Oh my.  I get a little wistful when I think about Memorial Day.  It’s based on loss, isn’t it?

Earlier this month on these very pages I wrote about the Bartholomew County Veterans Memorial on the courthouse lawn in Columbus the town I was born in.  It was a solemn experience to read those letters to home from soldiers whose letters made it but they did not.

Vibrant boys and men whose words hung heavy in the air and are now in stone not unlike the meaning their lives had on so many of us.

Today my dear wife, Carrie, and I took a walk down at Hayswood Park.  We put in five miles.  At the top of the hill there were flags that were placed to honor those we remember on Memorial Day.

The walkway to what is below…

So many flags.  So much loss.  So much to remember.  So much to be thankful for.   So much to be ashamed of.  So much to pray for.  So much to hope for.  So much to never forget.

Like so many towns, we fly the colors and remember and pray and hope that Memorial Day thankfulness will never be lost on the future.  History books seem to be getting thinner as time goes on.  That does not make sense to me.

Thankful and proud to be an American for sure.

Thank you for your service, Raymond.  We could have been born in the same town.  You won’t be forgotten.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I have seen my share of British Rock Royalty.

I have seen Paul McCartney sing four times.  Be still my beating heart.

I have heard The Moody Blues sing Nights in White Satin fifty-six times.

Pink Floyd?  Saw them in 1987 during The Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour.

Saw Roger Waters, the Pink Floyd brain, two years ago in Louisville.

Know that I would not take a free ticket to see The Rolling Stones.   That is just me.

I didn’t think I would ever see another British Rock Royalty group after my dear wife, Carrie, and I walked out of The Ryman Auditorium in July of 2017 after seeing The Moody Blues.  I made a conscious decision that I would see The Moodies for the last time in the most iconic indoor venue in North America, The Ryman.  We saw them at Red Rocks in 2011.  Mission accomplished.

Two things happened to me to lead us to The Who last weekend.  I read Roger Daltrey’s autobiography over spring break.  It was a wonderful read.  Best musical autobiography since John Fogerty’s a couple years back.

I read Roger’s book.  I have also been so moved by The Who’s involvement in The Concert for New York after what happened on 9/11.  I listen to that concert on CD now and again and I am in awe of The Who’s performance.

Has The Who been a part of the soundtrack of my life?  Yes.  Of course, how could they not.  Have I had chances to see them before?  Yes.  Why now?

Roger Daltrey is 75 and Pete Townsend turned 74 two days ago.  I know what that means.  I sing.

These guys didn’t just show up.  They brought it.  They were real.  They were earnest.  It was a musical treat I did not think I would find again.

Buoyed by an 44 piece orchestra they blew us away with 7 songs from Tommy and 7 songs from Quadrophenia and 3 songs from Who’s Next.  Include Substitute from the 60s and You Better You Better You Bet from the 80s inside the 24 song set and you had something special.

Baba O’Riley.

Won’t Get Fool Again.

Love, Reign O’er Me.

Oh my.  It was wonderful.  Twenty-six years earlier I saw The Moody Blues at Deer Creek with an Orchestra.  I still call it Deer Creek, the outdoor amphitheater in Noblesville, Indiana that is now 30 years old.  It has had a few name changes over the years.  It is not Klipsh or Verizon Wireless or Ruoff Home Mortgage to me….it is still Deer Creek.

The Who gave us a reason to celebrate.  And we did.

Speaking the musical rights…

Danny Johnson

This past weekend my dear wife, Carrie, and I spent time in the town I born in, Columbus, Indiana.

It was refreshing.  At the hotel we checked into they asked the occasion.  Many were there to attend IU graduation in Bloomington.  We were just there to get take it easy for a few days.  When we told a young lady the Kentucky Derby was upon our area heavy, she said, “Oh, is that going on?  Is that like the Indy 500 for us?”  I told her I thought so.

She wasn’t the only one.  At another a museum we visited I made mention of the Derby.  A guy made mention it was the beginning of May.  67 miles north of Louisville on Interstate 65 they are not quite impressed by the Derby.  Like I always tell my Mother, the rain has to start and stop somewhere.

Carrie and I discovered Indiana history, Hoosier history, American history, Hero history.

The Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum is at the Columbus Airport.

We read about and saw displays about much history.

On the Bartholomew County Courthouse grounds we found this.  It was a humbling experience.  Carrie and I have a son that was in helicopter that was shot down in Afghanistan.  When he was in active duty in the Army, his job was being a crew chief on a Blackhawk helicopter hanging out of the side door with a 50 caliber machine gun between his legs.  That will give you a perspective I hope no one has to endure.

\

I wish more kids could understand this.  Does that make me old?

Or does it make me wise?

Speaking the thankful rights…

Danny Johnson

I am in the top one percent.  Seems that may not be good enough for some these days.  The times they are…a changing?  Nah.  Some folks just like to complain.

I got my new CD Take Me There this week.  The Cover Art Design was done by Jerry Brown of Celery Inc. Medora, Indiana.  Thank you, Jerry.

I am so proud of this project.  Having my name on the cover is tough to a degree.  I know I know…I wrote all the songs.  I sang them all.  Still.  This doesn’t  represent what went in to this endeavor.

I am so thankful.  On Saturday, April 27th @ 6:30 PM,  I go back to the old home place, Brownstown, Indiana. I last lived in Brownstown 40 years ago and all these years on I am going back to sing and share with old friends. Who does that?  Well, my dear friend, Barry Hall, has helped me do this.  One of the sponsors of the Brownstown Central Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Barry made this possible.

My musical journey is a great story.  There is not enough room here for me to begin that.

So what I am doing this evening?  I am listening to the multiple CDs that hold the keys and the individual sessions that led to final product Take Me There.  I still have the CD from the December 2011 demo session that started this all.

There is a twinge of sadness that goes with the completion of a project like this.  It started with demo sessions  December 21, 2011.  That was a special day.  We were on to something.  On April 23, 2019 CDs were delivered.  The end result?  Something I have no words to express the gratitude and appreciation I have for the folks that helped make this real.  All-Star lineup.  That is what Jefferson Carpenter brought together.

Rod Wurtele, Jeff Guernsey, John Burgard, Dan Trisko, Barry King, Jason Sturgill, John Hayse, Gene Wickliffe, Robbie Bartlett, Tim Krekel, Jim Baugher, Aaron Montgomery, my sister, Lynn Benson, and myself.  We did it under the careful watch of the great Jefferson Carpenter at his Al Fresco’s Place Recording Studio.  And man it sounds great.  Thank you all.

You have taken me there!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I am sitting on the back porch this evening after a great day of family and sharing and vittles on this same porch.

Happy Easter everyone!

Though the years have flown, the images and sounds are still lively ingrained in my mind and my heart.

The choir at the Brownstown Baptist Church, which included my parents, were there on Easter Sunday singing a hearty version of:

“UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE…WITH A MIGHTY TRIUMP O’RE HIS FOES…”

That is a classic.

The Easter service Carrie and I attended this weekend was missing that song, though it was a still a meaningful and good service.

I am blessed and I am thankful.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Sitting on the back porch with my dear wife, Carrie, as dinner warms in the oven.  I am sure the vittles will be good.  They always are.  I am a fortunate man.

The internet is an amazing thing.  We are on the back porch, both pecking away at laptop computers listening to WNCT 107.9.  That is our station of choice when we visit our beloved North Carolina shore.  Based in Greenville, this station has a solid signal south of there.  And this signal, thanks to the internet, is clear as a bell.  Far cry from the days I waited for the sun to go down as a teenager so I could hope for a good signal from 890 AM The Rock of Chicago in my Ramsey, Indiana bedroom.  I loved those days.

I was asked today why I am not posting much on speaktherights.com these days.  I wish I could say there just isn’t time.  That’s not true, here I am.  I have been busy with other things, however.

Do I miss sitting here tapping away on the keyboard?  Yes.  Do I wish I did it more?  Yes.

My friend reminded me of the 50 posts in 50 days last year when I turned 50.  He said I was getting lazy.  I wish that were true.  I could handle that much better.

I love to write. I always have.  When I was in the 10th grade I had a teacher gush over my writing prowess.  Glad to accept the praise, I did not know what it meant until I was late in my 40s.

I can tell you this…speaktherights.com may have a new name on the horizon.

I have been criticized by some for having a web page whose title sounds “ultra-conservative”.  That was never the intent.  If you read the very first post, it is still on the page, you can find the origin of the name of this page.  Whilst I am still a Republican according to the courthouse, I cringe at what the party of sensibility has become.  It is not that anymore.  It is a polluted dysfunctional place now.  One day it will get better.  It has to.

I like the name speaktherights.com.    I always have.  But, after over 500 posts we may be in for a change.  I think so.  It won’t be complicated.  I know what it is already, providing I make the call and make the change.  I am still chewing on it.

Until then, keep on speaking the rights!

Danny Johnson

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Danny Johnson Solo Acoustic Stories and Songs
Brownstown Central High School Auditorium
Saturday April 27th 6:30 PM – FREE ADMISSION
Presented by the BCHS Fellowship of Christian Athletes

So this is the promotion on social media.

My old friend Barry Hall and I, with a little help, figured this out.  Barry is one of the Brownstown Central High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes sponsors.  I play guitar and sing and tell stories about songs that I have written.  I too believe in miracles.

It will be good times I am sure.

My new CD “Take Me There”, I am waiting for it to be delivered, was a labor of love.  I found making music to be exactly that.  I am so fortunate that I found it, albeit later in life than most.

I got  the idea for the cover after I saw this picture:

That is where I sit and play and sing during recording.

Here I am singing one over again.

The other side of the glass.

“Take Me There” is an effort that I am very proud of.  We started working on this in 2011 with a few demos and in 2012 we recorded some proper material.  In 2016 we refined that.  In 2019 we brought it all together and recorded a few more tunes.  This takes so long because this is what I do in my spare time.  Songwriting comes to me when it comes to me.  I am blessed in that regard.  I don’t chase songs down.  Never have.  The timing was excellent.

Going back to Brownstown to debut some of the new material is something that, for me, is perfect.  I have some stories to go along with the songs and it will all be straight-forward stuff.  Just me and a guitar and my songs in a room full of old and new friends.  I am looking forward to it.  It makes sense.

If you can make it, I hope to see you there.  I think you will find something that is appealing to you.  At least you’ll know where the songs came from.

Speaking the Take Me There rights.

Danny Johnson

Optimism.  That is a solid commodity.  We still need it.  We need it in the tough times we are in.  Seems like folks are having too much fun putting each other down.  We’re better than that, aren’t we?  I would like to think so.  Strange old times we are living in for sure.

One step up and two steps back.  My business feels like that.  I am an educator.  On a National Level that is embarrassing.   One a state level it is tough.  I was elated, for a change, when Indiana leaders said to other leaders that making a high school senior pass the citizenship test given to immigrants in order to graduate was not a good idea.  Miracles are still with us.  So are tests.  That is what got us here in the first place…this education hurdle.

Give them a Civics test!  That is the answer!  No, it is not the answer.

Our kids are tested to pieces.  Our math and English teachers are chasing a test.  Get those standards in or else!

Civility.  Isn’t that what they are getting at when they speak of a civics test?  No, no, no…I am not just talking about people getting along.  I am talking about the civility we have left behind in the age of testmania.

What do I mean?  Employers are clamoring for workers with a strong work ethic, good communication skills, good attendance, and please be drug free!  Amen.  And God Bless you!

Schools have not been able to help this process for a long time.

You’re old Uncle Dan can remember a time when we did not have the GRADUATION EXAM hanging over our heads.  When we were in English class and there was a time for everyone’s voice to be heard about an issue of the day, be it related to subject matter or not, we went around the room and let folks speak their mind and we respected one another and we LEARNED from each other.  We cleared the air.  We made progress as people.  We did not fear that we were missing a standard we would be held accountable for a few minutes of testing.  We were more interested in being accountable for our lives and the lives of those around us.  That is where education as we know has failed its students.

Is it a money issue?  Testing is a BIGGGGG business.  There is a pile of money to follow somewhere.  We don’t do that though.  There just isn’t time.

Politicians never got it.  They won’t. They don’t care enough about kids.  That is obvious. After all, the ones they impose their will on can’t vote yet.  Their parents are too busy trying to put the bacon on the table and who could blame them?   I don’t.

But I do know there is a solution.  Let kids be kids again…not testing robots.  I know I know…the new graduation pathways set forth by the Indiana State Board of Education seem to be getting the point.  But their answer is so verbose and full of hereofs and therefores that it still looks pretty overthought and pieish.  They don’t get it.  Folks like me are just left to deal with their crap at the bottom of the hill.  Now that is speaking the rights!

Did I plan this rant.  No.  But it needed to be addressed.  The last post I made was March 18th, my 51st birthday.  I think this is my longest hiatus on speaktherights.com.  I don’t regret it.

What I sat down here to talk about was the new bridge at Surf City, North Carolina.  The bridge at the header of my page is gone.   It makes me sad.  But the new bridge is something to behold.

Between the the poles in the channel is where this once sat.

The Bridge is behind us in this pic.

My dear wife, Carrie and I spent last week at our beloved Topsail Island, NC.  It is our second home.  We found it together.  It is our place.  Can’t ya tell?

Hurricane Florence was not kind to this area.  Folks at church and at the fish market we frequent told us that 40 percent of the houses on the island are still looking to get ready for summer.  They are a resilient bunch.  The house to the south of us had to be completely rebuilt.  The one to our north needed work too.  So did ours, but it was minor comparatively.

The morning we left, I took this picture.

We’ll be back.  Hopefully I can say that about the sensibility of Indiana’s decision makers one day.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

My 51st birthday is tomorrow March 18th; I am thinking about music.

When I was a kid all I wanted in music was to be able to pick up a guitar and play lead solos like Ace Frehley or Merle Haggard or Don Rich on Hee Haw.  That was the first sound I fell for, the lead guitar.

It didn’t work out that way.  I was nearly thirty when I picked up a guitar to find some purpose in it.

I may have waited too long.  I wish I would have started sooner.  Regardless, I did get around to it and I learned my musical plot in a hurry.  I am a songwriter first and foremost.  I can live with that.  My voice allows me to pull the songs off and I am glad of that.

It is a mysterious thing, songwriting.  I don’t spend time analyzing  it.  Usually, the song comes to me.  I don’t go looking for it.  That is where the mystery is.  No matter, I just thank the Good Lord He gave me an ear for it.  When I write a song the words and the music are there together as one.  I don’t write words and then wonder what they sound like.

As I look forward to having a third CD of songs, 15 again, properly pressed, I have spent some time revisiting my back catalog.  In more of the songs than not, there is an ethereal presence that moves the words and music to better places, be they bright places or melancholy places.  That constant presence is the keyboard work of one Rod Wurtele.

You may know  him as one of The Wulfe Brothers.  Their musical performances have been putting smiles on faces and creating feet to tap and hips to move for a while now.  Still, they seem timeless.  That is what you want from your music.  Justin Hayward said it best, “People want to hang on to the music of their youth.”  Groups like The Wulfe Brothers have that kind of quality.  They bring a youthful optimism.  They are positive, fun, and just plain sound good.  Those are youthful things, right?

So I have had the good fortune to be blessed with a keyboard whiz like Rod Wurtele to play on my songs.

Last Sunday, I reminded him that we started doing this in 2001.  That is the first time I went into Jeff Carpenter’s Al Fresco’s Place Recording Studio to make a proper recording.  Rod helped with that.  He made it better.  And when I say that I don’t just mean it sounded better.  What Rod brings is more than a pressing of the right key here or there.  He listens intently and takes a pride in delicately forcing something out that gives a song so much more light and shade and breeze.  Rod’s playing does that for a song.

Often it is subtle and in the background, but the mood is truly enhanced.  Other times it is quite different and most entertaining.

On one song we did last week, I had to glance over a few times in between banging on my acoustic guitar trying to keep the pace whilst wondering if Rod’s keyboard had stated smoking.  He was getting it!

I know of one song we recorded in 2004.  He played the most beautiful line that melted me.  In the original mix, his keyboard was much more dominant that the final product after some other instruments were added.  Now and again, I still take out that original track out of mothballs and give it a go.  I love it.

In 2016, Rod and my English teaching mentor, Millard Dunn, and I recorded a love song called Thanks for Loving Me.  I wrote it for my dear wife, Carrie.  It will be on the new CD forthcoming.  It is not the most polished of songs.  I say that on my end, not Rod’s.  His playing is spot on.  What makes this song so special is that it was a work in progress when we came together that day.  I planned it that way on purpose.  I wanted to share some creative moments with Dr. Dunn and Rod.  It worked out.  The coolest thing is that the recording on the CD is the one and only time the song was ever played and sung from start to finish.  What you hear on the CD happened once and no other time.

Rod, Dr. Dunn, and myself working through the song.

Best of all, Rod Wurtele is a good guy.  That is one thing I can say about all the recording I have done with Jeff Carpenter.  Save one little run in I had with someone I have not played with in years, making music with the guys has been nothing but a pleasure.  I want to believe it is a compliment to my songwriting.  I doubt that it is.  These guys are just that awesome to play with.

Thank you, Rod.  You are one of the keys to whatever musical success I have found.

God Bless You and Yours!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Wow.  Last Sunday afternoon I was at Alfresco Place Recording Studio in Louisville surrounded by surreal talent on both sides of the glass.  I can’t thank the guys enough.  It was a blessing and a pleasure to listen as songs that started in my head and then were written on a piece of paper and played out in original form with simple chords and melodies that forged themselves into a song.

We recorded a song called Long Way Home.  I wrote that one recently.  The first line of the song hit me and I repeated it over and over.  I knew I had touched on something and I ran downstairs and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper.  The final recorded result is as close to what started in my head as anything I have ever recorded.

Songs change and take on a life of their own when you get four or five or, in our case Sunday, six guys playing instruments at once.  Some songs are unrecognizable to their origins and sometimes that is a-okay.  We recorded one of those Sunday too and it worked out fine.  Dan Trisko heard something in a slow, lonely sad ballad that I would have never considered cos I did not hear it.  He took that song and we made it into an uptempo number.  The contrast of the dark lyrics with the peppy tune is awesome.  I thank him.

I thank all of them.  I am so blessed.

Of course I have mentioned Jeff Carpenter here before.  He is a gem.  He gives us enough rope to hang our musical selves and pulls it back when he knows we are in trouble.  He is an musician’s engineer.  He knows what he is doing.  They all do.  And , after twenty years of doing this, I think I have finally found my musical way home.  It has been a long way home.

It starts and ends right here under the careful watch and ear of Jefferson Carpenter, my dear friend.

For me, this is my most comfortable space in the studio.  My Seagull at hand, a music stand full of songs, and mic to sing away.  I feel right at home in this space.

Playing through a tune for Dan Trisko, the one he changed the course of.

Keeping this lot together, Gene Wickliffe on drums.  Solid as a rock.

Gene, Dan on guitar, and Jason Sturgill on bass.

Play it once for Jason Sturgill and you have money.  An awesome bass player. Thank you, Jason.

Dan Trisko did great guitar work and help produce the tunes to give them a distinct flavor to add to the whole album.

Jeff Guernsey and me in the background.

This is the third album I have made.  Rod Wurtele on keyboard and Jeff Guernsey on fiddle and guitar have been on all of them.  First recording with them was 2001.  They have only gotten better.

If you think you can find a better fiddle player than Jeff Guernsey, I will shake my head as you walk away.  He is the best.

And so it goes.  We are working on the finished product.  I am proud of this work.  I could not have accomplished it without these guys, along with the other gents who worked the 2016 sessions John Burgard, Barry King, and John Hayes.  I wrote about those sessions too.

Thank you, once more, Jefferson Carpenter.  Without you, I don’t have a chance to talk to these guys let alone have them bring my songs to better life.  You’re the man.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson