Sub-heading: Books I've read.

This installment of "Book Quotes" brought to you by Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present, and Wildly Productive by Jordan Raynor.

 

"I think Paul is telling us that part of the solution to our anxiety is found in what we’re choosing to think about—the noise and information we are inviting into our minds. Most news is not true, noble, right, pure, lovely, or admirable. It’s just noise. And much like our smartphones, news creates anxiety in our lives, making it harder for us to focus on the work God has given us to do."

 

"....Picasso, “Without great solitude no serious work is possible.”

 

"Jen Wilkin nailed it: “Our insatiable desire for information is a clear sign that we covet the divine omniscience….We must observe God’s good boundaries for how much information we can process.”

 

 

Sub-heading: Books I've read.

This installment of "Book Quotes" brought to you by Redeeming Your Time: 7 Biblical Principles for Being Purposeful, Present, and Wildly Productive by Jordan Raynor.

I've marked 111 passages in my kindle! Let's just start with 3!

 

"God doesn’t need you or me to finish our to-do lists. If the things on our to-do lists are on God’s to-do list, he will complete them with or without us. "

“We are always engaged with our thumbs, but rarely engaged with our thoughts.”

"As one Nobel Prize winner said, “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.”

 

 

More from, "Called to Create: A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk" by Jordan Raynor

I may have to do more than one post. Here are a few (for now) of my favorite quotes:

"...what’s equally remarkable is what [God] did not create. He created animals but he didn’t give them names. He created land but he didn’t create irrigation systems. He created stars but he didn’t create an iPhone app that would allow us to hold a pocket-sized computer up to the sky to see them all by name. After working for six days, God left the earth largely undeveloped and uncultivated. He created a canvas and then invited us to join him in filling it."

"For half a century I have been writing my thoughts in prose and in verse; history, philosophy, drama, romance, tradition, satire, ode, and song; all of these have I tried. But I feel that I haven’t given utterance to the thousandth part of what lies within me. When I go to the grave I can say as others have said, “I have finished my day’s work.” But I cannot say, “I have finished my life.” My day’s work will begin again the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight, but opens on the dawn." ~ Victor Hugo (Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)

"Following the call to create means that we no longer work to make a name for ourselves; we work for the glory of the One who has called us."

I so loved this book, "Called to Create: A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk" by Jordan Raynor

I may have to do more than one post. Here are a few (for now) of my favorite quotes:

"[Entreprenuers] brought something out of relatively nothing. They established order out of chaos. And, through their creations, they loved and served the world. So allow me to submit a new definition for the word entrepreneur to guide the rest of these pages: an entrepreneur is anyone who takes a risk to create something new for the good of others."
 

"From my perspective, the act of creating a new business is not dissimilar to composing a song. Both require bringing something out of nothing, establishing order out of chaos, and creating something good for others."
 

"You’re valid. Step up. Bring what you’ve got. Don’t you dare hold back. Not cringing back, not with arrogant pride, with sane humility bring your stuff. Other people need it."

 

Well, it's been about nine months since my last book quote blog. I've read a "few more" books since then!

“A man could sail on forever … forever till the final darkness comes.”

The Caribbean cruise I performed on in March has long since past, but I continued to "dwell" on and around the islands (if only in my mind) for a few months after, being that "Caribbean" by James Michener is over 900 pages long and I'm not a fast reader. More like sporadic, depending on if I'm traveling or at home.
I enjoyed this read very much all the way to the end.

-----------------------------

When the writers of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies were doing their research, they must have used this book as one of their sources.

"Port Royal was special. It had no police, no restraints of any kind, and the soldiers stationed in the fort seemed as undisciplined as the pirates who roared ashore to take over the place, night after night. They were of all breeds and certainly all colors, and all with nefarious occupations. In some hectic months Port Royal averaged a dozen killings a night, and prominent on the waterfront was a rude gallows from whose yardarm, “dancing in Port Royal sunshine,” was the corpse of some pirate who had attacked the wrong ship at the wrong time."

-------------------------------

"I learned that one of the glorious experiences of travel is to be in a small boat just before dawn as you approach a tropic island. Darkness everywhere but a sense that something lies ahead. Then a distant glimmer of light, a kind of throbbing in the air, and because it is in the tropics, where the sun rises and sets with a rush, not a lingering tease, here comes the great orb, all of a sudden. Light everywhere! And then, far ahead the outline of an island in the midst of a great ocean. More light, more island, and as your boat sweeps in you see the palm trees and the hills and the reassurances that people live there. Don’t miss a thrill that may come only once in your lifetime.”

~ The same goes for a large ship,... but add the daily all-you-can-eat buffett! (If you're into that sort of thing)

Hamilton.

I saw the play in LA. Loved it. How very interesting, I thought as a creative person, how Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow inspired a whole show for Broadway. I must read it. 

Read it, I did!
Some of the many quotes I saved in my trusty Kindle:

"In all probability, Alexander Hamilton is the foremost political figure in American history who never attained the presidency, yet he probably had a much deeper and more lasting impact than many who did."

“Believe me love is doubly sweet / In wedlock’s holy bands.” ~ A. Hamilton poetry at 17

"See thy wretched helpless state and learn to know thyself. . . . Despise thyself and adore thy God. . . . O ye who revel in affluence see the afflictions of humanity and bestow your superfluity to ease them. . . . Succour the miserable and lay up a treasure in heaven." ~ A. Hamilton

"His chum at King’s [College], Robert Troup, was convinced that Hamilton’s religious practice was driven by more than duty. He 'was attentive to public worship and in the habit of praying on his knees night and morning. . . . I have often been powerfully affected by the fervor and eloquence of his prayers. He had read many of the polemical writers on religious subjects and he was a zealous believer in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity.'"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be continued!

Sub-heading: Books I've read. 

This installment of "Book Quotes" is brought to you by "A Moveable Feast"  by Ernest Hemingway

This book made a great souvenir as I was walking the streets of Paris in May/June of 2017. I purchased it at the infamous "Shakespeare and Company" book store in the City of Lights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On writing in Paris...

Sadness of Fall, but there's always Spring...

This was basically our same path we walked every day down to the city sights...

"...I could never be lonely along the river [Seine]"

Here's a selfie with cameraman/artiste', Luis Fuerte. He spent 19 years as camera operator for PBS TV host, Huell Howser, who I previously posted about HERE.

 

 

His book signing event at Galleano Winery near my home brought plenty of behind-the-scenes stories to share with those of us in attendance. 

 

 

 

 

We had a nice one-on-one chat about another rewarding time he had, outside of working with Huell, when he was asked to travel with and film an orchestra. He may have said the LA Phil, but I can't remember. He spoke about working the camera as if it was an art form, not just "filming" an event. 

Check out his book!

I snatched up a couple of tickets right away (After the Am Express pre-sale). I knew it would sell out quickly. "An Evening With Jimmy Webb - GRAMMY Museum"

Here was chance to see and hear, up close and personal, Jimmy Webb; legendary songwriter of "By the Time I get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Up, Up, and Away", "MacArthur Park."....list goes on. 

Got to meet Jimmy too and get his new book personally autographed! 

Do you know how many times this song below has been recorded? Wow!

Added extra bonus. Standing behind the portable and expandable black nylon security fence was iconic photographer, Henry Diltz.   

I was just waiting patiently in line for Mr. Webb and I see this unique-looking guy holding a camera and I google his name right then and there. Sure enough! It was him! Did I say anything to him? No? [Kicks self] Ha Ha. As a much younger guy, I was listening to albums, looking at album covers, and reading his name E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. 

Perhaps' like me, you have seen some these, his classic shots of music. 

In my travels I have been to the Hemingway House in Key West and the Hemingway Memorial in Sun City, Idaho, and as well as even walking the streets of Paris where Ernest walked and lived and wrote.

I am now on a Hemingway kick, peppering his writings in between my other reads of fiction and non-fiction alike. As always, food for the songwriting soul.

 

On Writing:

"When I was growing up, my parents always told me that my grandfather said write about what you know."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have spent over a week walking up to 15 miles a day on the streets of Paris in late Spring, hence this passage of text was interesting enough for me to highlight it and many others like it, on my kindle. Guess you had to be there. ;)

**  "I went out onto the sidewalk and walked down toward the Boulevard St. Michel, passed the tables of the Rotonde, still crowded, looked across the street at the Dôme, its tables running out to the edge of the pavement. Some one waved at me from a table, I did not see who it was and went on. I wanted to get home. The Boulevard Montparnasse was deserted. Lavigne’s was closed tight, and they were stacking the tables outside the Closerie des Lilas. I passed Ney’s statue standing among the new-leaved chestnut-trees in the arc-light. There was a faded purple wreath leaning against the base. I stopped and read the inscription: from the Bonapartist Groups, some date; I forget. He looked very fine, Marshal Ney in his top-boots, gesturing with his sword among the green new horse-chestnut leaves. My flat was just across the street, a little way down the Boulevard St. Michel."

** "It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing."

** "Brett looked at me. “I was a fool to go away,” she said. “One’s an ass to leave Paris.”

** "I drank a bottle of wine for company. It was a Château Margaux. It was pleasant to be drinking slowly and to be tasting the wine and to be drinking alone. A bottle of wine was good company."

** "Everything is on such a clear financial basis in France. It is the simplest country to live in. No one makes things complicated by becoming your friend for any obscure reason. If you want people to like you you have only to spend a little money. I spent a little money and the waiter liked me. He appreciated my valuable qualities. He would be glad to see me back. I would dine there again some time and he would be glad to see me, and would want me at his table. It would be a sincere liking because it would have a sound basis. I was back in France."

And finally...

** "I hated to leave France. Life was so simple in France."

I had to leave....Adieu dès maintenant!

 

From my current read: Dream It! Do it! by Disney Imagineer Marty Sklar 
 

Wow, I like this. Wrote it down in my journal 5 years ago. I was reading Thomas a' Kempis "Imitation of Christ" (15th century)

When a man desires a thing too much, he at once becomes ill at ease.
A proud and avaricious man never rests, whereas
He who is poor and humble of heart
Lives in a world of peace. 

I am so glad to finish my iPad book "Custom of the Country" by Edith Wharton (not that I didn't enjoy it) so I can actually hold my next read, a real live book - binding, pages turning in anticipation of the next - with my own two hands!

NEW YORK 

“It's dirty and ugly—all the towns we've been to are disgustingly dirty. I loathe the smells and the beggars. I'm sick and tired of the stuffy rooms in the hotels. I thought it would all be so splendid—but New York's ever so much nicer!"

"Not New York in July?"

"I don't care—there are the roof-gardens, anyway; and there are always people round. All these places seem as if they were dead. It's all like some awful cemetery.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“She was aware of the fading of the summer light outside, of the movements of her maid, who was laying out her dinner-dress in the room beyond, and of the fact that the tea-roses on her writing-table, shaken by Van Degen's tread, were dropping their petals over Ralph's letter, and down on the crumpled telegram which she could see through the trellised sides of the scrap-basket.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The smothered springs of life were bubbling up in Ralph, and there were days when he was glad to wake and see the sun in his window, and when he began to plan his book, and to fancy that the planning really interested him. He could even maintain the delusion for several days—for intervals each time appreciably longer—before it shrivelled up again in a scorching blast of disenchantment. The worst of it was that he could never tell when these hot gusts of anguish would overtake him. They came sometimes just when he felt most secure, when he was saying to himself: "After all, things are really worth while—”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WRITING (Written about me? L.O.L.)

“...after nights of brooding he made a dash at it, and wrote an opening chapter that struck him as not too bad. In the exhilaration of this first attempt he spent some pleasant evenings revising and polishing his work; and gradually a feeling of authority and importance developed in him. In the morning, when he woke, instead of his habitual sense of lassitude, he felt an eagerness to be up and doing, and a conviction that his individual task was a necessary part of the world's machinery. He kept his secret with the beginner's deadly fear of losing his hold on his half-real creations if he let in any outer light on them; but he went about with a more assured step, shrank less from meeting his friends, and even began to dine out again, and to laugh at some of the jokes he heard.”

Excerpts From: Wharton, Edith. “The Custom of the Country.” iBooks. 
This material may be protected by copyright.

 

ThrowBackThursday Post- Looking back on a blog post of recent yesteryear (and bringing it over from the old website for further reference).
Well, that was a fast read! (For me, anyway) Ontario to Phoenix to Denver to Minneapolis by 737 on Friday.  Then reverse that scenario on Sunday! (Even reversing 737 is still, well.....737)

And while I was traversing the country thousands of miles above, I had with me The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a story of a father and son's survival through a post-apocalyptic, read-between-the lines nuclear ravaged America.

The large type and spaces between the most interesting, non-indented paragraphs (see photo) probably had a little to do with my surprised completion before I even touched down in Phoenix on the trip home.  It was a good fast-paced read nonetheless.
 
A movie starring Viggo Mortensen was made based on this book as well.  Have you read this book or seen the movie?
 Further notable about this trip was the special Southwest aircraft I rode in during the Phoenix leg of the jaunt back home to California with the Official State Animal, the grizzly bear, painted on it. 


I just figured I'd borrow a photo off the internet rather then taking one myself on a bad camera phone.  Grrrrrr-oovy!

ThrowBackThursday Post- Looking back on a blog post of recent yesteryear (and bringing it over from the old website for further reference).

Felt it was time to read a biography (I like to mix it up a little).  Better still, an autobiography.  Can't say I'm a bona fide "fan" of Eric Clapton (someone I can't miss in concert), but an interesting read nonetheless.  Autobiographies are cool -  like the-author-is-sitting-right-there-with-you-in-the-airport, coffee shop, comfy-couch at home, or wherever-cool.

In the process, a couple of records have piqued my interest. The first is Road To Escondido whereby Mr.Clapton moved in with J.J. Cale for a week at his house in the hills of Escondido, CA and hashed out the direction for their upcoming recording - "getting ready to play" as Clapton called it.  I thought it was somewhat noteworthy as I get down that way in North County, San Diego quite often to visit my parents, having even done a gig there.

The other sample of musical coolness is Eric's Me and Mr. Johnson.  This tribute album of Robert Johnson tunes was never meant to be released, but was originally just a way to "release the tension and just have some fun" in the studio while coming up with enough material for a "normal" commercial release.

Anything you'd like to say in closing, E.C.?

"The music scene as I look at it today is a little different from where I was growing up.  The percentages are roughly the same - 95 percent rubbish, 5 percent pure...Music survives everything, and like God, it is always present.  It needs no help, and suffers no hindrance.  It has always found me, and with God's blessing and permission, it always will" ~ Eric Clapton

After seeing the movie "Saving Mr. Banks" sometime early this year, I naturally had to put the book on which this film was based ("Mary Poppins, She Wrote: The Life of P.L. Travers" by Valerie Lawson) on my to-read list for down the road. 

Well....down the road finally came, and I recently enjoyed this read.
 
Quote about New York City:





And here, Ms. Travers reminds the world she doesn't "write for children". :)

In preparing for another road trip, it seems I find myself riding on not only a tour bus, but a literary seesaw once again. 2 books at once - Let's go!... 
On one side I sit with a book I've had for quite a while, given to my by a good friend, on a subject I've always wanted to delve into. Eerdmans' Handbook to the History of Christianity 












And the opposite side you can find me with a book I "checked out" from the library on my iPad: "Mob Star - The Story of John Gotti"

Next thing you know, I'll be writing a song with Mafioso metaphors! I already have one on the way with space metaphors orbiting throughout after seeing the movie "Gravity"


I leave you with this from historian, Bede (673-735) in "Eerdman's":











 

There's always a tiny fiesta that occurs in my insular sense of self-accomplishment whenever I finish a book - takes me forever!  And so I completed: "Frida: A Biography Of Frida Kahlo" This was indeed,  an "engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo" revealing "a woman of extreme magnetism and originality..." (Amazon)

I don't share Frida's view on things like religion or politics, but what a gutsy woman!  Got quite sad for me at the end with her declining health and her soul-searching renewed devotion to Communism.  There is always some nugget of inspiration though to be scooped up like scattered pinata treasures on the floor when reading about unique creatives such as Frida.  Have you read this book?  Have you seen the movie based on this book starring Salma Hayek?  Have you listened to the movie soundtrack?  (You would hear three "yes's" from me!) :)




Had to cleanse my "reading palate" afterwards with the colorful silliness of Lewis Carroll's "Into The Looking Glass". It's the followup to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which I have read as well. Have you read these? I know, children's books, you say? I was very much entertained by the clever, non-sensical wordplay throughout.