marimbadog

44, #184
December 2, 2009
Jimmy's posters, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania


44, #185
December 3, 2009
Self-portrait with Loverboy album, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania


44, #186
December 4, 2009
Whiskey bottle Santa Claus, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

44, #183
December 1, 2009
Surf'n'Turf Christmas lights, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

44, #182
November 30, 2009
At the office, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania

44, #181
November 29, 2009
Looking over my own shoulder, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

44, #180
November 28, 2009
Jimmy at the record show, Oaks, Pennsylvania

44, #179
November 27, 2009
Chris throws a rock into the river, Valley Forge National Historical Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

44, #178
November 26, 2009
Jimmy, Brian and Chris at Grandmom Fisher's for Thanksgiving,
Bensalem, Pennsylvania

44, #177
November 25, 2009
Valley Forge National Historical Park, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

44, #176
November 24, 2009
Marie Osmond Hand Bags!, Phoenxville, Pa.

44, #175
November 23, 2009
Rich and Jolie, Phoenixville, Pa.

44, #174
November 22, 2009
Tom Jones album, Phoenixville, Pa.

The Apples in Stereo are telling me in my headphones at the moment that "the world is made of energy" and lately I feel like I've been acutely aware of this fact.

Energy. Positive and negative. I have felt both this week, both within and without me.

For example, I stumbled on one of those 7:00 p.m. tabloid shows about a week or so ago to discover that Jon Gosselin and Levi Johnston were special guests. I would imagine you know who both of these characters are by now. They were appearing from Times Square, both looking rather sullen and cocky as they used a question-and-answer session from people on the street as a forum through which they could trash their ex-wives and almost-mothers-in-law. Now, I should note that I'm not particularly enamored of the ex-wives and almost-mothers-in-law in question, but I actually felt bad for them for having to put up with these two losers.

The exchanges these guys had with their questioners, the show's hosts and with each other were humorless, soulless and utterly cynical.

We're talking serious negative energy.

On the other hand, Donna and I saw Los Lobos a week ago tonight:

.

As they've done three other times over the last 25 years for me (and two other times for Donna), Los Lobos completely and totally rocked my world in the concert setting.

When Donna and I walked into the room where Los Lobos was going to play, at Harrah's Casino in Chester, we weren't sure how it was all going to go down. It was a large ballroom, filled with chairs that had been set up that afternoon by someone in the casino's events department. The setting screamed "seminar," to the point where the guys behind us were joking about when the Power Point presentation was going to start.

We needn't have worried. From the moment the guys in Los Lobos (who are, I believe, all grandfathers at this point) hit the stage, they totally and completely rocked the joint, in a show that balanced all the varied aspects of the band, from classic rockers (covers of the Allman Brother's version of "One Way Out" and Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl,") to mystic experimentalists ("Kiko and the Lavender Moon") and even threw their huge hit cover of Ritchie Valens' "La Bamba" into the mix.

After the show, the guys in the band happily greeted fans in the lobby, signing autographs and being completely gracious and cool.

We're talking serious positive energy.

The evening after Los Lobos, I unexpectedly saw the Outlaws play here in Phoenixville. I don't know their music too well, but I was again impressed by the positive energy of the band. In this case, a few original members of the band have died and I got the impression that this latest incarnation is rather new but the goodwill that went back and forth between the band onstage and the fans in the audience was unmistakable.

A photo I took that night is not technically great, but I like it because it really captured, for me, the energy that was flowing through the Colonial Theater between band and audience as the Outlaws reached the climax of their signature "Green Grass and High Tides."



Not being an enormous fan of the Outlaws, I felt a little bit "outside" the experience in a way I did not feel with Los Lobos (I am, obviously, an enormous fan of Los Lobos), but that objectivity made me appreciate the goodwill between the Outlaws' core fans and the band that much more.

Other examples come to mind. I read horrifying news stories this week that, for me, displayed a level of negative energy that makes the shenanigans of Jon and Levi seem trivial indeed. Again, though, I also read of people who have been thrust in tough situations but are determined to face these situations head-on, with as much positive energy as they can muster.

So, yes. The world is made of energy.

What's my point, you might be asking? Quite simply it is this: positive energy trumps negative energy. And I say this in as non-new agey a way as I can. I just truly believe that, from a practical standpoint, a positive energy (tempered with a dose of reality; completely untethered positive energy has the potential to get a big flaky) is more effective and more healing than a negative energy.

And a positive energy is what I'm going to be aiming for in the days, weeks, months and years ahead of me.

44, #173
November 21, 2009
Fish-n-Chris, Golden Buffet, Phoenixville, Pa.

44, #172
November 20, 2009
The Last of the Trilogy [same setting, windier weather, flashy green jacket], West Conshohocken, Pa.

44, #171
November 19,2009
Next day, same setting, different weather

44, #170
November 18, 2009
By the river, West Conshohocken, Pa.

44, #169
November 17, 2009
Late afternoon sky, Phoenixville, Pa.

44, #168
November 16, 2009
PECO trucks, Phoenixville, Pa.