The Party's Over (Eliza Gilkyson)

One party (in all definitions of the word) is over... and another is just beginning - zippity!

I sat in front of the television last night from 7 p.m. on, wearing my new Dar T-shirt and my My Vote Counted! sticker, burning my purple candles, eating thin-crust veggie pizza, thinking positive, watching as blue states began to overtake on the Rockerfeller Center ice skating rink... and finally cracking open a bottle of Voyant chai cream liqueur (served over ice) at 11 p.m. when Barack Obama hit 284 electoral votes and was declared the 44th President of the United States... :-)

Thankyoujesus... I *finally* live in a blue state! - let's turn this country upside down... and start over, thinking about the *people* and not the politics. I don't envy our new president, faced with a war in Iraq, an economy in crisis and a constituency in discord - however, I firmly believe Obama, with his obvious charisma, his long-range vision and his articulate speech, has the ability to unite, to heal and to provide long-overdue and much-needed leadership. What's so funny 'bout integrity, compassion and fiscal responsibility? - I'm so looking forward to 2009... and beyond...

I wept at the initial announcement (I kissed my husband, I hugged my son, I called my daughter... and my other son called me)... and again when Obama spoke passionately (oh my god, a president with vocabulary, poise and the power to inspire!) to the crowd of half a million in Grant Park in Illinois (so different from McCain's by-invitation-only ballroom setting) - the beaming faces of black, white, male, female, urban, suburban, gay, straight reflected the world in which I live who deserve to have our rights protected and our voices heard (yes... we... can!).

I must say that McCain's concession speech was gracious, well-intentioned and inclusive - refreshing...

And as I go to bed, the electoral vote numbers read Obama 338/McCain 156 (with Montana, Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina still pending) - it is heartening, it is gratifying... and it is ultimately validating... <3

P.S. Did you see the Google logo yesterday? - priceless!

SONG: The Party's Over by Eliza Gilkyson (scroll about 1/4 of the way down)

BOOK: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell

POEM: Let's Remake the World by Gregory Orr

Let's remake the world with words.

Not frivolously, nor

To hide from what we fear,

But with a purpose.

Let's,

As Wordsworth said, remove

"The dust of custom" so things

Shine again, each object arrayed

In its robe of original light.

And then we'll see the world

As if for the first time.

As once we gazed at the beloved

Who was gazing at us.

QUOTE: "The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down." ~ Jawaharlal Nehru

Overjoyed (Christine Kane)

Given the New Year's Eve reference, I was planning to save this song for my December 31 blog - however, also given the fact the amazing Christine Kane played our concert series last night, the choice to use it today is obvious, even more so since the title so aptly describes my state of mind today!

As I've posted before, Christine and I have a history spanning back to February 2000 and it was such a pleasure to be able to present her - since she normally plays larger halls and festivals, it was both fortuitous and syncronistic that the timing and geography aligned to afford a South Florida performance. What was especially refreshing was finding out Christine has a substantial fanbase in the area, proved by the number of phone calls and e-mails I received inquiring about tickets and/or making reservations, some coming from as far as Stuart and even Alaska (long, cool story there) - we're always looking to widen the circle, and it's nice to hear when people accidentially stumble into, and are thrilled to discover, our local folk community.

We had a full house and Christine was her usual warm, wise and witty self... breaking our hearts with the tender songs (I'm with You, She Don't Like Roses), cracking us up with the wacky ones (No Such Thing As Girls Like That, Four Legs Good Two Legs Bad) and weaving them all together with her superb storytelling skills - she played all the requests, even honoring my own of Joni's Both Sides Now (after I read on her blog that she'd performed the cover at a concert a few months ago).

Loved the new tunes (I Am the Moon, The Real World) - How Not to Behave could be my new favorite Christine song, especially considering it contained a lyric that evoked my recent hard drive crash (AFGO - Another F*cking Growth Opportunity... :-)

After the show, we went to Peter Pan Diner, a local 24-hour diner/bakery/lounge (!) that provides great food (with a 20-page menu to choose from), as well as an avenue to people-watch - a salad/basket of onion rings/spinach omelet later, we headed back to my place where we continued our conversation and played with my dog Rocky (who adores Christine too!). Both of us were up by 9:00 and out of the house by 10:30 this morning, me to church and Christine to drive to Tarpon Springs for her house concert tonight.

On the way to church, driving in the opposite direction on the interstate for miles and miles and miles (95 south to 595 west was devoted to their exclusive use) were thousands of motorcycles participating in the 20th annual South Florida President's Council Christmas Toys in the Sun Run to benefit Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Foundation - after the emotion of last night's show, my sleep deprivation of the last four days and the idea that thousands of people were giving from their hearts and wallets in order to make this holiday more hopeful for others... well, I just got downright weepy.

I am such a lucky woman, to be surrounded by the music I love (and those who make it), dear friends and new acquaintances who appreciate the sharing and a community that reaffirms my faith in the goodness of people - one can never have too much joy in one's life... <3

SONG: Overjoyed by Christine Kane

BOOK: A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are by Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell

POEM: Lute Music by Kenneth Rexroth

The Earth will be going on a long time

Before it finally freezes;

Men will be on it; they will take names,

Give their deeds reasons.

We will be here only

As chemical constituents—

A small franchise indeed.

Right now we have lives,

Corpuscles, Ambitions, Caresses,

Like everybody had once—

Here at the year's end, at the feast

Of birth, let us bring to each other

The gifts brought once west through deserts—

The precious metal of our mingled hair,

The frankincense of enraptured arms and legs,

The myrrh of desperate, invincible kisses—

Let us celebrate the daily

Recurrent nativity of love,

The endless epiphany of our fluent selves,

While the earth rolls away under us

Into unknown snows and summers,

Into untraveled spaces of the stars.

QUOTE: "Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us." ~ Hal Borland