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Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 20 - "The Greatest Message of Hope"


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“The story the Leavers have been enacting for the past three million years isn’t a story of conquest and rule. Enacting it doesn’t give them power. Enacting it gives them lives that are satisfying and meaningful to them. This is what you’ll find if you go among them. They’re not seething with discontent and rebellion, not incessantly wrangling over what should be allowed and what forbidden, not forever accusing each other of not living the right way, not living in terror of each other not going crazy because their lives seem empty and pointless, not having to stupefy themselves with drugs to get through the days, not having a new religion every week to give them something to hold on to, not forever searching for something to do or something to believe in that will make lives worth living. And – I repeat – this is not because they live close to nature or have no formal government or because they’re innately noble. This is simply because they’re enacting a story that works well for people – a story that worked well for three million years and that still works well where the Takers haven’t yet managed to stamp it out.” -Daniel Quinn

I first read Ishmael when I was nineteen years old and it changed my life forever. I could not go back to the way I was before I read it – quite simply it gave me a different perspective with which to view life and the world that surrounds it.

I wrote a letter to the author when I was 21 and mailed it to him when I was 22. Two months later he called me at home and invited me to join him in Houston, Texas where he lived with his wife Rennie. Stupefied with surreal delight I accepted his offer and one week later I had said my goodbyes in Victoria, uncertain when, if ever, I might return.

Of course I did return six months later, but the time spent talking with and learning from Daniel were the most formative experience of my life. I consider him one of the greatest minds there is – an extraordinary teacher whose way of seeing the story of the human species is unlike anyone else. When you read his books you feel comforted knowing that, somehow, someone has managed to take that disconcerted feeling in the bottom of your soul that tells you something is inherently wrong with the world in which we live and give it a name, a voice and an explanation for how things came to be this way. No amount of space in this blog post would be sufficient enough to express the experiences that have developed in my lifetime because of this book.

Last week I wrote about hearing the great minds of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X for the first time in rap music when I was a teenager. It was a pivotal time because my own ideas were just then sprouting and to be nurtured along the way with such different perspectives was vital in shaping for myself an empathetic view of the experiences of others in this life.

With this week's Free Song, “The Greatest Message of Hope”, I laid down some hip-hop inspired beats and samples wanting to include some aspect of all of my musical influences on the Seasons album but I wondered what to do next. I certainly wasn’t in a creative space to throw down some mad rhymes… I thought back on the impact of hearing the inspiring teachers of those difficult times in that medium growing up and wanted desperately to perhaps bring some other great thinkers to light for new generations to consider and enjoy. I wanted to inspire and encourage a shifting paradigm for which mankind is not the enemy of life on earth but rather an educated and growing being, capable of realizing its dreams and aspirations with respect and integrity for this sacred earthly balance.

It is my greatest belief that the future of our kind depends on embracing new ways of viewing our place in this world and that we, particularly in this age of information, are capable of adapting and blossoming towards a greater, more evolved state of consciousness for ourselves. Certainly, in my opinion, a man like Daniel Quinn is helping to shape the ideas of the future and I hope you will seriously consider reading Ishmael and The Story of B for yourselves if you haven’t already so that we can embark on a deeper, more meaningful journey together on this shared path full of rich and inspiring dialogue.

After all, the greatest message of hope is the idea we share that a better day lies ahead.

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 18 - "Satyagraha"


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“In the application of Satyagraha, I discovered, in the earliest stages, that pursuit of Truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one's opponent, but that he must be weaned from error by patience and sympathy. For, what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of Truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent but one's own self.”
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

When I was in high-school, my obsession with The Beatles shifted towards a new form of musical expression that was making its first real impressions in white suburbia: rap/hip hop. This genre was much more than a thumping drumbeat with record scratches and lyrical bravado – it was a look into the heart of an experience shared amongst the new youth of America. The struggles of the generation before through segregation and civil rights left a resounding impression on the children who grew up in the world beneath the inspiring words of promise and hope delivered with impassioned power by the heroes of the times. While much had changed since the Jim Crow days of the earlier part of the century, much still remained the same.

Many minority communities continued to struggle; money was scarce while the influx of drugs created a surge of violence that debilitated families and community ties at increasingly alarming rates. The opportunities for the children of this generation to express frustration at the disillusionment of being left out of “The American Dream” were slim to none. The voices of the streets were being drowned out by a rising cacophony of partying baby boomers too busily reaping the benefits of the economic boom times of the 1980’s to heed their inner city concerns. These frustrations gave rise to a poetic swagger, rich with the experience of life on these challenging city streets and full of pointed observations as to the current and future state of the people who lived there. For some it was an expression of that frustration and resentment while for others, it became the lifeline with which they could pull themselves out from the wreckage to be heard above the din – a new voice for a new generation.

It was precisely this aspect of rap music that drew me in so closely. I grew up with very little in the way of real life drama in my secluded little neighbourhood of Langford. As a teenager, I never faced the challenges of discrimination nor witnessed firsthand the effects of drug-obsessed violence. Yet the raw-emotional delivery and poignant lyrical rhythms with their unpredictable twists introduced me to a whole other world of the human experience. I could feel the heartbreak and inspiration behind those voices and I began to trust what it was they were trying to teach me. And they were trying to teach me.

I realize a lot has changed within the rap/hip hop genre since I was younger but so many great teachers still remain along with a new generation of great artists who help carry forth the torch of change, hope and growth. Their voices must continue to be heard for their frustrations and concerns are genuine and the hope that their insights can offer now connects right to the heart of thousands of communities across the world. Without the words of these cultural leaders whose art and politics transcend borders and racial divides, the hope that we can see on the distant horizon would not be possible. Their real-life stories and cultural criticisms helped to encourage young men and women to question the authority of the old regime whilst, at the same time, sought to help them to understand, accept and respect the beauty of their own unique cultural selves. This cultural transformation, much like the one that preceded the times of King and Kennedy, paved the way for a man named Barack Obama to be given the opportunity to accept the nomination of president of The United States of America.

Without such incredibly articulate artists as Chuck D of Public Enemy or KRS-One of Boogie Down Productions, I couldn’t have been given the opportunity to hear the speeches and soak in the words of great men like Martin Luther King, Jr. Without the piercing lyrical maelstrom of albums like Public Enemy's “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” or Ice Cube's "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted" I might not have been introduced to the challenges and struggles being faced by people of different races and without these influences, I might not have developed such an empathetic spirit. I might not have understood the passion that it takes to fight for love and peace and hope. I might not have been given the voice with which to stand up amongst a crowd and express my own frustration and disillusionment.

Satyagraha is the principle and practice of non-violence created by “Mahatma” Gandhi that has inspired tremendous change in the face of adversity over the past 100 years. The first time I heard the voice of Dr. King (whose campaigns were also heavily influenced by this philosophy) was in a rap song. Although I can’t for the life of me remember now which song it was, the indelible impression that it left upon me cannot be overstated. It was for this reason and because of the great inspiration that it sparked within my own spirit that I decided to include samples of speeches by two of my other favorite teachers of the times. One is the song “Satyagraha” which features quite a lengthy but beautifully expressed impression of the nature of being in a speech entitled “Spiritual Message To The World”, given to the BBC on October 17th, 1931. The second, features author Daniel Quinn and will be featured in next weeks Free Song newsletter.

I wanted my album Seasons to be an expression of all the inspiration that helped me to find my own voice in this world through all of the changes and growth that I had experienced up to that point. By including these great minds and exploring the musical styles and influences of my past, I hoped I might be given the opportunity to return the favour given to me so many years ago. I hoped, and hope still, that some boy or girl out there might find these teachers through one of my songs and be inspired to discover the strength and passion of their own unique voice.

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 18 - "Insomniac"


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"Nothing cures insomnia like the realization that it's time to get up."
-Unknown-

Originally I wrote this as a love song for a girl I had a serious crush on at the time. I didn't sit down and think, "Okay, I’m going to write you a love song because I’m crazy about you. "It was more like, "I haven't slept in three weeks (literally) and I can't stop thinking about you. Now how on earth am I going to get my life back and get some f*$!@#!? sleep!" Such is the genesis of many a love song I suspect.

Obviously nothing came of that pseudo-obsession other this song – something that I was quite removed from when it came time to record songs for the "Summer" record. Being that I wanted this album to be a complete departure from the vibe and feel of the others I decided to let my imagination soar by approaching the melodic delivery from a much different angle. I loved the structure and the lyrics of the original but wanted to infuse it with a more "summery" energy; the original was far too "broody" to be included otherwise.

So it was that I ended up singing in a Caribbean-inspired voice – accompanied with up to seven other tracks of myself singing incoherent off-the-cuff gibberish in the background. When all was said and done, I enjoyed the bounce of the new approach and felt I had expanded the theme of the song to include the notion that waiting on someone to notice you is about as effective as waiting around for someone else to come along and solve all the world’s problems for us; if we don't take charge and become active in the pursuit of our own destiny, positive results might never occur. In the end, I got tired of waiting for her and spending all of my time thinking about and caring for someone who, for whatever reason, wasn't keen on giving me the reciprocation I desired.

The song, like the "Seasons" journey, was pushing me from the head-over-heels-in-love-sick puppy of spring towards the more cautious and careful lover; someone who was eager to find love, but determined not to get hurt along the way. Throughout my life up until I met Ames, I had always put my unquenchable desire to change the world ahead of my personal relationships. I obsessed over what I believed needed to be done and how it seemed to me that nobody else seemed to care too much about the state the world was in. I was losing sleep and stressing myself to no end over something that was utterly beyond the reach of my own control.

During this summer session, I was slowly coming to realize that the most important sphere of influence I could affect was the world of my own choices. I began to see that I could continue to sit around, stewing in my own juices and waiting to get heard as a musician with all of these crazy ideas and opinions about how to save the world or I could get busy living my life in the moment – healing my relationships and enjoying the company of friends and family with whom I had distanced myself from for the past decade. I found that the energy I had spent "waiting" was far better served living the change I wanted to see and that this was inspiring greater change in the people around me. Finally, those closest to me could see that thinking and acting differently about how we see our role in this world could actual create a more relaxed and joyous Scott.

And that was something that they had all been waiting for…

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 14 - "Cool Kids"


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“Maybe you are the "cool" generation if coolness means a capacity to stay calm and use your head in the service of ends passionately believed in, then it has my admiration.”
Kingman Brewster

So I went from thinking about reality TV and writing “Little Black Book” to penning this song for Paris Hilton and Brody Jenner and these so-called “celebrities” who have come to make their notoriety without offering too much to the world in terms of talent. Nothing is forthcoming from them in terms of creative solutions that address the issues and challenges facing their generation. Instead, they travel back and forth throughout the globe on private jets, whisked into swanky nightclub hot spots to party behind the velvet ropes of the VIP section, as oblivious to the outside world as most spoiled rich kids.

At the time I wrote “Cool Kids” I was working in Yaletown (the Vancouver “be-seen” equivalent of L.A) where men and women prance the storefront catwalks in their over-priced outfits, requisite tiny-dog accessories tucked deep in a designer purse or frantically scurrying at their heels, styled in an equally disturbing array of human-inspired fashions that, unbeknownst to their self-absorbed masters, serves no other apparent purpose than to suck the living spirit right out from beneath their carefully manicured paws.

It’s hard not to take it personally when you work to create and support different ways of thinking about the role of our species on this planet, only to be forced to “make a living” amidst the goals and ideals of an obliviously out-of-touch society. For all of the teachers, mentors, activists and entrepreneurs whose passionately creative endeavors I was so voraciously absorbing, arriving at this particular part of the city for a four to eight hour shift all but sucked the living spirit right out of me as well.

Oh! How I long for the day when it’s hip and cool to live without such ridiculously audacious accoutrement and when treating the Community of Life with respect and compassion is the true fashion of the day!

In the meantime, I suppose we must continue to ridicule the apathetic behaviours of our more wealthy cultural counterparts for they are not the trendsetters of the day but simply slaves to the fashion rhythms of a bygone era. The Green Revolution is underway but, wouldn’t you know it, they have missed the boat on this one too; only the impact of their sense of entitlement is so great that none of us can afford to leave them behind for very long.

Like the styles of the decades that have now thankfully passed before us, they are relics of an ancient time when mankind walked this earth, oblivious to the impact of his actions and living with blind ignorance beyond his means.

So I am calling for their removal. No longer do I wish to hear what they have to say. Do you know why, because they are saying absolutely nothing of consequence at all? I say down with the Cool Kids and their custom designed apathy! A new era is upon us!

Long Live the Bleeding Hearts!

From Here To There,
Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 13 - "Little Black Book"


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"Celebrity-worship and hero-worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so we come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models. We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety." - Daniel J. Boorstin

It might come as a disappointing shock to my friends and fans to discover this little tidbit but I refuse to live my life in denial any longer. My name is Scott and I’m a reality television addict.

There, I said it. I feel a sense of relief at having now shared this revelation with you. I never got into The Real World, Survivor or any of the “original reality” series until my addiction became full blown. It started with Extreme Home Makeover and The Bachelor. I then fell into Laguna Beach, Princes of Malibu and The Hills. Clearly it’s gotten out of hand – for any of you who recognize the quality programming offered by the majority of these shows you’ll understand how far down I have sunk. It’s really kind of sad. Strangely enough, at the same time it has also given me some of the greatest inspiration for Seasons.

Let me offer forth an explanation for how things got to this point. Let me attempt to persuade you that there was integrity in my “TV time” before Paris, Lauren, Speidi and The Donald began to weave their pre-fabricated life stories into the fabric of my own life.

I have always enjoyed spending time in my own company; I guess I got used to it during those years when many of the other kids would tease and torment me. Nowadays, I have some truly amazing friends and enjoy going out for a good time with them on occasion but more often than not, I enjoy nothing more than staying at home, cooking myself a nice meal and relaxing in front of the TV to watch sports or a movie.

After the death of my brother in 1998, I moved to Vancouver in hopes of finding and healing my spirit but I must tell you it was a tough and trying decade. I struggled nearly every day with debilitating anxiety brought on by stress and grief. I’m not ashamed to admit to you that I would cry a lot; anything even remotely sentimental still wells me up. I don’t remember always being like that but, as a sensitive kid growing up, I suppose it was always laying there right there beneath the surface.

When we lost Paul, much of the pain and depression that I had experienced during my teenage years became even more raw and exposed and I guess my spirit took that opportunity to finally express the dire need for me to face, reconcile and heal myself of those old wounds. Still, despite the trauma and turmoil, I somehow managed to hold on to the promise that greater things were always possible in both life and in love if I could just strengthen the will of my heart to find and embrace them. I have always had hope and this how my reality TV addiction started.

One Sunday night as I sat on the couch numbly clicking through channels and absentmindedly strumming my guitar, I fell upon Extreme Home Makeover and quickly became hooked. People bringing hope and comfort to other people who were desperately in need of a leg up in this life – that’s the kind of magic my spirit needed to find. Everywhere you look, particularly on TV and online, there are cynics and naysayers and so-called “realists” who seek to squash any semblance of hopeful optimism and good news from view. I understand that the money they spent on designing and furnishing these magnificent homes for people in need could be spread out further amongst other people and families in need but nevertheless, to be able to look and see the inspiration and power that is given and shared on this show really helped fill my own spirit with hope again. Every Sunday I would look forward to my “weekly cry”; a time where I could share my grief with someone else who had lost and with whom I could relate to that desperate desire to rise up, out and above the painful reminders of one’s current situation in life.

The other show that brought me hope was The Bachelor/Bachelorette. My friends tease me endlessly, finding this to be utterly ridiculous but what can I say? Creating Seasons was a necessary process for me through which I hoped to identify and embrace my own truths and live transparently; accepting both my triumphs and transgressions so that I might free my spirit from the weight of the stresses I had burdened upon it. The Bachelor/Bachelorette gave me an insight into the heart of both men and women. As a lonely bachelor myself, someone who had had some remarkable loves in his life but who could never truly “get there” emotionally because of all the baggage I was dragging around behind me, I needed to continue to believe that there was someone out there who was perfect for me; a woman with whom I could finally discard all those burdens and for whom I could allow my heart to open. To watch these men and women strut and position and expose themselves to the world in the hopes of finding true love - I found extremely brave. It takes a lot of balls, balls I have surely never had when it came to love, to put oneself in that situation, however desperate or contrived a situation it might seem. It’s schmaltzy, cheesy and there are definitely many moments that make me squirm but aside from that and a few schmucks looking to get seen on TV, there lives a spirit there yearning for love. You can have your cynicism; I prefer to think that hope is the main reason that so many people are willing to put it all out there. We need love and acceptance so much that we will potentially embarrass ourselves and leave our hearts in shattered ruins for the opportunity to find it – and that too is what I’m all about.

I have spent countless Sunday and Monday nights in front of the tube, watching but not really watching, listening without really listening while my fingers moved around the fretboard, randomly searching to find the next great chorus or verse for a song. Every week, two or three new songs would emerge from this process and without them I would never have experienced the prolificacy needed to even begin to attempt a concept album like Seasons.

Of course there is the other side of this reality television revolution but I don’t want to spew off about it too much here as I feel that this week’s Free Song, “Little Black Book”, will do a better job of summing up my feelings about the banal mediocrity we find within this current cultural climate of instant celebrity. The quote I’ve selected this week really hits the nail on the head with this issue.

There are a lot of misguided efforts out there; people who believe themselves to possess a talent that they do not possess. But for those instances where you do find people in possession of a truth or for whom the search for such truths as peace, love and hope are the guiding principles of their life and not simply some harebrained scheme to been seen by millions, then you have truly discovered something special.

We continue to grow and learn in this life by sharing our stories. When it comes to the stories we find on TV, most of them aren’t worth hearing about and I’ve become guilty recently of subjecting my spirit to boatloads of over-produced, brain-sucking bullshit - a situation I am currently trying to rectify. But occasionally you can find a diamond or two within the rough and if you do and you find some semblance of hope and inspiration because of it?

Well, that’s a reality I’m prepared to live with.

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

On this week's podcast episode, out today:

• We preview the music of Karl Nova
• Songwriter Scott Valentine shares his weekly newsletter, this week discussing his song "21st Century Animal Family Plan"
• "Backstage Access Audio" of RockOm's interview with Buddy Cage of New Riders of the Purple Sage

Swing over to the podcast page to download this episode individually or to subscribe to all future podcasts with iTunes or any other podcatching software.

Scott Valentine song of the week:

Week 12 - "21st Century Animal Family Plan"

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“Four legs good, two legs bad.” – George Orwell

I spent the past ten years living on the lower eastside of Vancouver. For any of you who are unfamiliar with this part of the world, imagine a visual landscape of derelict housing, apartment blocks in disrepair and blocks and blocks of abandoned and/or severely neglected storefronts. The streets are littered with various drug paraphernalia and the rather disgusting remnants of the “safe sex” trade. Human zombies wander to and fro across the streets, unaware of the presence of the cars and buses that must swerve dangerously to avoid them. They itch and they dance on street corners and in alleys, desperate to find the necessary distraction that will free them from the unattended cries of their dying spirits.

From my window beside the railway tracks I could see such men and women exchanging the brittle remains of their souls twenty-four hours a day; a constant reminder to me of the terribly uninspired and degrading means by which the stress of our way of life takes it violent toll. Of course it’s not just in neighbourhoods like this that these harsh indicators are found, but it certainly is a concentrated display of such on streets like Powell, Cordova and Hastings.

I believe it was in my grade nine honours English class that I was first introduced to the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. Published in 1945, it was a scalding political allegory that took aim at the failures of Soviet Communism: a fabled prophecy that depicted the tale of the downtrodden beasts of the Manor Farm who have united their efforts in order to overthrow their human master. Things go smoothly for a while but unavoidably the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. This imagined view of mankind through the eyes and ears of animals has fascinated me ever since.

I had been thinking a lot the past fifteen years about how the majority of mankind views the community of life. Whereas the credo of Orwell’s animal revolution was “four legs good, two legs bad” ours could perhaps be safely identified as the exact opposite. Like the pigs, we have become so wrapped up in our own intellectual capabilities that we have mistakenly assumed this to indicate a divinely appointed superiority over all other living things. We’ve presumed the gods to have favored us in this great cosmic drama and therefore determined ourselves to be in sole possession of the knowledge of what shall be permitted to live and what shall be sentenced to die amongst the humble subjects of this planet who must surely exist solely to serve the needs and desires of our vast human kingdom. Subsequently, I wrote this weeks song, “21st Century Animal Family Plan”, with an air of anthropomorphic jest in order to illustrate some of the absurd actions and stressful repercussions of our current collective arrogance.

Imagine how ridiculous it would look to find a horse shooting up heroin in a dark corner of the barn after a tough day’s work in the field? How ridiculous it must be for them then to have to watch us do the same hurtful things to ourselves in order to cope with the overwhelming challenges of our way of life.

I believe that there is a better way to survive and thrive on this earth – a plan that equally respects and appreciates all living things and this song is yet another attempt to help bring a small piece of that plan into closer view.

See you next week.

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

On this week's podcast episode, out today:

• Color the Sound's Jesse Zenitram (who supplies this week's Featured Track of the Week) talks about the benefits of being a one-man band, his song "LucidTV" and the almost 'religious' impact that music has had on his life.
• Songwriter Scott Valentine shares his weekly newsletter, this week discussing his song "Hang On" and the human species "adapting to a much more rewarding lifestyle for itself."
• Bob Marley and The Wailers' original bassist Family Man discusses the band's powerful impact, the spiritual foundations of reggae and a "secret" new album. (Edited transcript here)

Swing over to the podcast page to download this episode individually or to subscribe to all future podcasts with iTunes or any other podcatching software.

Scott Valentine songs of the week:

Week 11 - "Big City Welcome" and "Hang On"

"Big City Welcome"

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"Hang On"

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“The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology.” - E. F. Schumacher

Every generation faces a unique set of circumstances and challenges. Our grandparents experienced the bleak economic realities of The Great Depression and the unimaginable destruction of The Second World War while our parents grew up amidst the constant fear of nuclear fallout and the struggle to obtain equal civil rights. There were of course a myriad of other struggles to be endured by both but you get the idea – we all have a social burden to bear in order to live as citizens of this planet.

There is no reasonable attempt to be made however, towards measuring which generation faced a tougher set of challenges yet all are connected by one solid unifying fact – every single one of those challenges was created by Man.

People often rail against the divinity of the universe (God, Allah, Buddha, etc) when they are forced to endure such horrendous atrocities but it is not the hand of the gods that have brought torture, slavery, poverty, starvation, genocide and war upon the lives of men, women and children for the past thousand generations. It is only within the hearts and minds of Man that such wicked wills are forged.

I look back upon the actions of yesteryear and see a line of consequences; I’m sure you do too. It’s not too hard to recognize the cause and effect of our way of life. It’s not impossible to relate the starvation of a child in Africa with the greed of the world market. It’s not too far a stretch to draw a line that runs from the once segregated schools of the American south to the current ban on same-sex marriage. After all, frustration, fear and violence have been the calling cards of our culture since it first appeared nearly ten-thousand years ago and we have been paying the price of those consequences ever since. We have a way of life that has created deep furrows of stress upon our collective brow and we must still toil and fight each and every day to survive even though there is more than enough of everything to go around.

This week’s freebie, “Hang On”, is a heartfelt attempt to connect our generation with those who have passed before us. Most of us try to do the best with what we have to work with; if given reasonable information we will, in my estimation, behave reasonably. Our forefathers have made incredibly heinous mistakes no doubt, but we can’t leave them to bear the unforgiving burden of history alone. We can’t point the finger at our ancestors without blaming ourselves for continuing to live without truly recognizing and reconciling the everlasting effects of those mistakes.

Indeed, our generation faces yet another set of distinct challenges with its own unique set of stresses. We are given a much greater view of our world through improvements in science, technology and the ever-increasing speed with which information can be exchanged through the Internet. With all of these improvements we can now recognize, more quickly and certainly than ever before, the impact of our lifestyle choices. Still a fundamentally puzzling question still remains. With a capacity for intelligence and creative adaptability so revered by its members, will our human species continue to embrace a cultural vision of such near-sighted haste and ego-centric ruthlessness or will we come to learn the importance of our beautiful differences whilst, at the same time, respecting the consequences of our lifestyle choices in order to adapt towards a balanced, less stressful and dare I suggest, more peaceful experience?

When I wrote this song I was looking out the window of my apartment on the lower eastside of Vancouver and this is what occurred to me: if this is the best life we can possibly hope to experience for ourselves then we had all better hang on with every last bit of strength we can muster because we’re in for an even more tumultuous ride and even more rude awakening. But once again, upon further reflection, I can appreciate it now more as a passionate plea for change rather than a dirge of dread and spiritual dismay. Thankfully, I can always seem to find the light at the end of the path.

Whether or not you have found out this truth about me yet, I hope you might soon come to find through my music that I sincerely do believe that the human species will adapt to a much more rewarding lifestyle for itself. Quite simply, we must. Still, it is plainly obvious to anyone who dares to look at the true heart of mankind that there is deep and rich spirit that yearns to create and experience the beauty of this crazy life with others. We have a divine beauty within each of us, uniquely exquisite but no better or worse than any other being that has come to experience life upon this earth. We want something more and we need something more but it is not more of the same that we so desperately and urgently seek. It’s something entirely different and new – something both exciting and inspiring.

From Here To There,

Scott Valentine

PS- It is my sincere hope that you might visit my site each Tuesday to experience the new weekly video I have produced. It contains a unique live performance of the weekly "Free Song" as well as a fun little outro sequence which I really enjoy putting together for you. Also, for those of you who have only recently signed up to receive the weekly release and would like to experience the previous weeks songs, you will find the downloads available by visiting the archive page of my website: www.scottvalentinepresents.com

This song and post are part of Scott Valentine's song a week presentation entitled Seasons. Click here for more information.

On this week's podcast episode, out today:

• Austin, TX folk songstress Eliza Gilkyson discusses the interconnectedness of all things, her views on the Obama administration and spirituality as compassion.
• Songwriter Scott Valentine shares his weekly newsletter, this week discussing the seasons of life and moving from "spring" to "summer."
• Indie country/folk musician Corey Smith is interviewed about the Athens, GA scene, gospel music, inspiration for songwriting and how spiritual music isn't necessarily confined to the inside of a church

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