Tom Kimmel's February News-in-Brief

February Greetings Fellow Planetarians! 

We have a lot in common, you and I, living on this planet at exactly the same time. We're all breathing, walking, talking, sleeping, laughing, crying, reaching out, turning in, learning our lessons, and making our own kinds of music. That's no small thing.

So... Thank you for handing around with me. Now here's my news-in-a-nutshell, including a new poem and some food for thought...

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CONTENTS

1. Two California shows coming in 2 short weeks!

2. Ireland & Scotland 2024 Tours (verybriefly)

3. TK Poem of the Month: What a Poem Should Be

4. Recommended: Bob Dylan's Philosophy of Modern Song

5. Wisdom for right now from Steven Charleston

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1. California shows 2 weeks away!

Friday, March 10, 2023  7pm

Fiddling Cricket presents Tom Kimmel (solo)
...at The Ugly Mug
4640 Soquel Drive
Soquel, CA, 95073
For more info, clickHERE 

Saturday, March 11, 2023  8pm
The Barn
Gilroy, CA
To make your reservation, click HERE

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2. 2024 Ireland & Scotland Tours

All three of my 2023 tours are sold out...

...However, dates, info & links for my 2024tours are posted at my website.

That info for Ireland 2024 is HERE

...and info for Scotland 2024 is HERE

NOTE: We're taking reservations for 2024 Scotland tours NOW... and we'll begin taking reservations for Ireland *VERY SHORTLY. (I'll let you know.)

*You can e-mail me at ireland(at)tomkimmel(dot)com if you want to be on our first-call list when Ireland 2024 reservations open.

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3. TK Poem of the Month: "What a Poem Should Be"

Most days I keep one eye on a short list of self-care items to keep me from wobbling off the deep end, and one of them is a prompt to read a poem. ANY poem. Just read one! If that sounds appealing, an easy way to jump in is to subscribe to Poetry 180, a free Library of Congress service that (most days) will email you a very good poem. Now these poems you'll receive will cover a lot of ground, but I find most to be quite accessible.

What a Poem Should Be

It should have words, definitely
And lines
Stanzas are optional
It should follow rules
Or not
Other than having words
And can be about something
(a raison d’être, I believe it’s called)
Or not
And it should be profound
Or not in the least profound 
Yet accessible
Or else swimming in mystery
And ideally would pique someone’s imagination
Besides the poet’s
And yet if only the poet’s
So what?

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4. Recommended: Bob Dylan's Philosophy of Modern Song

Boy oh boy, did this book catch me by surprise! Dear friends gave me a copy for Christmas, and what an exquisite work of art it is! 

Few sentient beings are unaware of how Dylan's songs have shaped and reshaped our culture, but this man can also write poetic, insightful, humorous prose like nobody's business. (And BTW, as if that's not enough, he's also a first-class painter, and you can take a look at his visual art HERE.)

The New York Times calls The Philosophy of Modern Song "...a series of rhapsodic observations on what gives great songs their power."

And Variety says it is "... Absolutely one of the best books about popular music ever written."

Highly recommended!

And I might mention that the design and artwork make the physical hardcover book a work of art in itself.

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5. Wisdom for Right Now

I draw inspiration from many places, and lately I've been especially taken with the writing and teaching of Steven Charleston. I'm currently savoring his wonderful book, Ladder to the Light, and I'm also reading his daily Facebook posts. In fact, the following is his post from this very morning...

"We are living in times that later generations will call pivotal. We are in an axial age where things long taken for granted will be tested, reshaped and revalued. Much of the old, even the recent old, will be replaced by a new that moves too quickly to completely control. You and I are here at this turning point to take our part in answering the great question it poses for our history: which way will we go?

—Steven Charleston (b. 1949) author, activist, theologian 

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Till next we meet, Maximum Peace, Love & Understanding,

TK


PS Thanks always to the folks at Elixir Strings for keeping me playing the world's best strings for over 25 years.

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