Greenland's Dreamland

Happy Birthday, Mr. Grady Hopewell

I want to write...

This morning, I wrote my good friend Mike an email, and it seemed to strike a chord. Unfortunately, when the mood strikes, the words don’t come as easily, but I’ll try my best. That’s all I can do.

I’m still on that journey. To find an incredibly small, human-sized place in such an infinite universe. Infinite as far as we know of course, but that is neither here nor there.

I find myself learning new things on an almost daily basis, and for that, I can hardly complain. Perhaps my current purpose is not yet that of an achiever or a teacher but instead that of a student. A student at the mercy of those around me. It can be as simple as my daily email from Dictionary.com or the Discovery Channel, but it can be as powerful as a connection between two human beings.

I seem to have made a fast friend at my local watering hole. A man named Craig in his mid-fifties and a self proclaimed “long-haired redneck.” We talk about music; Neil Young, The Stones, or Johnny Paycheck. He swears he’s seen Bob Dylan in upwards of forty times and shared an empty bar with Waylon Jennings. He received a thirty-minute sitar lesson from one of Ravi Shankar’s number one students. I bought a David Crosby album he recommended; “If I Could Only Remember My Name.” It’s a scratchy, used record but just as magical as he described. We talk about silly things; a twenty-minute discussion of Japanese katana swords, or the other night, when he unveiled the secrets to killing a man in a knife fight. Maybe, it’s all truth. Perhaps embellished. Maybe it’s all bullshit. His words are not gospel to say the least, but it doesn’t matter. At face value, it seems like petty or useless information, and it probably is. I’ll never own a sword or find myself in a fight. It’s not about that. It’s about the experience. Having a man’s trust in fifteen-minute intervals, and taking time to listen as if he spoke absolute truth. A pure, simple, unfiltered human connection, and it knows no bounds. It’s beautiful to find a person who is seemingly un-relatable and to take a few minutes to find that one small fragment of common interest. As cliché as it may be, it’s all about the simple things.

At times, I think the art of listening has gone the way of Latin… or the buggy-whip.

Is this enlightenment? Who the hell knows?

Thank you Michael Bryant. This is magic.

Twenty-three skidoo,

Benjamin Taylor

A little something...

If I was ever to have a child, this is what I'd tell it: "Child," I'd say, "don't never mess with time. Keep now now and then then. And if you ever get lost in thick smoke, child, set still till it clears. Set still till you can see where you are and where you been and where you're going, child."

I'd shake that child. "Child, you hear?" I'd say. "You listen to what your Daddy says. He know."

- Excerpt from "Great Day" 

    by Kurt Vonnegut

Just another cheesy New Year's post…

Another year has come and gone… (I think that’s how I’m supposed to start.) And I’m no more certain than I was a year ago.

Am I on the right career path? Where should I be? Mostly, I feel completely void of any direction or ambition. What do I want to be doing? I don’t know. Where do I want to be in 10 years? No idea, but I think this feeling of uncertainty is relatively normal for a person my age… or so I tell myself.

I'm quite comfortable here in Nashville, but there’s a large part of me that wants to experience life in another part of the country. New York. Portland. Chicago. I would love to move, but I shutter when I think of the preparations involved. As for now, I have a rock-solid job, no debt, and with current economic conditions, I could hardly ask for more.

So with the start of 2009, things are certainly looking up. I’m not necessarily setting any resolutions or goals, but with a little more productivity in my freetime, I’ll make a point to come up with some sort of short-term plan. Maybe career advancement, relocation, or graduate school. Maybe all three. I’d just like to have a vague idea of where I want to be in… 2 years? Two years… That’ll do for now.

Prosperos Anos Nuevos!

Twenty-three skidoo…

Benjamin Taylor

I need to update...

I have so much webspace, yet I feel I have nothing of value to share. I'll get around to it soon enough...

Guitar Building pt. DONE!!

It has taken a few months, but it's finally complete! I finished my custom Telecaster.

Wiring the components.

The control plate fully wired.... completely wrong.

We realized the problem and corrected it. Here it is... corrected!

AND here she is!!! I call it a "BENder TAYLORcaster." HA! (Get it? Fender Telecaster? I'll be here all night. Try the veal cutlet.)

She even looks good from the back...

Special thanks to the extremely talented Matt "Buster" Allen for the wiring help. He also put up with hearing me talk about it constantly. Thanks to my brilliant new friend Tom Stadler from Stadler Guitars for the setup and routing. Last but not least, thanks to my wonderful father for all of the woodworking advice.

Twenty-three skidoo!

Channeling Edward Weston?

photo by Benjamin Taylor