I just received a nice email asking:
"Where do you find beauty. In other words, what to you is the most beautiful?"
I'm going to try to provide an answer from the heart because she deserves to hear it straight.
I fancy myself a guy who sees beauty all around me. So much graffiti is so beautiful but I'll admit that at first blush, I usually see vandalism and not like the Visigoths, either. Graffiti strikes me as a bit random and rather senseless until I remember to look closely.
When you are open to it, you will find beauty.
There's all kinds of beauty all around us. And, the idea of physical beauty has changed over the years. A quick look at advertisments from past decades provides a reminder that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
BEAUTY & THE BRAIN
I would imagine that beauty exists inside us, that it's all in the brain. If that's the case, then I can think of nothing more beautiful than art that we carry around with us, beauty that we can experience again-and-again. Music is by far the most beautiful thing ever. God bless the creators of popular songs for you provide a living soundtrack for our lives.
I was driving down the Las Vegas Strip late last night and, passing by what was once the Sands Hotel Casino, I heard FRANK SINATRA singing 'Fly Me To The Moon,' backed by Count Basie, as recorded on 'Sinatra at the Sands.' Oh, I know, the Sands is no more, but I know exactly where the original Copa Room was. I produced its last great show before they blew-up the place to make way for the beautiful new Venetian but the music that was made there reverberates still. Sinatra's heart was full of song and he will sing forever more.
When the moon is shining brightly, JASON MRAZ can be heard confessing his love to his supernatural nightlight, his voice echoing far beyond into the swimming sea of stars. 'Bella Luna' is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and thanks to MRAZ, it glows within all of us who are open to its love.
We may well forget the sun in his jelous sky, but we'll remember EVA CASSIDY always. She lives on, within us, among the 'Fields of Gold.'
I haven't taken a road trip of any significant distance without playing JACKSON BROWNE's 'Running on Empty' throughout the journey. Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels, I see that JB was right about the moon, but wrong about the stars. The entire album is by and of the road and, if we were to calculate an accurate toll, the world would owe JACKSON BROWNE a fortune. And it does. DYLAN and SPRINGSTEEN too.
'All At Sea,' the great pop ballad by JAMIE CULLUM, was playing on the iPod at the pool on the regular until, yesterday, I messed-up and dove-in with the ear buds still in my ears, bud. Yes, the song quickly cut-out but it dried-out and I was all at sea once again.
Good songs can enter us and can live on with us. Good songs can find their own place in your soul.
Do me a favor, open the door and let 'em in.
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