John Barnard

“ My good friends speak, like they did last year
And last years just a blur, through my head full of beer.
Where’s your wisdom, put that broken bottle down
Let the wind in your sails take you out of this town so sad
And if life’s just a living room, then I’m in the hall and Im glad” - David Gray -

A stiff, crisp breeze is blowing in from the sea and the sky is a beautiful, flawless blue. The Doha winter at its finest, temperatures perfect, the city gardens pristine. Life is good at the moment.

Spent a wonderful…

“ Damn, damn, damn, Ol’ Death is a Buzzard that swoops down upon us from time to time.
  Fortunately I believe our spirits will transcend Earthly Mud, sailing around the stars on a paper airplane.”
            Joe Ely - Bonfire of Roadmaps -

I awoke hungover after another brutal nightshift. Ive been sick for a week, coughing up dry nothingness and struggling to sleep all while trying hard to steer the ship and managing another batch of sick animals in the herd back home.  I have some days off now and that…

“ No more walks in the wood,
   this is the aftermath, of afternoons      in the clover fields
Where we once made love, then wandered home together
Where the trees arched above and branches were the sky
Now they are gone for good.
And you, for ill, and I am only a passer-by
 We and the trees and the way,       back from the fields of play
Lasted as long as we could..
No more walks in the wood. ”

- The Eagles -

The winter sun is slowly sinking into another beautiful Doha evening and I am staring at the sea and boats…

I took a deep sigh and breaking one of my own rules of saying goodbye, turned around one more time. My heart skipped a beat and tears suddenly welled up in my tired eyes.     Across the departure hall, accompanied by a friendly stewardess, I watched my parents disappear around the corner. My father, slightly hunched over and completely grey-haired with a gait faithfully reflecting the hard life he’s lived and my mom, also grey but with streaks of pink and light blue in her hair, holding his calloused hand,…

"A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance. So if you now number yourself among the disenchanted, then you have no choice but to accept things as they are, or to seriously seek something else. But beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living within that way of life. - Hunter S Thompson

It is the beginning of October, Autumn in the Middle East and finally, after an…

Ive been staring at a blank screen for days now, pondering my next newsletter and what I want to share with you. You see, the problem is, addressing difficult topics on a small, intimate and ultimately insignificant blog like this, means that the author, for the most part ends up talking to like minded people and friends who already knows his heart, sentiment and perspective. Thus, it brings the risk of sounding like a rant to your inner circle and just stating much more of the obvious. Of course it also…

Tonight We Ride 

I arrived at my company provided accommodation in the winter of 2007 and with a bank of low cloud in the South I searched, and found a music store a few minutes down the road from me Man, I miss those old music stores! Mystical places where unknown musical treasures could be hidden in one of those many shelves of records, CDs and music magazines like MOJO and Uncut. Long haired teenagers in Rock & Roll T-Shirts roaming the aisles to assist and advise customers on acquiring their next record…

“The country was beautiful,
And I felt a great elation at the wheel as we crossed the western desert at dawn.The deep blue, purple shadow canyons, pale yellow morning sky.     All of its color drawn out, leaving just the black silhouetted mountains in your rear view mirror.

And then with the eastern sun rising at our backs, the deep reds and the browns of the plains and the hills came to life slowly in front of us.      Our palms turned salty white on the wheel from the aridity. Morning woke the earth into…

People are not Poetry: Chasing the Song and Respect for the The Muse

“Breakin' any ties before they bind you
Taking any comfort you can find
Running like you're running out of time
Take it all-take it easy-till it's over-understanding….
When you're headin' for the border lord
You're bound to cross the line”

Border Lord - Kris Kristofferson.

I’ve got my guitar on my chest and coffee on the table this morning. The well worn lyric book staring me down. Outside my apartment window the Doha sun is already sitting way…

“ You gotta believe that there’s a reason

   that we surrender up our hearts

   But there’s a vantage point  and it takes some time to find

   Where you can see how all the pieces fit

   as you watch it fall apart”

-Stephen Bruton- Performed by Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt

In 2003 I walked out of a tiny record store in Wausau, Wisconsin with a CD Walkman and two albums that would end up changing my life and trajectory in the arts forever. I was about to embark on a road trip with my  girlfriend and I was…