(Written in the early 2000’s about a local band)

Ever wonder what might happen if you took time out to tap into your creative side? Ruby Red’s lead singer Robin Brantley did. The singer/songwriter believes that practicing meditation and following her instincts led her to where she is today – writing hit songs, playing guitar in a band, connecting with audiences in live performance, and loving every minute of it.

Ruby Red is an all-original band with mainstream appeal. Brantley does the songwriting and arranging for the group consisting of herself on acoustic guitar, husband Dave on harmony and percussion, Mark Horn on keys, Chad Crabtree on bass, Brett Hobbs on drums and Jesse Cruz on lead guitar. Considered by most a “crossover” band – (somewhere in-between rock and country), Ruby Red combines acoustic melodies with edgy guitar effects, stimulating drum fills and strong female vocals to bring Brantley’s lyrics to life. The crossover genre is a logical fit considering Brantley’s musical influences are Chrissie Hynde, Sheryl Crow, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn.

The band was formed in 2003 and achieved early success with airplay of Brantley’s song “I Know” on KINK radio. Since then the group has been building on that success, playing bigger venues and getting more recognition as they gain exposure in the PDX music scene.

“The opportunities are really starting to come our way” explains Brantley, in reference to two movie soundtrack deals she’s been working on. One that she is particularly excited about, “Have Mercy! Confessions of the Original Rock ‘N’ Roll Animal”, is based on the life of Wolfman Jack. That plus the opportunity to open for Eddie Money at Esther Short Park in Vancouver is evidence that the band is gaining considerable momentum.

In the studio, Ruby Red has recently completed, “Tall Enough for This Ride” which contains 12 originals including “Mary”, which has seen air time on KUPL. While “Mary” might be the single noticed early, tracks 1 (Second to Nature) and 8 (Say You Need Me) are high energy arrangements backed by solid musicianship that could do even better.

While the rewards have been many, Brantley is the first to admit that pursuing a career in music is a lot of hard work. She sites dealing with band turnover as the most difficult aspect of the job. When Cruz has added a few years ago, over 50 hopefuls were auditioned. The process takes its toll but has its rewards. “Jesse is perfect for us” says Brantley with a glow.

Songwriting is the part that comes easiest to the alluring rocker. Lyrics come to her at all times of the day and night, including in her dreams. Brantley credits meditation. “I feel it’s more than a coincidence”, she says, “that this started happening right after I started practicing meditation.”

Brantley is more than just a pretty face on stage though. She’s an ambitious, business-savvy entrepreneur who understands how to get results in managing and marketing a band. She credits local legends Sonny Hess and Lisa Mann as two role models who have influenced her career. Hess and Mann’s experience, mentoring, and encouragement have been invaluable to her as she navigates through the mine-field that can be the music business.

Brantley is now a firm believer and practitioner of taking time out for inward reflection and meditation. Ruby Red hopes she can continue to channel the lyrics all the way to Nashville.

(This was a soapbox to the Tualatin times many moons ago)

Compassion: “Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with a wish to relieve it.” (American Heritage Dictionary).

We often confuse ‘compassion’ with sympathy or pity. Compassion is really sympathy-plus. If we are compassionate, we not only sense and care about someone else’s pain or misfortune, we take action to mitigate or remove it.

When former-President Bill Clinton said “I feel your pain,” he was not being compassionate, because he did little, if anything to lessen the pain.

The current president, George W. Bush, gained substantial mileage on the campaign trail with the oxymoronic expression “compassionate conservative.” The word ‘conservative’ connotes ‘respect for tradition or the traditional order.’ Since the traditional order, the status quo, consigns tens of millions of Americans to poverty, inadequate medical care, lousy nutrition, despair, and few means for self help, compassion could not fit. To relieve or eliminate suffering requires change, the very thing conservatism stands against.

But even conservatism is misapplied here. “W” and his followers do want change; they wish to unravel what’s left of the New Deal and its implicit social contract. They are reactionaries bent on disestablishing Social Security, the minimum wage, government regulation, the capital gains tax – if not all taxes. Meanwhile, there’s not a weapons program they would not fund, a place too sacred for oil exploration, or a police force that’s too small. Their “traditional order” would include: even more prisoners (managed by private corporations, of course), more prayer, more environmental destruction, more school testing, more dead convicts, more counter-terrorism, more enemies, and a single exception to a prohibition on human cloning – more John Ashcrofts.

On a personal level, we the privileged, the ones with a house in The Burbs on a cul-de-sac may think of ourselves as compassionate people but we don’t often show it.   We’re not compassionate, just sympathetic, and then only when it’s convenient. We worry about sprawl, traffic congestion, and the cell tower going in across the street. We address these issues after we’ve washed the SUV, swept out the garage, and spent our working hours reading and writing e-mails. We rarely ponder our existence or question the status quo.

If there is a God and He/She/It has a standard for compassion, then I suspect someday we’ll be asked to reconcile our personal, religious, and political beliefs and make some sense out of it all. To effectively align our beliefs with our actions, we need to work harder at seeing through the smoke screens, especially on the campaign trails. Probably worth thinking about the next time someone tries to convince you he or she is worthy of office because they proudly wear the label “compassionate conservative.”

Geraldo did cover, the long murder trial
Marcia had evidence, that stretched for a mile
He showed his true colors, right there on the tube
A cop named Mark Furman, a racist, a boob

They’re trying to frame him, this is an attack
The cops just don’t like him, because he is black
He couldn’t have been there, arthritis was failin’
They even tried using, his pal Kato Kaelin

She proved he’s a liar, a phony, a loser
Dishonest, a failure, an excessive boozer
Disgraceful, a cheater, a harmful drug user
The infamous suspect, a spousal abuser

Nicole’s blood on his things, and more than a trace
Inside his white Bronco, all over the place
With science on her side, what could they say?
How to explain it? ‘Twas his DNA

Surely they had him, no doubt they would win
This man they call O.J., was guilty as sin
In talk shows they said it, in papers they wrote
To all it was clear, that he slit her throat

Some days were real long, some ended in fury
For more than a year, said Ito, “No hurry”
They did all they could, now O.J. should worry
It took them 3 hours, an impatient jury

But this is in L.A., a different type place
It’s not about guilt, it’s all about race
Freedom will come, it is in the cards
If you’ve got deep pockets, and 2000 yards

They read us the verdict, we couldn’t believe
They said it “not guilty,” he got his reprieve
Outrageous conclusion, the jury conceived
The Browns and the Goldmans, they suddenly grieved

To all those who watched, the verdict seemed weird
For families of victims, the nightmare they feared
On national TV, their eyes were all teared
What bothers me most? The thousands that cheered

A nation that cheers, for spousal abuse
In this guy’s opinion, there ain’t no excuse
Whether you call him, “O.J.” or “Juice”
He don’t need no golf club, but does need a noose

(I wrote this in late 2000 and thought it might make a good addition to this blog)

                       Count the Vote!

Alas with pen and paper near, the yearly anecdote

Pondering the reasons why they wouldn’t count the vote…

Eight years of prosperity and peace across the land

Why we’d change the horse mid-stream is hard to understand

Al Gore served his country well, since he was but a lad

“W” sold his baseball team so he could be like dad

Both campaigned for Clinton’s job, which one should I pick?

The nation’s leading Patriot or maybe Mr. Thick?

Seniors need prescription drugs and worry ‘bout their health

Cut the tax to help the rich or should we share the wealth?

Election Day, the heat is on, the networks cannot stall

It is Al or is it George? Or just too close to call?

Bernie gives the race to Bush, Gore is in a bind

I guess you win, George. I concede. Hold it, never mind!

Confusion lurks in West Palm Beach, where voters aren’t so spry

What’s meant for Al went straight to Pat, thanks to butterfly

Machines save time in counting votes, we trust that they’ll be fair

But if the margin of the race is less than that of error?

Bush enjoys a narrow lead for Al it looks remote

Jackson marches, Baker whines, Gore says “Count the Vote”

Count the ballots, shine the light, see it’s not so bad

Bush’s biggest worry now – that dreaded hanging chad

Chads with dimples, pregnant chads, chads with but a dent

Watch the judges do their best to help discern intent

A month goes by, still no Pres., market takes a dive

All the channels speculate but most of this is jive

Sanders Sauls hears the case Richards beats out Boies

Luckily four justices decide to make some noise

Katherine Harris, public servant, loyal to G-Dub

Certified a bogus count, but really, here’s the rub

What’s fair is fair the judges say, read this and I quote

“The underlying principle is simply Count the Vote”

The high court rules and complicates a convoluted web

Bush says if you count the vote I’ll tell my brother Jeb

The high court rules to stop the count, talk about a crime

Now they say they’d like to count but there just isn’t time

Ironic Bush would call upon the power of the Fed

Contradicts his own state’s laws and all that stuff he said

Maybe it was destiny, for Bush to get the win

The jury’s out but time will tell us, if the fix was in

If justice is alive and well there’s one thing that’s for sure

Gore will be the Chief Exec in year 2004

Every once in a while it’s good to compare the performance of one administration versus another.  If memory serves Republicans were shocked, shocked I say at the handling of the Benghazi incident where 4 Americans were killed.  So shocked that they launched 10 investigations over a 3 year period at a cost of $4.6 million dollars.  Note that this was more investigations than what was spent on 9/11.

Recently Nancy Pelosi announced an investigation into the Trump administration’s abject failure to respond to the Coronavirus with the necessary urgency to prevent loss of life in the tens of thousands.  Predictably, Republicans are aghast at the very thought of taking a look under the covers.  Rightfully so, it won’t be pretty.

Trump went from “hoax” to “okay I’ll play the savior” in three weeks’ time after it was apparent the stock market was going to tank no matter what.  It’s all on tape and makes for great commercials during an election year.

In any case, I welcome the comparison.  Bring it.

What are we as a country going to need hundreds of thousands of? Caskets.

But not just any caskets. You have to be a market differentiator. My idea is caskets made to order with your favorite cult leader logo on them.

You’d have your choice of one or more logos so you could choose between a standard Fox News logo or perhaps your favorite hosts like Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham.

I hope nobody steals my idea. It could be worth millions.

Don’t spend that $1200 right away. Caskets are expensive.

The president will now be fielding compliments.