Sometimes joy requires only waking up, looking up and calming down. Peace is already here

Yes, it is getting colder, but you can still find me singing around Spokane on and off.  Tuesday, I sat outside of the Main Market Downtown.  No one seemed to mind, and the people who stopped by were super kind as usual.

My only issue lately is the wind and the cold.  I have to be spontaneous, but if I know for sure I’ll be someplace for a while, I’ll post here or on Facebook. In the mean-time, check out videos on Facebook and  YouTube.

Thanks again to everyone who made summer street music a viable thing for me.  I’ve been having more fun than even I thought I would.

I hope September finds you warm, safe and happy.

Frankie

More a capella garage music.

This is the short version of a jazz song I wrote when I was much younger chronologically. There is an old lady vibe to this that makes me laugh now.

TOO GOOD

WHEN I LOOK IN THE MIRROR

I KNOW JUST WHAT I’LL SEE

GRAYING HAIR

WRINKLED BROW

TIME GETTIN HOLD OF ME

WHEN I LOOK OUT THE WINDOW

THERE’S NO BIG SURPRISE

THERE’S NO LOVER WAITING WITH MOONLIGHT IN HIS EYE

YOU WANNA CHANGE ALL THAT

AND MEND MY BROKEN HEART

YOU WANNA HOLD MY HAND AND HEAL WHAT’S TORN APART

YOU WANNA SAVE THE DAY

AND TAKE MY HURT AWAY

BUT HOW WILL WE KNOW WHAT I’LL BE

I’M TOO LONELY FOR YOU

AND YOU’RE TOO GOOD FOR ME

IF MY HEART WASNT BROKEN

IT WOULDN’T BE ME

CAUSE ID HAVE NO RAESON TO CRY

OR STAY UP ALL NIGHT LONG

PLAYIN GAMES LIKE SOLITAIRE

AND WANTIN TO DIE

IF MY DREAMS STARTED COMIN TRUE

NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN WHAT WOULD I DO

YOURE TOO GOOD FOR ME BABY

AND I’M TOO LONELY FOR YOU

Dosed by Red Hot Chili Pepper is one of my favorites

i am totally in love with simple, live, real music that is free for the taking. My page is about sharing entertaining content with anyone who wants to experience it. Donations help me do that, but even if you can’t donate (especially if you can’t) dig in. Enjoy!

Franie Valinda Ghee

I couldn’t stay inside again, so I packed up my cares and woes and headed for downtown Spokane with a song in my heart and a heavy sweater on my shoulders. I set up beside a hotdog vender in front of Wells Fargo. Funny, I’m a vegetarian, and I seem to spend a lot of time singing for hotdog lovers.

Oh, well  it’s all groovy.

I played for about an hour and some. It was fun until the security guard from the bank asked me very nicely to move it down the road a bit.

Danny Boy was written by Frederic Weatherly

Note the big truck that goes by right as I start 😎

Life is good.  Breathe easy if you can.

Frankie

The Picture with this post is at a rest stop somewhere between Missoula Montana and Coeur D’ Alene, Idaho.  It was one of the few days on my visit that wasn’t crazy smoky.  I hope this little bit of music finds you safe and cool.

I decided to record my version of LET IT BE  while sitting next to my newly dented car.  My poor little car was involved in a little disagreement with another car.  Everyone walked away, so all is well.

If you would like more music, poetry, stories and stuff, check out “my blog” older posts.  Lots of fun stuff.

If you would like to donate to my Creative Projects, please use the donate button on the side bar.  Thank you for listening.

Frankie

Autumn Leaves

My memories are leaves
Red and yellow, orange and brown
That lie upon the autumn ground
My grandeur and despair

I reminisce through these
Piled so deeply in my mind
Hide the truth and keep me blind
As I wander unaware

I fear a chilling breeze
That will blow the leaves away
And force my soul to stay
With the corpses buried there

Frankie Valinda Ghee

Caught in Traffic

or Thoughts on the Big Picture

By Frankie Valinda Ghee

It was twenty minutes into the worse traffic jam Naomi had ever seen, and today was the worse day for it.  Naomi was bringing her boyfriend Trent to her niece’s birthday party.  It was going to be the perfect setting to introduce him to her always judgmental and over protective family.  They would all be there, her parents and her sister Jessica with her perfect husband and her three perfect children. They were, no doubt, ready with passive aggressive, condescending remarks.  “Oh, so this is your current fling?  I hope this one has more staying power than the last one.” Naomi could already hear the jibes in her head.  Trent was in for a long day, but there was no help for it.  Anyway, there was no way Trent’s day would turn out to be any more stressful than the day Naomi was already having.

Naomi’s day had begun perfectly…awake on time, good hair, perfectly fitted outfit.  Then she opened the calendar app on her computer and realized that today was February 12.  Of course she knew the date.  It was her niece’s birthday.  What Naomi had failed to grasp until just that moment was the personal significance of the date.  With that realization everything changed.  She made an unscheduled trip to the bathroom and after a bit of nervous fumbling, found what she was looking for underneath a bag of cotton balls in the second drawer beneath the sink.

Now, Naomi was running scared and late.  She couldn’t take it for one more second.  She had to say it out loud or her head would explode.

*

It was twenty minutes into the worse traffic jam Peyton had ever seen, and she’d never felt so trapped.  There was no winning in her situation.  Her mother had done such a good job of hiding her drinking and over medicating from everyone who mattered that Peyton had been forced to play along.  Last night, things had gotten way out of hand.  Mom brought Gary home with her.  Gary was exactly the deviant pervert type that both her parents had been warning her about since she was old enough to understand sentences.  Now, her mother was asking her to treat the man like family.  There was no more room for ignoring or pretending.

This morning, Peyton confronted her mother about the drinking and about Gary.  Mom responded by immediately storming into Peyton’s room, throwing random articles of clothing into a suitcase, and dumping Peyton on her father’s doorstep with absolutely no explanation except, “You deal with her!”

Dad’s response was angry and preoccupied. It was completely out of character. He did not question her or comfort her.

“You will be coming with me, and you will be polite, and you will be appreciative,” he had barked. “This is a very important day for Naomi and me.  I have been planning this day for weeks.  You will simply have to save the details of whatever silly fight you had with your mother, until we get back home.  Am I clear?”

Am I clear?

Peyton would simply have to make him understand.  If she held it in one more second, she would implode.

*

It was twenty minutes into the worse traffic jam Trent had ever seen, and it was the worse day for it.  Trent had been practicing all week what he would say to break the ice with Naomi’s family.  Now he would have to explain why they were late, and why his sullen, teenage daughter was with them.

Trent knew how important it was for him to show himself in a positive light.  This party was a test.  If he passed it, his plans for the evening would go without a hitch.  If he failed the test, it might mean the end for him and this woman who was the best thing in his life.

Well, Naomi was the second best thing, second only to his daughter Peyton.  Peyton was in fact the true love of Trent’s life, but today, he had treated her like unwelcome baggage.  He had been more worried about his plans and his future than about Peyton and whatever obviously huge thing she was going through.  If Naomi knew how he treated his own daughter, she might think twice about introducing him to her family.

Trent turned around in his seat and tried to make eye contact with his daughter.  She had her hands up to her face and was crying into them.  He needed to explain his bad behavior to her and to Naomi.  If he waited one more second, he might lose everything.

*

The temperature inside and outside the car suddenly jumped thirty degrees.  It was now or never.  Speak now, or forever hold your peace.

At the same moment the engines of every motorized thing on earth (including the engine of Naomi’s gold Avalon) seized, the three passengers inhaled together and exhaled the word “I’m.”

Naomi’s next word was going to be “pregnant.”

Peyton was going to say “scared.”

Trent was planning a longer thought, “going to ask Naomi to marry me.”

They all said, “I’m…” and then a blinding flash of blue flame reduced the car, the bridge, the city and the planet to a few floating particles of dust.

When you looked at the really big picture, that tiny bit of shine was less than the skin of one grape, and its inhabitants of no more concern to those hovering gods than an appetizer to a forgettable meal.  There was no regret only a noise…like a small belch and then on to the next course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxaQWKFW3Ag  True Colors by Cyndi Lauper (cover)

Wow! It’s hard to believe that two years have gone by since I quit my day job to follow another dream.  I spent that first summer learning how to play songs on the guitar and writing novels and short stories and such.

This is me pretty early in my street music career.  Summer of 2014.  I think I’ve come a long way.  At least I know a lot more songs.

It’s fun to go back and listen to older posts.  Now when I sing true colors, I play it quite a bit slower.

It’s also fun to watch the images floating by on my guitar.  Thanks Dwayne for sticking with me through on this adventure!

songs.

The best part of this video is the car trying desperately to start in the background.  Talk about live.

I hope I am still singing around Spokane many years down the road.  I’m loving my journey.

I hope this finds you loving yours.

Frankie