My peak season for composition is the Autumn.  In those few enchanted months, I have systematically been able to harvest an abundant yield of the year’s ideas and emotions with ease, rendering as much material as I have time for.  The year leading up to this past writing-season held for me more learning-experience than any since my childhood.  Naturally, I manifested more music than ever before.  Yea, but this prolificacy is a double-edged sword!  Perhaps it is a relatively favorable conundrum, but I find it a daunting task to stand before a congregation of my brain-children and select those which are nearest and dearest to my heart, to be presented to the world as proper representatives of my Good purpose.  But, it must be done in order to compile a cohesive collection of material, each song effectively charged to conduct a steady creative stream of the highest potentiality.

My writing style ranges from the allegorical to the affirmative.  In either case however, the Law of Mind is at work.  When one comes to fully realize that his every thought and word is the benefactor of his experience, he becomes very decisive about his language.  Art is the effect, but it is also the cause!  The images that we labor over and give passion to (whether positive or negative) will eventually become woven into the tapestry of our daily experience.  Therefore, the question becomes – “which of these songs hold an intention that I would have echoed back to me”? 

I once heard a radio interview from around 1940 of Blues-legend Blind Willie McTell.  The interviewer condescendingly asked him “can you sing us a complainin’ song Willie?  You know, a blues song – a complainin’ song”!  Willie completely averted this allusion and insisted that he didn’t know any songs like that, but only ‘songs of salvation’.  I was thoroughly impressed by this clear distinction of intention!  Clearly, we can place Mr. McTell among those luminaries who have been privy to The Secret.

Scheduling conflicts have forced our recording dates into the first week of April, so there is exactly one month left for preparation.  As a result of the aformentioned analysis I will soon have a final list of songs which are to be included in those sanctified sessions, and I have all but settled on a title.  I leave you in heart-felt gratitude for your participation and support.  Just the fact that you would take the time to consistently read this journal has been the elemental fuel for my fire!

With the utmost sincerity,
Mister H.

THIS WEEK has been a testament to the fact that the Universe certainly IS a mirror for ones intention.  Immediately upon committing to the forward motion of an album project (up until now I have had but a toe in the water for fear of pecuniary failure), I had the distinct feeling that I had impelled a great wave into motion that can only build and build before crashing onto distant shores, permeating land and sky, and eventually raining my Good back down upon me.  Miraculously, all of the doors and windows are opening around me and I have only to follow gentle breezes into wide-open spaces where it is possible that I may be rained-upon.  There are more developments, kind reader, than I would impose upon you for the moment.  But, allow me to expel some highlights.

This morning, I met at Crema – a downtown coffee-shop – with a gentleman named Mr. Jace Freeman, a videographer and photographer whose works I have been fervently impressed-by.  The meeting was to discuss plans for a music video for The Grey House, wherein Mr. Freeman detailed his vision articulately.  Very little conversation was necessary to know that we were of like mind, which strengthened my faith that the song would be well-served.  Moreover,  my gratitude for this man’s reciprocated interest in my art was intensified!  We formulated some basic ideas and made a tentative plan to begin filming in April.  I will keep you enlightened as to the details of this endeavor as they become known to me.

Another important announcement is a live performance by myself and the New Transcendentalists at The 5 Spot in East Nashville exactly one week from today – Thursday, March Fourth.  Also on the bill is Mr. James Wallace, for whom I will be performing the duties of antiquarian percussionist (James will also be a part of our ensemble), and The Orange Opera from Fort Wayne, Indiana.  The show is scheduled to begin at Nine O’clock.  We do hope you will join us and share in the excitement these influential days leading up to a snap-shot from their pinnacle.

Working tirelessly,
Mr. J.S. H.

In my time with Ode Hazelwood, and as a result of our excursions I had compiled a comprehensive list of names and electronic addresses of receptive fans from all over the world. Many of them hailed from mysterious far-away countries across Europe and Asia which I have only visited through a wire and in my dreams. It has been a wondrous experience to package-up a CD and place it in the post in remittance to some far-away and seemingly far-fetched destination. It is liken-to sealing a part of one’s spirit into an envelope to be opened in Arcadia, where it will fly-out, and mix-and-mingle with those of its recognition. There is no way to know how one’s art will be perceived in a place of vastly different culture. To me, it is a testament to Unity that a Scandinavian countryman, for example, would manage to meet with music to his liking on the opposite side of the globe, and decide that it is better than his money. It is this phenomenon which gives me an intrepid faith to carry-on with my life’s work, and drives me to create works which are of intrinsic value.

Yesterday, I transmitted a message to this aforementioned list of old acquaintances who originally found their way to me by synchronicity. And, the results were astounding! There is evidence that the number of daily visitors to this periodical reached its all-time zenith. Furthermore, I received an abundance of kind words and well-wishes in response. I am unspeakably flattered and humbled by this out-pouring of support. I extend my undying gratitude to every corner of the globe, where resides a living soul of common mind and heart with my very own.

Namaste’,
Mr. Joseph Hazelwood

[Saturday]

After several long months of meticulous calculation, rigorous experimentation, and implementation of the resulting scientific philosophies; I was able to uncover the quantum equivalent of the feeling of spring.  I placed this elusive feeling into an advanced particle accelerator (the human heart) and alas, spring is manifest!  Just as in my hypothesis – warmth, hope, and good cheer are ubiquitous and abound!  My colleagues are sure to be shocked and awed by this revolutionary feat of science, which should guarantee me a place among the luminaries!  Assuredly, my name shall be listed in scholastic texts and journals of metaphysics forevermore – as the ‘Benefactor of Spring’.

[Sunday]

As it turns out, my findings were inconclusive.  Upon boasting to my fellow scientists, each insisted that he himself was the Creator, and had likewise been applying his consciousness to the upheaval of the winter.  This is most troubling.  Can they not see that I am the One – have they no perspective?!  And as if it were not trifling enough, these men are so bold as to go about enjoying the fruits of my labors!  Yea, I have seen each of them taking long leisurely strolls out-of-doors, and musing on park-benches with a pretentious air of magnanimity.  It is much to my dismay that I myself cannot bask in this light of victory.  I must immure myself within the stone walls of my laboratory until such time as I can prove irrefutably that I have discovered the Key to the Seasons.  If my calculations are correct, I will have done so by the epoch of November. 

 Mr. J.S. Hazelwood

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
in one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?–

See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;

And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1820

It is another fine Sunday of solitude here at the Hazelwood Estate.  All of the help has gone home to be with their families in observance of the Sabbath.  As a result, the house is quieted and I am at liberty to engage in my own rituals.  One long-standing Sunday custom of mine is a morning reading from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essays.  If you find that I reference Emerson more than other luminaries it is because I rank him with the Jesus’ and Buddhas of the world.  Moreover, I consider his collection of essays to be every bit as high a source of truth as The Holy Bible itself.  In seeking, I have found great reward in the pages of the Good Book, but I have also found that there are other ‘Good Books’.  The Bhagavad-Gita is a Good Book, as is the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Rumi’s Poetry, Aristotle’s Treatises, and The Cat in the Hat.  A seeker of any origin can travel any number of roads to the same Universal Truth.  There are no doubt as many paths as there are seekers. Emerson just happens to be the soil of my path – one that is carved into infinity.  He had a great understanding that the artful delivery of Truth is as important as the Truth itself.  For, the interpretation from one to another is always subject to perception.  The Bible may cause one to love his neighbor while the other may use it to provoke a war in the name of God.  Emerson taught Self Reliance – that personal intuition is the highest source of Truth – higher than any text or doctrine.  When you have heard the quiet voice of your intuition (the voice of God) there is no denying it – no misinterpretation.  With this in mind, I believe a meditation is in order…

God Bless,
Mister H