By Jack Stephen
A vignette:
I’m riding my bike south back home to Loveland on the Front Range Trail. I’m startled by another biker passing me on the left. He has a white mustache and says “that’s a nice old bike you got there” as he flies past. I slow and downshift as I head up the rise with some lost momentum. It levels off, where sometimes you see a llama herd grazing. I see a bald eagle sitting on the ground. He’s maybe surveying the area after missing a prairie dog. He startles and takes flight. Beautiful and graceful, he glides through the air at a slow speed, attentive to everything in the area. I wonder what he sees? He hears a series of high-pitched cries, and recognizes his mate perched on a telephone pole. He lands on the post right next to her, and they look out over the flatland with the mountains behind them. It’s just another day for them, another chance. I drop my head and pedal on into the headwind.
2024 Soundtrack:
Weyes Blood, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody.”
Maceo Parker and the JB’s, “Cross the Tracks.”
Black Pumas, “Black Moon Rising.”
Cotton Jones, “I Am the Changer.”
Kurt Vile, “Another Year for the Roses.”
Jenny Lewis, “Psychos.”
Jan Hammer, Miami Vice series soundtrack.
Outkast, “SpottieOttieDopaliscious.”
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, “Crazy Fingers.”
MC 900 ft. Jesus, “Meat Beat Manifesto.”
Nick Shoulders, “Too Old to Dream.”
Roy Ayers, “Coffee Is the Color.”
Beck, “Hollywood Freaks.”
Mac Miller, “Come Back to Me.”
Rufus Wainwright, “Coffee and Chocolate Cake.”
2024 Reads (selected):
Peter Matthiessen, Blue Meridian.
Fiona MacFarland, Highway 13.
Lenny Bruce, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People.
Sam Tallent, Running the Light.
Herman Hesse, Demian.
Jay Sankey, Zen and the Art of Stand Up Comedy.
Ann Tyler, Breathing Lessons.
Another trip around, some folks I could have spent more time with, others maybe a bit less. Best of luck next year, love your fate, be creative, be kind, don’t be scared to change your personal narrative, and focus on the positive. Even as the world seems to be imploding slowly but surely; remember, you can always smile. Most important…we are still here.
“When the world is running down, you make the best of what’s still around”—The Police.
I am also a fan of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. They have a very athletic keyboard player. He burns more calories than the drummer during a performance.
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