When life smacks you down

Boy oh boy. There are times when things can really roll over you. Obviously if you follow this blog on a daily basis (hint, hint), you’d know some of the trials and tribulations I’ve been through. And that’s just the stuff I’m willing to divulge. Things for me got nutty on Friday. It was a tough day, but since then, things have turned around and I’m happy to have good friends and family to talk about very personal things with. Even though I don’t do that very often, like ever.

I feel like a huge amount of stress has been unloaded and I’m getting back to my normal self. I’ll be getting outside later today to get some time to escape into the hills. Get some wind in my hair, some fresh ocean air, and maybe a nice late lunch. Recharge the batteries for the upcoming week and try to repair some friendships that I unpurposely strained.

Today’s song reminds me of the feeling we can all get sometimes when you get run over with things in your life. Lots of times there’s a phrase of getting hit by a mack truck. I would think that would hurt, but a bulldozer sounds so much more painful. Mostly because a bulldozer goes slower, and generally will bury you in it’s wake.

The Mustard Seeds is a story that would normally take a long time to tell. I essentially met the masterminds behind the band when I lived with Jeff Soto. We used to go watch them play. They were a fantastic band and had a storybook tale in the works. They had top management, they were insanely talented musicians, actually they still are (just not as this band), they were great guys. Matt Bissonette, Doug Bossi, George Bernhardt, and Jorge Palacios were the core of the group. Essentially it was getting up and reading poetry set to improvised music with them that become my coronation in live performance in Los Angeles.

I remember being given a book of poetry open to a page. I asked them if I should use a character type voice or something and the audience said yes. So I did my best impressionation of Tom Hanks doing Forrest Gump (a character I really like and seem to do well). It was so damn funny that we were all in hysterics and cracking up. The audience seemed to enjoy it as well. For my encore, I whipped out a really obscure passage from a Steve Martin movie LA Story. Pointy bird, oh pointy pointy…

The Mustard Seeds had a couple of CD’s but unfortunately things didn’t work out so well for them. Eventually they parted ways. Too bad they haven’t put their albums up on iTunes for the rest of the world to purchase. Though I think I heard rumblings that there might be a reunion – but again, it was a rumor.

Remember when life is getting you down, don’t be afraid to talk to friends and family, they can really help ya – just remember to return the favor. Don’t get Bulldozed.