My most political blog yet!

I tend not to get into politics on this blog.  People are entitled to their own beliefs and opinions, and I don't want to sound preachy.  However, this is my blog, and I can do what I want with it.  So here I go!

Yesterday, June 26th, 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the Defense Of Marriage Act, and in my opinion, it was about bloody time.  I have no idea why people are so horrified at the thought of same-sex marriage -- "It's an abomination!  The Bible says so!"  Well, the Bible also says you can stone your wife and sell your daughter.  My point is, picking and choosing what parts of the Bible to zealously enforce and what parts to completely ignore is absolutely ridiculous.  Also, I'm pretty sure the Bible is anti-divorce, but that doesn't seem to stop more than half of our "sacred unions" from ending  up in divorce.  If people truly love each other, I don't see how orientation has anything to do with it.

Anybody remember Jesus?  You know, the son of God who came among us to preach about love, forgiveness, and brotherhood?  The same guy who told us not to judge, lest we be judged?  I thought you might.  People spend so much of their time and energy hating each other that we forget one simple truth: we are God's children, and He loves us.  And if God loves us, shouldn't we do the same for each other?

Don't get me wrong -- I am by no means a perfect man.  Far from it.  But I don't understand what is so wrong with allowing my fellow human beings, my brothers and sisters, to be accepted by our society, regarded as one of the best on the planet, as equals.

Speaking of equals...what is with the misplaced anger towards women?  And why do politicians seem almost gleeful when showing their contempt of them?  Society seems to be in this strange atmosphere of making women feel ashamed of themselves for just being women, and it's absolutely horrendous.

I'm going to be honest with you: I love women.  I am a big fan of the female form.  Does that mean I'm completely unable to control myself when I'm around women?  Of course not.  Self-control is not a horrible burden on my lifestyle; shaming women into blaming themselves when men act completely inappropriately towards them only reinforces the concept that men don't have to take or accept any responsibility for their actions.  That's the crux of the thing: men pushing responsibility away from themselves and on to others.

I'm happily married to a wife that I love and adore.  Some of my closest, dearest friends are women.  In my life I have found women to be strong, brave, funny, and (more often than not) a hell of a lot smarter than I am.  Do I resent them because of these things?  Of course not!  It makes me appreciate them all the more.  I do not feel threatened or emasculated by them -- I love them, and they love me.  My wife trusts that I will behave myself, and I'm gratified by her trust in me.

I'm going to dip my toe a bit into the issues surrounding women's health these days, particularly when it comes to abortion.  Make no mistake: I don't like abortion.  I am not a fan.  But who is?  Are there really people walking around thinking, "Man, I can't wait to get pregnant, so I can have an abortion!"?  I just don't think that's the case.  That being said, I believe wholeheartedly in a woman's right to choose.  It's her body: I don't believe that I have any right to decide for her what she can or can't do with it.  It's particularly disheartening when old white men (for the most part) feel that they do have the right to decide what they can or can't do with their bodies.  The sad truth is that abortions will happen, and if we remove the capacity to have them performed safely and efficiently, then all we're doing is asking for procedures done in conditions that are dangerous.

Whew.

I think it's time to wrap this up.  Sorry to get all preachy, but this stuff has really been on my mind a lot lately.  I've discovered recently that I can get really passionate when I read and hear about women being treated unfairly -- it really bothers me.  And I'm sure there are more eloquent ways to say what I'm feeling, and I'm also sure there are things I've left out, but I think the gist is there.

I'm not trying to offend.  Like I said, you are entitled to your beliefs.  I just felt like explaining mine.

I promise my next blog post will have more to do with music.  I'm very excited about the new album: a lot of ideas swirling around.  I think it's going to be a good one.

Cheers,
Aaron
www.aarongabriel.net

It has begun

Really sorry about how long it's been taking me to keep up on these blogs.  At the same time, I figure it would just get really annoying if I was constantly blogging, so...it's all about balance, I guess.

As I'm sure you surmised from the vague and somewhat ominous title, I have begun work (finally) on the new album!  This past weekend I recorded "Be My All," which is what I'm planning on using as the opening track.  I'm very pleased with how it came out -- if the rest of the album comes out as well, I'll be sitting pretty indeed.

Have you heard of The Thrilling Adventure Hour?  If you haven't, you should check it out, because it is simply fantastic.  http://thrillingadventurehour.com

All in all, not a whole lot more to add to this post.  So sorry -- not all of them are going to be brilliant.  But if you haven't visited my website in a while, please do!  I've made quite a bit of changes to the layout that I'm quite happy with.

Cheers,
Aaron
www.aarongabriel.net

Everything is new

My goodness, it has been an awfully long time since I last posted a blog.  A lot has been going on, so I figured I'd get that done first.  Ironic, because normally I live a rather boring life -- now I'm too busy to write up a simple blog.  Go figure.

Time to bring you up to speed!  I've been doing a tremendous amount of work on the website, trying to make it a little more eye-catching, a little more streamlined, and a little more user-friendly.  And while I'm certain I'll be tweaking things here and there for a good while yet, I'm pretty happy with what I have so far.

www.aarongabriel.net

"You Don't Know My Heart" took 5th place in the Indie International Songwriting Contest 2013.  Wasn't really sure what to expect, but I'm pretty happy with that.  Here's the link to the Winner's Page: http://indieinternational.com/winners.php

I had been thinking about putting out a Christmas album, but I've decided to put that on the backburner and wait until I've finished my next solo album.  Speaking of which, I think I have a good idea of which songs to include on the next album, and if it pans out like I hope it does, I think it could be pretty good.  I've tentatively called it Ghost in the Pages, but we'll see where it goes -- I might even come up with a few ideas and make it a contest or something for which one gets chosen.

Took part in "Chewelah's Got Talent," a local American Idol-type show put on by the local radio station, KCHW 102.7 Chewelah.  A lot of crazy good performers -- I was lucky enough to be awarded an honorable mention, which was nice, because I was not all that pleased with how I did.  Then again, I very rarely am...

My wife and I are trying to get pregnant.  Not really music-related, but it's a pretty huge deal, and it makes me happy thinking about it, so I thought I'd share.

Still trying to get awareness of me and my music out there.  Good grief, what a slow and tedious process.  It's an interesting position to be in, because I'm not usually very quick to sing my own praises -- self-deprication is sort of my thing, which creates its own set of problems.  That said, I'm still scouring the interwebs for reviewers, promotors, blogs, anything that caters towards the more independent-minded musicians; sites that cater toward the more independent-minded folk musicians are the real diamonds in the rough.

Once again, I apologize for the length between these last two posts.  I hope it's not a recurring theme.

-Aaron
www.aarongabriel.net

Random thoughts on a lovely March evening

I've been thinking a lot lately about trying to find a female vocalist (or female vocalist/instrumentalist) to join forces with me.  My main reasons are as follows:

1. My voice isn't that great.
2. See #1.

While I enjoy the solo aspect of my music, singing with another person adds such a great dynamic.  Some of my favorite groups are like that -- the Weepies, the Civil Wars, Whiskeytown, the Swell Season, etc. etc.  I'm not saying that this will be happening any time soon, but it's something to think about.

And if you know someone who might be interested, let me know.

My wife and I are looking at selling our house and trying to buy a charming little Victorian home about ten minutes from where we live.  Still in the very early stages, but exciting, nonetheless.

I performed "Lovesick Blues" on KCHW 102.7 Chewelah this past December to promote my CD Release.  I've got the song up on my website, under the Music tab.  You should check it out.

I'm also on Jango Internet Radio!  http://www.jango.com/music/Aaron+Gabriel  Pretty cool.

The weather is finally starting to act like Spring around here.  It's been a bit depressing leaving for work in below-freezing temperatures, but the afternoons have been glorious lately.

My blog is closing in on 400 viewers.  I'm going to assume that's a good thing.

I've been wanting to start working on my Christmas album for about a month now, and so far I have done diddly.  This time of year tends to get a bit hectic, which is kind of funny, because I consider myself really, really boring.

I have somewhere around thirty new songs to space out over a few new albums.  Plus I'm constantly writing down lyrics for new ideas.  This pleases me.

I did mention on my blog that this would contain both musings and sometimes ramblings.  Consider this the latter.

Have a great Easter, everybody!

-Aaron
www.aarongabriel.net

Happy St. Patrick's Day! ...one day later.

Since it's been a little while, I thought I'd go ahead and post something, let people know I was still in the land of the living.

Sadly, I don't have a whole lot to offer on this posting, other than a happy birthday to my nephew Gabriel (born on St. Patrick's Day), and a new song to share with you.

All I can say about this is I've always wanted to write my own Celtic-influenced song, and this is my very sloppy attempt at such a song.

It's called "Shouting Through The Gates."  I hope you like it.

https://soundcloud.com/#aaron_gabriel/shouting-through-the-gates

-Aaron
www.aarongabriel.net

Update on my Christmas album

Hello, hello.

Work on the Christmas album has been coming along quite nicely.  I have all of the traditional pieces picked out, I think, as well as figuring out the music, too.  It's nice to see my abilities as a guitar player continue to improve -- I know that I am nowhere near where I'd like to be, but I can say that I'm better than I used to be, and that's a good thing.

For the traditional songs, I've decided to go with these:

I Saw Three Ships
Gloucestershire Wassail
The Coventry Carol
Silent Night
Auld Lang Syne (gonna rock this guy out on my ukelele)
Here We Come A Wassailing

I'm also planning on including a cover of Danny Wheetman's "A Christmas Wish," which is a fantastic little song that most people might recognize being sung by Kermit the Frog on the Christmas album the Muppets did with John Denver many years ago (in my opinion, still the best Christmas album ever).

I've also written my very first Christmas song, "What I Need For Christmas."  I'm still debating whether or not to try writing another one.  We'll see how it goes.

Finally, and most challenging, is that I am planning on including a poem written by Elizabeth Goudge from her wonderful book Pilgrim's Inn.  I'll share the words, because they are just lovely.

Sing hey for the moon and the starry sky,

The river, the woods, and the sea.

For the fish and birds and animals all,

And the grass so green on the lea.

But most of all for the fair Christmas rose

And the lights on the candled tree.

Sing hey for the chimney and rooftree wide,

Sing hey for the walls and the floor,

For the warmth of fire and the glowing hearth

And the welcoming open door.

But most of all for the peace and goodwill

And the joy at our deep heart's core.

Sing hey for the men, the hosts of this house.

Sing hey for the first and the last.

Sing hey for the guests who have gathered here,

Both tonight and in ages past.

And sing hey for the love between host and guest

That will hold them forever fast.

Sing hey for the God Who fashioned for us

This bountiful splendor of earth,

Sing hey for courage and wisdom and love

For beauty and healing and mirth.

But most for the Child Who on Christmas Day

Took upon Him our human birth.

My wife has suggested I try figuring out a melody on my oud to play with this, hence why this could be an incredibly challenging song to create.  But I'll give it a try.

It's finally March!  Spring is on the way!

-Aaron

www.aarongabriel.net

Chris Trapper is a nice guy

A few weeks back I was fortunate enough to be interviewed for a very cool independent music blog called Musical Magnificence.  In the interview, they asked me about my musical influences, and I responded with:

Don McLean, for his poetry.  Paul Westerberg, for his honesty.  Chris Trapper, for his sincerity.

Maybe not the wittiest things I've ever come up with, but hey, they sounded good at the time.  And those three really have had a big influence on my music and songwriting.

(If you're interested, you can read the interview here.)

Anyway, I follow Chris Trapper on Facebook, and decided to message him letting him know that I mentioned him in an interview, and what his music meant to me, that sort of thing.  Just being polite, really.  Today I got this reply from Mr. Trapper himself:

Aaron, thanks that means a lot to me! CT

Okay, it's not the biggest message, but still -- the man is a successful musician, in the midst of touring, and he took the time to send me that.  So I think that I can firmly claim that Chris Trapper is, indeed, a nice guy.

Lates,
Aaron

www.aarongabriel.net