Tom Howie

So much has been happening the last couple weeks its hard to keep track of it all.

We’ve been working like mad to get this beautiful new website up and ready for you, and finishing up all the EP odds and ends.

We also recently went into Avatar studios in New York and cut a track. It was extremely fun, and we had the whole gang there. It was a great time.

We worked for 14 hours straight and loved every second of it. We cranked it up loud and had fun with sounds and the whole bit. Everyone involved was extremely talented, and it was truly a blessing for me to work with such amazing individuals. I pinch myself all the time, amazed at how I’m so lucky to work with some of the finest musicians in the world. All of them true talents.

We’ll post some video soon of the Avatar sessions, but for now here are some photos for your enjoyment.

Enjoy the new site and single, and I’ll be back with more soon!

Tom

The gang at Avatar Studios

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I love reading this website and magazine called GOOD. It’s got a little bit of everything about making the world a better place.

Our parents and generations before us have shaped the world in which we now live. This is a time in which we are faced with a lot of responsibility, not just to lead good lives, but to be conscious of how we shape the world for the future in our lifetimes.

There is also a growing consciousness I find, one of presence and respect for our surroundings. We are starting to realize more fully that this world isn’t ours, we’re a part of it. We have just as much a right to be here as everyone and everything else, but no more.

Personally, I’m always juggling my lifestyle desires with how to give adequately to make the world a better place. The good thing is that as opposed to simply asking the question, “How can I make a lot of money and live my desired lifestlye?” more and more young people nowadays are actually asking themselves the question, “How can I make enough money to lead my desired lifestyle, and make a positive difference in the world?”

Through GOOD, I came across this great E-book, prepared by one of the contributors, that sets out to provide insight into how to best do that in today’s world.

You can get your free copy of it HERE.

Good luck on the path to goodness.

- Tom

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Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann c.1920

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Passed along by my friend Mariano…

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Rumi was a 13th Century poet and theologian.

He advocated unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love.

In other words, all the things we could use a little more of.

Anyways, I was recently given a book by a good friend as a going away present before I moved to New York. I hadn’t heard of Rumi before this, but knowing my philosophical nature, my friend decided it would be a safe bet. And boy, was he right.

The book is designed so that you read on of these poems a day for a year. I love it so much I have read the whole thing (and I’ve only had it about 3 months).

All of the poems strike a full on rocking power chord with the distortion turned way up, but I wanted to share the one that spoke to me most. It’s called, “The Many Wines”.

God has given us a dark wine so potent
that, drinking it, we leave the two worlds.

God made Majnun love Layla so much
that just her dog would cause confusion in him.

There are thousands of wines
that can take over our minds.

Don’t think all ecstasies are the same.
Jesus was lost in his love for God.
His donkey was drunk with barley.

Every object, every being,
is a jar full of delight.
Be a connoisseur, and taste with caution.

Any wine will get you high.
Judge like a king, and choose the purest,
not the ones adulterated with fear,
or some urgency about “what’s needed.”

Drink the wine that moves you
as a camel moves when it’s been untied,
and is just ambling about.

Ahhh, that’s nice.

- Tom

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