89--In Association With

I was on the phone when Jonathan arrived at my door this morning at 8am. We made breakfast and caught up as we have every Thursday morning for the last couple months. Goal-setting, reporting in how things are going.

I meet with Richard every Thursday at noon. Usually we get together at the kitchen by the lounge and have a cup of tea while we talk about whatever's going on in life, at least the part we're aware of. Conversation with this man stretches me further each time. Today we took our mugs to the street. We walked around the block and stopped at an old, broken house that is completely past live-ability (it's a word now). As we walked around inside the house, I thought out loud, "I'd just pull this down and build a new one."

Richard Wenger

Without dramatic pause or a voice inflection for effect, Richard said, "artists usually find it hard to re-do another person's work. You likely have your own vision of this place. If it were me, I'd hoist it up and rebuild it and keep the character."

He then outlined a perfectly sound plan by which he would restore the house. I'm not a builder. I'm a scrap-it-and-start-over kind of guy. Or am I? I seem to work in association with builders, and I'm learning a lot from this particular one.

The point is that my life and business are not in the least separate from my community, but rather a direct result. If my story were told on a screen, it would be necessary to credit that I am brought to you in association with...

...Darlene...I'm using the headshot Darlene took by the railroad track as my current publicity shot and then another that she also took at a Slow Train gig--that shot is for my one-sheet.

...Topher...he's designing the one-sheet. He's also building my new website and I'm loving the changes that are being implemented.

...Sam...just got out of a guitar lesson with Sam. I think he might be one of the most musically talented kids I've ever met and now I'm inspired and I'm going home to work on my music some more.

... and let's see, there's the PUC crew, the Open Door Crew, the Purple Church Crew, Tom Macomber, the ILCT Triad, the dude I met on the plane, and that one guy who knows that other lady, and on and on. It's any and all who have shared wisdom or resource or skill.

In whose association are you produced?

Imagine your life onscreen.

Who's listed in the credits?