"Philadelphia, 1918" tells the story of an immigrant's experience living in Philadelphia in the early 1900's. Life was hard for the song's protagonist, but 1918's Spanish Flu pandemic would make those days gone by pale in comparison.

I wrote this song in December 2019 for the January 2020 meeting of The Song Colony, a regular songwriter's gathering, in Marietta, Ohio. Each month, a challenge word or phrase is chosen for creative inspiration for the next session.

The challenge word for the month was "fever" - for some reason, I almost immediately thought of the flu pandemic of 1918. I knew of this story, but not much in the way of detail. After researching this stunning chapter of history in the early 1900's, I had the story line for the song.

Little did any of us know what the whole world would be experiencing within six weeks of presenting this tune at the January meeting of The Song Colony. There are eerie similarities between what happened in 1918 and what's happening now as I write this in March, 2020.

Peace, JAW

“Somewhere along the way, my pigments intermingled to a blur…”

The Great Plains in the United States stretches across the States of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota; and on up into Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota. The Great Plains continues northward into three Prairie Provinces of Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta).

Prairies and Badlands – landforms the Great Plains are known for, strike a marked contrast between them. Prairies are rolling plains typically swathed in grasses. In fact, the Great Plains contains the largest prairie in the world. The Badlands, conversely, feature rugged, harsh terrain sculpted by arid conditions over eons. The Lakota People first called this land “mako sica” meaning “land bad.” The Prairies and the Badlands are both visually stunning and naturally confounding in their size and scope.

My wife, Darlene, and I lived four years in Cheyenne, Wyoming; and during that time, we experienced a small piece of the Great Plains. We lived on the eastern edge of Cheyenne. The wild prairie began in our backyard, where there was a prairie dog town we could watch from our bedroom window. Replete with jackrabbits, burrowing owls, badgers, rattlesnakes and prairie dogs; the view was always interesting from that window looking east. A band of Pronghorn racing across the prairie was a fairly common sight in that part of the world; a sight I’ll never forget. The massive, raw beauty of the land left a lasting impression.

I use the Great Plains as a geographical metaphor for this song. It represents the vast canvas of time upon which we paint our lives. The song is about reinvigorating the second half of life; using the canvas painted so far as a new baseline for the rest of the story. The lyric speaks for itself; so, I won’t try to over-describe the line of thought here. Rather, I invite you to take a few minutes and give The Great Plains a listen.

Thank you for listening!

The cover art for this song is by Emily Suzanne Drennon. "Ode to Water" Check out her work at: www.instagram.com/_aura_art__/ Contact her about purchasing existing works or commission projects at emilysuzannedrennon@yahoo.com

“Think about Time - It’s all we’ve got.”

The Prime Meridian is a global marker denoting zero degrees longitude (0°); and, since 1884, marks the “zero hour” for keeping standard time around the world. The line also divides the Eastern & Western Hemispheres, establishing the point from which distance into either of these hemispheres is measured. The World’s Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich, England, UK (among other places along this vertical line in Europe, Africa and Antarctica). Hence the term Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

However, a Prime Meridian’s placement can be completely arbitrary – that is, it could be established anywhere on the globe. Thinking about our individual lifetimes, we all have a Prime Meridian of sorts. Our own, personal Ground Zero; our own starting point. Seems to me, in this context, a person’s Prime Meridian is not so much about measuring distance; but, more so about the expanse of Time that emanates from it. As our lifetimes lengthen, a person’s Prime Meridian slips further into the past; further back in one’s memory; and sometimes all but forgotten.

Life unfurls over a finite period of Time; a period with an unknown endpoint. Sure, we can get in the ballpark estimating an endpoint by considering statistics on life expectancy; but, we just don’t know for certain. As Cat Stevens wrote, “But, I might die tonight.” Author Jack Kornfield eloquently parsed a Buddhist teaching: “The trouble is, you think you have time.” There is no parity in how much time each of us is given; our endpoints are seemingly as arbitrarily placed as our starting points. It’s often said, “Life’s not fair.” This is absolute truth.

Fact is, Time is all we have, and we should not waste it on unworthy activity. Everyone has their own definition of worth. And, personally, I think the key is to spend Your Time on those things that YOU find worthy, on those things that enable your pursuit of personal fulfillment. This, in my experience, is often easier said than done. But, that’s no reason to give up on seeking worthy endeavors to invest my time in.

These are the lines of thought that inspired the composition of this song, Prime Meridian. I kindly ask you now to spend a few minutes of your dear time listening, and hope you find it to be time well spent.

As always, I wish you peace.

Note: The artwork is a photo of the house where I started life in 1963. Pioneer Drive, North Tonawanda, New York. My Prime Meridian.