Think of being part of a team with a goal. Plans are made and big steps taken, with all the resources in place, the game begins.
Only to find your team mate is not helping or doing their part. Everything crumbles into a slowly cascading tragedy. The fact that you love what you were aiming for confirms what the pain is telling you.
You could have had it all.
MIDIMike
Do you dedicate your life to achieving success and fortune or stop and smell the roses? Are you accumulating money and wealth while losing friends and everything else in the world? You can be anything if nothing else matters.
MIDIMike
Do you dedicate your life to achieving success and fortune or stop and smell the roses? Are you accumulating money and wealth while losing friends and everything else in the world? You can be anything if nothing else matters.
MIDIMike
I often wonder what society is waiting for. When will we finally be equal? When will we finally do something about the environment, education, resources allocation and discrimination?
I can’t keep waiting without saying what needs to be said to everyone.
You can wait. You can hope. You can pray.
But now is the time to scream out loud.
MIDIMike
A response to a bumper sticker that mocks good students I used to see (like – my son can beat up your honor student…) I thought of each religion pitting their god against the others like high school sports. Unfortunately, we have faith and god turned Upside Down, but at least my god is better than yours.
MIDIMike
For a bit of prospect work, I wrote lyrics to an old 12 sting guitar jam of mine. I released ‘First Move’ as an instrumental track on my cd ‘Before The Chase‘ on February 25th, 2016.
(As a side note, one of the great cover/original bands I performed with live was ‘The Chase’. I also released a title called ‘After The Chase‘ in 2017. In both cases, auto-spelling correction wants to make the title : Before the Chase and After the Chase. Some on-line distributors would not accept the capitalized version in their listing. The reference to my former band mates does not jump out if it has a lower case ‘t’ for the. Now, back to my previous train of thought).
I really like the way the tempo and the groove combine to make an interesting driving-sports-workout jam. I use open tuning for the guitar, and that allows me to get those really clear harmonics to stand out. The lyrics reference the many people in my life that are truly amazing. Dedicated, hard working, dependable friends and strangers in the background making the world a better place for others. Doing the right thing – for no real reward and little recognition. Heroes are all around, they just don’t make that much noise.
“Take a Closer Look” © MSK 6/25/2025 (First Move)
It’s difficult to get going
Usually, it’s too hard to stop.
Heroes rise up against the wind
In spite of the inevitable drop.
Everyone has their place in life
But can not see it most of the time.
Not all of us become astronauts
Or Sherlock with the unsolvable crime.
Take A Closer Look
And you will see.
They guard over you silently
Yet never seem to get in the way.
Easy not to see them at first
But they are always ready to play.
One of them might be an artist
Musicians you truly understand.
A friend who has never failed you
Or strangers that gave you a helping hand.
Take A Closer Look
Take A Closer Look and you will see.
MIDIMike
Another early poem turned into song that I thought was my best work. On the brink of ending a loving relationship, knowing tomorrow would begin a fight without end…… Impossible to understand while it is happening, and too painful to see the end.
You can wish upon a star or pray to the moon, but nothing will ever change and the moon just stares back at you. Uncaring. Unchanging.
MIDIMike
Another tangled tale of experiences. No matter how strong you are, how vigilant you are, there will be a time where you will not be ready; not aware. You can be right a million times – but the odds then become a million-to-one. And you lose.
But when we fail, we get lost inside our own fear and doubt. The things you count on every day to get you through to the next are no longer there. Simple Things.
MIDIMike
It sounds so charming to hear about a love that burns so bright and so hot……
But when that love is gone your fire faces a wall of icy cold that towers above you. A look at the female man-hunter stereotype you would see in old movies and TV shows. Eventually the steam turns into mist and then a thin fog until you eventually see – and feel again. Then you can decide to walk away.
MIDIMike
Lyrically, this might be the best poem I have ever written. It is a love song really about guitar strings. The late Mark Kelsey wrote the music and it fit perfectly. I use stainless steel guitar strings, so that is the core of the theme. I worked at a music store for a number of years and sold an awful lot of instrument strings. There are a lot of good lines in here. BTW, I’m still waiting for you.
MIDIMike
MidiMike 