Ahoy there Sailors! Summer is about to end….can you believe it’s been a year since Stereo Night…I remember being in a panic last year hoping to get the cheapo download in time for Labor Day weekend so I could lose myself in all it’s glory…and I got it in alphabetical order and was mystified by the opening song of Alone…seemed a bold choice to lead off the new album….doh…..

This year has been absolutely crazy….I can’t believe all the changes going on…who knew at this time last year that all of my plans and schemes for shepherding my kids through college by putting pedal to the metal and working my ass off would be thrown into the shredder in a most violent fashion…..I thought wow…the Twilight Hours are cooking and I finally have some extra cash on hand to accompany them across the country….HA…I’m glad I went out there last summer for the Cedar Show…I treasure that memory more than a lot of other ones…that feeling right before seeing them on-stage that I get is worth waiting another 10 years for….not that I want it to be that long…still….I am going to break out into that wonderful smarmy verse of “cherish is the word I use to describe…......”

Now I’m a new student with 2 classes on Thursday evenings from 5-10:10…. I hope I can sit in class that long…and I’m broke….student loans for me and the kids hanging over my head….no hope in sight for full-time employment…nary an interview…even when I’m qualified…I’m applying for jobs I don’t even know if I could do…like assistant project manager of a very high end construction company….I’d like to be out on the job-site in my pink hard-hat (which I actually have!).....telling those buff men to kick-it up a notch!!!! Yikes!!!! That’s the prize I don’t want to win….can you imagine?

I hope Hurricane Earl doesn’t ruin our Labor Day weekend plans….regardless of what happens I am comforted to know that all my fears and worries vanish as soon as I hear the first notes of Dreams…and then I think how lucky I am to have this music to carry around inside of me…..

Onward and upward!!!!

...oh and my son is turning 20 tomorrow…more than anything else recently, that makes me think…WOW….he’s really not a boy anymore…which makes me feel pretty old….but then again…at least I’m still kickin!

That new Brian Wilson reimagines Gershwin cd looks interesting….I’m sure I’ll be hearing a lot of that for various reasons….namely my mom who feels she is George Gershwin and my brother who is a Beach Boys freak…......plus I think it will sound nice!

September is upon us…..

Happy September, Kara.  I hope the deluge stays at bay for your weekend.  And, if it doesn’t, take comfort in the musical ark Mr. Wilson and friends have crafted to keep you afloat.

Kara, with the bravery, optimism, and honesty you’ve demonstrated through a rough year, you’re already a badass in a pink hardhat to me! Here’s hoping this fall delivers more job opportunities for you and for others. Keep us posted.

I’ve also been thinking about the birthday of our favorite scarlet album. No doubt the year has been richer with SN as a backdrop to so many of my days. And I agree, Kara, that Cedar show was incredibly special. Sometimes when I listen to “Stay with You,” I remember hearing it that night, a little teary, because Matt and John were back with us… I also remember the crowd just embracing “Descender.” It all felt so right.

It’s funny you should mention Descender….because…as I was diligently reading my assigned reading dealing with solid waste management….yikes!!!...there was a paragraph about the possibility of leechate from landfills penetrating the clay barrier and potentially getting into the groundwater system…hahahaha….I thought…geez, if there is a way to incorporate fresh-water nemo into my case study, I am going to do it….anyway…it made the reading much more enjoyable….

You have no idea how glad I am to hear that I am not the only who makes these kinds of connections. It makes life so much more fun, doesn’t it? Everything is 6 degrees away from a Matt Wilson lyric.

...well, it may be 6 degrees for some people…but for me…I’m embarrassed to admit that it’s probably as little as 1 degree….although, now that I think about it…does any Matt Wilson song have the word degree in it? HEck, I don’t think so…