Marina Orchestra Journey
Welcome to the Marina Orchestra Journey. That is the only title that felt suitable for what this page will contain. I have been strangely optimistic during these turbulent times and I’d like to share with you why. I’m laying this all out here to have everything in one place, I hope it can become a reference for you as I periodically add to it when I find another nugget that helps me on this journey. This is a place that is charting my growth as a person on Earth and my urges to leave it better than I found it.
Introduction:
I feel like I’ve had a revalation in recent months. I’ve been energized and have been actively engaging as a result of this revelation. it all really started after the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
I’ve been writing music for over twenty years. Music has always been my most grounding interest, well, that and nature. Nature was my original interest, from getting lost in the woods in our neighborhood for hours upon hours to attending zoo camp every summer. Its no wonder that my lyrics have often reflected my love of the natural world:
“Return me to my Ocean Queen
Fill me to the top with the wine of her good forture
Feed me from those fruiting trees
Fill me to the top with the wine of her good foture”
Those are lyrics from “Drivin’”, the very first song I wrote for Mairna Orchestra. It was part of a trend of writing for me that didn’t start there and certainly hasn’t ended. If anything, my most recent lyrics have more intensively evoked the natural world, and more over, a longing to become more involved with her.
“From a lifetime in the neon wasteland
tell me now, can we make it green again?
Get everything we need, get it all
From a seed”
That is an excerpt from “Dream After” as of this writing, its among most recent of Marina Orchestra releases. Maybe you too are interested in nature. Maybe you like to go on walks in the mornings or evenings and catch the bird songs. Maybe your idea of a vacation is at a far off lake house, isolated from humanity. Perhaps you find yourself with a free hour and drive out to some remote part of town with lots of trees and park under one and just sit there in your car with the windows open and tool around on your phone. The point is, Nature calls to us.
Nature calls to us. Do you ever answer?
For a long time I wanted to answer, but I didn’t know how. I am now actively learning how. All it takes is a little perspective and open mind. Its no secret, humans need to change from living ON earth to living WITH Earth. Take some time to dive into these nuggets of media that have opened my mind and have ushered me closer to natures embrace.
I am more interested in action items than despair. Join me on the journey:
Perspective
This journey did not being when I read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn for the first time just a few months ago, but it certainly accelerated it. For me, it finally acknowledged something I had been only ambiently aware of and brought that something into sharp relief. Of course, I urge you to read this book, its a quick read, to get the full scope of what I’m talking about.
A friend graciously gave me a copy of this book after a conversation we had. I was noting that even though New Orleans is a beautiful city you can look at it again from a different point of view and see that its all the debris from an apocalypse that took place when Europeans began imposing themselves on the land. Of course its not just New Orleans, its all of the USA…North America…the Americas…the world! Our earth has witnessed an apocalypse and here we are living in the debris.