View From The Front Porch- July 13, 2012

Ever now and then I place an old recording of myself on my Timeline. Not out of ego, not to say "hey look at me", no, I just need to go back in time and remember where I have been and the people I have been there with. The musicians, the songwriters, the producers of that era of music that meant so much to my life. I realize that now I am not that person, that music doesn't bubble out of my insides now, going to do a gig in some far distant town is not what drives me anymore.....but,in another lifetime, years ago, I stood on the great stages of America, I recorded with the greats in studios that will never be again, I had musicians that will never be equalled play behind me while I sang, great songwriters would come to me and play me their songs on guitar or piano and some were so good that I would choke up and find it hard to speak at the end of their song and I would take it and try to make it mine to sing as I continued to live most of the lines of the songs they were writing. I spent nights after a gig in some lonesome hotel room, many times with heroes of mine in the world of music as we helped each other through another come down after a gut emptying song marathon in some town we had come to but would never know..but remembering the stale smell of cigarettes that the ventilation system always seemed to pull to the stage or the smile on a pretty face in the crowd that made you sing just a little bit stronger. The best times were the times in the studio, as you watched the very best musicians in the world, focusing just on something you were trying to put together, finding just the right lick, the right mood, the sound that would then live on forever in some audio form, maybe remembered by no one but yourself, but somehow, that is enough, to just remember the time....the sounds...the years...and the people, that just that one time, were playing just for you. So, understand when I play one of those special memories it's just that music is better when it is shared with friends....and I call you friends.    -Stan