Different Types of Welding Joints
3 years ago
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Lawrence App's Bio
Lawrence App grew up in a musical family in the Washington DC area. He studied piano and voice throughout high school, but was self-taught on guitar. He played 12 string acoustic guitar and wrote over a hundred original songs before he was 18.
He was a member of the local band Brew which played original music as well as covers. (shown in the photo to the left)In 1974, he began touring and performing with several Jazz, Latin, and show groups.
Lawrence relocated to Florida in 1980 and that same year co-founded the pop-Caribbean group Windjammer, a band he still performs with today. During the ‘80s, Lawrence made several regionally successful recordings with Windjammer and appeared on MTV Spring Break in Daytona productions. His three albums, Going Down to the Beach (1986), Jammin’ and Groovin’(1987), and Reggae in the U.S.A.(1989), sold over 10,000 copies.
Beside being a featured concert act in their own right, Lawrence and Windjammer shared the bill with many top acts including The Average White Band, the Wailers, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. (see color photo below in 1990 opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers)
While most of the 90s were spent on higher education, Lawrence continued to perform regularly, although his focus began to shift away from Windjammer and towards work as a jazz sideman or performing his own eclectic songs. By now he was an accomplished vocalist, guitarist, and bass player and through formal study, expanded his ability to read and apprehend advanced theoretical structures. He also began to develop other musical directions, particularly in percussion. He worked for several years as an accompanist on hand drums for modern dance and also started performing on the steel drums in earnest. 
Since 1997, Lawrence’s main commercial outlet has been solo work in the Orlando market and other high-end resorts in the Southeast. Freedom from his responsibilities as a full-time bandleader has allowed him to concentrate on writing, recording and performing his own material.
He has produced five CDs in the last six years covering styles from jazz and world music to death-metal. Although Lawrence is proficient on ten different instruments, guitar is still his first love.
His main inspiration comes from people like John Scofield, Charlie Hunter, and Bill Frissell. He also listens to Papa Wemba, Gilberto Gil, and Kurt Elling for vocal inspiration. With the completion of Dark Into Light, Lawrence recorded a video with his quartet. See Laree's YouTube Channel.
The Dream of Separation was released in 2007. Several of the songs are viewable on YouTube as well.
Lawrence App's Education
Lawrence began study of piano at age nine, picked up guitar at age eleven, and continued with voice training throughout high school. After fifteen years on the road as a performer he returned to college in 1989, earning a B.M. degree in Jazz Studies from the University of North Florida. While there he studied under Jack Petersen, Bunky Green, Bill Prince, and the late Rich Matteson. He was named Music Scholar of the Year in 1993.
Lawrence continued on to post-graduate study at the Florida State University earning a Master of Musicology degree in ethnomusicology under the tutelage of Dale Olsen and Michael Bakan. While at FSU he was awarded several teaching assistantships, attended and presented papers at the annual SEM conferences, and took special courses from Robert Ferris Thompson and Paul Berliner. He completed both graduate and undergrad studies with a 4.0 cumulative gpa.
Lawrence continued on to teach music at Daytona Beach Community College for six years. While there he developed pedagogy for the guitar program, directed and wrote arrangements for the guitar ensemble, founded a steelband, and developed other courses in world music and music technology. The past few years, Lawrence’s education has continued through focus on digital arts, particularly audio, MIDI, graphic design and web development. He currently teaches a small private studio of advanced guitar and bass students.
Research done by Lawrence App
Early in his musical career, Lawrence began informal study of jazz and Latin musics, focusing primarily on historical and performance aspects. As an undergraduate, his research was concerned primarily with educational theory and pedagogy, while he also conducted study of performance practices and their relation to audience perception and the affective domain.
Following his long-standing interest in musics of the African-Atlantic diaspora, his post-graduate research covered many areas of the “Black Atlantic.” His primary research focused on Afro-Caribbean music, particularly the music of Trinidad and the steelband movement. His thesis, The Professionalization and Commodification of Steel Drum Music in Florida: Musical Continuity and Change in the Caribbean Diaspora was completed in 1997. He also conducted extensive research on Afro-Colombian music resulting in an article “Afro-Colombian Traditions” which was published in The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 2: South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Lawrence has also conducted research and written papers on Nigerian jujú, South African mbaqanga, American jazz, and Jamaican reggae. He continues to conduct fieldwork in the Florida-Caribbean diaspora.
About Windjammer, The Band
Windjammer has been performing for close to thirty years. The Florida-based pop Caribbean group was the first full-time ensemble of its kind, performing in the northern half of the state, and has proven not only to be quite durable, but continues to set the musical pace for many other groups.Over the years Windjammer's personnel has changed, but the current line-up of Lawrence "Laree" App (bass, lead vocals and the original member), Peet Winders (lead guitar, vocals), and Eric Mason (drums and vocals) have been together for over 8 years now--longer than any of the other WJ groups. Additionally, the fourth member, Joe Yorio (saxophone, EWI, vocals) joined the fellas in 2006. Although many talented musicians have played in Windjammer over the years, App says, "this group is the best by far. The guys are all great musicians and we work together so well. No ego hassles at all. And the drive and the versatility of this group is amazing."
After being based in Jacksonville for six years, the band shifted its focus back to central Florida (where it was based from 1982-91) six years ago. This, in part, through the relocation of App from Jax Beach to Ormond, and in part to put the band closer to more markets for performing. During this season Windjammer has performed from Tampa to St. Simons GA and everywhere in between. Although three of the members now reside in Volusia County, Windjammer still performs regularly in northeast Florida due to the fan base they've built over the years.
In addition to the geographical shift of the band in '97-98, the mission and performance strategy of the group changed as well. After becoming more of a cover band in the early '90s, Windjammer went back to focusing on their original material.
Part of this change involved limiting the live appearances by the group, a move that has made everyone happier. "We had to get more selective, more focused, " says App. "We were drifting towards becoming another bar band instead of playing the stuff the got us known in the first place."
This shift also coincided with the 1998 release of The Best of Windjammer CD, a 15-song retrospective that has been widely praised. Sales from the CD and a lighter gig schedule have allowed the fellas time to concentrate more on songwriting and recording. The quartet currently has two new CDs available: one CD is a four-song EP of "death metal meets soca" released pseudononymously, and the other is a full length CD of more mainstream Windjammer original material mixed with covers.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Meditating
This image is the back drop of Lawrence's MySpace site, if you can see it through all music, notes, friends, photos, notes and all.
It's a really cool picture looking like he's meditating high up in the mountains around cloud level, surrounded by his instruments and amplifier. Count 'em: at least two acoustic guitars, looks like an electric guitar, and maybe a base, three hand drums and another percussion instrument!
Looks like he's sitting at the gray cloud level, and behind and above him the clouds are clearing.
In Dream of Separation, Lawrence has one song very directly influenced by Zen Buddhism, "Gatha Walking."
Here's what he says about it on the CD notes. Note that he says there are four refrains each one pointing to a different musical area: North Africa, Turkey, Java, and India. (Who does this kind of stuff, linking the world's music in a song!?)
"Gatha Walking: I owe this one to Ezra and Elizabeth. I was at a Zen retreat in Santa Rosa and we were given this verse to silently chant as we did walking meditation. For me, the easiest way to remember the verses was to create a little tune in my head. The song has four refrains, each one pointing to a different musical area. The cycle is North Africa, Turkey, Java, and India. The arrangements are hopefully capture the flavor of these areas but are not intended to be completely accurate."
It's a really cool picture looking like he's meditating high up in the mountains around cloud level, surrounded by his instruments and amplifier. Count 'em: at least two acoustic guitars, looks like an electric guitar, and maybe a base, three hand drums and another percussion instrument!
Looks like he's sitting at the gray cloud level, and behind and above him the clouds are clearing.
In Dream of Separation, Lawrence has one song very directly influenced by Zen Buddhism, "Gatha Walking."
Here's what he says about it on the CD notes. Note that he says there are four refrains each one pointing to a different musical area: North Africa, Turkey, Java, and India. (Who does this kind of stuff, linking the world's music in a song!?)
"Gatha Walking: I owe this one to Ezra and Elizabeth. I was at a Zen retreat in Santa Rosa and we were given this verse to silently chant as we did walking meditation. For me, the easiest way to remember the verses was to create a little tune in my head. The song has four refrains, each one pointing to a different musical area. The cycle is North Africa, Turkey, Java, and India. The arrangements are hopefully capture the flavor of these areas but are not intended to be completely accurate."
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Musical Influences
In Lawrence App's MySpace page he lists the following dozens of musical influences, starting with John Lennon and Joni Mitchell, and, Kurt Elling:
Meshell Ndegeocello, almost every serious guitarist, Sylvia Plath, Marley, John Scofield, Papa Wemba, Tom Waits, Charlie Hunter, Johnny Clegg, Sting, Gomez, Billy Collins, Gilberto Gil, Airto, Milton Nascimento, Lenny Breau, FZ, Don van Vliet, Duke Ellington, Wes, Stevie Wonder (70s), Pat Martino, Ornette.
Meshell Ndegeocello, almost every serious guitarist, Sylvia Plath, Marley, John Scofield, Papa Wemba, Tom Waits, Charlie Hunter, Johnny Clegg, Sting, Gomez, Billy Collins, Gilberto Gil, Airto, Milton Nascimento, Lenny Breau, FZ, Don van Vliet, Duke Ellington, Wes, Stevie Wonder (70s), Pat Martino, Ornette.
Lawrence App Performing in Fairview, North Carolina
Beach Music comes to the Mountains at the Fairview Community Luau. Lawrence App is bringing his steel drums and music from the Florida beaches to Fairview North Carolina for the Fairview Community Luau.
Saturday August 16th from 4:30 - 9:00PM.
It's at the Fairview Community Center at 1357 Charlotte Hwy in Fairview, North Carolina. (GoogleMap)
828-393-0099
Asian Musical Influences in Dream of Separation
WV: You've studied music from many cultures during your graduate studies in ethnomusicology. African. Caribbean. Indonesian. In Dream of Separation your musical influences are Asian, you've mentioned Persian and Indian. Can you talk about the influences of musical traditions other than your Anglo-European or Anglo-American heritage in your CD.LA: On The Dream of Separation there are other musical influences coming in, besides the traditional ones, from my culture, whatever that is at this point, the Anglo-European culture.
They're really just, I don't know how to put it in words, they are really just other colors on my palette that I like to use. There are some times that are an exception like "Timeless", which was when I was with Windjammer, which was full on in the 80s when I was trying to and writing Reggae tunes. But a lot of the influences on Dream of Separation are Asian influences, the Persian stuff we talked about last time. The Indian stuff which isn't new to me, but I kind of went back and looked at that. As well as some South East Asian stuff which I studied with Michael Bakan, in particular, doing the gamelan. There's other stuff too. I've become more interested in Japanese music because of my interest in Zen.
But with any of those styles, I'm not trying to cop the musical style, or create a believable Indian Raga, or Gamelan piece or anything like that. I'm not even really trying to create an authentic hybrid. They are just sound influences. But it's not random, really. It's not like I'm just pulling digital samples out of a sound bank, thinking "Oh, a Sitar would sound nice here." It does relate to the mood of what I'm trying to get across.
I guess a number of the types of Asian music, and it could just be my Western bias, but a lot of the music that I listen to has a mystical quality that I like that I'm trying to go for in my personal life and in my music.
Now that I mentioned this... I wanted the balance between, to me, what is the organic rootsy quality of my own musical experience, in particular acoustic guitar and live drums, and acoustic bass when possible, acoustic instruments and the music pared down to almost a folkie quality, but then.. I wanted on the one side a folkie quality, for me anyway, and then having the more mystical dimension of these Eastern influences thrown in. I shouldn't say thrown in, they weren't thrown in, they were carefully arranged, yes carefully arranged.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Fall colors on Blue Ridge Parkway
Fall colors on Blue Ridge Parkway near mm 373 in NC. Photo by Lawrence App Oct 2007.
The Songs on The Dream of Separation CD
By Lawrence App, Also from The Dream of Separation Website.
Notes on the Music
Just a Beginning: I wrote this at the end of a long dry spell, agonizing to get some music out. Reminds me of the saying that “the first step is the hardest one we take on any journey.” All the mental gymnastics and doubt freezes simple action. The lyric refers to my own creative process but also some life changes I was reluctant to make. Musically, the tune modulates between three keys, never really settling on a tonic per se. It creates a cyclic restlessness that I like.
Green: This tune came to me suddenly almost all in one piece—quite a contrast to the previous song. Kinda sorry about the timing, as the term “green” is so trendy right now it seems like a marketing cliché. Oh well, this has nothing to do with that. In this context, the prevailing meaning of “green” is to be teachable, to be flexible and not so rigid in my beliefs. To me, it’s a very sweet tune—simple and full of wonder.
Spirit Tree: I wrote this song while camping on Cumberland Island, trying to make peace with myself and some family issues. The concept was inspired by the poetry of Rumi and I wanted a Persian feel to the music (I was listening to Radio Darvish every morning). As with a lot of these tunes, the music sounds deceptively simple but there’s a lot of odd chord things going on—more restlessness. It really about what happens after utter defeat and going to God/the Source/Whatever for solace.
Wash Him Down: I wrote this song for my father, Jimmy. I struggled for many years with my relationship to him, even after his death—wishing we had been closer but not wanting to become like him. During some powerful shamanistic-healing-therapy stuff, one day I had an opening and I finally got it: I felt like I could really see what his life was about, experience his pain, forgive him (and myself) and move on. This song is obviously written in allegory, but it’s about the wheel of samsara. It’s about the cycles of pain that we perpetuate in ourselves and pass along to our children. Billy and Big Al did such a great job on this tune. Thank you.
Sixty-Eight Eighty-Four: It’s the measurement of Mt. Mitchell, the highest point in the eastern US. This is probably the only “happy” tune on the album. Mitchell is only about 30 miles from my home in Asheville and it’s always been a special place for me. Some believe it’s a sacred point on the earth—I wouldn’t dispute it. So sad to see the balsam trees die off, on their way to extinction. This track was pretty much recorded live and I hope doesn’t sound too Methenyish. Lotsa chords and keys and rhythms and crazy stuff.
Roseanne’s Dream (part 2): It’s kinda crazy to release part 2 before part 1, but I’m just not ready to put part 1 out there yet. This tune is for my mother. She’s always been a great music lover—introduced me to many artists I still listen to today. Sadly, she’s been afflicted with dementia and lives in that twilight region of consciousness that is aware but just can’t quite connect it all anymore. I tried to musically capture something both sweet and sad, beautiful and eerie. The tune moves through several key centers but really isn’t in any key. It’s like a dangling, lost melody that never quite completes itself.
Loss and Separation: I wrote this song the day before sessions for recording The Dream were to begin. I’d just received a disturbing, hateful email from my daughter basically cementing our estrangement. I sat on the pillow trying to make sense of it all: the senseless anger, my own bewilderment and hurt feelings, the deep sense of sadness. I realized that this whole collection of songs is really about that experience. I remembered Ezra’s frequent reminders that these difficulties are our path and, though it’s not what I would have chosen, by just being with the sadness I gained a genuine sense of what I wanted to say with this album.
Nothin’ Sacred: There’s plenty of issues that need our help these days—energy, climate change, human rights, overpopulation, etc.—but the one that’s always hit closest for me is preservation of wilderness. This song, like “Green,” came to me all at once while I was driving down I-26. I saw where they had blasted the top off a hill to build yet another Best Buy-Target-Lowes shopping complex. I felt so sad and angry. When is enough, enough? Where will the madness end?
Gatha Walking: I owe this one to Ezra and Elizabeth. I was at a Zen retreat in Santa Rosa and we were given this verse to silently chant as we did walking meditation. For me, the easiest way to remember the verses was to create a little tune in my head. The song has four refrains, each one pointing to a different musical area. The cycle is North Africa, Turkey, Java, and India. The arrangements are hopefully capture the flavor of these areas but are not intended to be completely accurate.
This last section of three tunes on The Dream is composed of older tunes that I either reworked or completed for this album.
Coldly: I wrote this in 1972 when I was 16, slightly reworking the lyrics a few years ago. I don’t know why I never recorded this piece; never even wrote it down. It seems to fit in with the theme of The Dream nicely. Even though it’s a fairly simple tune, it’s interesting that I was using 9th and 11th chords before I even knew what they were. BTW, the string quartet is only samples—sorry. Pretty nice ones though.
Timeless: Wrote this one in ’87 at the height of my reggae phase, but it was too much of a downer to mix in a Windjammer project. It still seems pretty relevant: I don’t see much relief from life’s hectic pace or my use of time, but I hope I have a better sense of what’s really important than I did 20 years ago.
Into Night: This is one of those tunes I really didn’t want to write. It’s just too painful and personal. I probably started on it 15 years ago and put it down countless times, only to have its ugly head reared up saying “remember me?” It’s a composite of experiences all with the common theme of going back to reconcile something—a relationship, a move—but never finding closure. It’s like the only thing harder than saying good-bye is not saying good-bye. So maybe getting this tune out is my way of making peace with all life’s unfinished business.
Special Bonus: If you got as far as the “bonus hidden track” then you already know what it is and why it’s there.
Notes on the Music
Just a Beginning: I wrote this at the end of a long dry spell, agonizing to get some music out. Reminds me of the saying that “the first step is the hardest one we take on any journey.” All the mental gymnastics and doubt freezes simple action. The lyric refers to my own creative process but also some life changes I was reluctant to make. Musically, the tune modulates between three keys, never really settling on a tonic per se. It creates a cyclic restlessness that I like.
Green: This tune came to me suddenly almost all in one piece—quite a contrast to the previous song. Kinda sorry about the timing, as the term “green” is so trendy right now it seems like a marketing cliché. Oh well, this has nothing to do with that. In this context, the prevailing meaning of “green” is to be teachable, to be flexible and not so rigid in my beliefs. To me, it’s a very sweet tune—simple and full of wonder.
Spirit Tree: I wrote this song while camping on Cumberland Island, trying to make peace with myself and some family issues. The concept was inspired by the poetry of Rumi and I wanted a Persian feel to the music (I was listening to Radio Darvish every morning). As with a lot of these tunes, the music sounds deceptively simple but there’s a lot of odd chord things going on—more restlessness. It really about what happens after utter defeat and going to God/the Source/Whatever for solace.
Wash Him Down: I wrote this song for my father, Jimmy. I struggled for many years with my relationship to him, even after his death—wishing we had been closer but not wanting to become like him. During some powerful shamanistic-healing-therapy stuff, one day I had an opening and I finally got it: I felt like I could really see what his life was about, experience his pain, forgive him (and myself) and move on. This song is obviously written in allegory, but it’s about the wheel of samsara. It’s about the cycles of pain that we perpetuate in ourselves and pass along to our children. Billy and Big Al did such a great job on this tune. Thank you.
Sixty-Eight Eighty-Four: It’s the measurement of Mt. Mitchell, the highest point in the eastern US. This is probably the only “happy” tune on the album. Mitchell is only about 30 miles from my home in Asheville and it’s always been a special place for me. Some believe it’s a sacred point on the earth—I wouldn’t dispute it. So sad to see the balsam trees die off, on their way to extinction. This track was pretty much recorded live and I hope doesn’t sound too Methenyish. Lotsa chords and keys and rhythms and crazy stuff.
Roseanne’s Dream (part 2): It’s kinda crazy to release part 2 before part 1, but I’m just not ready to put part 1 out there yet. This tune is for my mother. She’s always been a great music lover—introduced me to many artists I still listen to today. Sadly, she’s been afflicted with dementia and lives in that twilight region of consciousness that is aware but just can’t quite connect it all anymore. I tried to musically capture something both sweet and sad, beautiful and eerie. The tune moves through several key centers but really isn’t in any key. It’s like a dangling, lost melody that never quite completes itself.
Loss and Separation: I wrote this song the day before sessions for recording The Dream were to begin. I’d just received a disturbing, hateful email from my daughter basically cementing our estrangement. I sat on the pillow trying to make sense of it all: the senseless anger, my own bewilderment and hurt feelings, the deep sense of sadness. I realized that this whole collection of songs is really about that experience. I remembered Ezra’s frequent reminders that these difficulties are our path and, though it’s not what I would have chosen, by just being with the sadness I gained a genuine sense of what I wanted to say with this album.
Nothin’ Sacred: There’s plenty of issues that need our help these days—energy, climate change, human rights, overpopulation, etc.—but the one that’s always hit closest for me is preservation of wilderness. This song, like “Green,” came to me all at once while I was driving down I-26. I saw where they had blasted the top off a hill to build yet another Best Buy-Target-Lowes shopping complex. I felt so sad and angry. When is enough, enough? Where will the madness end?
Gatha Walking: I owe this one to Ezra and Elizabeth. I was at a Zen retreat in Santa Rosa and we were given this verse to silently chant as we did walking meditation. For me, the easiest way to remember the verses was to create a little tune in my head. The song has four refrains, each one pointing to a different musical area. The cycle is North Africa, Turkey, Java, and India. The arrangements are hopefully capture the flavor of these areas but are not intended to be completely accurate.
This last section of three tunes on The Dream is composed of older tunes that I either reworked or completed for this album.
Coldly: I wrote this in 1972 when I was 16, slightly reworking the lyrics a few years ago. I don’t know why I never recorded this piece; never even wrote it down. It seems to fit in with the theme of The Dream nicely. Even though it’s a fairly simple tune, it’s interesting that I was using 9th and 11th chords before I even knew what they were. BTW, the string quartet is only samples—sorry. Pretty nice ones though.
Timeless: Wrote this one in ’87 at the height of my reggae phase, but it was too much of a downer to mix in a Windjammer project. It still seems pretty relevant: I don’t see much relief from life’s hectic pace or my use of time, but I hope I have a better sense of what’s really important than I did 20 years ago.
Into Night: This is one of those tunes I really didn’t want to write. It’s just too painful and personal. I probably started on it 15 years ago and put it down countless times, only to have its ugly head reared up saying “remember me?” It’s a composite of experiences all with the common theme of going back to reconcile something—a relationship, a move—but never finding closure. It’s like the only thing harder than saying good-bye is not saying good-bye. So maybe getting this tune out is my way of making peace with all life’s unfinished business.
Special Bonus: If you got as far as the “bonus hidden track” then you already know what it is and why it’s there.
My Spiritual Journey
By Lawrence App, also from The Dream of Separation Website:
For those of you who don’t know and may be curious about what I’m about and how I got to this point.
I suppose I was a spiritual seeker from early in my life, marveling at the wonders of nature and mystery of the Church. I became indoctrinated by my family’s church and spent a good part of my youth as an altar boy, singing in the choir, and in the youth group.
I don’t really know what my beliefs were. I wanted to believe, but I was shaken and disillusioned by a series of indiscretions by several clergy close to me.
Perhaps it was all just an excuse for doing as I wished. I went on the road with a rock band at age 18 lived the prodigal life for many years. During this period I lived in chaos passing for excitement. I consciously cultivated a nihilistic philosophy and was heavily influenced by books like “The Oblivion Seekers” and C Bukowski.
[more to come]
For those of you who don’t know and may be curious about what I’m about and how I got to this point.
I suppose I was a spiritual seeker from early in my life, marveling at the wonders of nature and mystery of the Church. I became indoctrinated by my family’s church and spent a good part of my youth as an altar boy, singing in the choir, and in the youth group.
I don’t really know what my beliefs were. I wanted to believe, but I was shaken and disillusioned by a series of indiscretions by several clergy close to me.
Perhaps it was all just an excuse for doing as I wished. I went on the road with a rock band at age 18 lived the prodigal life for many years. During this period I lived in chaos passing for excitement. I consciously cultivated a nihilistic philosophy and was heavily influenced by books like “The Oblivion Seekers” and C Bukowski.
[more to come]
Intro to Dream of Separation CD
By Lawrence App, from The Dream of Separation Website:
The Dream of Separation.
The title was inspired by a concept common to several strains of Eastern thought and religion. In this belief, our perceptions of being an entity separate and apart from the physical world, our fellow humans, god, and even parts of ourselves is an illusion, the 100-year dream of the ego that we call “life.” When we awaken from the dream we see our true nature as oneness, the fullness of god and creation within every creature.
Many of the songs in this collection may seem sad or depressing. The period of time when most of them were written I was coming to terms with my father’s death, my mother succumbing to dementia, estrangement from family and friends due to addiction and mental illness, and a loss of direction in my own life. Grief and disillusion seemed to reign supreme.
But out of all this, this theme of loss and separation, came a new aspiration to awaken from the dream. Often these very painful experiences that I would most like to avoid have helped me to find strength and wholeness that I never knew existed in me. I can still fall asleep so easily, but I hope this album may inspire others to awaken when things seem darkest, and perhaps you can help me when life hits me and I forget all this.
Musically, I wanted The Dream to be pretty straightforward: acoustic guitar and voice; singer-songwriter stuff that I could do live. The songs are still more than “3-chord specials” but I wanted the tunes and the poetry to be the focus rather than a lot of arrangement and soloing. I could cite so many influences: Billy Collins, Richard Wilbur, Rumi on the lyrical side; Kurt Elling, Sting, on the musical side. But my true hero (or heroine in this case) is Joni Mitchell. If I were to dedicate this album to anyone it would be her. I’ve been a fan of her music for many years, but rediscovering the incandescent albums Blue through Hejira opened my heart and mind about songwriting again, and gave me courage to put my own soul out here for inspection.
As far as credits and thank you’s I could go on and on. Special thanks to all the musicians who participated on this project: Peter, Billy, Joe, Scott, Big Al. Thanks to many friends for their encouragement and support, especially Ron, Harry, Anora, Danny, Phil, James, Peetie, Tom and Kathi. And thanks to Patricia for standing beside me through a lot of tedium and frustration. Special thanks also to Ezra and Elizabeth for the verse to “Gatha” and to Ezra for his seemingly endless patience with me.
The Dream of Separation.
The title was inspired by a concept common to several strains of Eastern thought and religion. In this belief, our perceptions of being an entity separate and apart from the physical world, our fellow humans, god, and even parts of ourselves is an illusion, the 100-year dream of the ego that we call “life.” When we awaken from the dream we see our true nature as oneness, the fullness of god and creation within every creature.
Many of the songs in this collection may seem sad or depressing. The period of time when most of them were written I was coming to terms with my father’s death, my mother succumbing to dementia, estrangement from family and friends due to addiction and mental illness, and a loss of direction in my own life. Grief and disillusion seemed to reign supreme.
But out of all this, this theme of loss and separation, came a new aspiration to awaken from the dream. Often these very painful experiences that I would most like to avoid have helped me to find strength and wholeness that I never knew existed in me. I can still fall asleep so easily, but I hope this album may inspire others to awaken when things seem darkest, and perhaps you can help me when life hits me and I forget all this.
Musically, I wanted The Dream to be pretty straightforward: acoustic guitar and voice; singer-songwriter stuff that I could do live. The songs are still more than “3-chord specials” but I wanted the tunes and the poetry to be the focus rather than a lot of arrangement and soloing. I could cite so many influences: Billy Collins, Richard Wilbur, Rumi on the lyrical side; Kurt Elling, Sting, on the musical side. But my true hero (or heroine in this case) is Joni Mitchell. If I were to dedicate this album to anyone it would be her. I’ve been a fan of her music for many years, but rediscovering the incandescent albums Blue through Hejira opened my heart and mind about songwriting again, and gave me courage to put my own soul out here for inspection.
As far as credits and thank you’s I could go on and on. Special thanks to all the musicians who participated on this project: Peter, Billy, Joe, Scott, Big Al. Thanks to many friends for their encouragement and support, especially Ron, Harry, Anora, Danny, Phil, James, Peetie, Tom and Kathi. And thanks to Patricia for standing beside me through a lot of tedium and frustration. Special thanks also to Ezra and Elizabeth for the verse to “Gatha” and to Ezra for his seemingly endless patience with me.
Into Night
She looked so far away
like a picture lost without a frame.
Some mem’ries I buried in a drawer
came back to life today—
I held her hand once more.
Never thought that we would be so close again
after the absence of the years.
Takes me back to when I was a younger man
full of hopefulness and fear.
I feel her breathing.
The blood in her veins
washes away memory of how she went away.
We walk along the shore
in December although it looks like rain.
Weave a path like pairs of migratory birds
taking flight into the grey—
to hide the loss for words.
As the tide erased our footprints in the sand
we tried to trace our way back home.
This reunion isn’t going like we planned:
reminded that we walk alone.
I hear her crying
softly as rain.
Some things left unspoken just don’t go away.
Remember swimming in the river, so cool and green,
on Sundays far away from town?
And when the ring slipped off her finger, diving deeper down
saw one last flash of light
before it sank beyond our sight.
Dreamed I was falling,
caught in mid-air.
I woke up sweating but she wasn’t there.
Before I closed the book my heart needs to be sure.
I had to see her one more time.
We did the one thing that we never could before
we finally said goodbye.
I hear her leaving
long before dawn.
No need to tell me that she’s gone.
I walk the beach alone
like a drifter looking for a home
in the rows of clouds that look like palisades
on the shoreline of my dreams.
I watch them slowly fade,
fade endlessly into night.
©2005 LApp
like a picture lost without a frame.
Some mem’ries I buried in a drawer
came back to life today—
I held her hand once more.
Never thought that we would be so close again
after the absence of the years.
Takes me back to when I was a younger man
full of hopefulness and fear.
I feel her breathing.
The blood in her veins
washes away memory of how she went away.
We walk along the shore
in December although it looks like rain.
Weave a path like pairs of migratory birds
taking flight into the grey—
to hide the loss for words.
As the tide erased our footprints in the sand
we tried to trace our way back home.
This reunion isn’t going like we planned:
reminded that we walk alone.
I hear her crying
softly as rain.
Some things left unspoken just don’t go away.
Remember swimming in the river, so cool and green,
on Sundays far away from town?
And when the ring slipped off her finger, diving deeper down
saw one last flash of light
before it sank beyond our sight.
Dreamed I was falling,
caught in mid-air.
I woke up sweating but she wasn’t there.
Before I closed the book my heart needs to be sure.
I had to see her one more time.
We did the one thing that we never could before
we finally said goodbye.
I hear her leaving
long before dawn.
No need to tell me that she’s gone.
I walk the beach alone
like a drifter looking for a home
in the rows of clouds that look like palisades
on the shoreline of my dreams.
I watch them slowly fade,
fade endlessly into night.
©2005 LApp
Cold Outside
The bitter sound of wind through the leafless trees
On the ground, sparrows huddled up against the freeze
I drift away like snow up the side of the hill
Remember days we had flowers on the window sill.
Do you think that I’m crazy
when I tell you there’s fire that’s frozen inside.
The cold wind blows, cuts me right to the bone.
No one knows how my heart is tired of bring alone.
You light the flame that brings the spark back to life
and call my name in this dark and endless winter’s night.
Do you think that I love you?
Well, I tell you the words must be frozen inside.
The bitter sound of limbs breaking through the ice.
Greys and browns tangled on the frosted window glass.
Trapped inside with loneliness as my friend.
Can’t decide to open up the door and let you in.
Do you think that I need you?
Well, I tell you my love must be frozen inside.
©1972 LApp
On the ground, sparrows huddled up against the freeze
I drift away like snow up the side of the hill
Remember days we had flowers on the window sill.
Do you think that I’m crazy
when I tell you there’s fire that’s frozen inside.
The cold wind blows, cuts me right to the bone.
No one knows how my heart is tired of bring alone.
You light the flame that brings the spark back to life
and call my name in this dark and endless winter’s night.
Do you think that I love you?
Well, I tell you the words must be frozen inside.
The bitter sound of limbs breaking through the ice.
Greys and browns tangled on the frosted window glass.
Trapped inside with loneliness as my friend.
Can’t decide to open up the door and let you in.
Do you think that I need you?
Well, I tell you my love must be frozen inside.
©1972 LApp
Timeless
It's the time of day
that I need someone.
When I rise and shine
your already gone.
So much things to do;
got the bills to pay.
It's a busy life.
The time slips away.
Seems we're always sayin' goodbye--
someone's leaving.
Be assured we'll make it through
but is it worth believing?
I don't know
where the time goes.
I just keep on hanging on
waiting 'til the time we say hello.
It's the time of night
lovers entwine.
Though I want you so
we just can't find the time.
In the space between
there must be a compromise
to ease the loneliness
that I see in your eyes.
Chorus
It's the time of year--
spring is in the air.
Lovers arm in arm--
it's just like we don't care.
As I hold you near
you look so far away.
Time takes its toll:
there's nothing left to say, except
that we'll be saying goodbye--
someone's leaving.
Be assured we'll make it through
but is it worth believing?
I don't know
where the time goes.
I just keep on hanging on
waiting 'til the time we say hello. Please don't go.
©1987 Lawrence App
that I need someone.
When I rise and shine
your already gone.
So much things to do;
got the bills to pay.
It's a busy life.
The time slips away.
Seems we're always sayin' goodbye--
someone's leaving.
Be assured we'll make it through
but is it worth believing?
I don't know
where the time goes.
I just keep on hanging on
waiting 'til the time we say hello.
It's the time of night
lovers entwine.
Though I want you so
we just can't find the time.
In the space between
there must be a compromise
to ease the loneliness
that I see in your eyes.
Chorus
It's the time of year--
spring is in the air.
Lovers arm in arm--
it's just like we don't care.
As I hold you near
you look so far away.
Time takes its toll:
there's nothing left to say, except
that we'll be saying goodbye--
someone's leaving.
Be assured we'll make it through
but is it worth believing?
I don't know
where the time goes.
I just keep on hanging on
waiting 'til the time we say hello. Please don't go.
©1987 Lawrence App
Nothin Sacred
Staring at the sky, hoping for some rain
The tears well in my eyes—wash away this pain.
Trouble in the air—the smell of burning trees.
They stripped the hillsides bare, spreading the disease.
You tell me nothin’s sacred.
I don’t believe that it’s true.
If there’s nothin’ sacred
you know that we’re all through.
Staring at the sky, forgotten how to pray.
A deeper shade of blue fades into the grey.
Rows of trophy homes convenient to the mall:
but just like cancer loves the bone, feed it to the sprawl.
You tell me nothin’s sacred.
I don’t believe that it’s true.
If there’s nothin’ sacred
you know that we’re all through.
©2005 LApp
The tears well in my eyes—wash away this pain.
Trouble in the air—the smell of burning trees.
They stripped the hillsides bare, spreading the disease.
You tell me nothin’s sacred.
I don’t believe that it’s true.
If there’s nothin’ sacred
you know that we’re all through.
Staring at the sky, forgotten how to pray.
A deeper shade of blue fades into the grey.
Rows of trophy homes convenient to the mall:
but just like cancer loves the bone, feed it to the sprawl.
You tell me nothin’s sacred.
I don’t believe that it’s true.
If there’s nothin’ sacred
you know that we’re all through.
©2005 LApp
Loss and Separation
Cloudless, starless, helpless, emptiness.
Nothing left to cling to but my old ways.
Trying desperately to make these feelings go away.
Thoughtless, heartless, leafless wilderness.
Watching how the tender heart grows cold.
Even April’s tender blossoms wither and grow old.
Nameless, shapeless, confess always less.
Running ever faster just to catch up to my fears.
Never find the answer between the joy and tears.
Endless darkness, hopeless, groundlessness.
In everything we’ve lost we’re reminded what we gained.
This feeling of apartness really makes us more the same.
©2007 LApp
Nothing left to cling to but my old ways.
Trying desperately to make these feelings go away.
Thoughtless, heartless, leafless wilderness.
Watching how the tender heart grows cold.
Even April’s tender blossoms wither and grow old.
Nameless, shapeless, confess always less.
Running ever faster just to catch up to my fears.
Never find the answer between the joy and tears.
Endless darkness, hopeless, groundlessness.
In everything we’ve lost we’re reminded what we gained.
This feeling of apartness really makes us more the same.
©2007 LApp
Wash Him Down
He lifts the rain with just one hand,
saluting the sky.
For fifteen years he watched his father’s land
now the clouds bid him goodbye.
The sweet green fields have been reduced to dust--
they barely had survived.
Now the rains wash out everything
and the muddy waters rise.
It’s gonna wash him down.
It’s gonna break him down.
When the skies open wide
and roots pull from the ground
the wheel of life keeps turning ‘round.
Remembered when he owned a saxophone
and practiced it for hours.
Playin’ Coltrane and the country blues
among the rows of flowers.
Til mama handed him the keys one day
and said “we really need you here.”
His hands grew thick like his father’s hands
now he cries his daddy’s tears.
Chorus
He says forgive for what I didn’t know
and what I’ve never been.
The muddy water curls down the drain
as it washes off my skin.
In the evening hear the locusts’ song
keening sweet and low like violins.
Spirit voices lead him down the road:
He had to feel his daddy’s pain
Not to live it out again.
Chorus
He only prayed for a little rain.
©2003 LApp
saluting the sky.
For fifteen years he watched his father’s land
now the clouds bid him goodbye.
The sweet green fields have been reduced to dust--
they barely had survived.
Now the rains wash out everything
and the muddy waters rise.
It’s gonna wash him down.
It’s gonna break him down.
When the skies open wide
and roots pull from the ground
the wheel of life keeps turning ‘round.
Remembered when he owned a saxophone
and practiced it for hours.
Playin’ Coltrane and the country blues
among the rows of flowers.
Til mama handed him the keys one day
and said “we really need you here.”
His hands grew thick like his father’s hands
now he cries his daddy’s tears.
Chorus
He says forgive for what I didn’t know
and what I’ve never been.
The muddy water curls down the drain
as it washes off my skin.
In the evening hear the locusts’ song
keening sweet and low like violins.
Spirit voices lead him down the road:
He had to feel his daddy’s pain
Not to live it out again.
Chorus
He only prayed for a little rain.
©2003 LApp
Green
Green, all I see is green—
tiny buds and blossoms
opening to Spring.
I’ll lay down in the grass, cross my arms behind my head
fold my jacket for a pillow, forget everything I said.
Staring into nothing and everything.
Bending like a willow in the winds of time
if I can just stay green.
Green, the water is so green.
Tiny fish and bubbles
adrift in the saline.
Floatin’ on my belly givin’ gravity a break
feels like I’m dreaming but I’m wide awake.
Swimming past the shallows into the deep.
Flowing like a wave into a sea of life
if I can just stay green.
When I walk the city sidewalks know it brings me down
the color of my dreams turn black, grey, and brown.
With my head so full I cannot see a thing
until I learn the art of forgetting.
Green, color me in green.
Emerald and verdigris and every shade between.
When my days are over and you lay me in the ground
cover me with clover far away from town
and let the grass grow way up high
and cover me in green.
Lingering after sunset like a flash of light
if I can just stay green.
©2005 L.App
tiny buds and blossoms
opening to Spring.
I’ll lay down in the grass, cross my arms behind my head
fold my jacket for a pillow, forget everything I said.
Staring into nothing and everything.
Bending like a willow in the winds of time
if I can just stay green.
Green, the water is so green.
Tiny fish and bubbles
adrift in the saline.
Floatin’ on my belly givin’ gravity a break
feels like I’m dreaming but I’m wide awake.
Swimming past the shallows into the deep.
Flowing like a wave into a sea of life
if I can just stay green.
When I walk the city sidewalks know it brings me down
the color of my dreams turn black, grey, and brown.
With my head so full I cannot see a thing
until I learn the art of forgetting.
Green, color me in green.
Emerald and verdigris and every shade between.
When my days are over and you lay me in the ground
cover me with clover far away from town
and let the grass grow way up high
and cover me in green.
Lingering after sunset like a flash of light
if I can just stay green.
©2005 L.App
Just a Beginning
It was time to start spending all the rainy days
and a time to start mending all the fences that I break
The day to start naming all the voices in my head.
and a day for reclaiming all the dreams I left for dead.
I waited way too long looking for a sign
like a comet in the sky
or maybe something simpler like the candlelight.
Don’t want to let it pass me by.
It was time to reassemble all the pieces on the floor
A time to stop blaming circumstance beyond control
It was time for the first step down that long and muddy road
A time to launch my prospect into the great unknown.
Just a beginning, a place to start.
I just need the beginning, some place to start.
It was time to start listening to the wisdom of the heart.
Forget about the ending, just help me make a start.
It was time to stop remembering all the thing I might have been.
Just push me off the platform if that’s how it must begin.
I waited all my life looking for a sign
like a twinkling in your eye
or maybe something clear like writing in the sand.
Don’t want to let it pass me by.
Just a beginning, a place to start.
I just need the beginning, some place to start.
©2004 LApp
and a time to start mending all the fences that I break
The day to start naming all the voices in my head.
and a day for reclaiming all the dreams I left for dead.
I waited way too long looking for a sign
like a comet in the sky
or maybe something simpler like the candlelight.
Don’t want to let it pass me by.
It was time to reassemble all the pieces on the floor
A time to stop blaming circumstance beyond control
It was time for the first step down that long and muddy road
A time to launch my prospect into the great unknown.
Just a beginning, a place to start.
I just need the beginning, some place to start.
It was time to start listening to the wisdom of the heart.
Forget about the ending, just help me make a start.
It was time to stop remembering all the thing I might have been.
Just push me off the platform if that’s how it must begin.
I waited all my life looking for a sign
like a twinkling in your eye
or maybe something clear like writing in the sand.
Don’t want to let it pass me by.
Just a beginning, a place to start.
I just need the beginning, some place to start.
©2004 LApp
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Nolichucky Gorge
Nolichucky River Gorge from the A.T., south of Erwin, TN. Photo by Lawrence App. May 2008
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