OKAY! THAT’S ENOUGH! NO MORE PHOTOS! STOP, PLEASE! I’M GETTING COVERED UP! Whew! At first there were only a handful of folks sending me photos for my Kickstarter video/slideshow. At last count we’re rounding 200 and it occurred to me that 200 photographs is a bit much for a slide show - unless you have a captive audience after your family vacation, in which case people can snooze through four or five hundred if they have been primed with beer and burgers. I must tell you though, this project - asking you for a photograph and to send me a line or two of one of my songs that has meant a lot to you - has been profoundly moving. I didn’t know your photographs would come with such moving stories. I feel like I have been part of an extended family around the US and the world, and there truly are no words to express the depth of gratitude I feel in trying to take that in. I found out that everyone was going through old songs looking for that special lyric, reliving their lives and experiences they’d had when they first heard certain songs. Yes, there were several who sent lyrics from songs of the last decade, but of course, the great majority were from my first three albums. I haven’t counted for sure, but I think there were around 25 who sent lyrics from By A Friend, another 25 sent lines from each of Yellow Windows and Run Like the River Runs and All is Clear. And then the rest is from all over the place, songs from every album. In spring of 2013 I sang three private concerts in the South. At one of those, in the midst of three generations of a family, I was embraced by all and sang to them in their magnificent log home. As I sang I would see Mom and Dad look across the room lovingly at each other when I’d begin a song they knew from their early years together. Then the children, most in their 30s, would look at each other in disbelief, astonished that the songs of their childhood and family vacations playing in the car, were being sung by that same voice right there in the room with them. I saw the 3 and 4 year olds, who were in their own worlds, but bathed by my voice and melodies all the same, and I almost burst into tears that this is what has happened as a result of writing a song so long ago and dreaming that I could do this all my life. That you have let me into your lives and homes and friendships is an honor beyond measure. ~ Michael Tomlinson Michael Tomlinson’s Gathering of Friends A full One-day retreat of stories, songs, conversation, laughter, walks on the trail, picnic dinner, concert and evening gathering around the campfire. Whew! Held in the Lodge at Camp Long in West SeattleSaturday, October 11, 11a.m. to approximately 9p.m.Tickets ~ $115 Available at michaeltomlinson
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 02:24:39 +0000
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