Am I Crazy?

You know, this election is probably the most important one I've ever experienced. I don't know what I'll do if McCain/Palin wins. It's as if the hearts and minds of this country have been hijacked for the last eight years, and we have been living in a semi-comatose state, where we allow people to tell us that red is really blue.

Obama has emerged, chosen really by the people, with a voice of reason, kindness, sensible thinking. What can be wrong with that? I trust his judgment. He has shown a strength of character and depth of wisdom throughout the last several months that stands apart. It's not a party issue to me, it's a character issue.

We teach our kids not to lie, to be kind, to practice the Golden Rule, to have compassion for those in need, to try to work out our conflicts. Isn't that what Barack Obama stands for? How has McCain demonstrated any of these virtues?

Do we even need to mention the VP choice of Palin? How jaded, how unconcerned is McCain that he would consider leaving the country in the hands of this woman? It doesn't seem that he cares about anything other than his own power. Obama's choice of Biden is yet another demonstration of the kind of judgement and sense of responsibility a president should have, must have.

Like Tim Robbins said on the Daily Show the other night "Can't we have a smart person running the country for a change? Shouldn't we have the best minds? (or something like that..) I don't think this is a partisan issue. It's just about taking the job seriously, not using it as a bad boy prank to raid and pillage the treasury, as our current "decider" has done.

Maybe we'll go from an all-time low to an all-time high..let's just keep our fingers crossed and get to the polls! For god's sake, get to the polls.

What is "Moon Food"?

I guess I should mention that I have a cd of music for children..and I titled it "Moon Food".
Why, you ask? I wanted to capture the feeling of magic and moondust, and of food, nutrition for the mind and imagination. There are pirates and mermaids, rainbows, and
baby kitties that grow very large and fat. There is a tooth fairy song and a song about tarzan in the jungle. There is a vacuum cleaner named Vance who is allergic to dust..(performed by Dick Van Dyke). I started out as an adult musician. But I found a whole new freedom in writing for kids. Instead of talking about love affairs gone wrong, I could talk about anything. I could be silly, or be a character. Kids are so smart. They get a lot of nuances that we don't expect. They learn a lot with humor. And they make me laugh.

I've been reading "The Power of Now" (who hasn't?) and I am really seeing the connection between hanging out with children and finding that sense of pure awareness and connection that Tolle talks about. When we do music together, singing, laughing, improvising, everything else falls away and becomes less important than this moment. Hearts and minds open, ideas flow, creativity blossoms.

Henry David Thoreau said:
"Not by constraint or severity shall you have access to true wisdom,
but by abandonment and childlike mirthfulness."

Kids and music

How important is it to feed your kid's mind with great music and art? More important than you'd ever know. As a singer/songwriter who has played and sung on the floor with my guitar and puppets in total silliness and joy for hours, I can tell you, children flourish and open like flowers under that kind of nourishment.