New Song: Singing To Myself

J MolinSinging To Myself

Have you ever sung Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to a kiddo at bedtime?

Almost every night for the last 10 years Maile and I have taken turns singing to Anais at bedtime. It’s such a sweet ritual that I can hardly believe she still allows it much less requests it. But it still works its magic, on her and on us.

Sleeping Princess by g’ma Lil.
A lot of lovies
A lot of lovies

Sitting at her bedside singing softly, star-shaped night-light projected around, stuffed animals looking back in cozy bunches, we’re wrapped in lullaby land’s peaceful completeness and the noisy world is silent for a moment until we tiptoe out.

Maile does a much better job than I do with her gorgeous renditions of Sweet Baby James or Teddybear Picknick. I, on the other hand, am always trying to remember some obscure tune and forgetting the lyrics, humming some improvised ending.

Cloud snuggie
Cloud snuggie

One night a few months ago I was making up this song as Anais fell asleep. It was such a perfect, full moment that I couldn’t stand the thought of letting it slip away, forgotten.

But of course, she is moving on as I am trying to hold on, and this story ends the way it does every evening, Anais asleep, me, singing to myself.

Dad and daughter at Gorman Falls
Dad and daughter at Gorman Falls

Singing To Myself

I’m sitting here singing to you as you fall asleep
Imaginin’ what you’ll be like when you’re old like me
Just maybe you will have a kid you’re singing to
Just maybe you will be thinking all of these things too

How can I hold on, how can I hold as you fall asleep?
How can I hold on, how can I hold to a moment so sweet?
And I’m left here singing to myself

And as you sing I’ll be punchin up my seventies
What hope have I for still holding to this memory?
How can I tie a ribbon round a breath of air?
How can I save this moment like a lock of hair?

How can I hold on, how can I hold on as I watch you sleeping?
How can I hold on, how can I hold on to something so fleeting?
And I’m left here singing to myself

Time, damn time, keeps rollin on
But I wouldn’t want to stay anywhere too long
Cause I know you got to go and good things go wrong
When you don’t let them grow beyond the garden wall

So I get up, and tiptoe out into the hall
And take it in, one more time before my curtain call
Try to hold on and it’s already gone
Grab my guitar and try remembering my song

How can I hold on, how can I hold on and make it last longer?
I cannot hold on, so I write this song, make a memory stronger
I cannot hold on, I cannot hold on, I’m falling headlong for her
And I’m left here singing to myself

Sunday Singalong at Barton Springs, Sept. 29, 2019

We had a wonderfully breezy balmy morning at Barton Springs this morning. A few new families found us so there were babies sleeping and kids running around to make it even sweeter.

J's Sunday Singalong Songbook w cup of coffee in the sun on the grass

Sunday Singalong Set

  1. Across The Universe p.4
  2. With A Little Help From My Friends p.14
  3. Let It Be p. 8
  4. Tomorrow Never Knows p. 13
  5. Blowin In The Wind p. 20
  6. Mr. Tambourine Man p. 23
  7. Outside
  8. What’s So Funny Bout Peace Love and Understanding? p. 30
  9. Imagine p. 31
  10. Spirits In The Material World p. 41
  11. Morning Has Broken p. 48
  12. Lean On Me p. 55
  13. A Place In The Sun p. 53

J leading singalong group w Barton Springs behind

Adios, Terlingua

Maile planned the whole trip so I got to get way out of town and gratefully go along for our drive out west into the Texas desert for five days. We camped two nights in the divine Davis mountains, attended a stellar start-party at the magical McDonald Observatory, swam in beautiful Balmorhea and explored big Big Bend while staying La Posada Milagro in Terlingua.

I particularly appreciated the decompression from work during the busiest time of the year. Entering the Santa Elena Canyon cathedral, cooling in the Rio Grande for the first time between the 1500 foot rock walls, was an amazing experience.

Jason MolinAdios, Terlingua
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Pegasus over Terlingua
Pegasus over Terlingua

But when we pulled out of Terlingua Tuesday morning I wasn't feeling well. It was probably the chilly and the beer from last night. And the arid altitude. And the prospect of reentry. From the passenger seat with my travel guitar, I sang, "Adios, Terlingua" and wrote this song as we headed home across the many desert landscapes, smiling and sad.


 

Adios, Terlingua

Adios, Terlingua. The crew, we got to fly.
I wish we didn’t have to go but we got all day to drive.
We’re headed back to Austin through the Chisos one more time.
I’ll try to hold your vistas in my mind.

Adios, Terlingua. Wish I was feelin' fine.
It’s probably all that chili and the beer I drank last night
Or maybe it’s the altitude, not used to living so high
I’m comin' down the mountainside.

Adios, Terlingua, where the ocotillo bloom
And mist covers the mountains till it all burns off by noon
In the baking midday sun we holed up in our dark cool room
And woke to desert lit up by the moon.

Adios, Terlingua, and the old Starlight Cafe
Dogs and locals on the porch, guitars and a fiddle play
For all the drinkin' tourists with an hour and a half to wait
The starry music ends for us today.

Adios, Terlingua, and the beautiful Big Bend
Sweet Santa Elena, crossing the Rio Grande
I’m deep inside your canyon walled cathedral of rock and sand
I’m grateful for your humbling expanse.

Adios, Terlingua, and all your hippie refugees
Who left the crazy world behind for desert harmonies
I wish I could stay longer and hear a few more stories
I tip my hat to all your rugged glory.

Hasta la vista, Terlingua, vultures circling overhead
Gathered by the roadside or some dried up creek bed
So long sweet roadrunner crossin' up ahead
A ghost town is rising from the dead.


 

Davis Mountain Sunset
Davis Mountain Sunset
High Diver at Balmorhea Pool
High Diver at Balmorhea Pool
The Chisos Mountains from the shade of the courtyard at La Posada Milagro
The Chisos Mountains from the shade of the courtyard at La Posada Milagro
Entering the Santa Elena Canyon
Entering the Santa Elena Canyon
New Song from West Texas trip: Adios Terlingua
My new song, on the back of my travel guitar

 

 

Be My TV

I got to attend the Interactive conference at South by Southwest this year and was often reminded of how poor a substitute digital connections are for the real thing and what an epidemic of isolation and loneliness is taking place.

One presenter pointed out what a totally different experience it is when music is shared in the room as opposed to isolated in our headphones.
Shared v isolated music

The best thing I heard at SXSW was a bold keynote from musician/producer T Bone Burnett, who talked about the "growing understanding that the internet has morphed into an insidious surveillance and propaganda machine," calling for radical accountability for our tech giants and asserting that “the artists are our only hope.”

All of this made me think of my song called Be My TV who's chorus goes, "I think my TV has been watching me, it cuts up my dreams to sell ads for jeans."


The youtube video has been taken down, but you can listen to it above (he starts at 2:28) and read the full text of his SXSW keynote at Tbone's site.

Here is a short interview which references it and gives you a few of the main points.

Outside Voice Fest 2019

Outside Voice Fest 2019I got to open Outside Voice Fest 2019 on Saturday thanks to my fast new friend Ron who put the fantastic fest on at an urban farm on the East side.

The weather was perfect and a bunch of friends and families came out and hung out with us away from the SXSW madness.

I opened with some improvisational songwriting with the kids, a few of my songs, and a few singalong songs.

 

J at OVF2019

Anais photobombed.
Asterism ROCKED!
Asterism ROCKED!
Yarn webs were woven.
Yarn webs were woven.
Trouble in the Wind soothed us with their San Diego country.
Trouble in the Wind soothed us with their San Diego country.

The Pauses indie rocked.

Grupo Rebolu made got us all dancing with their fantastic Colombian dance music.

No More Shitty Gigs

This mantra is also a riddle, being a double negative - no more bad things - which eludes to the next trick, to do more good things. This is why the song itself has two distinct parts, the frenetic ska song about all the ways gigs turn shitty, and the relaxed ending, about how to set up ideal settings for enjoyable situations. The first half is a fed up young man getting older, shaking his fist at all the bullshit, while the second half is a slightly wiser man, choosing to steer clear of the bitterness the bullshit has brought. Because you can't just quit your job, you have to find and make a better job.

Learning to say no to dumb, draining situations is certainly a difficult and ongoing challenge made more challenging because it can lead first to an empty space where nothing happens. This can be extremely refreshing, especially for a chronic over-commiter with a fear of missing out. One of the toughest parts about saying No to shitty gigs is fear of no gigs at all. And behind that waits the fear of having to do for yourself what noone else is going to do for you.

I know for me I may have never found the courage to unplug from the shitty-gig machine if I hadn't had a kid. When Anais was born I had to say no to almost everything else for quite a while. But I had a baby that needed me, so it was an enchanting if exhausting, tradeoff. It gave me time and space to dream up what was beyond the shitty music gigs I'd stopped playing, to having to getting to put on my own gigs, and partner with people that shared my vision for what they could be.

Playing outside the Blanton

Not Gonna Try (Psychedelic Video Premier)

Along with the release of MANTRAS, I am proud to premiere the video for Not Gonna Try, the last and longest track on the album and certainly my most involved video production to date.

The wisdom I sing about in this song is probably the hardest piece of advice I give to myself: stop trying to change other people and work on yourself. It's akin to "Be the change you wish to see in the world" and the serenity prayer, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."

I take it one step further to actively denying my impulse to change others. It's a tough extra-step, but one I've come to believe as a practical truth, that our influence on others increases along with our own personal integrity and decreases the more we try to get people to be like us (or at least do as we say). It is also totally aspirational. I find my belief that I can change others is a core assumption that I have to actively suppress in order to prevent all sorts of frustration and misery that goes along with trying to get people to be different.

The video features psychedelic backgrounds while I go through many wardrobe changes and time-lapse footage of me slowly going through a speeding world. The changes of clothes are meant to refer to my changing myself. The time-lapse illustrates the idea of going at your own, slower, more methodical pace in an ever faster world.

MANTRAS art by Lil
Lil sprinkled her digital fairy dust on this screenshot from the video.

This shoot began a few years ago when I volunteered as a free subject for a video class. In exchange for spending the day in front of their cameras, I got a bunch of footage. The first half of the shoot was all in a studio in front of a green screen, me changing outfits between lip-syncing to my song. For the second half of the shoot, we went down to town lake and shot footage on the Lamar St. footbridge and Doug Sahm hill. I'm happy to have captured two iconic Austin spots along with the skyline.

Last year I met Grey Gamboa, then a new RTF student at UT, and finally found someone to edit the footage together. Grey did a perfectly trippy job editing and creating pulsing psychedelic colors (using oil and water dyes between curved glass). His visuals nicely complement the dub horns that echo as they take turns soloing (through a delay pedal) for the last half of the song. I'm a big fan of such extended instrumentals, and very pleased with how Grey visually represented the dub jazz that the horn section improvised so beautifully.

MANTRAS Album Release

After five years of production, I launched MANTRAS on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31, 2018 because it is an album of resolutions. You can stream it below or at SpotifyYouTube, iTunes, and purchase at CDBaby or Bandcamp. For hand-decorated CDs and t-shirts, buy em right here, directly from me.

MANTRAS uses reggae and ska-infused tunes to chant my intentions, like...

  • No more shitty gigs
  • Get Outside
  • No more waiting to be discovered
    No more waiting to get signed
  • I use my system to capture information
    I use my system to structure inspiration
  • Show up for practice
  • Everything's connected, everything's changing
    Pay attention, this is what it's like right now
  • Keep your word and do your best
    Don’t take it personally or make assumptions
  • I'm not gonna to try to change anyone but myself

My dreams of having a horn section came true working with Mark Gonzalez, the trombonist and arranger for Grupo Fantasma, Brownout and others.

horns1
Dan Bechdolt (sax), Kevin Flatt (trumpet), Mark “Speedy” Gonzales (trombone) tracking at Tonehaus

Robert helped me turn my sketch of my dreaming head with repeating thought bubbles into a great graphic that can be filled with the mantra of your choice. Maile, Anais and I decorated the first 50 CDs by hand with watercolors.

MANTRAS CD covers

Anais's MANTRAS art
Anais made this great version w paint and Sharpie on wood. (I added the LOVE sticker.)

I made tees and stickers for patrons and fans, and this site now features a shop where you can purchase all the j stuff.

Tee CD

 

For the third time, I am grateful to have recorded my album with Thomas "Tbone" van der Brook at Tonehaus. In the video above are Gray Parsons on drums and Doug Snyder on bass (getting sounds at the original recording session in 2013) who supported me every step of the way personally and musically. And I would likely not have finished if not for months of great help from Danny P. finalizing and mixing. Thank you all, my brothers in music.

Big thanks to Mark “Speedy” Gonzales for arrangements and trombone parts, and to Dan Bechdolt (sax) and Kevin Flatt (trumpet), especially for their trippy solos on I'm Not Gonna Try. Thanks to Derek Morris for playing keys on few tunes, especially for such perfect accompaniment on Bright Eyes Shine. Thank you, Karla and Maile and Anais for singing backup on several tracks. Thanks to Brad Bell for mastering. And thank YOU for checking it all out, I hope you enjoy the tunes!

Gray & J’s Double Album Release & New Year’s Eve Blastoff

Gray n J blastoff

Gray and J will be performing their new albums while Rob spins gourmet pizza out of his wood-fired cob oven. Minor Mishap will perform throughout the evening with a dramatic conclusion at midnight.

FEATURING Minor Mishap Marching Band!

FEATURING Minor Mishap Marching Band!

Space and food are limited. RSVP required. 100 tickets total. Get yours NOW!

This will be an old-school backyard party. Original, live music, great musicians, handmade pizza, firepit, beer, and party spirits at the Pennsylvania Ave. compound.

Open your mind, leave your ego behind. Dress like a star and BYOB. Wear a warm jacket. Kids welcome. Prophets and psychics provided.

Gray's "Eternal Return" and J's "MANTRAS" are ready for this weary world bringing transcendence and transformation. Join us in celebrating their earthly arrival upon the threshold of the New Year.

Listen to singles from their albums:

Connect with the collective and feel the love as these brothers bring the diamonds they have mined to a dazzling celebration of years of creation.

Punk Rock Vote

Have you voted yet? I'm lucky enough to have an early voting station in the lobby of my office building, so I already got to cast my ballot in what feels like the most consequential election of my lifetime. Precarious times.

For me, this is not just about hoping to snatch democracy from the jaws of tyranny but the future of the planet from the claws of those that deny climate change.

When my buddy Ron recently put out the call to make some art to get out the vote, I said "I'm in!" So he sent me some lyrics, aimed at getting younger folks out, to make into a song.

I made a few little adjustments - worked some of Pete Seeger's participation in - and cranked out this one-minute punk rock Vote song. Please share.

Vote!

You will listen to bad music
You will wear dumb clothes
You will sport extreme haircuts
You will awkwardly make out
Who cares. It doesn’t matter. You’re young.
One day you’ll look back
At all those selfies
And laugh your ass off

But not voting is different

It really matters
It’s never mattered more
Only way to save the nation
is participation
Your chance to stand up
and save the planet

Get off your ass and vote
Get off your ass and vote
Get off your ass and vote
Vote Vote Vooooooooote!!!

by Jeff and Jane and J

Pete Seeger w quote