9th
& 10th October, 2008
New concerts announced!
Click HERE for details.
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Photo by Jay Hagan,
7/12/08 Burbank, CA
A Thought for Today
I'll try anything once, and anything that
doesn't hurt more than once.
NOTES ON A LIFE IN PROGRESS
JACQUES
On October 9, 1978 my friend and collaborator Jacques Brel died so this
is a sobering anniversary for me. It’s hard to believe this lovely,
complex, one of a kind – in talent and humanity – gentle man has been
gone from this earth for three decades.
Jacques is never far from my thoughts and for the past several months,
because I am completing, albeit very slowly, more than a dozen songs we
started – but never got around to fully realizing while he was still
alive, I visit with him nearly every day. “How would you end this line?”
I say aloud to no one . . .but of course it is Jacques I am speaking
with.
“No, no, I mean pluie, as in rain not en pluie or douche
as in bath.” “Oui?” “Oh, oui, oui!” “Yes, yes, OUI,
rhymes with pluie.” My French isn’t getting any better but in my
mind his English is improving.
Today we would be two gentlemen in our seventies completing new songs,
not mumbling and growling over unfinished phrases.
In the coming weeks I’ll be writing more about him and the songs (maybe
even introduce a couple during the shows at Buddy Greco’s next month)
but no more new words about Jacques today. Not today.
RM 10/8/2008 First Publication
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ROD McKUEN
CONCERTS
ROD
McKUEN APPEARANCES
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Thursday 9 October
Scott Bakula o
Jackson Browne o
Zachery Ty Bryan o
Steve Burns o
Bruce Caption o
Bruce Catton o
Fyvush Finkel o
Georgi Griffith o E.
Howard Hunt o
Brian Lamb o
John Lennon o
Sean Ono Lennon o
Walter O’Malley o
Aimee Semple McPherson o
Michael Pare o
Joe Pepitone o
Eddie Rickenbacker o
Howard St. John o
Camille Saint-Saens o
Savannah o
Tony Shalhoub o
Alastair Sim o
Randy Spelling o
Jacques Tati o
Peter Tosh
Friday
10 October
Antonio Bandaras o
Bob Burnquist o
James Calvelle o
Charles Dance o
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. o
Harry "Sweets" Edison o
Brett Favre o
Johnny Green o
Helen Hayes o
Ivory Joe Hunter o
Richard Jaeckel o
Mike Malinin o
Thelonious Monk o
Mya o
Jodi Lyn O'Keefe o
Sharon Osbourne o
Harold Pinter o
John Prine o
David Lee Roth o
Bob San Souci o
Joanna Shimkus o
Dallas Smith o
Adlai E. Stevenson III o
Julia Sweeney o
Tanya Tucker o
Giuseppe Verdi o
Ben Vereen o Ed
Wood, Jr. |
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Never fear being alone, because you never are.
No friend comes into your life without a
purpose.
Those who suffer together have the tightest
bond.
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JACQUES BREL (1929 –
1978) |
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Reason is
the shortest road to freedom.
Poets know that,
even in the midst of dreaming
or trying out our songs upon ourselves.
And poets always go in quest of freedom
for every man
whose mind has been too long in chains.
I learned the worth of freedom
from your mutterings and frowns;
even now I see you
looking up from some newspaper
to read aloud today’s injustice,
pausing on the peaks of paragraphs
to wonder how the world
or one man anywhere
can offer cruelty for lack of courage.
Love is
the only easy way through life.
And who would have thought
that such an easy road
is paved, repaved and used so often.
The chansonnier will tell you
which road is the sure one,
and he’s dependable as guide and go-for,
because he wants to get there too.
I learned the worth of love
from all the many ways you said it.
Pound for pound
more ways of loving came from you
than all the hate most men amass
throughout their lifetimes.
You left behind so many primers
on the subject
that generations coming up,
then moving to oblivion,
will find life’s starting place
with greater ease.
But there are far too many mysteries
you made away with,
mornings you took with you,
that none but you will know.
I envy all those unlearned couplets
you hadn’t yet set down,
instructions to the world
and even some to me.
Now only Jojo hears your laugh
and shares again your private language.
If only I’d have been there
for that final minute,
I could have, would have said
Ne me quitte pas.
-from We Touch the Sky, 1978.1979. Revised
for Valentines, 1986 |
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