Going with the flow. Being thankful. Watching for signs and wonders.

Life is a crazy proposition. The challenge is to always be thankful.

In January of 2010 I went to Nashville. I wasn't looking for Buck Owens, or Taylor Swift. My buddy, Dan Wilkins, of Legacy Films (www.legacy.tv) in Eugene, who is also a client, said, "Yeah, go to Nashville. You'll love it. They have a 20 foot tall golden statue to the goddess Athena. Maybe you'll want to live there."

He had said the same thing regarding my going to Key West, which was another project I worked on for Legacy Films. Wilkins, and Portland director Erich Lyttle, had traveled much of America ten years ago in making the Indie film (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0359389/) "Have You Seen Clem." The film is based on Wilkins' experience in having lost millions of dollars due to over-expansion of Duff's, his buffet-style restaurant chain that once had twenty-six restaurants in Tennessee and California. They had spent some time in Nashville, and filmed a number of Nashville "cats."

Lyttle's claims to fame were his work for Red Bull, and ESPN (www.erich.tv). I had hired Lyttle in the 1990s to shoot a TV spot. He had in turn introduced me to Wilkins. Lyttle thought Wilkins was a little bit crazy, but never boring. And, he enough money left over to pay Lyttle to film a movie as they drove around America in an RV for four months. Wilkins' plan was to film the homeless of America, and to eventually lead his crew to Knoxville, TN where he would exact revenge on the banker who'd nearly bankrupted him. He didn't share this information with Lyttle or the crew. Wilkins was also the star of the film, and wore the disguise of a homeless man named Clem, complete with grotesque fake teeth. In Clem's odd hat was what was referred to as "Jame-O-vision," created by a young skateboarder-turned-cinematographer from Portland, Kris Jamieson. But in meeting and filming the homeless, including many talented street musicians, and seeing what was really going on in America, Wilkins had a change of heart and decided to forgive the banker. So it goes.

Life is funny that way. You set out to do one thing, and somewhere down the highway, sometimes literally while you are on a highway, you change your mind, and your world expands just a little bit.

I have noted that everything is interconnected. I do not know why this is, but I know it to be true. For example, my meeting Dan Wilkins. Wilkins is a quirky character, even when he isn't wearing a disguise in an Indie movie. He knows people because he is a people person. He lined me up to do work to promote his film, and introduced me to John Herklotz the executive producer of another film, "Giant of Thunder Mountain." Herklotz wanted to rebrand the never-released film so he could get it into Walmart. That was in 2007. Wilkins also arranged for me to write a biography of Herklotz. Both Wilkins phone numbers and Herklotz's phone numbers had numbers similar to my birth date. I do not know why this is, but this is a perfect example of the synchronicity of the universe. I notice such things.

In Nashville, where I'd gone to see if I could sell some of my songs (I had done an EP and sold it on CDBaby) to a hot shot Nashville producer. This is how crazy I am. I went to Nashville not knowing anything about how to do this. I had heard of Music Row, but I didn't know what it was. Wilkins said, "I know this guy there who runs an Italian restaurant. He used to work for the mafia, but I don't think he does now. You could stay with him!"

I won't tell you all the things I did in Nashville, but suffice to say, it would be a comedy film. Here are the highlights: 1. I did go to Music Row and became an ASCAP writer. (I admit I ogled the huge naked dancer bronze sculptures there). 2. I stood in the room where Billy Ray Cyrus recorded, "Achy Breaky Heart" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQIPdHMpjc). 3. I stumbled across Hatch Show Print on Broadway Street www.hatchshowprint.com and fell in love with letterpress. 4. I sneaked into the Roy Orbison  recording studio's top floor and wasn't arrested. 5. I auditioned after too many glasses of merlot, for a former Columbia recording producer from NYC, who was a friend of the Wilkins' restaurant owner (Mario). 


Sometimes I wonder if my life is my own anymore, or I am simply the puppet of a master puppeteer. Maybe I am a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard. I am thinking of Nashville and my experience there, and the people we meet that change the courses of our lives. I do not claim to understand what any of it means. We simply have to be willing and life will direct and drive us places that expand our world view. It has mine. How about you?