David T. Music And Stuff

Greetings friends and family,

I find myself wondering why it is so hard to start writing new blog posts. Perhaps if I had an editor screaming for content as my dad had through much of his career as a journalist, it would be as easy as going to work . . . Yeah, right! It depends on your definition of work, I guess. I don’t write every day because it takes time, and I have many other projects I’m working on. Moving into a new house, sorting through the clutter of boxes, dealing with a flooded basement in the old house (the buyers’ house inspector discovered it) after securing a buyer (we finalized the sale on Nov. 17th . . . Whew!), building closet systems, getting my workshop up and running, finishing a guitar build, writing charts, and memorizing music I have committed to play with various musicians . . . Aaaahhhh!!!!

So here I am, with literally hundreds of thoughts running through my head, bouncing around like pinballs and vying for my attention, wanting to be first in line for a new story . . . Me first! Me first!!!

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I’m just going to write a summary of events and thoughts I have kept to myself for months. Maybe this will help me focus on the occasions I want to write about and opinions I wish to make public.

Making my words public is part of the problem. There are some thoughts I want to convey that could alienate friends and relatives. Ideas that I suspect they already suspect I have but, we don’t air in public or even to each other so we can make it through social and family events without doing significant damage to our relationships. These thoughts are part of my focus problem, I believe.

Should I say what’s on my mind regarding what others believe to be true while they ignore the facts? Should I try to persuade them by stating these facts? No. They already rejected the facts because it somehow comforts them to believe conspiracies are everywhere when it’s too difficult and confusing to understand the science or reason behind events. It’s comforting to believe what people tell you rather than using your brain and accepting the truth. Some people will never be persuaded even when reality sends them to the hospital . . . There I go . . . . Writing the words that could get me in trouble with friends and family . . . Back to the summary . . . !

1: I have been recovering from lung surgery and chemotherapy treatments for about a year. The lung surgery, when the right upper lobe of my lung was removed with the 7mm X 4mm round Cancer Node was in August 2020. Then, four doses of chemotherapy over three months. I still become a little bit fatigued, probably a side-effect of the chemo, during the afternoon and often take a nap, then. I’ve had two CT scans since the chemotherapy, and both looked good to the doctors although, they are keeping an eye on a suspicious spot. My following CT scan isn’t until January, showing that the physicians are confident that the Cancer is not spreading.

2: Sue, Brianna, and I moved to a quad-level house in August, effectively doubling our square footage. My energy level is steadily rising and, I believe moving has helped with that. There has been a lot of box lifting/moving. We did some of the painting and ripped the carpet out before installing the wood floor. And, we are still finding items that need unpacking. There are still many boxes to look through or store. It’s a good thing the basement is large enough to accommodate my workshop and storage. The garage is pretty roomy, also.

3: The band is slowly morphing into a new configuration. We’re adding at least one new member. The changes are being brought about mainly because of band members’ health issues. We want to be as flexible as possible if a musician can’t make it to or through a whole gig. I put together a nice rehearsal room for the band and any musicians who may visit. There’s almost everything we need to rehearse, record, and make lots of noise if we feel like it.

4: I finally finished and shipped my cousin John Tschirhart’s bass guitar that he had commissioned over a year earlier. It was mainly my health that got in the way of completing the bass. It’s a good thing my cousin is as patient as me and a very generous and caring man. I’m happy to say that he is delighted with it! I tried to point out some of the details that I wasn’t happy about the build, but John wouldn’t have any of that. The bass does have a lot of personality and is entirely hand-made. It is one of a kind and won’t be duplicated again. I plan to build a similar bass for myself and possibly build more of the same design for other buyers but, it will be different in many ways. Thanks for your support, John! You are the best cousin in the world . . . And a superb bass player who deserves to play a super-customized bass to match your talent and beautiful sound!

5: I have been reading books about American and World history in recent years. It seems to be a form of self-torture because they don’t show humanity in a very good light. For the record, I am not a historian. I like to read books about history. So, don’t take what I write as ‘written-in-stone’ truth. These are my opinions, my ‘takeaways’ of what I read.

America (South, Central and, North) was stolen. We (Europeans) used force to take indigenous peoples’ homelands. There were fully functioning societies throughout the Americas and, we used superior weapons and deceit to take their lands away from them. Many of these indigenous people were willing to bargain or trade for land, realizing that resistance was futile. We (Europeans, again) made agreements and promptly broke them. Most of these Europeans professed to be Christians!

The history of American politics and expanding civilization is fascinating and disturbing to me. It appears that the problems we are encountering today have plagued America throughout its history. After the American Revolution, it was pretty iffy about what kind of government we would have. We were lucky it happened to be a period when our leaders were in a mood of solidarity about doing the right thing no matter what their beliefs were. As a result, many compromises were made to develop the rules of government we still use today.

Between then and the Civil War, differences in beliefs and politics became more and more acute between Americans. Slavery was a huge issue that divided people for many years. Even those against slavery were divided about how to end the practice and what to do with the former slaves once they became emancipated. These issues, and others, were very contentious and provoked many altercations in Congress and between persons who believed they were right and nothing and no one was going to change their mind. These issues are what led to the Civil War. Sure, States Rights were a part of the problem. But, it was explicitly a state’s right to have or abolish slavery that was the real issue. Don’t let anybody try to fool you with that play on words.

Since the Civil War ended and the slaves were emancipated, little progress in African American rights has been made. The laws protecting African Americans from discrimination have been very slow in coming. I often wonder why we need laws to protect people when it is their human right, as human beings, homo sapiens, to be equal in all aspects of American life. But, there are still people, just as the already mentioned pre-Civil War people, who will not and, perhaps, cannot be convinced that their traditional, preconceived notions about race and religion are wrong. They were raised and taught their basic principles from the day they were born. It is challenging to change someone’s mind about something their parents, relatives, teachers and, religious leaders taught them.

Political beliefs are also subject to the “You can’t change my mind because I was raised to believe” problem. Today, people will follow whoever says what they want to hear. Politicians follow the same rules they have always obeyed, saying whatever will get them votes. Over the last hundred years or so, people have become angrier and angrier with frustration as persons of color have learned to assert themselves. The world becomes harder to understand as we become more and more globally dependent. People see the ecological disasters looming and reject what is becoming more and more evident to their own eyes because it’s harder to change than to carry on with the same beliefs they were taught. America is polarized by the people who try to face reality and those who reject reality because it hurts to admit that what they have learned may not be the absolute truth. Even truth and reality have become debatable . . . Whaaaattt!!!!!!

In ancient times, much of civilization became centered around North Africa and the Middle East (the far-east had its society, as did the Americas). Advanced civilizations were trading with each other. Art and technology were traded among various peoples all over the Mediterranean. Then, around 1177 BC. (give or take a couple of hundred years) the “world” economy began to collapse. Civilization lost its forward momentum. A drought began to affect much of the area, causing widespread immigration, which in turn caused societies to become overloaded. Plagues infested the lands. Riots broke out among starving people. Mobile, seagoing groups stormed cities all over the Mediterranean, burning and sacking. Trading routes collapsed. We (archaeologists and historians) are only beginning to unveil this fantastic, ancient story of world prosperity and collapse.

The reason for my bringing this bit of history up is that many people see parallels in what happened to society then and what is happening now. The collapse of Rome is another example of worldly failure. I don’t mean to ‘fearmonger.’ This is just another reason humanity needs to get together and save our planet from inevitable disaster if we don’t start ‘yesterday’ to fix what ails us.

6: I have been working very hard to make the garage to park at least one car in it this winter. With that accomplished, I will start making part of the large basement into my workshop. The tools are piled up there, and I have a rough estimate of the size of the shop. Next, I have to organize and move many boxes to make the room I need. I will start with plastic dropcloth walls to keep the dust in until the workshop is working correctly. Later, I’ll build walls to enclose it . . . Woohoo!

7: Lastly . . . I want to tell all my friends and family that I love you and hope you have some fantastic holidays and celebrate safely. Please, always keep your safety in mind. If you don’t believe the scientists when they say masking (correctly) and vaccinating are the smart thing to do, at least keep your loved ones in mind and maybe, use precautions to be on the safe side. It doesn’t hurt to wear a mask in public and around friends and family, especially during holiday celebrations.

Merry Christmas to all, and Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading. Please, please, stay safe. Wear a mask when appropriate. Don’t take any chances with your health and life. And above all, the health and lives of your friends and loved ones. Please be thoughtful about when to wear a mask or not and GET THE COVID-19 VACCINE OR SPEAK TO YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU BELIEVE YOU SHOULDN’T FOR HEALTH REASONS . . .

Love to all,

David T

p.s. Comments are very welcome. You can comment at the end of this article.