Incandescent Light

I’m down in my basement late a night

Working thoughts out on my own

I don’t have much to say

So I’m just going to look around the room

And say what I see in front of me

Four record covers in cheap ikea frames

A Harmony tenor acoustic guitar my wife trash-picked one day

An old tour poster from a record I released in 2008

A hand-drawn picture of my friend William and I on stage

New Orleans House Of Blues

A red toy piano that my friend Andy bought me at a thrift store

He said it made him think of me

A statue of St. Francis that I purchased from a friend who works at a antique shop outside of Detroit

A rats nest of cables...computer and recording stuff and it’s all in a big pile on my floor

A rhyming dictionary. I thought I’d use it more than I do. I heard it’s a good writing tool

A Stanley tape measure. It seems like they just follow me around. I’m a carpenter and I need a tape measure all the time.

A picture of Jennie in a tan jacket and purple scarf, holding a coffee mug in South Philadelphia

Anyway -- I could do this all night but I don’t have the time so….

January 19 2020

(Side note - It's Dolly Parton’s birthday. I started listening to a podcast about her and learned that on her birthday)

Anyway…

Tonight was the last of my family Christmas get togethers and my kids ate so much sugar.

We got back home late and I told them we don't have time to read books and they both felt upset with me

Then I thought, “What kind of parent tells their child they can’t read? Another 30 minutes shouldn’t make a difference anyway on a night you’re already up so late. Everybody needs a little time to unwind and slow down their minds.”

So I made them a deal. I said, “I hear how you feel. I’m going to go downstairs and try to record a song. It shouldn’t take me very long. When I’m done, I’ll come back upstairs and into your room. I’ll climb into your bed. We’ll close your book. I’ll kiss you on the head. I’ll sing you some songs until you fall asleep. I probably will too, like I usually do. Around 3:30 AM, I’ll wake up and climb down out of your bunk bed