It is still quiet on the farm at night. Even with the noticeable increase in vehicle, recreational and pedestrian traffic Tygerfontein still holds a certain allure when the work day is done, the dust settles and the creatures of the night start their chatter. It has been a hot one. Tremendous clouds started building and by six pm the sky was on fire with heat lightning and thunder. I'm sitting outside smoking an old cigar and nursing some bourbon. Grandpa and Grandma are buried not a full kilometer from where I'm admiring the night sky and thinking about days long gone. It's been two years since we said goodbye to both of them in a matter of months. I feel them around me all the time. I see them as young people on their photographs in the hallway.
I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm not unique in my feelings and situation but if you had to ask me about the last two years I would have to say they were by far the most challenging years of my life. Also years that stunned me with the incredible beauty, friendship and adventure. I've done incredible traveling, toured our beautiful country for a good cause with The Vagabonds and experienced great loss, love and life altering events. Without pain there can be no growth and I do honestly think I've grown a whole lot. I've strengthened some relationships and walked away from others. I've had the opportunity to be the inspiration and catalyst for change in my artistic environment and I recorded some of my best work yet in my opinion. I started this newsletter and I feel I want to start doing them every fortnight. I've got a lot on my mind....
In the middle of November I joined the Vagabonds and we set out to play five shows in five nights in the beautiful Mpumalanga province. We were sharing our stories and playing to some of the friendliest and most respectful audiences yet. We started in Pilgrims Rest, went to Hoedspruit, Witrivier, Nelspruit and Kaapsehoop and we were treated like royalty. I am still, after three years of touring and performing for a cause, blown away by the kindness and generosity of strangers. The beautiful Lowveld and regions like the Klein Karoo where people have been struggling through drought for the last decade. Also in recent months where people everywhere lost their jobs and businesses due to, in my opinion, the most miss managed pandemic economically to ever come across the path of the human race. It was vastly over estimated and the loss, setback and economic impact is looking to be way worse than the impact of this pandemic. Still, people opened their hearts and generous donations came flooding in for people our audience didn't know and quite possibly would never meet. I will, after experiencing this, refrain from thinking and saying that there is no hope for the human race. Maybe, in a bad way, social media and news outlets let the anomaly define the norm and caused myself and many others to become bitter and pessimistic about the inherent good in most citizens of this beautiful planet.
The storm has passed now and a beautiful full moon is covering everything in a soft silver glow. It's time to turn in. Thank you for reading this. The next time you do it will be a new year. We've almost made it through one of the hardest years yet and that is something to be proud of and grateful for. We should keep living the change we want to see in the world and be respectful, responsible and kind to everyone. It truly could change the trajectory and purpose of a person's life and the world we live in.
JB