ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 2024 -2025
Luckily, acknowledgments can go in the beginning or end of a book! For this trek, they belong at the beginning. Music, played a key role in helping me write this but music, helps write what is ~ the story of any era’s times. We’re all troubadours; it's just that only some of us, can actually make a living singing about what we think and feel! First, I want to acknowledge where all the other words came from. All along this trek, I credit experts, scholars and journalists, who provided what’s known and facts, are what we must learn from so hats off to these integral folks and news outlets! Which, I never imagined that integral, would need to preface facts so from all of us, to all of those who’ve remained committed to integrity ~ A Great Big Thank You From Us! Next, I want to acknowledge us! It’s from all the countless comments, funnies, happening’s, chatter, from all the you’s out there, that provided the us-fiber in ~ The Story of Our Times. This simply wouldn't be Our Story, if not for all the tidbits the all of you, unwittingly provided! Thank you. Thank you.
Troubadours, have been around forever but in 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and music, came into our homes. By the 1960s, FM jockey’s had more liberty to make selections, and rock-n-roll never looked back. From then on, we cut our teeth on rock-n-roll and Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac, recently mused about this on the radio; kids growing up to their parents music, who then had kids who grew up to their music, who then had kids. For me, an older sister is who introduced me to rock-n-roll. She’d tune into KOMA each night; an FM station that came all the way out from Oklahoma! She then purchased a suitcase-looking turntable for 45s, and I still remember some of the lyrics, encased on those 45s. I wanna hold your hand ~TB. These boots are made for walkin’ ~NS. What goes up, must come down, spinnin’ wheel gotta go round ~BST! So from AM to FM Radio, from 45s, LPs, to 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs and now XM radio and internet streaming, we are now provided the soundtrack of our lives, wherever we go.
Had it not been for music keeping my thoughts sorted and my emotions charged to help me feel my way, I seriously doubt I could’ve kept at this. Many a’ songs, made the tangible connection here but, this started to look allot like a collage of lyrics so, something had to give. Making those cuts, was like bidding a final farewell, to a really great friend. And though I don’t listen to all genres, I want to acknowledge all music. Music does indeed move us, and we need to get a move-on so whatever works for you, just allow it to spark a tangible connection, and we’ll be off to a great start!
When I closed shop on what wasn’t ~ a measly Foreword, it was to the beat of a 1960s song so I thought to open here with a 1970s tune and Springsteen, immediately came to mind. A song that isn’t, a 1970s tune but whenever this Eric Church song shuffles my way, man does it take me back! Funny how a melody sounds like a memory, like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night ~ and Springsteen. During the 1970s, Springsteen was coming on and that guy is one prolific songwriter! Here’s some of his quips to ready ourselves for the arduous trek ahead. Time slips away and leaves you with nothin’ but boring stories of ~ Glory Days. It takes a leap of faith ~ to get things going. Yeah, if we could just start talkin’ ~ don’t know when this chance might come again. See what I mean? A collage of his lyrics alone, could’ve written ~ The Story of Our Times!
I bought a spankin’ new truck in 2001 and XM, now commanded the dial. I played catch-up to 90s music; a nice change after spending that decade, rockin’ down the road to kid-friendly cassettes! This is how I discovered Pearl Jam and their storytelling element; a preference of mine. In 2009, some of their discs were shuffling in my turntable when I embarked on ~ splaying my boulder field of notes across the living room floor. It was during this exasperation when I discovered songs, were keeping my notes sorted! That’s also when their goading line ~ whatcha given, hit center so yes, their influence is evident.
When streaming music became the thing, my kids; not really kids anymore, hooked me up to Pandora Radio. With a mix of their selections in with my music; what they grew up listening to, they put Pandora on shuffle, and it’s been shuffling ever since. When 2014 arrived; brought my jaded outlook with it that had me thinking there wasn’t a thing I could write to help unify us, Pandora kept shuffling my way ~ The Kings of Leon. I’d read where this band; made up of brothers and cousin, managed to stay together during their meteoric rise to fame, and I glommed onto this as a hopeful unity sign. Their music, kept a flicker of hope alive in me, all during my rimrocked years of going nowhere.
As 2019 was coming to an end, so did my rimrocked years but the year began with me still being fully-rutted and when rutted, the boob-tube sure provides some great glue! Ironically, I found the courage to face where Our Story would need to end, right from my lounge chair! My kids; knowing I was tech-challenged, had also hooked me up to Netflix which is where I stumbled onto the series ~ The Last Kingdom. Based on Bernard Cornwell’s historical fiction books; my reading preference, that series did keep me glued! And though I can do without all the graphic of gore that comes standard with human history and now pixels, I couldn’t have done without the courage, that gang of actors instilled in me and wow! Up til then, I hadn’t realized how depleted I was of that but by the time this show’s series ended, I charged forth, pulled this out from its hiddie-hole where I’d shoved it away 4 years earlier, and boldly stared right back at the mass summons scariness lurking right at me from out of the crevice within, my rimrocked state of mind. Felt pretty damn courageous too while doing it I might add!
By the opening of 2020, I felt emboldened for the first time in years, and determined to stamp done-done onto this, once and for all. Yet, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of how futile this was. Unity, still wasn’t evident and definitely not in polarized America. But also, our chatter still expected those others; the faceless government, the notorious superman or anyone but us, to fix everything for us! Obviously, I wasn’t the only one fully-rutted! These were the thoughts I was mulling over one eve while out on the patio enjoying a sunset in the foreground, music in the background, when Pandora shuffled my way, none other than a well-aged, now classic song, that finally restored my belief in us ~ yet again. We are one, but not the same. We get to carry each other ~ U2.
Without Pearl Jam prodding me, without the unity messages Kings of Leon and U2 instilled in me, and without the shot of courage the gang of actors on The Last Kingdom gave me, what refuses to end ~ still wouldn’t be ending. This is just one example to the immeasurable value emotions provide us, or what I call the mojo, that fires up our grit!
I have no doubt, I’ll be forever be grateful to these gangs for igniting passion in me, yet again. I am, grateful for every music snippet, every spoken, read and watched conveyance, grateful for everything and anything that pulled, poked and prodded me onwards again and again, all thru one painstaking endeavor, that still refuses to end. Guess I never much thought about how outside influences can impact us so but I sure do now! To all outside influences, I just can’t thank you enough. Thank you, Thank you.
And so we begin. A gang of trekking comrades, enjoying the campfire and background music reverberating off the rocks on a just-right, moonlit eve, before embarking on one very long and arduous trek thru ~ The Story of Our Times. We’re down by the river in the full moonlight where the cool grass grows ~ NGDB.
Troubadours, have been around forever but in 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and music, came into our homes. By the 1960s, FM jockey’s had more liberty to make selections, and rock-n-roll never looked back. From then on, we cut our teeth on rock-n-roll and Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac, recently mused about this on the radio; kids growing up to their parents music, who then had kids who grew up to their music, who then had kids. For me, an older sister is who introduced me to rock-n-roll. She’d tune into KOMA each night; an FM station that came all the way out from Oklahoma! She then purchased a suitcase-looking turntable for 45s, and I still remember some of the lyrics, encased on those 45s. I wanna hold your hand ~TB. These boots are made for walkin’ ~NS. What goes up, must come down, spinnin’ wheel gotta go round ~BST! So from AM to FM Radio, from 45s, LPs, to 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs and now XM radio and internet streaming, we are now provided the soundtrack of our lives, wherever we go.
Had it not been for music keeping my thoughts sorted and my emotions charged to help me feel my way, I seriously doubt I could’ve kept at this. Many a’ songs, made the tangible connection here but, this started to look allot like a collage of lyrics so, something had to give. Making those cuts, was like bidding a final farewell, to a really great friend. And though I don’t listen to all genres, I want to acknowledge all music. Music does indeed move us, and we need to get a move-on so whatever works for you, just allow it to spark a tangible connection, and we’ll be off to a great start!
When I closed shop on what wasn’t ~ a measly Foreword, it was to the beat of a 1960s song so I thought to open here with a 1970s tune and Springsteen, immediately came to mind. A song that isn’t, a 1970s tune but whenever this Eric Church song shuffles my way, man does it take me back! Funny how a melody sounds like a memory, like a soundtrack to a July Saturday night ~ and Springsteen. During the 1970s, Springsteen was coming on and that guy is one prolific songwriter! Here’s some of his quips to ready ourselves for the arduous trek ahead. Time slips away and leaves you with nothin’ but boring stories of ~ Glory Days. It takes a leap of faith ~ to get things going. Yeah, if we could just start talkin’ ~ don’t know when this chance might come again. See what I mean? A collage of his lyrics alone, could’ve written ~ The Story of Our Times!
I bought a spankin’ new truck in 2001 and XM, now commanded the dial. I played catch-up to 90s music; a nice change after spending that decade, rockin’ down the road to kid-friendly cassettes! This is how I discovered Pearl Jam and their storytelling element; a preference of mine. In 2009, some of their discs were shuffling in my turntable when I embarked on ~ splaying my boulder field of notes across the living room floor. It was during this exasperation when I discovered songs, were keeping my notes sorted! That’s also when their goading line ~ whatcha given, hit center so yes, their influence is evident.
When streaming music became the thing, my kids; not really kids anymore, hooked me up to Pandora Radio. With a mix of their selections in with my music; what they grew up listening to, they put Pandora on shuffle, and it’s been shuffling ever since. When 2014 arrived; brought my jaded outlook with it that had me thinking there wasn’t a thing I could write to help unify us, Pandora kept shuffling my way ~ The Kings of Leon. I’d read where this band; made up of brothers and cousin, managed to stay together during their meteoric rise to fame, and I glommed onto this as a hopeful unity sign. Their music, kept a flicker of hope alive in me, all during my rimrocked years of going nowhere.
As 2019 was coming to an end, so did my rimrocked years but the year began with me still being fully-rutted and when rutted, the boob-tube sure provides some great glue! Ironically, I found the courage to face where Our Story would need to end, right from my lounge chair! My kids; knowing I was tech-challenged, had also hooked me up to Netflix which is where I stumbled onto the series ~ The Last Kingdom. Based on Bernard Cornwell’s historical fiction books; my reading preference, that series did keep me glued! And though I can do without all the graphic of gore that comes standard with human history and now pixels, I couldn’t have done without the courage, that gang of actors instilled in me and wow! Up til then, I hadn’t realized how depleted I was of that but by the time this show’s series ended, I charged forth, pulled this out from its hiddie-hole where I’d shoved it away 4 years earlier, and boldly stared right back at the mass summons scariness lurking right at me from out of the crevice within, my rimrocked state of mind. Felt pretty damn courageous too while doing it I might add!
By the opening of 2020, I felt emboldened for the first time in years, and determined to stamp done-done onto this, once and for all. Yet, I still couldn’t shake the feeling of how futile this was. Unity, still wasn’t evident and definitely not in polarized America. But also, our chatter still expected those others; the faceless government, the notorious superman or anyone but us, to fix everything for us! Obviously, I wasn’t the only one fully-rutted! These were the thoughts I was mulling over one eve while out on the patio enjoying a sunset in the foreground, music in the background, when Pandora shuffled my way, none other than a well-aged, now classic song, that finally restored my belief in us ~ yet again. We are one, but not the same. We get to carry each other ~ U2.
Without Pearl Jam prodding me, without the unity messages Kings of Leon and U2 instilled in me, and without the shot of courage the gang of actors on The Last Kingdom gave me, what refuses to end ~ still wouldn’t be ending. This is just one example to the immeasurable value emotions provide us, or what I call the mojo, that fires up our grit!
I have no doubt, I’ll be forever be grateful to these gangs for igniting passion in me, yet again. I am, grateful for every music snippet, every spoken, read and watched conveyance, grateful for everything and anything that pulled, poked and prodded me onwards again and again, all thru one painstaking endeavor, that still refuses to end. Guess I never much thought about how outside influences can impact us so but I sure do now! To all outside influences, I just can’t thank you enough. Thank you, Thank you.
And so we begin. A gang of trekking comrades, enjoying the campfire and background music reverberating off the rocks on a just-right, moonlit eve, before embarking on one very long and arduous trek thru ~ The Story of Our Times. We’re down by the river in the full moonlight where the cool grass grows ~ NGDB.