There’s been some awesome fan pics coming in! Thank you all so much for so actively supporting my music and sending in such great shots! Let’s keep ‘em coming, send your fan pictures to media (at) dougbalmain (dot) com and we’ll get them posted up online!
I’ve got a good house, built on solid ground.
It stays warm in the winter and the walls are sound.
But it doesn’t matter how well it’s made,
It’s still just lumber, just glass, and just paint.
No, my work and money can’t make this house a home,
I don’t get much comfort from the mortar or stone.
But, I’ve got a beautiful home with blonde hair and blue eyes,
She shelters my mind from the storms of life.
With no sum of money could my home you buy,
Baby, I’m comin’ home to you.
I’ve been a carpenter, I know the trade.
It didn’t come easy, I learned the hard way.
But I’ve come to know that we’re here to stay,
Nothing built so strong could ever give’way.
Oh, I’ve got a beautiful home with blonde hair and blue eyes,
She shelters my mind from the storms of life.
With no sum of money could my home you buy,
Baby, I’m comin’ home to you.
Home ain’t a bed and it’s not a front door,
It’s not a nice rug on my living room floor.
It’s not the closet where my clothes hang,
And it’s not the roof that keeps me out of the rain.
Home’s where I go to know everything’s alright,
When I’m home I’m at peace in the toughest of times.
Even in the dark with my home I’m in the light,
And my home keeps me warm on the coldest of nights.
Oh, I’ve got a beautiful home with blonde hair and blue eyes,
She shelters my mind from the storms of life.
With no sum of money could my home you buy,
Baby, I’m comin’ home to you.
Only one thing I know could make this house a home,
and only one person could keep me from bein’ alone.
And she’s got long blonde hair and big blue eyes,
She shelters my mind from the storms of life.
With no sum of money could my home you buy,
Baby, I’m comin’ home to you.
Oh she’s got long blonde hair and big blue eyes,
She shelters my mind from the storms of life.
With no sum of money could my home you buy,
Baby, I’m comin’ home to you.
Oh, I’m comin’ home to you,
comin’ home…
Yea, I’m comin’ home to you,
comin’ home, comin’ home…
Yea, I’m comin’ home to you,
I’m comin’ home baby…
The only home I know is with you.
To hear the album version featuring orchestration from members of the UW Symphony Orchestra click here: http://DougBalmain.com/music
When I sit and look out my window I see the sun shining down, the birds, the squirrels, and the rabbits…all busy with their own activities. If I watch them without purpose and let my mind attribute the characteristics to them that I subconsciously wish to see, it is easy to imagine them as cute, light-hearted, happy creatures. I often find myself laughing or smiling as I create fictitious dialogue for them or make assumptions regarding their activities or games they might be playing.
However, when I watch them with intent, when I study their behavior in an effort to truly learn about them, it is plain to see that they are struggling…searching for food to give them energy to make it through another cold night, avoiding the hungry predators, drinking water as if consciously grateful for every little sip, and taking nothing for granted.
Our lives are the same. We try to tell ourselves that we are not a part of nature, that we are on some higher level than that…but we are not, we are amongst the birds, squirrels, coyotes, and deer. We too are in a desperate struggle…that is life, and it is beautiful.
The Fender Telecaster being set up by “Uncle Larry”, owner of Encore Music Center, in the picture to the left is gettin’ packed up and sent out to Wyoming and into my hands! Larry sold me my very first guitar, a navy blue Stratocaster, back when I was 10 years old and the strat was damn near taller than I was.
Now, both of my main, go-to guitars that I’ve got in the “stable” have traveled over 1,000 miles, from the shop that gave me my start in music, out to where I now reside in southeastern Wyoming.
If you ever find yourself in the foothill region of Northern California stop off at Encore Music Center in Auburn, CA and take a look around the shop! http://www.encoremusicctr.com/
Bird sighting from @dougbalmain . Send us your photo of the Bird on Twitter or Facebook. #GiveemtheBird twitter.com/WildTurkey/sta…
— Wild Turkey (@WildTurkey) February 19, 2013
What follows speaks for itself:
Dawes – “It’s a Little Bit of Everything”
With his back against the San Francisco traffic,
On the bridge’s side that faces towards the jail,
Setting out to join a demographic,
He hoists his first leg up over the rail.
And a phone call is made,
Police cars show up quickly.
The sergeant slams his passenger door.
He says, ”Hey son why don’t you talk through this with me,
Just tell me what you’re doing it for.”Oh, it’s a little bit of everything,
It’s the mountains,
It’s the fog,
It’s the news at six o’clock,
It’s the death of my first dog,
It’s the angels up above me,
It’s the song that they don’t sing,
It’s a little bit of everything.An older man stands in a buffet line,
He is smiling and holding out his plate,
And the further he looks back into his timeline,
That hard road always had led him to today,
And making up for when his bright future had left him,
Making up for the fact that his only son is gone,
And letting everything out once, His server asks him,
“Have you figured out yet, what it is you want?”I want a little bit of everything,
The biscuits and the beans,
Whatever helps me to forget about
The things that brought me to my knees,
So pile on those mashed potatoes,
And an extra chicken wing,
I’m having a little bit of everything.Somewhere a pretty girl is writing invitations,
To a wedding she has scheduled for the fall,
Her man says, “Baby, can I make an observation?
You don’t seem to be having any fun at all.”
She said, “You just worry about your groomsmen and your shirt-size,
And rest assured that this is making me feel good,
I think that love is so much easier than you realize,
If you can give yourself to someone,
Then you should.”Cause it’s a little bit of everything,
The way you choke, the way you ache,
It is waking up before you,
So I can watch you as you wake.
So in the day in late September,
It’s not some stupid little ring,
I’m giving a little bit of everything.Oh, it’s a little bit of everything,
It’s the matador and the bull,
It’s the suggested daily dosage,
It is the red moon when it’s full.
All these psychics and these doctors,
They’re all right and they’re all wrong,
It’s like trying to make out every word,
When they should simply hum along,
It’s not some message written in the dark,
Or some truth that no one’s seen,
It’s a little bit of everything.
Listen to the tune here: Dawes – It’s a Little Bit of Everything
As many of you know I recently published a post about why I write (if you missed it you can read it by clicking this link: Why I Write). Just the other day I ran across an article in a publication circulated throughout the mountain west region that contained another writer’s description of why he writes that I really enjoyed and thought was worth sharing:
Why write? Write to entertain your friends and exasperate your enemies. To record the truth of your time as best as you can see it. To investigate the comedy and the tragedy of human relationships. To oppose, resist, and sabotage the contemporary drift toward a global technocratic police state whatever its ideological coloration. To oppose injustice, to defy power, and to speak for the voiceless.
-from A Christmas Carol [in Washington], by Malcolm McMichael, published in the November/December issue of The Mountain Gazette, quote written by Ed Abbey.
If that’s not reason enough I don’t know what is…so pick up those pens and start filling the pages!
I stumbled across this quote and thought it to be quite profound. I hope you will be able to appreciate it too!:
