Greg Wyard
Murphy's Law, Toronto
Thurs July 17, 2008
"this place was a kitchen store last time I was here"
As I stare up at the building on the northwest corner
Of Kingston Road & Queen Street East
The corner also known as the Triangle
The sign now reads Murphy's Law, Irish Pub
"I use to live in an apartment above the plaza
Across the street on the opposite corner
Until we were broken into and robbed, that is"
It's been a while since I visited the old neighbourhood
And as I slip through the sidewalk patio outside
I can hear Peaceful Easy Feeling being sung
By a familiar voice coming from the inside
Walking up the steps and opening the door
I find Greg Wyard stationed in the entranceway
Guitar in hand
Playing the Eagles to a full house
Irish pubs were never a place you'd find me enjoying live music
Until I started following Greg's career back in 2003
I'm struck each and every time I come see him play
At the wonderful vibe and great energy found in these Irish pubs
In addition to Murphy's Law
I've seen him play at The Pour House, Pogue Mahones
Fionn MacCool's and The Foggy Dew
And it's true these crowds come to party
To get loud and completely trashed with their friends
More than they come to pay attention to the music
But it's obvious they love Greg Wyard
Especially when he accommodates just about every song they request
He's a human jukebox
And therefore, a guaranteed crowd-pleaser
As I park myself on a tall stool
I'm welcomed by the bartender
Who places a frosty Brahma down in front of me
Sipping my beer, a smile spreads across my face
When the Eagles are followed by the Beatles
"life is very short and there's no time
For fussing and fighting my friend…"
Greg's voice and guitar are piped through his own system
And it sounds awesome
Although the level of chatter around me is intense
Discouraging any quiet conversation
I don't think for one second this audience isn't listening
Noticing several pairs of lips moving along to the words of Moondance
And Rocket Man
"I'm not the man they think I am at home, oh no no no…"
Perhaps Greg noticed Elton John on the television monitor above the bar
At least I think that was Elton John
The program had the look of a Vegas tribute reality show
Televisions should be shut off when there's a live act in the room
Don't you think?
But the sports fanatics would take great offence to that
Greg sings Don't Stop Believin'
And it makes me think of the Sopranos
Using Don't Stop Believin' in the final episode
Of the critically-acclaimed television drama about the mob
Must have given this song by Journey a whole new life
And kazillions of more dollars in the pocket of Steve Perry
Waiting for my friend Howie to arrive
I notice the cute waitresses in their short plaid skirts
And knee-high socks
Cheerfully bouncing around the room
Carrying heavy trays of honey brown and rickard's red
While trying to avoid collisions with folks stumbling in from the patio
Greg finishes Father and Son
A seventies ballad by Cat Stevens
Before taking me by surprise with Whiskey In a Jar
A rousing Irish drinking song I became familiar with via
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's version on the Shady Grove recording
Greg really gets the crowd's attention on this one
A perfect song for this place
Enticed by the music
And curious about the exuberant whoops from the folks inside
The door from the patio continues to swing open
Bringing lightly tanned college students in their sandals, shorts and tanks
Bouncing to the beat of rock which became classic
Long before they were born
With sunglasses pinned to white t-shirt collars
Or resting atop sun-bleached heads
Gives me indication that perhaps some have been sitting
In those plastic patio chairs outside long before sundown
But suddenly I notice someone older
Slipping through the group of music lovers
Huddled in the entranceway
A very handsome man comes strolling straight toward me
Dressed in tan walking shorts, flip flops and dark shirt
Eye contact is made instantly
I take note of his full head of hair, straight teeth and lovely smile
"no, they're not taken", I reply, as this man and the older man he's with
Take up residence on the recently vacated bar stools beside me
Remembering my yoga and pilates training
I shift my butt, lower my shoulders and adjust my posture
Becoming aware of myself as I catch those warm brown eyes
Staring straight into mine
His look gives me the impression the physical attraction is mutual
And I feel good with each passing moment
Sipping my Brahma
No longer carrying any lingering regrets for coming out tonight
He peers over my shoulder
"what are you writing?" he asks, as he introduces himself to me
"oh, just a few notes on the music", I tell him
I like to write stories around shows I see"
His brown eyes have enough crow's feet around the edges
To assure me
We're of the same generation
And there's no wedding ring in sight
I hear Tom Petty coming from that tall black speaker
As this very handsome subcontractor tells me he lives in the neighbourhood
Out tonight for a few beers with his father and a buddy
Some interesting effects from the pedals at Greg's feet catch my ear
With looping, digital delays and technical stuff I know nothing about
My eyes shift to watch in amazement
Greg's control and masterful acoustic playing
On songs like Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits
Greg Wyard is a talented musician, singer and songwriter
Although I've yet to hear an original song played tonight
He chooses instead to rock us with familiar and popular material
Including Steve Miller's Swingtown and Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes
And also material not so familiar, well at least not to me
From bands like Oasis and Nirvana
Barb and Henry, a couple hanging out beside me are thrilled
When their song request for Coldplay is heard
And you can't help but notice
The very handsome subcontractor's buddy Mike is a jolly one
With raving enthusiasm for the entertainment
Mike is jumping up and down and all around
Clearly having a great time
Singing at the top of his lungs
"If I had a million dollars
I'd build a tree fort in our yard
If I had million dollars
You could help, it wouldn't be that hard"
Funny, because I'm told Mike works in the restoration business too
And he even looks like one of them Bare Naked Ladies
Yelling my greeting in the ear of Howie who has just arrived
My eye again strays to the very handsome brown eyed subcontractor
A single bar stool away
As Greg finishes the first set and comes over to say hello
I make the introductions
I'm quite fond of Greg Wyard
His musical talent aside, I appreciate his good manners
And the charming British gentleman that he is
Discussing the free Paul McCartney show in Quebec this coming weekend
I inform him jokingly, "I'll definitely be calling ya…
If I find that elusive helicopter pilot to fly us to the show"
Sir Paul will, without a doubt, attract a couple hundred thousand fans
Therefore a helicopter to fly me and my musical friends
And deposit us front row and centre
Would do just nicely, thank you very much
Looking around the bar I notice Murphy's is blissfully drunk on summer
When Greg returns to the stage and plays Magic Carpet Ride
More people come streaming in from the street
Happily joining in on sing-a-longs like Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline
Everyone goes completely nuts with emphasis on the "bop, bop, bop…
"good times never felt so good…"
I'm telling ya
Greg doesn't need a band behind him to get a crowd excited
He's quite capable of doing that all by himself
They're out of control by the time Bohemian Rhapsody comes round
"Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye everybody, I've got to go…"
I spot the glow of a lighter, not a cell phone, held up high
How many entertainers are around playing this song solo?
And I won't be surprised in the least
If there's dancing atop the bar soon
Especially when Greg pulls out Baba O'Reilly
His guitar work explodes on this song otherwise known as
Teenage Wasteland
But before we get to that one
We're treated to a lovely version of Blowin'in the Wind
Followed by Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
A favourite of mine from the Bob Dylan catalogue
By the end of the second set
There's no longer any doubt of the attraction
Between the very handsome brown-eyed subcontractor and myself
I could use another beer
To go with the playful flirtatiousness going on between us
But I stick to water
I'm probably the only straight one in the place
Rambunctious and incredibly loud
The atmosphere has me visualizing an eighteenth century tavern
Where large mugs of brew are spilled in the sway of dirty elbows lifted
By old fisherman with twisted teeth and shaggy beards
Singing songs of tradition around long wooden tables
The only light being from a few wall sconces and table top lanterns
And the moon shining through mud-splattered windows
A set break came and went before I knew it
And Greg was back in his corner preparing for round three
I heard many requests called out
Mull of Kintyre was one of them
But my heart jumped a beat when the set was opened with
Don't Let Me Down
"nobody ever really done me, oooh she done me, she done me good"
John Lennon is my favourite Beatle and Greg does him proud
The set also includes Ramble On by Led Zeppelin
And Just What I Needed by The Cars
At a little past 1am, the m.c. announces:
"we're gonna liven things up now, everybody…"
Craziness is all around
As we gather to sing American Pie
"those good old boys are drinking whiskey and rye
Singing this'll be the day that I die…"
Another one for audience participation
But I'm pleased when the crowd hushes down a bit
So I can sigh over Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here
Like I said, the man is a human jukebox
The picture in my head moves from an eighteenth century tavern
To a redneck country bar
Like the scene in the Blues Brothers movie
Where chicken wire surrounds the band for protection
From beer bottles flung because they're not country enough
Greg could probably use a little fence himself
Not out of disappointment by the audience, but out of love
Over enthusiastic fans enjoy inviting themselves to the stage
Stumbling into him while volunteering unnecessary backup vocals
And putting his musical equipment in jeopardy
But Greg doesn't show concern when they rush up to his side
It's all in good fun
As they put requests in his ear
Even while he's already singing mid-song
But I don't think they're requesting original material
Because if they were
We wouldn't be hearing Patio Lanterns
But rather
Looking In From the Outside from The First cd
Or Just Be You from Something I Made Up
These two recordings get played often in my house
But the truth is
This scene is a little too rowdy for songs such as these
To be appreciated the way they should be
Hopefully people are smart
And won't leave without purchasing one of Greg's cds
New fans will undoubtedly be born
Last call has come and gone
And with a kiss to the cheek
Howie has departed to head westbound
And discovering I'm on my own
The very handsome brown-eyed flirtatious subcontractor
Wastes no time getting close
Twisting our bar stools around to face each other
He has my legs pinned between his own as he leans in
Trying to steal a kiss
He's drunk but a quiet one
I almost spit out my water and choked on an ice cube
When he actually said…
"where you been all my life?"
His incredible good looks start to melt my resistance
And when he informs me he's an Aries
Well
That got him a bit of tongue
According to Linda Goodman's Love Signs
Aries and Leos are one the best of the astrological love matches
Hmmm… fire sign on fire sign?
Could get very hot
Not that astrology plays that much of a role
In my relationships with the opposite sex
But being a lioness
My interest in this man just increased dramatically
As chairs are placed on top of tables
The room becomes empty around us
His buddy has left as did his father quite some time ago
And when the very handsome brown-eyed flirtatious Aries subcontractor
Reaches for his wallet to pay the tab
I rush over to say goodbye to Greg
Who momentarily stops packing up his gear
So I can wrap my arms around him in a great big bear hug
"thanks for another great time mister
I'm looking forward to the next one"
Mr Wyard isn't hard to find with his many gigs around town
But I will definitely come back and see him at Murphy's Law
As should anyone else who's reading this
I had such a fabulous time
And as I turn my head
I see the handsome brown-eyed flirtatious Aries subcontractor waiting for me
As we slip out the back door into the warm summer night
Walking arm in arm through the deserted parking lot
I realize I'm being led in the opposite direction from which I came
Gazing up to the sky, I whisper in his ear
"hey look, it's a full moon…"
http://www.gregwyard.com/
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"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery. The artist's job is not to be clear, to be heard fully or understood, or to even be liked. The job of an artist is to deepen the mystery within each person that crosses their path so much that they have no choice but to give up shallowness." ~ Francis Bacon“
"Happiness is a fleeting moment of a day. It's not a state of being. If you're happy all the time, something's wrong with you. We are put on this earth to toil and to make things. Making the world a better place is not a happy job." - John Mellencamp
“There was a young lady named Sally,
who enjoyed the occasional dally.
She sat on the lap of a well-endowed chap,
and griped, ‘Sir, you’re right up my alley.’” ~ unknown
LMH is a Toronto-based writer/blogger, freelance music journalist/photo journalist, with a flair for publishing in-depth interviews at entertainment websites. Contact directly at livemusichead@yahoo.com
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~ Dolly Parton
"Happiness is not on my list of priorities. I just deal with the day to day things. If I'm happy, I'm happy - and if I'm not, I don't know the difference... knowing you are the person you were put on the earth to be - that's more important than being happy." ~ Bob Dylan
"Well, this whole notion that we have to be happy is a ridiculous notion. I mean, let's be honest. Paul Quarrington, as you know, died only two weeks ago and I'm really sad about that. I'm devastated. But while I was crying in his office, my therapist said, 'you have issues with abandonment'. I replied, 'this isn't fucking abandonment. Paul's my best friend and he's going to die. Why are you going on about abandonment?' All this is to say, there's a lot in life to be sad about. And the notion that if you're sad there must be something wrong with you, is extremely absurd. Having said that, I've been on Prozac since '97." ~ Dan Hill
"Music is the biggest motivation in my life, and you can't make really good art if you are happy. I think Rufus (Wainwright) and I strived for a certain kind of pain to make us better at what we do."~ Teddy Thompson
"Any fool can be happy. It takes a real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep." ~ Clive Barker
"Happiness is not on my list of priorities. I just deal with day-to-day things. If I’m happy, I’m happy – and if I’m not, I don’t know the difference. Knowing that you are the person you were put on this earth to be – that’s much more important than just being happy." ~ Bob Dylan
"People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.” ~ Jim Morrison
“She secretly refused to believe that anyone loved anyone. Families lived in a wasteful atmosphere of custom and kissed one another with secret indifference. She thought the people of this world moved about in an armor of egotism, drunk with self-gazing, athirst for compliments, hearing little of what was said to them, unmoved by the accidents that befell their closest friends, in dread of all appeals that might interrupt their long communion with their own desires.”~ Thornton Wilder
"For me, a song is the main kind of method of encapsulating an emotion. My songs have a definite strong emotional core... ya know, (laughs) there's a school. Personally, if it's not written in blood, and brought about by some sort of emotional sacrifice, whether it be happiness or sadness or experience, it doesn't say anything to me."
~ Rufus Wainwright.
"Music is supposed to be entertaining and if it touches you emotionally, so much the better. Sometimes you do it to save your own life, not anybody else's. That's why I write. I'm not trying to change anybody else's life or the world, I'm trying to keep from blowing my own brains out. That's the real point."
~ Guy Clark
“Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. You can fill your life up with ideas and still go home lonely. All you really have that really matters are feelings. That's what music is to me.” ~ Janis Joplin
"The deepest people are the ones who've been hurt the most."
~ unknown
“I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.”
~ Tom Waits
"The truth hurts for a little while, but lies hurt forever."~ unknown
“I picture Cupid, alone in a bar, drunk, chain-smoking, frustrated, bitter, desperate, ready to trade in his bow for a bazooka.”~ Scotty Campbell
"Isn't it strange that two strangers, suddenly don't feel so strange?It's something familiar, though this time it's different... what they're in for feels like sea change. Isn't it weird that two weirdos can wind up not feeling that weird? It's all so momentous, yet perfectly normal. Scary, but not to be feared. And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? But each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame. Isn't it great that two people together, can tear down one wall? The handwriting is on it, it's not hieroglyphic. That barrier just has to fall. Isn't it sad that most people stay so lonely, it's almost a crime? We might be strange weirdos, but it can't be normal to be frightened so much of our time." ~ Loudon Wainwright III
"I always think of it as my most personal record [Nebraska] that dealt with what happens when all these things that I believed in when I was 25... what happens when all these things don't work? What happens when all those things just break down? What happens when your friends fail you, or you fail your friends... and you're all alone? What happens when you can't find a job and you can't find some place to work? What are you left with? Can you live? Can you go on? At the time I didn't know the answer. I didn't know if you could or not. I know that isolation to me feels about the most dangerous thing on earth."~ Bruce Springsteen
"In my next life I want to live my life backwards. I'll start out dead and get that out of the way. Then I'll wake up in an old people’s home feeling better every day. I'll get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect my pension, and then when I start work, I'll get a gold watch and a party on my first day. I'll work for 40 years ...until I'm young enough to enjoy my retirement. I'll party, drink alcohol, and be generally promiscuous, then I'll be ready for high school. Then I'll go to primary school, become a kid, and play. I'll have no responsibilities, I'll become a baby until I'm born. And then I'll spend the last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service, larger quarters every day and then voila! I'll finish off as an orgasm.”~ Woody Allen
“I don't know about other people, but when I wake up in the morning and put my shoes on, I think, Jesus Christ, now what?”~ Charles Bukowski
“Son, I just want you to know:
life is a black, sucking vortex of anguish and despair, filled with brief moments of false hope and empty joy, all the while dragging you inevitably closer to final, absolute, and eternal death. Enjoy your day. Love always, Dad."
~ note on a dresser
"Your heroes turn out to be assholes, and the light in the tunnel that you're chasin' is a train".
~ unknown
"I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, jaded, cynical or angry, but I am, so that's how it comes out."
~ Bill Hicks
“Let us love for a while, for a year or so, you and me. That's a form of divine drunkenness that we can all try. There are only diamonds in the whole world, diamonds and perhaps the shabby gift of disillusion.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
"You're the one who broke my heart. You're the reason my world fell apart. It's guys like you that make me cry, yet I still love you, don't ask why." ~ Unknown
"It's not death that separates people; it's the absence of love."
~ Jim Morrison
"Since you're gone, deep inside it hurts. I'm just another sad guest on this dark earth. I want to believe in the mercy of the world again... make it rain, make it rain!" ~ Tom Waits
"The truth is... everybody is going to hurt you. You just have to find the ones worth suffering for."~ Bob Marley
"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do, you apologize for the truth." ~ Benjamin Disraeli
“If you're looking for sympathy you'll find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.”~ David Sedaris
"Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes." ~ William Gibson
"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone." ~ Rose Kennedy
"I'm amazed that men like you can be so shallow, thick and slow. There is not a man among you who knows or cares if I come or go!"
~ Ted Neeley (Jesus), Jesus Christ Superstar
"In the quick of the night they reach for their moment and try to make an honest stand. But they wind up wounded, not even dead." ~ Bruce Springsteen
"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."~ George Bernard Shaw
"The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference."
~ unknown
"The longer we listen to one another with real attention the more commonality we will find in all our lives. That is, if we are careful to exchange with one another life stories, and not simply opinions." ~ Barbara Deming
“We met a lot of really good people, but I never met one person who really impressed me. The first person to ever impress me in my life was Ravi Shankar. And he was the only person who didn’t try to impress me. It was by his being. He taught me so much without actually saying a word. It was by example.” ~ George Harrison
“Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.” ~ Albert Einstein
"I'd rather die of thirst than drink from the cup of mediocrity."
~ Stella Artois
"I have a low tolerance for mediocrity in music and life. I'm into pain and joy and the in-between doesn't interest me."
~ Steve Earle
“How can you admire a human who consciously embraces the bland, the mediocre, and the safe rather than risk the suffering that disappointment can bring?” ~ Tom Robbins
"I will not be a common man because it is my right to be an uncommon man. I will stir the smooth sands of monotony."
~ Peter O'Toole
"It's not the time in your life, it's the life in your time."
~ Bruce Springsteen
"Time, as far as my father was concerned, was a gift you gave to other people." ~ Michelle Obama
"Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist... while you guys were arguing about the glass being half full or half empty, I drank it." ~ The Opportunist
“There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.” ~ Buddha
"Love don't make things nice. It ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We're not here to make things perfect.... we're here to ruin ourselves, break our hearts, love the wrong people, and die. The storybooks are bullshit."~ Nicolas Cage, Moonstruck
"You're a victim too Flagg. But you're such an unbelievable example of walking fertilizer, it's hard for me to care."
~ Dr. Sidney Freedman, M*A*S*H
“I might be the only person on the face of the earth that knows you are the greatest woman on earth. I might be the only one who appreciates how amazing you are in every single thing that you do... and in every single thought that you have. And how you say what you mean, and how you almost always mean something that’s all about being straight and good. I think most people miss that about you. And I watch them wondering how they can watch you bring their food and clear their tables and never get that they just met the greatest woman alive. And the fact that I get it, makes me feel good... about me.”
~ Melvin (Jack Nicholson), As Good As It Gets
“You make me want to be a better man.”
~ Melvin (Jack Nicholson), As Good As It Gets
"Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?"
~ Paul Newman (on fidelity to his wife, Joanne Woodward)
"She's faced the hardest times you could imagine. And many times her eyes fought back the tears. And when her youthful world was about to fall in, each time her slender shoulders bore the weight of all her fears, and her sorrow no one hears, still rings in midnight silence, in her ears... let her cry, for she's a lady. Let her dream, for she's a child. Let the rain fall down upon her. She's a free and gentle flower, growing wild."
~ Wildflower by Skylark
"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." ~ Winston Churchill
"I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth,
I didn't come to fool you.
And even though
it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
with nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah"
~ Leonard Cohen
"Parrotheads are just like Deadheads, but with money."
~ unknown
"You have to be a bastard to make it, and that's a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth." ~ John Lennon
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench,
a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free,
and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
~ Hunter S Thompson
"I could name on less than five fingers the individuals who've become tremendously successful, who have changed positively."~ Bill Graham
"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."
~ Albert Einstein
"If you're going to do what you want to do, and be as challenging as you want to be in this day and age, and not completely suck everybody's penis, you have to treat the music industry as a type of war." ~ Rufus Wainwright
“The make or break of a show is how well the artists perform. But we have to make certain that the sound is good, the lights are good, the dressing rooms are clean, there’s paper in the toilet room, the hot dogs are hot, and whatever else goes into it. And what that takes is mania.” ~ Bill Graham
"The two most misused words in the entire English vocabulary are love and friendship. A true friend would die for you, so when you start counting them on one hand, you don't need any fingers."~ Larry Flynt
"We build too many walls and not enough bridges."
~ Isaac Newton
"It's no good pretending that any relationship has a future if your record collections disagree violently, or if your favorite films wouldn't speak to each other if they met at a party."
~ Nick Hornby
"Your blessing in life is when you find the torture you're comfortable with." ~ Jerry Seinfeld
“I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” ~ JB Brooks, (John Wayne), The Shootist
“I will fight for your right to be weird, just as I know you will fight for mine.” ~ Hunter S Thompson
"When you get to the very bottom of the human soul, where the nit is slamming into the grit and you're sinking, but you reach down to help someone who's sinking worse than you are... everybody gets high." ~ Wavy Gravy
"One day I was pretty upset, and we walked in the garden. We didn't say much for a long time. We sat down on a bench. He really went inside me. He wanted to find out what made me so sad. And he did this in such a fantastic way. I can't repeat the words or tell you exactly what it was, but he did it in such a fantastic way that made me feel good. He found out what the problem was in no time. Nobody had ever done that before and will never do it again." ~ Klaus Voormann on George Harrison
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart."
~ Helen Keller
"Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable."~ The Wizard of Oz
"I should, of course, have been warned. Our differences were plain to see; that I chose not to see them said much about my fantasies, my desire to please and my denial of reality. I was not just a product of the 60s; I was, by nature, volatile, oversensitive, quick to take offence, prey to burst of exuberance and energy soon followed by deep troughs of melancholy." ~ Margaret Trudeau
"Why do some people say 'grow some balls'? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you really want to get tough, grow a vagina... those things take a pounding!" ~ Betty White
"If you think all men are created equal, you haven't seen Bo Diddley in the shower." ~ Ronnie Hawkins
"The only thing better than roses on my piano is...
tulips on my organ!" ~ Tom Waits
"If I see something sagging, dragging and bagging, I have it nipped, tucked and sucked." ~ Dolly Parton
"The important thing is to write music that people will sing generations from now; for the unborn. Human emotions and melodies are always what we’ve stuck to, because that’s perennial as the grass. People will always be able to relate to it, young and old.” ~ Robin Gibb
"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." ~ Ernest Hemingway
"If you do not breathe through writing; if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then do not write, our culture has no use for it." ~ Anais Nin
“Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read.”
~ Frank Zappa
"More often than not, even the people and even the moments and even the circumstances that you feel you can go to for stability, for that piece of happiness, can all of a sudden shift, and can all of a sudden become tainted. And everything that you believe, or even that small moment of connection that you can feel can sometimes be destroyed. And I’m not a negative person, I’m shockingly, somewhat of a realist. And I’m a very passionate person, so I don’t like to expect that shift, I don’t like to expect for things that I love to become malignant or to become a great disappointment. But it happens. And it’s devastating. Every time." ~ Davey Havok
"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive." ~ James Baldwin
“And once you live a few good stories, after you’ve fucked up a little, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.” ~ unknown
"Millions of books have been written on every conceivable subject by all these great minds, and in the end, none of 'em knows anything more about the big questions of life than I do. Jeez, I read Socrates, ya know. He used to knock off little Greek boys, so what the hell's he got to teach me? And Nietzsche with his theory of eternal recurrence who said we're going to live the life we live, over and over again, the exact same way, for eternity. Great. That means I'll have to sit through the Ice Capades again. It's not worth it."
~ Woody Allen
"To live is to suffer. To survive is to find some meaning in the suffering." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this to be true."
~ James Branch Cabell
“The forecast today is overwhelming depression with scattered betrayal , and a high probability of melancholy coupled with intermittent bouts of black rage.” ~ Scotty Campbell
"If we're gonna fight a disease, let's fight one of the most terrible diseases of all: indifference."
~ Robin Williams as Hunter "Patch" Adams
"Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet."~ Bob Marley
"Rufus (Wainwright) put a lot of effort into his press and publicity duties. He was an engaging interviewee, no matter how obscure the publication or how few readers it might expect to reach. When the tape recorder or camera was clicked on, he could usually be relied upon to deliver. 'I've had a lot of practice in front of the mirror', he explained to the Phoenix New Times. 'I stayed up long enough doing mock interviews with Letterman and Barbara Walters in bed, before masturbating."~ Kirk Lake, There Will Be Rainbows
"Loudon [Wainwright] writes bitterly funny and heartbreaking folk music, which has inspired me to be honest in my own work. He is truly fearless. Commercial considerations don't seem to matter much to him. His music is gorgeous and hilarious and painful. It is everything I hope to achieve in my career." ~ Judd Apatow
"The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear."
~ J Krishnamurti
"Fear not your enemies, for they can only kill you. Fear not your friends, for they can only betray you. Fear only the indifferent, who permit the killers and betrayers to walk safely on the earth."~ E Yashinsky
"We are each on our own path, doing exactly what we are supposed to do, and I have to learn to let go. I've been of two minds lately: the-standing-up-for-myself-proud woman versus the-cosmic-acceptance-of-everything-in-its-proper-place. I know I can no longer present myself on a silver platter to anybody, but I refuse to play the fucking game, and I'm interested in drawing someone to me who has no interest in playing it either." ~ Pamela des Barres
"I was being interviewed by an intelligent man who obviously took my novel very seriously, and he asked, simply enough, 'How has returning to Christ actually influenced your life?' I found myself thinking about this and then answering, 'It demands of me that I love people'. This was a turning point, this simple acknowledgement. Because I began to realize what the message of Christ was for me: to love my friends and to love my enemies. And the mystery was that loving my friends was sometimes harder than loving my enemies. And that if one loved both, completely and sincerely, and if one could convince others to do this as well, one could, theoretically, bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth... I am a baby Christian when it comes to loving. I am just learning. So far were my daily thoughts from loving people that I have a lifelong vocation now in learning how to find Christ in every single person for whom I meet. Again and again, I fail because of temper and pride. I fail because it is so easy to judge someone else rather than love that person. And I fail because I cannot execute the simplest operations - answering an angry email for instance, in pure love." ~ Anne Rice
"Age doesn't protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age." ~ Anais Nin
"I had this song (on Boys In The Trees) called Haunting. Basically you don't have to see someone for a long, long time for them to still be inside you. There's no way of killing it off; it's kind of an obsession. And some people do have that affect on me. I have a good memory, especially for emotions. I never get over strong feelings." ~ Carly Simon
"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place."
~ Zora Neale Hurston
“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us, but we can't strike them all by ourselves.” ~ Laura Esquivel
"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same." ~ Adlai E Stevenson
"After we made love I knew it was over. Did I ever really love Big, or was I addicted to the pain? The exquisite pain of wanting someone so unattainable?
~ Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City
"The hottest love has the coldest end." ~ Socrates
"Joy lives concealed in grief." ~ Rumi
"Imperfection is beauty; madness is genius. And it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
~ Marilyn Monroe
"Art and love are the same thing: it's the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you."~ Chuck Klosterman
"I'm obsessed with death I think. It's a big subject with me. I have a very pessimistic view of life. You should know this about me if we're gonna go out. I feel that life is divided up into the horrible and the miserable. Those are the two categories. The horrible would be like terminal cases, blind people, cripples. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So when you go through life you should be thankful if you're miserable."
~ Wood Allen, Annie Hall
"It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe."~ Muhammad Ali
“Too often in her life, love had been defined as... humiliation with occasional roses." ~ unknown
"The truth is... we hide because we want to be found, we walk away to see who will follow, we cry to see who will wipe away the tears, and we let our hearts get broken to see who will come and fix them." ~ unknown
"I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more."
~ Maurice Sendak
"I remember awakening one morning and finding everything smeared with the color of forgotten love." ~ Charles Bukowski
“They say time heals. It’s bullshit. Time’s a thief.”
~ Bobby Cannavale as Dr. Miguel Cruz on Nurse Jackie
"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings." ~ Anais Nin
“The wreckage and the ruin and the heartbreak is all worth it. Life is tragedy, broken by moments of unworldly bliss, making the tragedy bearable.”~ Bruce Springsteen
"I may not lead the most dramatic life, but in my brain it's War and Peace everyday." ~ Rufus Wainwright
“For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled.”~ Hunter S Thompson
"The only absolute knowledge attainable by man is that life is meaningless." ~ Tolstoy
"We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves." ~ Patti Smith
"This thing we call existence, who knows what it all means? Time and Life and People are just glossy magazines." ~ Loudon Wainwright III
"Too often in her life, love had been defined as 'humiliation with occasional roses.'" ~ unknown
"For her fifth wedding, the bride wore black and carried a scotch and soda." Phyllis Battelle
"If two people love each other, there can be no happy end to it." ~ Ernest Hemingway
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." ~ Soren Kierkegaard