Musical Musings

Bristlecone Pine

2011-12-30T08:43:00.000-08:00

High in the White Mountains of California, above 10,000 feet, grow the oldest living trees on earth. Many of the ancient Bristlecone Pines here have lived more than 40 centuries. The Bristlecone Pines in this forest started as seedlings when the pyramids of Egypt were being built. They only grow in six states of the Western USA, and the oldest of them are in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest of the White Mountains of California, where this shot was taken of me when I visited.

These Bristlecone Pines thrive in the harshest of conditions in the highest altitudes, between 10,000 and 11,000 feet. These trees live longer than any other living tree in the world. Some of the downed wood, like what you see in this shot I took in the White Mountains of California, date back to the last ice age. The average age of these trees is 1,000 years old. But there are a few still living that have been around for over 4,000 years.

This is the Patriarch Grove, which is named after the oldest living tree that resides unmarked in this area. The "Methuselah" tree is somewhere in this grove at the White Mountains, and is over 4,767 years old. It is not marked due to fears of vandalism. The Methuselah Tree is the oldest living organism that is known and documented, with an estimated germination of 2832 BC.

They don't tell you exactly where it is when you visit these trees in the White Mountains. It's identity is a closely-guarded secret.

More here

I recorded a song about the Bristlecones, the live recording of "Bristlecone Pine" (from 2001). It was written by Hugh Prestwood) and is my only duet with a Raven who wanted to sing along....

"There But For Fortune"

2011-10-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of organizing local moms and dads from Santa Cruz California for the Million Mom March in 2000. I met many families who had lost their children to gun violence. It was an incredibly moving experience that has stayed with me vividly.

The shot is from the Million Mom March in DC in 2000. It was the largest audience I had ever played for (over 100,00). In this shot of my performance in DC, I have a poster that is leaning against my legs with the faces of some of the local Santa Cruz Ca youths who had died from gun violence in the small Central Coast community where I was living in at the time. I was invited to perform a song that was originally penned by Phil Ochs, with updated lyrics by me.

Sadly, they still apply.

My brother Jon took this shot. It was the last time we were all together: my brother, my sister-in-law, my nephew, my mom and me.

"There But For Fortune" original words/music by Phil Ochs

updated lyrics written by Beth Kotkin

"Show me a playground, show me a park
Show me the classroom wall where the bullets made their mark
And I’ll show you a young child, with so many reasons why
There But For Fortune may go you or I

Show me a woman who leaves on the run
Show me an angry man who is grabbing for his gun
And I’ll show you a young wife with so many reasons why
There But For Fortune may go you or I

Show me a veteran who knows no one cares
Show me the trembling hands pull the trigger in despair
And I’ll show you a young man with so many reasons why
There But For Fortune may go you or I

Show me a country where guns are in style
Show me the families who have lost their dearest child
And I’ll show you some young lives with so many reasons why
There But For Fortune may go you or I"

The MP3 posted below is a studio version that was made with the help of many great musicians who donated their time to have this appear on the CD that was put out shortly after this event. Unfortunately, it never made the CD. I was bumped to allow Emmylou Harris contribute a song. That's show business folks!

But luckily I can share it with you here..... ( I want to thank Ray Frank for all his work on this project: this was his arrangement, and he rounded up all the musicians and the studio all of whom donated their time and creativity, including the wonderful Patrice Haan, on harmony vocals....)

"Ain't No Cure for Love"

2011-10-05T05:53:00.000-07:00

I have loved Leonard Cohen since I bought his first LP in 1968. I have been a fan ever since then of his poetry and his music. This song is one of his rare, more "upbeat" tunes, at least for him that is :).

Enjoy!

"The Diming of the Day"

2011-10-04T05:16:00.000-07:00

Here I am doing another sad song. This one is written by the talented Richard Thompson. It was originally sung by his then-wife, Linda Thompson. I know it gets covered a lot, and for good reason. It is a wonderful song.

This is my take on it. I have the guitar tuned to dropped D tuning, for those who are into this kind of thing.

"Across the Great Divide"

2011-10-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Kate Wolf died the year I discovered her music, over 20 years ago now. I never got to see her perform in person, but I listened to her music and learned many of her songs that I later went on to perform myself in concerts. I have been told that I sound like her, which I consider the highest of praise.

I am posting a video of me singing her song "Across The Great Divide" that I recently recorded.

(For all you tech nerds and geeks out there: I recorded this in my garage on my Mac desktop. I used IMoveHD, with a Shure8900 microphone plugged into an imic that was plugged into my Mac. Combine this with my isight that has the light attachment, and it worked like a dream!)

"Tomorrow is a Long Time"

2011-10-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

I learned this finger picking arrangement, in dropped D, when I was a teenager. If it ain't broke, then don't fix it I say. When I learned it, Dylan had not put this out on record (remember those?), but it was available on bootleg and cover versions.

I still love the simplicity of this piece.

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"

2011-10-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends in High School was into Country music, and I expanded my musical repertoire from Folk Songs (of the Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell variety) and show tunes (because Julie Andrews was one of my musical heroes), to Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, Graham Parsons and the Carter Family.

And the rest is not just history, but my musical life so far...

La Chanson des Vieux Amants (Jacques Brel)

2011-10-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

I learned this song in back in the 1960's when I was a teenager, from a record I had of Jacques Brel. He was very popular in NYC at the time. There was a musical called "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" that was a hit on Broadway . Judy Collins also covered this song on one of her records then too.

I played the record over and over again to get the words (this was way before the internet. It would have been so much easier now). I performed it for a modern dance show at my High School. I had only a vague idea then what this song was about.

Now that I am older, it resonates so much more strongly for me....

Here are the French lyrics, with my English translation :

"La Chanson De Vieux Amants" by Jacques Brel

(The Song of Old Lovers) English translation by me

1) Bien sûr, nous eûmes des orages (Of course, we have had our storms)

Vingt ans d`amour, c`est l`amour fol (Lovers for 20 years, it is a crazy love)
Mille fois tu pris ton bagage (A thousand times you have packed your bags)
Mille fois je pris mon envol (A thousand times, I have taken flight)
Et chaque meuble se souvient (And each piece of furniture remembers)
Dans cette chambre sans berceau (in this room without a cradle)
Des éclats des vieilles tempêtes (the claps of old thunderstorms)
Plus rien ne ressemblait à rien (Nothing is the same anymore)

Tu avais perdu le goût de l`eau (You have even lost the taste for water)
Et moi celui de la conquête (And me only the taste for conquest)

{Refrain:}

Mais mon amour (But my love)

Mon doux, mon tendre, mon merveilleux amour (My sweet, my tender , my marvelous love)
De l`aube claire jusqu`à la fin du jour (from the clear dawn until the end of the day)
Je t`aime encore tu sais je t`aime (I love you still, you know I love you)

2) Moi, je sais tous tes sortilèges (Me, I know all your sorceries)
Tu sais tous mes envoûtements (You know all my magic tricks)
Tu m`as gardé de pièges en pièges (you have kept me safe from trap to trap)
Je t`ai perdue de temps en temps (I have lost you from time to time)
Bien sûr tu pris quelques amants (Of course, you have taken a few lovers)
Il fallait bien passer le temps (You surely have to pass the time)
Il faut bien que le corps exulte (The body must know rapture)
Finalement finalement (Finally finally)
Il nous fallut bien du talent (It took us a lot of talent)
Pour être vieux sans être adultes (To become old without becoming adults)

{Refrain}

Oh, mon amour ,mon doux, mon tendre, mon merveilleux amour
De l`aube claire jusqu`à la fin du jour
Je t`aime encore, tu sais, je t`aime

3) Et plus le temps nous fait cortège (And the more time marches on)
Et plus le temps nous fait tourment (The more time torments us)
Mais n`est-ce pas le pire piège (but isn't it the worst trap)
Que vivre en paix pour des amants ( for lovers to live in peace?)
Bien sûr tu pleures un peu moins tôt (Of course you cry a little less easily)

Je me déchire un peu plus tard (I tear myself apart a little more slowly)
Nous protégeons moins nos mystères (We protect our secrets less and less )
On laisse moins faire le hasard (We take fewer chances)
On se méfie du fil de l`eau (we don't trust the stream of water)
Mais c`est toujours la tendre guerre (but it is always a tender war)

{Refrain}
Oh, mon amour...
Mon doux, mon tendre, mon merveilleux amour
De l`aube claire jusqu`à la fin du jour
Je t`aime encore tu sais je t`aime.