wings

i used to draw this scene when i was a kid. i would look out my window in newton towards the west and imagine what california looked like, and this was what my imagination told me. a great ocean touched by mountains. an untamed wildness. a sky so blue it would swallow me whole with its magnificence and power. i could hear it in the music that really touched me. i was lost without it.

years later, when i finally found that special spot in western malibu, it drew me like a magnet. i found a home and like-minded people— searchers, surfers, artists, and of course, the rich and famous. i bought a little mobile home on the beach pictured here. my daughter gave me a bracelet with the latitude and longitude of the location before i told her about the place. i found houses on the cliffs that i’d seen pictures of in architectural digest at my father’s shop when i was growing up.

and i found love. the great ocean and mountains, the untamed wildness and the deep blue sky filled me and poured out of me like a shamanic cleansing. i became whole, and i became connected to the earth, and the wind, and the like-minded dreamers who were drawn, like i was, to that indescribable something that bonded us like a tribe.

i returned to my childhood home with a new knowledge of who i was. i tried to settle in, but the old calling drew me back. each time i returned, the universe rewarded me with gifts of coincidence, purpose, and acceptance. so now i have surrendered to the reality that i belong to these gifts and i travel back and forth until the universe shifts one way or the other.

there is much to be thankful for this year. i’ll get to meet up with my son in LA as a result of a random business trip for him, so we’ll get to see each other over the holidays after all. my daughter is expecting her second. i’ll be in malibu for a dear friend’s 70th birthday. i’ll get to record tracks for my latest while i’m in malibu— i seem to be creating a new album with new players providing new directions for my work; what started as a couple of songs is now taking a larger shape. my writing is developing into a deeper commentary on larger themes, with expanded musical direction. the van gogh brothers resume our lifetime residency at vincent’s in january, which has been named one of America’s best dive bars, in large part because of its music, which we are proud to be a part of. i have good friends on both coasts, and a “california girl” just outside boston. as larry david would say, “pretty, pretty good.”

i wish you all a very happy holiday season and best wishes for the new year. see you soon!

love,

jc