January 1, 2014

"This year I will be more thoughtful of my fellow man, exert more effort in each of my endeavors professionally as well as personally. Take love wherever I find it and offer it to everyone who will take it. In this coming year I will seek knowledge from those wiser than me and try to teach those who wish to learn from me. I love being alive and I will be the best man I possibly can."

Duane Allman from his diary on New Year's day 1969

This is my New year's tradition. This quote. It means a lot to me. These are words to live by. Written by a thoughtful, enormously talented and influential man who was dead two years later.

As I laid these words down yet again, it occurred to me how meaningful a connection this is for me. My birthday, another new year and the Allman Brothers.

The Allman Brothers keep me grounded. They have been the musical love of my life since 1969. Since I was 15 years old. Fifteen.

I am sixty today. Sixty years old.

I don't like the sound of that but at least there is no final date to the right of the hyphen yet. I will content myself with that.

For now.

Had to work at The Asylum last night. Open until 7:00 on New year's Eve to satisfy the greed of the amoral and criminal minded New Hampshire State Liquor Commission, and to cater to the stupidity of last minute idiots who cannot plan ahead. Even though the occurrence of New Year's Eve is fairly predictable.

Naturally things did not go smoothly and I was not driving home until 7:45. I was angry.

I popped in "Hittin' The Note" - the most recent CD released by The Allman Brothers in 2003. They are not exactly churning out new stuff, but when they do it blows the top of your head off and makes you happy to be alive.

It was the right choice for the last night of 2013.

I was content in The Big Ride, snugly warm on a viciously cold night, emoting ferociously to the band that I love.

It is important to have something to be grounded to. Something you can come back to that vibrates through your heart and directly to your soul with no hesitation. From the first note of the first song I am all in.

Immediate relief. Pure joy. Instantaneous escape.

Once again The Allman Brothers got me home. Home to my home. Home to my heart.

This morning I type Duane's words and again I feel like I am on solid ground.

This is important. I am lost right now. Feeling a lot, gearing up to articulate it (at your expense), but wavering with a little bit of fear and a great deal of uncertainty.

Duane was fearlessly dedicated to the music. His guitar was with him every minute of every day including when he went to bed. He practiced endlessly.

And became a musicians' musician. He was revered.

One of my favorite stories involves the recording of Layla. For the uninformed, Duane laid down some guitar on that song. You know that cool bird sound at the end? That is Duane.

But of course he contributed much more than that.

Duane and Eric Clapton had never met. When Duane was scheduled to go in for the session, he was nervous about meeting and playing with Clapton.

And Clapton was nervous about meeting and playing with him. This at a time when Eric Clapton was considered a God.

That is the kind of man that Duane Allman was.

He was a strong man, a talented man, a dedicated man and a thinker.

So his words resonate with me on this first day of 2014 more than ever.

I am searching for a way to deal with this new year. Searching for a way to deal with my life. Searching for resolution. Searching for finality.

I know in my gut that I have to come at it from a position of strength.

Duane's words are a good place to start. May they invoke his spirit and the spirit of The Allman Brothers Band in a way that can inspire me to do more. To do better.

I have been given a lot more years to do something with my life than Duane got. Yet he did a lot more than me in his short time here.

But it is never too late to be what you might have been.