Trick candle

Trick candle

I get excited so easily
it's like blowing out a trick candle
on a birthday cake.

When

When

When all you want to do
is do what you want
and you aren't able to do it.

When

When

When I stop letting
people push me around I
will feel the ground close.

I feel proud

I feel proud

I feel proud of where
I'm from and the people I
know and love so much.

If I fell in love

If I fell in love

If I fell in love
I hope it would be all at
once as in a dream.

Everything is magic

Everything is magic

Sometimes I wish
I lived in
a movie
where everything was magic
everything had a happy ending
everything worked out
everything
was
perfect.

I love it

I love it

Rainy days reading a book
a cup of hot chocolate
the splish splash of the raindrops
the coolness of the air.

Fate

Fate

Is it fate that I met you
it it fate that this time
everything worked out
so joyful and kind?

Everything

Everything

If I could do anything
I would do everything
a pilot a ballerina
an astronaut a teacher.

If I could

If I could

If I could have everything
I always ever wanted
would I be happy
or bitter without success?

Like-minded

Like-minded

To fit in when you
stand out in a room of like-
minded people too.

What I know

What I know

What I know is an opinion
what I know isn't fact
but when I hear music
it keeps me right on track.

Jazz

Jazz

Jazz is the pizzaz
that round old sound rebounds
beat so neat so sweet.

Today

Today

Today I'll see
today I'll be.

Happiness

Happiness

Why is my happiness
dependent on achievement?

Why can't we all just
be enough right now?

Achieve

Achieve 

The second I thought
how nobody cares, I knew
I could achieve it.

Permission

Permission

Oh please I don't need
permission to be myself
in this crazy world.

Failure

Failure

It's okay to fail
in a valiant attempt
to try something new.

Art

Art

How do I react
to what is real - it's my life
my occupation.

Time

Time

Where did all this time
go? It's as if it all blew
away to sawdust.

Listen to Carmen McCrae sing, "Yesterdays":

Reach for the stars

Reach for the stars

What's the worst that could
happen when you reach for the
stars? Fall down, get up!

Listen to Frank Sinatra sing, "A Day in the Life of a Fool":

Hide

Hide

Oh but hush - say you're
doing just fine, say that life
is great - just hide it.

Confront

Confront

I cower away
from the things I don't know - to
confront is to feel.

Today

Today

Today I firmly
plant my feet in the now, I
refuse to look back.

It's here

It's here

If you look you'll see
that it's here, that it's all here
and it's here to stay.

Light

Light

The world seems to light
up with the joy of thousands
of men living life.

Danilo Perez

Watch the Children of the Light trio perform:

Inspired by the World Premier of Danilo Perez's Detroit World Suite at the Detroit Jazz Festival on September 6th. 

To be me

To be me

It kept me awake at night
that quest to be something
no not in a prideful way
as nothing truly great ever comes from
but in a personal way
that way that just tugs at your heart
and itches at your soul
that quest to be something
to be anything to be everything
to be me.

Steve Turre/ Rahsaan Roland Kirk birthday celebration

Inspired by the Steve Turre/ Rahsaan Roland Kirk birthday celebration with special guest James Carter at the Detroit Jazz Festival on September 6th.

Beautiful

Beautiful

There is nothing so

beautiful than to hear a

song out of the blue. 

Pat Metheny

Inspired by seeing Pat Metheny at the Detroit Jazz Festival on September 4th. 

The fear of failure

The fear of failure

The fear of failure
causes the fear to increase
making one more scared.

Work with myself

Work with myself

What a major change
to not compare myself to others
to brush aside inner chastising
and work with myself
to better myself.

Infinity

Infinity

Who needs time
when I have infinity within me?