Oh, the Dreadful Wind and Rain

Well, wind anyway. I played Saturday night outside in gale force wind. It wasn't that cold, but wind that strong sucks the heat right out of you. I had to play like a maniac just to stay warm, and as soon as I got into my car, I was drenched in sweat. What an odd combination of discomforts. All in a day's work.

But it got me thinking about all the elements, and how much I love to play music out in the world, walking through a field of wild grasses and flowers with my fiddle, sitting on a fallen tree with my guitar, or just singing softly in the center of a forest. All of these situations are usually totally spontaneous and uncontrolled, and most of the time they have been flat-out magical. But try to control an outdoor situation and often it becomes unmanageable instantly. Blazing, burning sun, high winds, storms blowing up out of nowhere . . . And that's just spring.

We are, believe it or not, wild animals, too, just like the wolf and the bobcat and the falcon; we have just excused ourselves from being part of nature, like petulant children confronted with a healthy, organic dinner: Scoffs, rolls eyes. "May I be excused, pul-lease?"

Um, no. We're part of it. We are, somehow, a vital part of this ecosystem, though I can't imagine what good we are possibly doing any other living thing. We can shut ourselves in our houses and complain endlessly to our friends about how stupid our weather is, but that doesn't change anything.

Matter is energy, and energy can become matter. If I put some energy into making amends for the extreme abuses humanity has inflicted on the planet, for example, by going out into the woods and singing to the trees, good things happen in my life. If ten of my friends will go into a forest and sing to the trees, good things will happen to them. If ten of their friends do the same, good things will start to happen all over the planet. We may not be able to redeem ourselves, and we may not have much time left, honestly. But music is power. And power can be used for good. And there is no better audience than trees and birds and bugs and flowers.