Saturday, May 13, 2006

Update from Florida: Happy Mother's Day

It's 8:15 pm Saturday, I'm sitting the the Sun Shoppe Cafe in Melbourne, Florida (where they have free customer WiFi access). Been up since 6 yesterday morning. Took the Delta red-eye outa Vegas at midnight, got here by way of Cincinnati late this morning. As my Delta/Comair flight approached Melbourne, the small jet banked hard left, turning east toward the ocean over the Indian River, and I noticed a familiar site, one I’d not before seen from above. It was Patrick Air Force Base, its golf course visible just to the south and east of the main runway. My retired officer Dad’s main Hang (to the endless irritation of my “golf widow” Mother), where he labored mightily to break 80 during his long retirement (he got to 80 once), and where his driving career ended one day when he ran his car up over a curb in the golf course parking lot, hitting a transformer unit and knocking out the electricity at the base golf club for hours (I had to pull Mom’s car keys earlier this year, before she ended up taking someone out).

Flight 5115 continued out over the ocean, and then the aircraft banked lazily right into a swooping 180 degree descending turn that put us on course back in toward Melbourne on final approach just north of the causeway connecting Indiatlantic Beach to the mainland. Approaching the runway, we passed right by Holmes Regional Medical Center, where both of my parents have spent so much of the last ten years. I have come to know the place well.

As she requested, I brought Mom’s hi-tech walker to the rehab hospital. As I wheeled it across the parking lot, I passed a couple exiting the facility. We exchanged hellos, and I smiled and said “I’m practicin’.”

Spent most of the afternoon with my Ma, watching her go through PT in the rehab hospital down in Palm Bay. We'll hang for Mothers' Day tomorrow. To my wife and daughter: I regret that I won't get to also be with you on Mothers' Day, but know I am thinking of you both. To my sister: Carole, you have long been an awesome Mother. Miss ya. Happy Mothers' Day. To all of the Santa Fe tribe: make sure your Mothers get the major props they deserve this Mothers' Day.

Monday: went to hang with my Dad today at the nursing home. I don't know what keeps him going. He'll be 90 next month.

Bought a book at McCarran on the way outa town, "The Weather Makers" by eminent scientist Tim Flannery. A depressing, scary read in some ways. Finished it today. It's about the issue of "global warming," an issue about which the scientific community is by now in overwhelming consensus: we gotta change, or the human race is in for some serious, wide-scale, unprecedented misery -- sooner than we'd like to think. Highly recommended, very well written, in a way making it accessible to the general reader.

If you care about the world your children and grandchildren will inherit, you might wanna read this. My general policy is to keep politics out of this blog, but this is not really about "politics," this is about our collective future as civilized, prospering humans. We talk a lot here about "healing," but our planet is undeniably in need of some serious love and healing as well.

MONDAY UPDATE: short book excerpt:

“In 1961 there was still room to maneuver. In that seemingly distant age there were just 3 billion people, and they were using just half of the total resources that our global ecosystem could sustainably provide. A short twenty-five years later, in 1986, we had reached a watershed, for that year our population topped 5 billion, and such was our collective thirst for resources that we were using all of Earth’s sustainable production.

In effect, 1986 marks the year that humans reached Earth’s carrying capacity, and ever since we have been running the environmental equivalent of a deficit budget, which is sustained only by plundering our capital base. The plundering takes the form of overexploiting fisheries, overgrazing pasture until it becomes desert, destroying forests, and polluting our oceans and atmosphere, which in turn leads to the large number of environmental issues we face…

…By 2001 humanity’s deficit had ballooned to 20 percent, and our population to over 6 billion. By 2050 when the population is expected to level out at around 9 billion, the burden of human existence will be such that we will be using—it they can still be found – nearly two planets’ worth of resources. But for all the difficulty we’ll experience in finding those resources, it’s our waste – particularly the greenhouse gases – that is the limiting factor.” (pp 78-79)

Yikes. End of rant. Read the book.

NOTE: way cool "smooth jazz" FM station here in Melbourne now, 93.1 The Groove. A REAL one, unlike another I know of that inexplicably plays too much warmed-over MOR R&B. I've had 93.1 on in my rental car down here, diggin' it big-time. Major props, guys.

SAVE THE DATE: SATURDAY, MAY 20th. LAKE LAS VEGAS, MONTELAGO VILLAGE!

How cool is this? from the Cinevegas website:

"The CineVegas Film Festival will be hosting a screening at Lake Las Vegas on Saturday, May 20th. This screening, which is free and open to the public, is the first of its kind for CineVegas and will give festival fans a sneak peak of the 2006 festival. In addition, May 20th marks the official opening of the CineVegas box office and throughout the evening, a box office will be set up at Lake Las Vegas where tickets and passes to this year’s festival can be purchased.

The evening will commence at 5:30 pm with an electrifying performance by the band Santa Fe, followed by an invitation-only reception at Bistro Zinc at 6:30 pm. At 8:00 pm, CineVegas will screen its trailer for the first time, followed by the movie screening at 8:30 pm."
_____


You better believe it'll be "electrifying." Be there. Tell everyone to come out, it's gonna be a great evening.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a very heavy read. I will have to recommend to my friends that work at the Conservation District in Illinois, they get into all the kinda stuff.
L

BobbyG said...

Flannery's book is a frightening read. People 100 years from now are gonna be in a world of hurt -- literally, if we don't act on large scales starting now (dubious that it'll happen, given the contending political interests). Everyone oughta read this book.

Anonymous said...

I am going to do it----I like to be entertained but this is very important and 100 years from now is our grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I hope you take time to read for fun as well---to keep things in balance!
L

Anonymous said...

Bobby-
I have found a few more books to add to your lists to help promote and market music!

Besides Burnlounge as a tool which I mentioned before in previous comments in earlier blog.

The Indie Bible-7th edition-David Wimble---"go narrow and deep and find your own niche"

The Business of Music Marketing and Promotion---Tad Lathrop---"Most of us get involved in music for emotional reasons. Over time it tightens it's hold and becomes, for many, an obsession. Selling music may not be easy, but can be done. The method is the twin activities of marketing and promotion."

The New Music Industry: How to Use the Power of the Internet to Multiply Your Industry Exposure, Fan Base, and Income Potential Online!---Ty Cohen---

These come highly recommended and could be worth looking into!!!
L

BobbyG said...

I appreciate the comments, and the book recommendations. I will follow up ASAP. Just got back from Florida, a bit overwhelmed today.

The Flannery book is very disturbing. The ecological equivalent of a Stephen King novel. The science is as solid as science gets, and the forecast is grim (if humans fail t otake concerted, sustained action).

Anonymous said...

My book will arrive in the mail tomorrow..........I am prepared then for a dose of reality. I'll get back to you after I get into it a bit.
L

BobbyG said...

I will be interested in your take on Flannery's book. It wigs me out.

BG

Anonymous said...

I just finished reading The Future Of Music. Really a great recommendation on your part and really a great and informative read if you care about music and are a serious music person. I found the book full of some excellent ideas for marketing music in the new digital era and it is very perceptive the way they predict the music business becoming a service rather than a product. I have to say I found the book uplifting and positive to read and not at all doomsday. I think musicians that can work the biz from different angles---publishing, producing, live gigs, etc. are going to have the brightest future. The future of music will also be diverse, catering to nitch marketing of all types and not just rock/pop.
I am inspired to check out the site that the authors support and use to update this book at www.futureofmusicbook.com which sounds like it could be worth following.
In conclusion, I found the book took a positive proactive approach at looking at all aspects of the music biz and how digital technology is making the CD and large record companies obsolete. It's time to move forward and the next 5-10 years we will see some big changes and it sounds as though the music industry will benefit and will actually grow and expand!!!
Next book on my list==The Weather one you recommended--Keep up the book recommendations, I was getting tired of fiction and this is a great shot in the arm!! Thanks, L

BobbyG said...

L -

Thanks for those great comments. In addition to "The Weather Makers" you oughta check out Pressfield's "The War of Art." Jerry turned me onto it, for which I am so grateful. See -

http://santafeandthefatcityhorns.blogspot.com/2006/02/war-of-art.html

Anonymous said...

Bobby-
I forgot to mention that I did indeed buy that as well and read it in 2 hours. It was really excellent and humbling as I realized I have many many resistant habits that I turn to when I feel like procrastinating(don't we all).
I agree with Robert Mc Kee in the forward that the source of creativity is really talent and genetic and we get it from our ancestors rather than divine inspiration. Perhaps I am too much a realist having worked with children in music education for 20 years.
I especially liked Book Two-Combating Resistance and Turning Pro.
This quote says it all doesn't it---"Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got."--Steven Pressfield
I feel the best part of the book is
Next step is to mail these books off to the artist I enjoy supporting!!!!
Ok--after the Weather Makers I will be ready for some more guidance in some other good reads out there that get me thinking.
LInda

BobbyG said...

Linda -

So many good books, so little time. One of my favorite thinker/writers is Ken Wilber. See

http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/maseso_foreword.cfm/xid,2676/yid,5800264

Good book. Leavens some of the hard-edged, if rationally compelling stuff in Sam Harris's book "The End of Faith."

(also see Gary Zukav's "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" on this general topic)

Be prepared - "The Weather Makers" can be cause for despair. Taken together with Jared Diamond's "Collapse," it is way unsettling. We are fouling the nest at an increasing magnitude that bodes big-time ill for the human future.

BG

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the suggestions and thanks for the pre-warnings--my son is already digging into the Weather Makers---We will have to share---when he is off to track and baseball, I'll get my hands back on it. He has already been after me to turn off the lights etc. and also has warned me about the book. I start tonight.
Linda

BobbyG said...

I'll be interested in your reaction to "The Weather Makers." I'll be buying additional copies for family & friends. One scary book.

I get all pumped up and enthusiastic over great musical art like Santa Fe's, but there is some serious stff to be tended to as well. Which is w I posted the stuff about Flannery's book on the blog.