"Losing Earl Scruggs"

To a three-finger style, five-string banjo player, losing Earl Scruggs is really hard to describe in words, or even fathom; yet his work will never die. To have even been alive during this time in banjo history is an honor, blessing, and responsibility. Hopefully when I'm in my 120's, ;-) it will mean even more to me to have met him and lived during his time; this great time of banjo innovation. What a wonderfully great man, innovator, and example of pure stellar professionalism.

   I can't think of another instrument, or style, so closely related to one single person; the greatest of artistic accomplishments and compliments. He found a way, through the influence of Snuffy Jenkins and others at the time, to make the 5-string banjo work in musically new ways, cutting through with volume and clarity; putting a unique sonic stamp on the music that had never been heard before. Earl brought in streams and patterns of exotic polyrhythmic bliss that could dance, swing, drive, rock, and roll in and out of every musical crack and crevice of virtually any genre, giving familiar sounds a completely new life; adding to them without taking away from them. He gave an instrument that was once viewed by the public as a comedian's prop, an authoritative and credible musical voice and identity; a new banjo template and pathway for future applications that are still yet to be imagined.

   May life "after Earl" remain even richer for our wonderful instrument. It's in our hands now; may we all make him proud. 

   We really loved you Earl Scruggs. Thanks for the rich life that streamed from the fingers of the North Carolina boy who figured out and forged ahead with the joyous three-finger rolls of the ole' five string. I can't even imagine what my life would have been like without the banjo and all of the wonderful times it has brought to my soul as my faithful partner in song writing and performing. Banjo never lets me down.


J.M.

- RIP Earl Scruggs

(also in memory of my sonic banjo hero.. "Banjovi" Mark Vann - true lover of Earl Scruggs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMQFDx1MddY
Turner Field Tribute

240 Banjo players play "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" for Earl Scruggs for 5 minutes, breaking a Guinness Book of World Records. Turner Field - Atlanta  9/13/2006

First Time meeting Earl in person June of 2008 - Elberton, Georgia

"Let the Writing Paper Win"

shake the paint, then paint the shakes

catch what's there before it cakes
parchment dancing wildly with the pen
that's when the writing paper wins 

let new thoughts just usher in
it's not all pain when pleasure wins

let it take you where it may

the miracle is today
 

it passes fast from start to end
don't even try to reel it in

just give it to the parchment with your pen

that's when the writing paper wins

let it speak and have its say

never judge one single day

your life, the parchment

your mind, the pen

shake the paint, then paint the shakes

enjoy your toy before it breaks

let it take you where it may

the miracle of just one day

you'll have to bend or you will break

you'll have to give or they will take

your life, the parchment

your mind, the pen

you shook the paint, then painted great

taught with your mind for the children's sake
your parchment danced so wildly with your pen

one teacher let the writing paper win

just let your writing paper win.

your life, the parchment

your mind, the pen

just let the writing paper win.

Written by Jeff Mosier 

--in memory of teacher and friend Carl Brown R.I.P

 

 

Don't You Think?

   If the early free thinkers and discoverers, like Galileo, could see what has been learned since their time, and use the technology that we now have at our service, do you think they would willingly run back into the dark ages; a time where passed-down whims and fears were rampant, human thought was suspect, and the very idea of "individual thought" or even "pleasure" were met with violent suspicion? No! I think they would be running freely toward the future and away from the dark; constantly learning and yearning for more, invoking in themselves a genuine gratitude for what has been discovered, and a mystical and reverential humility for what is not yet known. Don't you think? 

Ongoing Thoughts, Quotes, and Ponderings - by Jeff Mosier

There is no "Them" - We've lost our collective minds over our "them" obsessions. There is no "them". This is so pathetic; a sign that the clouds of useless misery, violence, and tragedy are rolling in ONCE AGAIN. When will we ever let go of our stupid mental obsessions with the unseen fear and blindness produced by our own mind, and let go our delusional human dominion over the natural world? E pluribus unum could work if we would let it work.

Art  is - Art is the unique and essential work of our species. Through art, we extend our lives beyond death; leaving proof that we were here by building in a brief glimpse into our times. "Culture" is the by-product of the systematic way that humans create outward communal statements and create unique identities; these sensual out-workings effectively extend our lives into the future. Calling the senses into the service of creative production, living in the body, creating every imaginable object beyond nature, and facilitating complex movement through dance; these are only a few of the myriad of realities that set us apart from other members of nature. Making things, building things, and celebrating our lives through the creative process IS art; without which no human life can thrive. Art is our deepest and most sensual expression, fueling our mind and body. The "art life" is where we need to be, and where we need to stay in order to evolve, survive, and more importantly, thrive. 

R.I.P. Carl Brown

This was posted by one of my friends on Facebook, teacher Carl Brown, on a thread concerning education and the value of teachers.

"I consider the most important part of my job to be helping kids learn how to think and how to learn. The best discussions we have involve me not answering any questions, but rather, guiding the discussion so it doesn't stray too far from the issue at hand. Recalling facts isn't required of me if they have to defend their thoughts and opinions by recalling facts from what has been read. I am fortunate in that I work with small groups of very bright students that soon learn to expect higher level thinking questions from me."  Carl Brown

My notes a year later prior to his death and on the day of his death..


3/9/12 - Above was my first exchange with Carl Brown on FB. Though he and Jane have heard my music for years, I technically didn't know them until recently. I wrote this "note" as a result of his quote that came about during the teachers union debates in Wisconsin. Now Carl is dying of a very aggressive brain tumor. I rededicate this note to him and Jane Mauldin and for the wonderful way that he used his mind to help so many children for so long. I have no words to explain the way this quick and sad illness has made me feel about so many things in my own life. Music is what i know and what I do in life. It is what I go to. I wish for a peaceful and pain free transition for this wonderful man Carl Brown, and peace of mind to his wife Jane of many years.


3/18/12 - Carl died this morning.. R.I.P. I will miss posting with Carl. I have no words to express the sadness. I will say that he was a special man, especially to this man who is typically not a "man fan". He had an intelligence and inner spirit that was very unique. Jane will have all of our love as she wakes up to this loss and deals with life without him. May we all surround her, pray, think, or say the things that remind her of how much she is loved. It may seem silly to say, but I am grateful to FB for facilitating these connections in a way that would have never been possible even 5 years ago. My "lost banjo" showing up in their town, and my visit to them, made our connection possible and special. It's important because of what Facebook helps facilitate in our lives that is uniquely human. I always say.. for whatever we think we have lost in privacy, we have gained so much in connection; living life more together than apart, realizing that we have more to be thankful for than to argue over, more to celebrate than to dread, and more to hope for than to fear. Bye Carl Brown. 

Wilson Funeral Home, Inc.

---

Carl Everett Brown
(July 23, 1956 - March 18, 2012)

Carl E. Brown, 55, of Fort Payne passed away on Sunday, March 18, 2012 at his home.Carl was born in Boston, MA in 1956 to parents Norman and Joyce Brown. He was a twin. Carl graduated from Merrimack High School in Merrimack, NH and from Jacksonville University with a BA degree in Education. He later earned a Masters degree in Elementary Education and School Principalship.
Carl started his work career doing an assortment of jobs including archaeology before becoming an elementary school teacher. He taught third grade in Menlo, GA for a few years prior to coming to the Fort Payne City School System. He recently retired after teaching fourth grade at Williams Avenue School for many years and spent the last 6 years of his career teaching gifted children. He loved his job and was passionate about making a difference in the lives of his students. He was also very active with the SCPA and the Humane Society, serving as president.
Carl is survived by his wife Jane Mauldin, mother Joyce Purinton, brothers Danny, Gary, Scott, and Eric, sister Linda, brother-in-law and sister-in-law Tom and Teresa Mauldin, special nieces Katie, Anna, and Sarah Mauldin, as well as many other nieces and nephews. Carl will also be greatly missed by his special animal companions, Lupi, Stella, Mandy, Wilson, and Aiko.
A memorial visitation will be Wednesday from 4 until 6 p.m. at Wilson Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to the Humane Society, P.O. Box 680653, Fort Payne, AL 35968.
Wilson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, online guestbook, www.wilsonfhinc.com

These are my first conversations with Carl. What a wonderful man. I post these to remind us all of the fragility of life and to once again say that social networking is only as good as we are. We are blessed to be able to talk to each other. The last two entries are sad and are about a year later. today was his funeral. 3/21/12

• 
  

  December 29, 2010

  Carl Brown

  • David Brooks
    Check out David Brooks' thought provoking article, "The Arduous Community".
• 
  

  December 29, 2010

  Jeff Mosier

  • I will check it out. Thanks Carl.
• 
  

  March 5, 2011

  Jeff Mosier

  • do you mind if i repost that note on education ? great
• 
  

  March 5, 2011

  Carl Brown

  • Not at all. I'm flattered that you ask. Especially since a week ago I had a stroke and a few seizures and now have a 15mm piece of dead gray matter, or should I say, jelly fish
• 
  

  March 5, 2011

  Jeff Mosier

  • Call me if you can 4046265973. So sorry to hear that.
• 
  

  March 5, 2011

  Carl Brown

  • Jane thought you might remember me better if I pointed out that we are friends of Chad and Pam and were at the house concert at Christmas when you played with Joe Craven.
    I enjoyed talking with you tonight. I hope we get to go to Spring Fest this year. I'm not supposed to drive and that colors everything since we usually pull a small camper and Jane doesn't feel comfortable with the long highway drive towing. If we're there I look forward to reconnecting with both you and joe
• 
  

  March 5, 2011

  Jeff Mosier

  • I do remember. Thanks. I enjoyed talking with you. Take care.
• 
  

  April 25, 2011

  Carl Brown

  • Wall Photos
    ISURE YOU CAN RELATE. i love his cartoons
  • 
    

    Wall Photos

    My hell would be a roomful of blues harmonicas.
    

    By: Doug Gauss
    Share

• 
  

  June 8, 2011

  Jeff Mosier

  • How are you Carl and how is it going. Been traveling a lot, but have been thinking about you and hoping all is well. Talk soon.
• 
  

  June 8, 2011

  Carl Brown

  • i have followed in your travels and wish i could have caught some shows. Had we stayed in B'ham we would have started therapies 3 weeks ago, but it would have been a terrible hardship on Jane to have to live in hospital housing for 6 weeks and she doesn't get much of a break now. I'm not sleeping much, but still have plenty of energy to do household chores like mowing and cooking. I'm gladto be getting a lot of reading done. Some novels and alternative therapies like visualization for change and focused enregy and detox through Pascalite clay twice a day. I'm 

    getting tired of all the meds and worry about polluting myself
    
    
    • • 
        
        
        
        
        
        Share
    • 
      

      February 11

      Carl Brown

      • hey, I am going to need a preacher for a funeral! You available? I will be donating my body to UAB hospital THey'll cremate mewhen they're done with me so Jane can scatter my ashes inFt. Payne area
    • 
      

      February 11

      Jeff Mosier

      • I will be ther.
      • There
    • 
      

      February 12

      Carl Brown

      • Thanx,much brother!
        
        
        R.I.P Carl Brown
    
    

Projection and Identification by Otto Rank

– From a letter to Jessie Taft, quoted in Ernest Becker’s Denial of Death, page ix
Projection and Identification

 “The richer–that is, the more varied and complete–the individual’s emotional life, the less is he driven to projection, and the more will he incline to identification. His outlet and satisfaction comes in identifying himself with the emotions of the other. On the other hand, the narrower and more restricted the individual’s emotional life, the more intense will be his fewer emotions, the less will he be inclined to, and capable of, identification–the lack of which he has to compensate for by projection. Projection thus proves to be a compensatory mechanism that adjusts for an inner lack. Identification, on the other hand, is an expression of abundance, of the desire for union, for alliance, for sharing. “

http://www.ottorank.com/home/quotes-by-rank

"Carl Brown" by David Grace 3/18/12 - Greenfield, Ma.

 Posted by David Grace on FB the day of Carl's death. Very touching tribute to this wonderful man. Thanks David.


Carl Brown - (David Grace 3/18/12 Greenfield, Ma)

Carl Brown was a man i know
from down Alabama way
not sure how to deal with the news
that his soul passed from here today

to some folks he was a teacher
to others he was a really cool dude
but that fact is that he lived his life
with the right kind of attitude

you never know how long you'll be here
when your time on earth is done
so you have to live life every day
treat every person as a special one

this is what i got from Carl
he could see beyond the mist
and find potential in most every one
enhanced with just a twist

i'm crying here but i know somewhere
Carl looks down on us now
hoping that we remember him
share his memory and wow

selfishly i wish that i had got in
just one strong hug of love
if only to say farewell my friend
it's you our memories will be of

Try to think it not an empty hole
That Carl leaves in his wake
rather it is an infinite mist of times
with us we forever take.
:(

Being Present to Your Life

   The less we shake our heads and roll our eyes, the clearer we'll think, and the better we'll feel. Guard yourself against being constantly bewildered and appalled. Instead, live YOUR life proudly in a way that daily reflects the personal politics, creeds, internal values, and beliefs that you have about yourself, your family, your community, and the world. Have your own personal constitution of integrity, not one strictly derived from group associations. Be present to YOUR life: lived out openly, not just written down; practiced, not just preached. This is a hard lesson. I know from personal experience. ;-) 
    Nobody will ever care more about your life, and how to make it better, like you will. Gratitude IS the attitude, and it faithfully helps keep you above the fray of endless conflict; freeing you to speak more by example; displaying living proof of ideas that you could never put into words in the endless, and oft times, useless debate of our times. Actions will always speak louder than words, and actions are what we always need more of, beginning with Jeff Mosier.

The Fallacy of 'Ad Hominem" in Argumentation by D.Q McInerny from the book "Being Logical"

     "Being Logical" is a very simple, yet profound, book. I've been reading it on and off for months. This one section presented below brought me to a much better understanding of the fact that the debates we are having now in politics, on all sides of the spectrum, have indeed become non-productive smoke-screens; sadly personal and destructive. We all say that all the time, but this explains why in non-partisan cognitive terms. I'm exiting that political fray right now out of a sheer desire to move towards better emotional health, and honestly, because it's not cognitive, substantive, and productive anymore for me. I feel guilty over the things I say and do that only cast doubt on the opponents, but fail to really face the issues; keeping in mind that all sides have weaknesses. It had become like religion to me; like trading one ideology for another. 

I will vote and I do care about the issues; but I don't think we are dealing with THE issues and this explains excerpt explains why, in my opinion. We are gossiping and tearing each other apart, and I think the fabric of our culture will suffer great consequences if we don't change. This book is helping me come to a greater and more cognitive understanding about "thinking" itself, and how it really works. We need to take the policies apart and discuss them, not tear each other apart by questioning patriotism, righteousness, or other traits; always looking for enemies or threats among us and inside our own government. It won't change until we demand better. Until it does, I won't no part of it accept to remain socially responsible. You'll be hearing more from me about life, music, food, health, philosophy and any other subjects that lift, raise, create, and add to life.  

Enjoy..

The Fallacy of 'Ad Hominem" in Argumentation

 by D.Q McInerny

To repeat an important rule: In argumentation we respond to the argument, not to the person behind the argument.That rule is broken when the argument is ignored and the person responsible for the argument is deliberately attacked. When that happens the "ad hominem fallacy" is being committed. {Ad hominem, in Latin, means "against the person.") The thrust of this illogical ploy is the making public of certain negative information about the personal life of one's opponent that, though irrelevant to the issues being argued, is emotionally volatile. The intention of the perpetrator of this fallacy is to divert an audience's attention from the argument, usually because the perpetrator is getting the worst of it. If my only purpose is to win an argument, the ad hominem fallacy can effectively advance that cause. It can turn an audience against my opponent, but for reasons irrelevant to the argument; through it I can find favor with the audience, for reasons similarly irrelevant. In the aftermath I might congratulate myself that I won the argument, but that is precisely what I did not do—not in any logical sense, at any rate. My dubious victory was not based on the merits of my ideas, but on my ability to prevent the argument of my opponent from getting a fair hearing.

http://www.amazon.com/Being-Logical-Guide-Good-Thinking/dp/1400061717 

What the Tom Rush Song "The Dreamer" Did For Me.

When I first heard this Tom Rush song "The Dreamer" in 1981 on a public radio show, I literally stopped, sat down on my bed in a cold downtown Chicago dorm room, and wept. I didn't know why at the time. I  was 22, had only been playing banjo for three years, had no music career, and was in a small band that I had formed on campus. But this one song, and its existential message, sent me off onto a journey of  searching for and writing songs that attempt to describe the indescribable nature of life; its beauty and complexities. This song was the small crack of sanity that I needed at the time to survive the enormous doubt that I was experiencing about my path in life. It helped me find the path of music that eventually saved my mind from what all I was giving myself to at the time. In folk music and its messages, I found "the village that saved this idiot" from a sad world view that has been placed into my brain by the fear-ridden darkness of Christian fundamentalism; something very far from the actual teachings of Jesus himself. I lived among mostly frowning fearful students, yet my banjo made some of them, and certainly me, happier during those early years of the insane Moral Majority frenzy. Music eventually saved my mind and life and became what I gave my energy to from that point on.  I graduated never to return to the ministry. Music became a much better path for me, and has remained so over the years, and in many ways is my "ministry" to people, and my way of communicating to others about life.

Tom Rush remains one of the greatest presenters of stories through song that we have ever seen. Like many great folk artists of that time, his career was lived in the shadows of the political and pop sensible type artist of his time ,never really getting the attention they deserved, but what he did will forever be one of the great artist , like my other hero Harry Chapin that represents everything I ever wanted to do on stage in front of a live audience; tell life-affirming stories through song. "The Dreamer" is true beauty and greatness. Enjoy. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S04seo8Uwo 

http://tomrush.com/ 

Tom Rush - "The Dreamer" Lyrics

The moon she rides the tattered storm
On a ragged gypsy journey
The snow lies on the mountain
Like a cloak upon a king

My dreams go tumbling with the dust
Out across the valley
Blow above the river
Blow above the sea

And life's a sparrow lost at sea
In dark of night with far to go
Dreams are ships that sailed away
We are only cargo
Only cargo

Now the sea has always sung to me
But I have never never headed
I am born a farmer raised the same
Married to the land

But sometimes I will lie at night
While she is softly sleeping
An' far away I hear the song
The sea sings to the sand

For life's a sparrow lost at sea
In dark of night with far to go
Dreams are ships that sailed away
We are only cargo
Only cargo
Only cargo

Adam's prize was open eyes
His sentence was to see
So day by day he's worn awake
Against reality
So gypsies dream of being king
Kings of being free
A sailor longs to till the land
The farmer sets to sea

And the sea will love the land all night
Like a woman loves her lover
The wind will race along the beach
And make the sea cliffs ring

And I will start to wake and dream again
The dream I dreamed forever
The ships I'll never sail
The songs I'll never sing

Sweet life's a sparrow lost at sea
In dark of night with far to go
Dreams are ships that sailed away
The dreamer's only cargo
Only cargo
Only cargo