Friday, February 3, 2012

First new year blog

Well, it's been a rough last year and a rough this year. First, Rebel died in September. Then we lost Cubby on Thanksgiving day suddenly. My mother passed away on New Year's Day. I've basically just shut down. I deal with death on a daily basis, but this is ridiculous.

Little things help me get from moment to moment. I heard Bonnie Raitt's "Right Down the Line" which brought up all kinds of memories. I remembered the old song from the 70's and then remembered hearing about Gerry Rafferty's passing, the song's writer.

Hearing the song on top forty stations in the 70's became a part of my own fabric. To  hear it now done by Bonnie Raitt really fuses the times and music, setting off all kinds of feelings and emotions. I have to suspect that was totally intentional.

I also heard something about this being released on Raitt's own label Redwing Records. She commented on being able to hold the notes as long as she desired now that she was playing for her own label and could make her own musical decisions. Huh! Well, now, how does that respond to pit bulls?

Well, when you hear about someone like Bonnie Raitt who's knocked down all kinds of barriers in the music industry not being able to play a note like she felt it, something resonates. Somebody who rescues pit bulls faces some of life's hurdles along the way. It's hard to not become jaded and calloused, to start hating people for being fearful.

Then a song comes on the radio. That song played during your girlhood when all the world seemed like an adventure, new, boundless. Then life happens and you wind up experiencing reality like divorces, the IRS, death. You hear about Gerry Rafferty who wrote "Right Down the Line" and so many other songs. You hear about his own struggles and sadness. You hear Bonnie Raitt isn't allowed to play her guitar the way she used it to blast down convention and rules. You hear her version and it gives you the verve and the nerve to get up, dust yourself off and get back to work.....right down the line....