My parents had somewhat different tastes in music, but both of them exposed me to stuffs far different from the usual Top 40 crapola. (Not that all Top 40 is crapola but... a lot of it was and is.)
My Pa gave me Roger Miller, Nat King Cole, and Louis Prima (amongst others).
My Ma gave me Bobby Darin, Count Basie, and Cannonball Adderley (amongst others).
My Ma owned the Cannonball Adderley album LIVE AT "THE CLUB" and she played the pajamas off of it! That was my first exposure to Jazz, even though I was such a young ProvDog then that I didn't know what Jazz was or what it meant. All I knew was that I kept hearing 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy' day after day after day until it seeped into my soul.
Loved it then. Love it still. This was the first classic Jazz track I ever identified with.
The night before last, my Ma appeared to me in a dream. It was so astoundingly vivid that I consider it the most significant communication from her since she went back to God.
In the dream, the entire time she and I were yakking, I was looking through the book 'BEAUTIFUL OUTLAW: Experiencing The Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality Of Jesus' by John Eldredge.
If you don't already know it, I consider this to be the best book about Jesus Christ other than The Holy Bible.
Ma, this tune's for you. Thanks for everything!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVt-Ay3-NFA
~ Stephen T. McCarthy (aka ProvDog)
Hey Stephen T Mc ~ You're always so sweet about your "Ma" and your brother, too. Makes me want to know more. I think YOU should write your memoir! :)
ReplyDeleteYo, BECKY-O! ~
DeleteI try so hard to be hard... and mean... and ruthless... and tough... and snarky... but sometimes a little kindness sneaks out between those ellipses.
~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
Yeah....I know how you are! :)
DeleteAwe, this makes my heart smile on many levels and for a number of reasons.
ReplyDeleteOne of them being because it's such a great Jazz tune?
Delete~ D-FensDogG
Yeah, that TOO! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI made a note to look up this book next time I'm at bookstore. Thanks for the reference.
ReplyDeleteGreat song!!!
HOLLI ~
DeleteOnly a person who has a very real and very personal relationship with Jesus Christ could have written the book 'BEAUTIFUL OUTLAW'.
I have no monetary investment in the book, but nevertheless I can give you a money-back guarantee that you will love it.
~ D-FensDogG
Mercy mercy mercy, that was a hell of a song. This jazz thing, it's growing on me more and more, thanks to you. Also, I will second that Beautiful Outlaw is an incredible book.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that you're still getting poignant dreams. We all get our messages in different forms, Mine - which are through animals, as you know - haven't stopped. I'd be kinda worried if they did.
I may be a day late, but tonight's Wild Horse will be raised in your Ma's honor.
~6B
6-B ~
DeleteGlad you dug the tune. Yep, it's a genuine Jazz classic!
Of course, I have to thank my Parents for Jazz because they introduced it to me first (Cannonball, Nat, Basie, Bobby Darin, and Dinah Washington who was my Pa's favorite female vocalist).
I hate to say this but... the dreams don't come very often when I drink. But as soon as I go a day without a beer, the dreaming starts up again in max-fashion. Arrrggghhhhh! What's a poor boy to do?
I appreciate the Wild Horse tribute. My Ma WAS a wild horse, so it's very fitting. That was one old filly you definitely didn't want mad at ya!
OK, let's try another classic Jazz track. (Link:->) THIS ONE.
See what you think o' dat.
If the style seems very familiar, it's because the composer and performer was also responsible for the soundtracks to the 'CHARLIE BROWN' TV Specials.
~ D-FensDogG
The whole thing here is just plain nice!!
DeleteI love the tribute, I enjoyed Cannonball's song, and this classic jazz tune really brings back memories. We did not own Vince Guarneri's album, but I sure remember the song. I was 8 when it came out, and it seems like it was a hit later when I was a bit older, too.
"Nice"?
DeleteNice?
Ha! I think that's the first time the word "nice" was ever associated with me in any way.
Like HANK, I'm not sure I like "nice".
Just kidding, SBB-6. (I couldn't find a clip where Hank says "Nice?!", so I substituted with the movie trailer.)
~ D-FensDogG
Hmmm... well, I've not seen the movie so I'll have to take your word as to Hank's preferences.
DeleteI am sure you are right that "nice" has not a term frequently associated with your blog ("curmudgeonly" and "HUH???" are more likely,) but this blog bit was different than most. I almost went with "sweet" on this one, but figured that you would object to that even more than "nice!"
>>... "curmudgeonly" and "HUH???" are more likely
DeleteAgreed.
And, yes, "sweet" would be OUT.
"Sweet" is what Häagen-Dazs is, and "sweet" is when I have a pint of Häagen-Dazs. But "sweet" is not me.
[:-)}
~ D-FensDogG
POSTSCRIPT:
DeleteDang it! Now I'm not going to be able to rest until I get a pint of Häagen-Dazs.
~ D-FensDogG
I never figured you for much of a Haagen-Dazs kind of guy. But you spelled it correctly and even used the little umlaut, so it must be serious.
DeleteDon't mind me re-hijacking my comment. I've been listening to that song off and on throughout the weekend, and I recognize not just the song, but the Charlie Brown-esque style. Which is funny, because I've never sat down and watched Charlie Brown and thought, "Man, what killer music." But I do rather enjoy this song. Literally, as it's playing yet again while I type this.
~6B
>>... umlaut
DeleteIs that what it's called? I've always just called it "those two dots above a letter".
Häagen-Dazs, Ben & Jerry's, Baskin-Robbins, McConnell's, Graeter's - you name it. If it's ice cream, I'm a fan!
6-B, there's no such thing as "hijacking" my comment sections. It's just ongoing dialogue, and I'm a fan of THAT, too!
When I first started buying CDs (circa 1989) one of the very first I purchased (like, one of the first ten) was the Vince Guaraldi Trio's soundtrack to 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'. It's pure classic. And it would NOT be Christmas for me if I didn't hear 'Linus And Lucy', 'Christmas Time Is Here' (both the instrumental and the vocal version), and 'Skating'.
Thanks for returnin'.
~ D-FensDogG
It's not the "things" that parents give you that you hold on to for dear life.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge believer in dreams as communication. It worked for Joseph...
DOC CHERDO ~
DeleteYep, Joseph, amongst several others mentioned in "The Book".
I was yakking with FAE the other day and we were discussing how each person has their own way of interacting with God and vice versa. I call it "the language" that one speaks with God. And for me, the primary "language" has always been dreams.
That doesn't mean, of course, that it's ALWAYS dreams and dreams ONLY.
Example:
Before The Holy Bible became my Bible (in 1994), 'ILLUSIONS: The Adventures Of A Reluctant Messiah' by Richard Bach was my bible.
This move to Reno has been really, really rough so far. Over and over again I have reminded myself of that passage early in 'ILLUSIONS', from the "notebook" segment. (Hopefully you're familiar with the book and know what I'm referring to.)...
About the creature at the bottom of the stream who refuses to cling any longer, lets go, "and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks." But eventually "the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more".
I kept wondering, after nearly 4 months, when the current was going to lift me up and stop the bruising.
So, a few evenings ago I was on the steps of a Catholic church where Jesus performed a miracle, answering a burning question for me, in 2001. I was just sitting on the step where the miracle occurred and suddenly this feather floats down and lands on the same step next to me. (A feather is very, very significant in 'Illusions'.) I knew it HAD to be a sign.
The next morning, this guy calls me about this job I really wanted but had pretty much given up hope on. But there was more work to do in order to get the job.
The following morning, after the phone call, I go to my truck (to hopefully obtain a document necessary to get hired for this job) and as I'm about to unlock the driver's side door, I see a feather that somehow floated down and got jammed between the door frame and the window. (I'm a huge believer in the "Two Witnesses" theory found in The Bible and I knew this second feather was the second Witness.)
I start at the new job on Monday.
Yep, dreams are the primary language God uses to communicate with me, but He uses many other methods as well.
~ D-FensDogG
I absolutely love this. Like a breath of fresh air for me this week.
DeleteAhh, glad I could add some light, or lite, or... whatever it was I added. (Just add feathers and stir?)
Delete~ D-FensDogG
A nice tribute Saint Mac. My father gave me my taste for guitar music, my mom a love of old country. Glad the "communication" was a pleasant one.
ReplyDeleteThanks, DONNA!
DeleteI can't say that I totally got where my Parents were coming from musically until much later. (By the way, my Pa also gave me Willie Nelson, and I know he's one of your boyfriends. Ha!)
It was really Brubeck's 'TAKE FIVE' that got me interested in Jazz, and then later I realized how much great Jazz my folks had been listening to.
Funny, I came to realize that THEIR music was better'n mine. But when you're 17, 18 years old, you think your folks don't know nuttin' - especially when there's no screaming electric guitar in their stuffs.
I listen to some of the mostly unnamed musicians backing Bobby Darin way back then and I'm blown away by both their power and finesse.
At 18... Uhp! I was an idiot!
~ D-FensDogG
I'm pretty sure I have that Adderly album on CD--at least I have some live album by him back at home. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteLike yours, my parents introduced me to a wide range of interesting music and instilled a love for music that remains with me. We were both lucky to have the kinds of parents that we had.
Lee
Tossing It Out
LEE ~
DeleteYeah, definitely!
Just think, some kids today are hearing nothing but Metallica and Slayer in their households. It makes me cry for the children!
~ D-FensDogG
I am catching up...sorry for not reading this sooner. July 9th is my brother's birthday. It is so nice to remember your parents especially through music. I love the dream and when it is so vivid and real then I think they are visiting you. My dad visited me twice in my dreams and it was really helpful
ReplyDeleteBIRGIT ~
DeleteAwww, nuttin' to be sorry about. Blogs are great, but real life is where the action is!
Yes, I have learned to tell the difference between my "night doodles" dreaming and "visitations".
Very cool that your Dad helped you from your dream state. They live on after they leave here, and it is often easier to reach us when our conscious mind is resting and the subconscious is very receptive.
~ D-FensDogG
A lovely tribute to your mother Stephen and an absolutely fantastic song.
ReplyDeleteI read the comments and would like to say congratulations on the job. That's most excellent news indeed and I do believe God was speaking to you with those feathers. So many people are willing to believe ridiculous things (like what a politician tells them), yet will not accept Christ and would not believe you when you say you communicate with Him. I feel so sorry for those people. Not only are most of them miserable in this life, but they will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
I speak to God when I'm in my gardens, when I'm tending to His creation. And I believe He speaks back and blesses me by making the things my hands touch grow. He sends me the beauty of His bees, His butterflies, His birds, His grasshoppers, His crickets, His spiders which all live from the bounty my gardens provide them.
God is indeed good even though we have to wait on Him to work in His own time. I'm pleased that your waiting is over and wish the best at your new job.
ANNE O' ~
DeleteWhat a stellar comment! Thanks for the good wishes and the nice compliment on the blog bit.
Yes, it's amazing the sort of communication that can go on between us and Abba and Yeshua when we are open to the idea. Some people never even entertain the possibility and thus miss out on so much.
>>... His spiders
Spiders? You're saying God created... spiders? Suddenly my faith is shaken (AND stirred).
Kidding, but... spiders freak me out. It's funny that so many people are creeped-out by snakes, but snakes don't bother me. Spiders, on the other hand, move too damn fast!
Well, as long as they stay in your garden there, I guess I'm safe. Ha!
Thanks again for the A-list comment!
~ D-FensDogG