in the fog that has stolen your ending

In the burning wind your hands freeze and you start descending

Like glass your eyes cannot hope to discover any tears for your pain

The fingers crack as you meet the stone wall again and again

Crash on death’s bed but mortality doesn’t want to claim you

In torturous winter the agony of helplessness degrades you/

There the eyes flutter to remind no one that you are still here

You’d stop now but for all the hurt your vision is made clear

With a broken body and shattered will you crawl back up the hill

Without looking below you cast out the urge to sleep forever still

Awake you’ll be with hope of an adventure you can make again

Open eyes fill up with the relief of the summer’s first rain/

You’ve found the final step on your trial to the day’s closing hours

One more rise and you’ll be able to reach the earth’s lofty towers

At the gates of the earth invisible from the chains on the ground

Discover how far you’ve come when there was no one else around

On your own opposed by a range that can block out the sun

To the very last footstep it was you as the only one/

Beyond the doors can be heard the call of familiar winds

Sounds of anticipation emerge over the top from within

Step into the land that lies past the immortal division

Cross the boundaries of knowledge and mortal decision

Rest in the arms of the voices that are to welcome you

Lay down your tired soul on the mountain you knew

Bluebell

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:32:43 -0400

Bluebell, young Bluebell

You’ve innocence yet to sell

Sweet youth and longing

So long since knowing

Little Martha, my dear

Through days in fear

You’ll know it as joy

Once grown and alone

The Rose to a thorn

And a life it will scorn

You must mourn the past

Or it shall never last

In Lola there was green

Preservation so clean

Tarnished in those years

The thought burns in tears

An ode to the beginning

Only lost and fulfilling

The love that became you

Lost and will forever ignore you

Stay

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 05:53:33 -0400

Kiss me goodnight please

Let your face be the last I see

Stroke my young cheek

So I can sleep softly

Do you remember when

I used to insist on your love?

Do I remind you of a boy

When I ask for a hug?

If you weren’t there for me

Then I wasn’t there at all,

You never left the side of me

I stood by when you were tall

Can you see your little son

Now grown past your height?

Do my eyes still seem bright

In the glow of your sun?

When I sat on the stairs

Pretending you didn’t see me

I’d wait until you were there

Into the new day welcome me

Does the hair grow grey

Now the blonde has gone?

Do I sing a sweet song

Even past my better days?

Hold on to me now

Never let me go

Stay my life’s love

Stay until we go