Last night Joe and Whitney and I went over to Tim’s house. Tim is a dear friend we all met at the Blake’s open mic. He recorded an EP a year and a half ago on which Whit played drums, Joe played bass and Steve Laciak played guitar (Steve is playing guitar at our next big show August 1st). Steve was at the dinner too with his gal, and he asked me who the great lyricists were. I replied with praise for Stevie Nicks, the band “Live”, Fiona Apple, Pearl Jam and Pink Floyd on occasion and Pat Benatar. And then I admitted I was merely so lyric-based because college inundated me with the poetry of Edna Saint Vincent Millay and other similar visionaries. Simon and Garfunkel were rather poetic, but it’s true poetry doesn’t translate to lyrics most of the time. I admire country songs for the way many of them can be read as a monologue; truth and pain and all; direct and simple because under our eloquence, fear and love often are simple roots.

We sat in Tim’s living room and listened to the EP, the flowy songs mixed by Dan Noceti, and I watched Whitney smile as he rediscovered drum parts he created over a year ago.

Tim explained again how he ended up on his way to Syria to teach English. That’s why it was a goodbye party too. He sold his Oakland house to teach in Syria with his wife at an International school and they both have already begun to learn Arabic. The world is now their children and they are the true pioneers in counteracting the short-sightedness of our young country’s culture.

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