He is distant. Simply because he is 93. But his heart is strong. And it longs for people and places I know, and some I have only heard stories of.
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What if you could sing a song in 
a foreign tongue, unknown to you? Impossible! It thought so too, until it happened. A few years ago, I "felt" a song coming in. This usually happens when I sit with my guitar, and chords start flowing in from "nowhere" (meaning "everywhere"). I had learned enough over the years (I am trainable to some degree), to open up the recording gear, just in case. Well, the chords felt good and rich and interesting. And then these foreign words came out. And kept coming. I turned on the vocal mic, and caught them.
The song is here, waiting, like la Mer:
Or rather shift. More focused. I am surprised I can spell the word. Focus. Focus on this story if you will.
What do you get when you combine a great (but looooong) night of original music at the Creative Center, and the House Band at the end of the looooong evening? The Creative Goofballs
Some of you aren't musicians, but I bet you know some. I now have enough folks to give the class a try. It appears to be mostly Intermediate level folks. There will be songwriting creation/critique, and some guitar instruction/ideas. I have one lyricist interested, and any others are welcome, but the instruction sections of the class will be guitar based. Please tell/forward this to others. I'm considering next Monday, Aug 6th at 7pm. We'll go for an hour and a half. Please let me know ASAP if Monday works, seems to be best night as far as being open for folks. I'll kick it off by....
I am in Florida, down on my knees. My father, Paul, 92, is in a care facitlity. His many years on the Earth have finally begun to obviously, and relentlessly, take their toll. I searched within for a song for him, but I did not bring my guitar. Guitars are my "lightening rod" to bring in the songs I write, and that conduit is not with me here. So I was thinking of a song I wrote for a friend and her husband a few years ago....
The 2012 Greensboro Summer Solstice was held this past Saturday, June 23rd, with over 6,000 people in attendance. I MC'ed one of the stages, and performed with Morgan McPherson. I could find no one to help me the morning of, to paint myself for Celtic ancestral celebration, so I did it myself.
Doc Watson crossed over that Deep River he sang about on May 29, 2012. I posted a tribute to him on my O-fficial blog site www.jpmcneil.wordpress.com. It's titled "Opening for Doc Watson, A Tribute". Yes, me and Lazy River opened for him and Merle in 1974, and jammed with them.
The recent Super Moon inspired me to revisit a song I wrote 10 years ago, "Southern Moon", and recorded a couple years ago with Anam Cara in Asheville. I also got some great vid shots of that moon as it broke through a cloud cover.
Couple of posts ago, The Flower, a very sweet story, inspired the song Together. Read about it here, then for a free downlaod, clic Freebies on the nav bar.
This is actually a comment to my OutSongIn post I did months ago. The way blogs are set up, even though the comment was months later, it could easily get lost cause it's to an older post. This is the kind of discussion/comments I was hoping for. So here 'tis....
My first job out of college (a few years ago, ha!) was in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, at a small elementary school in Virginia. I taught 5th grade, 10 year olds. A few of them have found me recently through the internet. One of them sent me this note in an email. The Flower is still growing. The tears I cried watered it. (they were good tears).
A very thoughtful and soulful friend of mine sent me a link to a 10 year old girl singing at a level that was so stunning. I was stunned. And moved, to write this:
"Thanks for sending this. The message/words were touching/lovely. And of course her singing. Amazing, almost too amazing. No, I take NOTHING away from her performance and delivery and talent. It is deeper than that. It seemed "unreal" to me."
I opened up a new site, www.johnpaulmcneil.com, to handle the creative spill-over that can't all be contained on this here music website. Here is a copy of my first blog post there. The Field.
Here's yer chance to change that nickname (I did not come up with it, but had to agree when I heard it), you cover song loving town you. To show you have some taste, creativity, and gumption. The Showcase Original Music Open Mic, Friday, Feb. 24th.
Sometimes a Rant is a good thing. Check it out, Rant along...
So what is it that makes O-riginal music so special? Creativity. From the word "create". That is, a newly formed original. Not copied or stolen or borrowed. Read on, O-Creative One...
So I put up my first music video, on Vimeo. The "Other" video site is going through strange changes, and the YT natives (users) are restless. I opted for less restless. Sounds good to me. How does it look? Lemme know...please. You can click right here: http://vimeo.com/34134280. Oh, yeah, it's called "Angel Eyes", and has Angels in it. And eyes. And music. And humor (like I am attempting here)...how am I doin'?
What're we gonna talk about? Music? Yeah, JP, that's original, and kind of a big topic. We could narrow it some, get creative and talk about the idea of InSongOut. That is, getting the songs Inside us, Out. (see InSongOut, on this site). So that's kinda been/being done. How about getting the songs Outside us, In. OutSongIn. Yeah, there's the new blog's name. JP
ps- You visual artists, sculptors, poets, writers, photogs, videogs, join in, too. The Muse comes to us all (in her own sweet time and way, doesn't she). Click on Read More below to see posts and comments, and post yourself (if she moves you).