I received the wonderful news this week that one of my poems submitted to Spirit Lake Literary Review is being published in their spring edition. I wanted to share it here as well. I have had other items publishes but they were music profiles/bios on bands/musicians for an online magazine and poetry, for me, is much more personal. To think of my words, stemming from a vulnerable and personal place for me, put in actual print, is so exciting for me. I am hoping they use the photo I took and submitted along with the poem.
Solitary Angel
I perch Like a seraphim On the edge of The whirlwind Where there is peace Along with a sense of not belonging Is a longing to connect Sometimes I dip my toe Into the maelstrom To touch the chaos I feel the current And it wants to pull me in I know what comes with it Violence Hate Death Humanity at its worst Drowning Stealing your energy Your heart Love Hope So I recoil Back to my perch Within myself Where there is peace Alone On the edge
All through my life I have always admired others, not for looks or popularity but talent or intelligence. It only stands to reason that I would wish to be admired in the same way. Youth and beauty change, especially as we age, so I have always been more thrilled when someone compliments something I have written, a photo I have taken or a painting I have done. Or when someone acknowledges my intelligence. Guaranteed I am far from being entered in MENSA or anything but I do love to read and be informed and sometimes that comes in handy and is appreciated by others. All of that being said, the most recent compliment that comes to mind and to me was just the best, was I had been to Brooklyn with my grown son and while there I took a photo of him at a little pizza place we stopped at for lunch. I later posted it on Instagram and a man I had been friends with on Twitter, who was a photographer, saw it and told me that at first he thought I had posted a Henri Cartier-Bresson photo. If you know who Bresson is, you know that as a photographer, especially an amateur such as myself, this was such high praise and one of the best compliments ever.
The mind can be like the warmth of a sunny day Till the memory of a loss Or a maudlin thought Creeps in Dark skies consume The light And leave us shivering in the emptiness
Well, when I am not stepping in or sliding on piles of puke and hairballs, having my cats is very calming for me. Just having them nearby, curled up and sleeping gives me a sense of peace and I never feel alone. A couple of them, if they hear me crying, will come running and get right in my face sniffing at me like “What is wrong?”. If I am sick, they often stay by my side as much as possible. Each of them has their own unique personality and provide endless hours of laughter with their antics. I couldn’t imagine not having my kitties. Life would be extremely empty.
Many moons ago there was a social media platform called Myspace. It was absolute magic for us back in the early 2000’s. You could pick your top friends to display on your main screen, design your own layout and have music play on your profile, so each person’s page could be unique to that user. In September 2007 as I scrolled through the Myspace bulletin section which was pretty much the equivalent to Facebook’s newsfeed or Twitter’s TL, I saw an announcement that Val Kilmer was going to be making an appearance at a charity classic car show in Bronx, NY. I love classic cars and was always an admirer of Val’s work. I called up a friend of mine to see if she would want to go with me and we made our plans. The night before we were due to drive there, I went to the Real Deal Val Kilmer’s page (which is what it was titled) and sent a quick message asking when Val would be there. I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss him. The next morning I went into my email and saw an email stating I had a new message from Val Kilmer on Myspace, went into the message and see the following:
“I’ll be there all darn day. xox Val”
I assumed this was sent by a person helping run his page but it was still pretty cool to see that message. We made it to the event and found Val right away. I saw him sitting at a table and walked up, my friend in tow, and asked straight out if he would take a photo with me. I honestly didn’t know who I was in that moment. I had walked straight up to one of my acting idols, like it was no big deal. He responded with a smile and “Sure”, got up and stood next to me for my friend to take the photo. As we stood there posing, I suddenly hear his voice right next to my ear asking me which car was my favorite. For a moment I thought “Is he talking to me?” and he was. We then started talking about classic cars and the GTO he owned and had some laughs throughout our chat. He was so unbelievably funny and sweet. At that time he had made a CD with a friend of his, where he turned some of his poetry into songs, so I purchased that. Later that evening he messaged me, on Myspace, asking what I thought of the CD. Once again the message was signed xox Val. I discovered it really was him that messaged me back that morning. After that I ended up actually becoming friends with his website manager, I started a group page dedicated to him on Myspace, was among his top 20 friends list and even got a personal birthday wish posted by him on my page. Eventually everyone transitioned to Facebook (I still curse that day and miss Myspace) and when things went south with the person running his fan page on Facebook, I was asked to take that over. Over the years my little association with him lead to opportunities like writing for an online magazine and just getting to know a bunch of truly great people. I never anticipated a little photo op with someone of his caliber would impact my life in such a way but it did and I’ll never forget that moment.
This is a piece I wrote I wrote in 2012 for an online magazine called Living Life Boomer Style for their music section. Due to this, the article is not completely up to date on all the albums that Mr. Urban has put out since then, nor in regards to any personal developments in his life. This profile I wrote is something I am extremely proud and it brought about a true highlight in my life when author Jeff Apter, and former writer for Australia’s Rolling Stone magazine, reached out to me after seeing this piece to compliment me on a well written article. Mr. Apter also asked me to review his biography on Keith Urban {formerly titled “Fortunate Son”, but now just titled as Keith Urban} and mailed me a hardback copy of the book, signed by him on the inside cover. It is truly something I treasure.
If you are a fan, I hope you enjoy the read! If you aren’t a fan, I hope you enjoy it as well and maybe enough to check out his music and live performances.
The Energy…..Infectious. The Voice….Intoxicating. The Performance….Electrifying. Tina Lovell
Born: Keith Lionel Urban October 26, 1967 Whangarei, New Zealand
I am speaking of none other than the “thunder from down under” Keith Urban. I first took notice of this fantastic performer one day while channel surfing and stumbled across a documentary titled The Road to Be Here; that CMT was showing, a behind the scenes look at the making of Keith Urban’s soon to be released album Be Here. I was familiar with his songs Somebody Like You and Where the Blacktop Ends, but he hadn’t really quite caught my attention before this.
The nifty little documentary not only gave an insight into the upcoming album, but into Urban himself who was charming, humorous and open-hearted about his music and his life. The personal insight combined with his musical talent made him down right irresistible.
About a month later, I got a chance to see him in concert at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. To be honest, it was the first concert I ever attended…ever! My mom, a fellow fan, joined me. We hit up the merchandise table and purchased some tee shirts, drinks, and found our seats. Fortunately in a small venue, there really aren’t any bad seats and we had a great view of the stage.
When Keith hit the stage the energy level exploded in the room. I observed a crowd who was in love with the music and the energy, which swept me up in it as well. Before you knew it everyone was clapping, singing, and stomping to the music. It was a fantastic time.
Above all else, I observed a man who loves what he does. Urban gives one-hundred and ten percent in his show. He goes above and beyond what most performers do and he shows a genuine love for his fans. Each moment is pure and it’s all about the music.
Every time I see him play, and I have seen him a few times, I can’t imagine a show being any better and every time I see him, he exceeds my expectations. Needless to say, after that first show I was hooked on Mr. Urban.
Young Urban with a really big guitar.
A Guitar
Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, but eventually his family moved and settled in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. Keith’s father had a great love of music, all varieties; but particularly country music and he passed his love for music to his son.
The Urban’s owned a store in town and one day a woman walked into the store simply asking to place an advertisement for guitar lessons she was giving. His parents agreed under the condition she give their son free guitar lessons. So it was, at the tender age of six-years-old Urban got his hands on his first guitar. A guitar that was almost as big as he was.
A Walkin The Country
Throughout his childhood years Keith competed in and won various musical competitions. In 1991 he signed his first contract with EMI in Australia and released a self-titled album which charted four singles. However, Urban knew to make it in country music, there was only one place to go…Nashville, Tenn.
So, in 1992 Keith moved to Nashville. For a time, Keith found work as a session guitarist playing for numerous country artists, including Alan Jackson. In 1997 he formed a band, The Ranch, and signed with Capitol Records. The band consisted of Jerry Flowers on bass, Peter Clarke on drums with Urban doing lead vocals, guitar, banjo and keyboard.
William Ruhlmann writer for All Music Guide wrote, “Urban is a triple threat: he writes songs steeped in country traditions (yet, not really traditionalist), he sings them with confidence, and, most impressively, picks a guitar authoritatively.”
Authoritatively? It’s true, he certainly owns that guitar. Basically, it boils down to–the man plays one mean guitar.
The Ranch
The album, The Ranch, charted two singles, including the infectious Walkin The Country. Unfortunately, the album didn’t achieve the commercial success they had hoped for. Some years later, after Keith achieved success with his solo albums, Capital Records re-released the album and titled it Keith Urban in The Ranch.
Personally, I happen to love this album. It has a lot of catchy tunes and also includes the instrumental “Clutterbilly”. One only need listen to this song to experience the genius of Urban’s guitar playing. A true treat for guitar fans.
The Ranch broke up and Urban pursued a solo career. Still signed under Capital Records, he released his self-titled album in 1999. The song But For The Grace of God provided Urban with his first U.S. number one country hit. While this was certainly a wonderful accomplishment for him, it was in 2002 he started his journey down the golden road.
The Golden Road
Capitol released Golden Road with Somebody Like You, which was written by Urban and John Shanks. The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart Oct. 19, 2002 and stayed there for six weeks, also reaching number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Somebody Like You is a song about overcoming dark times and then finding ones-self opening up to love. It still remains a staple song in his concerts.
Other notable hits from the album include Who Wouldn’t Want to Be Me and the ever so sexy and sultry Raining On Sunday. To all the women who have heard this song or seen the music video for it, you KNOW what I am talking about.
However, it was the fourth single on the album that gave Urban his biggest hit. The ballad about the heartbreak of being dumped by your lover You’ll Think of Me, not only went to number one on the country charts, but it also gave him his first cross over hit on the adult contemporary radio stations. Plus, it earned him his first Grammy.
I have every CD this artist has put out and to me Golden Road is the quintessential Keith Urban album. It speaks of overcoming inner demons, opening up to love, and not just in love for someone else, but also in accepting and loving ourselves. Every song on the album warrants listening too over and over again. Believe me I know. With some number one hits and a Grammy under his belt, Urban knew it was time to kick it up a notch and kick it up he did.
Be Here
In 2004 CMT got behind Urban in a big way by signing-up as sponsor of his first headlining arena tour, Be Here 04, and by making the music documentary The Road to Be Here. The album was produced by Dan Huff, who produced Golden Road.
Urban also collaborated in his writing with Shanks and Monty Powell again and co-wrote the song Better Life with pop singer/songwriter Richard Marx. The first single released Days Go By became Urban’s fifth number one single. The video won Best Music Video Award at the CMT Music Videos Awards show in 2005.
He also did a cover song, Making Memories of Us, a song written and originally performed by Rodney Crowell, and it became a number one hit. It stayed number one for five weeks on the Billboard Country Charts.
In November, 2004 Keith was awarded Country Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year Award. I had a streak of fortune that year too, as I had won a trip to the awards show and from those beautiful wooden benches in the Opry, I got to see him perform Days Go By and watch him accept his award.
Urban’s meteoric rise continued in 2005, the tour raged on successfully. In early 2005 Urban filmed a CMT Crossroads episode with Creedence Clearwater Revival’sJohn Fogerty. It was a wonderful blend of rock, folk, and country music. It also gifted viewers with a heartbreaking rendition of You’ll Think of Me.
I have seen him perform this song many times and the one in that show was amazing. The heart and soul which poured out through the guitar and vocals was a show-stopper. Even Fogarty who had been playing and singing, sat back and just let him do this thing..
Continuing to ride the wave of success, that summer, Urban performed in the Live 8 Philadelphia Concert, a part of coordinated concerts across the world to coincide with the G8 summits. He was also chosen by Gap to appear along with several other musician in an ad campaign.
Also, the Country Music Association honored Urban with another award, this time it was the highly coveted Entertainer of the Year. Urban released a DVD titled Livin’ Right Now that was filmed the year before at the 2004 concert at Los Angeles’s Wiltern Theatre.
I have to say right here, if you are a Keith Urban fan and you do not have this DVD, you need to get it. Livin’ Right Now features many songs from Golden Road and Be Here. Plus, a wonderful version of his song You Won. It reminds you, not only can he play the guitar like there’s no tomorrow, but the man can sing. Be Here is his highest selling album, earning 4X Multi-platinum Certification.
Urban got to experience a taste of European touring in 2005 as well, when he opened for rocker Bryan Adams in England and Ireland. The fact that Urban, a country musician, was opening for a rock musician speaks to his appeal across music genres.
2005 was a banner year for his career. Something else also happened in this year and it changed his life; this time on a personal level.
Keith and Nicole
Love, Pain and…Love
Up to this point Urban was completely focused on his career. His star was soaring, but between touring and making albums, he wasn’t spending a whole lot of time on the personal aspect of his life. Urban mentioned in an interview that you get to a point where you don’t know who you are off-stage.
In January of 2005 at G’Day LA, a Hollywood event honoring Australians, Urban met actress Nicole Kidman. They started dating six months later and were married in June, 2006. Urban now had the best of both worlds. A soaring career and the love of his life.
With a new love and a renewed zest for his work, he completed and released the album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing. The first track titled Once In A Lifetime, a song written on inspiration of his relationship with Kidman, debuted at number 17, making it the highest debuting country single in the 62-year-history of Billboard Country Music charts at the time. The album charted three other singles, Everybody, I Told You So and the Grammy winning Stupid Boy (written by country artist Sarah Buxton).
Urban hit a speed bump that year in his personal life. In October of 2006 he checked himself into The Betty Ford Center to deal with an addiction problem. Urban had struggled in the past with similar problems, with the strength and love of his wife, friends, and family he made it through rehab and hit the road to promote the new album.
This show was even bigger and better than before. The first couple of times I saw Urban was in small venues, but when he played in the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Penn., it was easy to see just how far he had come in a short period of time.
My seats were definitely further away this time. Gone was the chance for fourth row seats without spending a fortune. Once the show started the seats didn’t matter. The stage had a Jumbotron screen on it, so one could view the band members super-sized. A long runway ran down the middle of the crowd with a smaller round stage, which he played on, as well. It is amazing, despite the increase in the size of the audience, he manages to make sure each and every fan (even those of us in the cheap seats) got a great show.
Another part of the show that was amazing, different, and totally unexpected was during I Told You So, a local high-school band came onto the stage playing their hearts out. He entertained the crowd, and I believe himself, by having everyone do the wave with their cell phone lights on. The band did a fantastic version of Steve Miller’s The Joker, where each of his band members got a shot at singing their own solos. Urban shares every inch of that stage with his band members, so it’s not just the ‘Keith Urban show.’
Monkeyville
Another aspect, reflective of Urban’s love for his fans is his official fan club, Monkeyville. I signed up with the fan club in October of 2004, the day after seeing him in concert. At that time it was run by a fairly small group of women. Each year Keith would give a performance in Nashville for fan club members only. Unfortunately, as Keith’s fan base grew, it became impractical to continue the small venue effort. Nonetheless, they have constructed a fantastic website for the fans. It’s a great place to find information on this talented artist, but more importantly, it’s a place to go to talk to fellow fans about his music, videos, tour schedule, etc.
Charity
Urban has been a supporter and contributor of St. Judes for Children for years. And, he and his wife donated a half-million dollars to the Red Cross to help families devastated by the brush-fires in Victoria, Australia in February of 2009.
He’s found balance in his life. Adding to that joy, the happy couple welcomed their first child last year. Daughter, Sunday Rose, was born July 7, 2008. Kidman commented their daughter looks a lot like Urban. We all know, that’s certainly not a bad thing.
March 31, 2009 Defying Gravity will be released. Defying Gravity comes from the lyrics of a song on the album, a phrase, in Urban’s words, that “really defined the joyous, optimistic and uplifting spirit that seemed to show itself while making the album.”
Urban will also be hitting the road in March for his Escape Together World Tour. The tour will visit 58 cities across North America.
Sweet Thing, the first track, is all ready a number one hit. Jim Malec, a reviewer for The 9513, gave Sweet Thing a ‘thumbs up’ rating. Although, he considered the song ‘not really country’ he added, “If this is country-pop, it is hard to imagine anyone ever doing it with more passion, more intensity, and more effectiveness.” I couldn’t agree more.
As we mark the 22nd anniversary of one of the most tragic moments in US history, much like everyone else who was around when it happened, I can’t help but recall that day with such clarity. I am one of the fortunate ones. I didn’t lose a loved one that day. I didn’t have to run into rescue anyone, I didn’t have to be on standby at a hospital waiting for injured people to care for. I didn’t have to dig through the rubble looking for survivors, looking for people. I didn’t have to hear the sound of people’s bodies hitting the ground as they jumped from imminent death to certain death. I was merely a spectator watching from the comfort of my sofa while eating my morning breakfast.
I had taken the day off work. Playing hooky as you may call it. We had sent the children off to school. It was a beautiful late summer day. Blue skies, sun shining, a coolness in the air that felt refreshing and made us look forward to autumn days. I decided to whip up some pancakes and as I did, my husband was in the living room watching the news. As I carried our plates in, he mentioned a plane had crashed into a building. I sat down with my food and proceeded to watch with him. You could hear the news anchors talking over the footage. When the camera panned back and we could get more of a picture, my husband suddenly realized it was one of the World Trade Center towers. We started to wonder how a plane had crashed into one of the towers. It had to be an accident but what caused the accident was our main question. The camera was still panned back that you could see a decent amount of the sky and the building. As I lifted another forkfull of pancake to my mouth, a second plane hit the other tower. A sight I will never forget. I remember screaming “Oh my God!” My husband’s words were more expletive in yelling “Holy shit!”. That is when we realized, as I am sure anyone else witnessing any of this did, that this was no accident. Your heart and mind wanted to think it was some freak coincidence but deep down we knew this was intentional. As to who or why, we couldn’t even begin to speculate in that moment. All I could think of was the poor people in those buildings and planes.
After about 10 minutes of trying to process this, I immediately called into my one co worker at the local newspaper, where I worked, and she told me they had a TV on and watching it. For those witnessing it, it felt like the world had stopped. It was such an unbelievable site. I wanted to drive to the school, bring my children home and just hold on tight to them. The school administration quickly sent out an automated call to parents letting them know the children were safe and would be sent home at their normal times.
As we watched the events of that day unfold, the towers collapsing, watching people flee through the streets of NYC searching for safety, the crashes in that Pennsylvania field and at the Pentagon, had my mind spinning and my heart reeling with so many emotions. Sadness, disbelief, horror and finally anger. I remember such incredible anger that anyone could do this to so many innocent people. Heroes were made in those moments. Some of them lived to tell about it and some did not. Some heroes jobs didn’t end on 9/11 for they had the terrible responsibility of looking for survivors. Looking for people who would never be found. In the days that followed we saw a country come together and be willing to step up and help each other. There was a sense of patriotism, There was tremendous respect and support for firefighters and the men in blue. There was a sense of solidarity and kindness. Something I wish we could have without there having to be a tragedy.
For days the news showed us so much footage of the loss of life, devastation and grief. There was no escape from it. I remember after having all planes grounded and the skies being silent for a bit, the first time we heard a plane (as we live near an airport and are quite used to the sound) it actually was odd to hear. At the newspaper we all wore flag pins to show our love for our country and its people. Every morning, and every afternoon, we each got that day’s edition of the paper. One day I came back from lunch, I think it was almost two weeks after the towers fell, and the paper was on my desk and it had this photo on the front cover. I sat down, looked at it, ran my fingers over the photo as tears sprang to my eyes and I thought “That’s it. That’s the photo. THAT shows what our country is made of.”
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
In the 90’s my great aunt gave me a box of books, that she had read. One of these boxes contained the book “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. It ended up becoming one of my favorite all time books. Every word a delicious morsel for the mind. It was written so beautifully for what is characteristically a dark tale. In particularly there is a quote from it that when I read it, I felt thunderstruck as it resonated with me so much, I felt as if the author was speaking about me.
“Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.”
Whether it is in writing, taking a photo or even in preconceiving a moment yet to happen, I always have in mind a specific image of what I am hoping to obtain or convey and when something falls short of that, I find myself disappointed. Sometimes even completely thrown off the rails.
In the book there is a period of time where these friends spend weekends at a country home, belonging to a family member of the one character, and those moments spent there, the description of the home, the way they spend their time are all so idyllic that one can’t help but wish they could step into the story and be there with them. At least I do anyway. It’s picture perfect.
So if you were to contemplate your “fatal flaw”, what do you think it would be?
Stardust Musings 