Skip to main content

Holiday Homage Part Seven: Liberation (in Home's Embrace)




I have been ill this past week and am more behind in school that I care to articulate.  During this, I had to rehearse for singing gigs and performed in one last night.  Through it all... when I have not wanted to leave the bed and am falling further behind in my studies... 

The song changes everything.  

I chose to sing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" last night in the concert.  A few weeks ago, I had never heard the opening verse.  The opening verses of standards are either gems or atrocious.  The one to this piece is haunting and makes the number that much more emotional and heartfelt.  

There are no sufficient words to describe the joy and peace of performing, telling a story through song.  In this time where I am looking for my new home and in flux, this lyric spoke to my spirit and I was able to share that with others.  In this season of joy, of peace, I sometimes find myself overwhelmed, but I am able to access that joy, that peace through song... always.  I carry it within.  (And kick and stretch!)

To know that you can bring an audience to you, make them listen, and let them into your small world for a few minutes is a gift that I possess and it always humbles and enthralls me.  It is in NO way conceit... I merely acknowledge the gifts.  That has been a long journey for me: being confident.  I have come to realize that if I don't acknowledge what I have been given, I am making a mockery of the treasured talents. 

That has been freeing.  It has allowed me to sing, act, tell stories because I want to, because it is who I am, what I do, my calling.  If someone wants to come along for the ride, he/she is invited.  I am an equal opportunity artist.  However, if someone is not interested, that is okay with me for I do this because it is HOW I communicate.  

In this time where I am "homeless", I am able to secure an emotional dwelling in the lyric, the story.  I am indeed blessed.  If I were never to receive another gift, I would be fine.  I have several lifetime's worth of gifts already.  My life is abundant.  Wow.

Ah, sweet liberation.  How I love thee!

The art of musical storytelling is spiritual wonderment.  I am bewitched in its embrace and leveled by its beauty.

It is my wish that you know your gifts and are able to be as intimate with them as I have been with mine.  I also hope that you find your home, whether it be made of walls, music, stories, dreams, or friends.  

Joyous,
Dustin 

I'm dreaming tonight of a place I love
Even more than I usually do
And although I know it's a long road back
I promise you

I'll be home for Christmas
You can plan on me 
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents (on/round/under/by) the tree
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Leprechaun Loving Lush

Tonight I got snockered with some bombastic leprechauns, dabbled in the cuisine of Acadia, conversed with some drunk oddities, called and text people in quite a state of lowered inhibitions/let's talk about life and giggle, and discussed trivial matters (Is "Sweeney Todd" actually a good film, why do I like "Twilight", etc.) as if life depended on how I articulated my stance in these matters. What an odd, fun, new, out-of-the-comfort zone night for me. Gloriously uncomfortable and disgusting decadent. YAY. Every day I seem to be doing something I have never done before: from the tiny to the grand. It is an experiment and I am loving and loathing it, and all the intoxicating in-betweens. (Yes, not-so-clever pun intended.) I hope that everyone had a wonderful St. Patty's day! (oh my, that is like Sandi Patty, but not at all...) Love, The DABalicious Leprechaun Loving Lush
1 comment
Read more

And With This, Farewell

This blog has been a dear friend to me. I am not good at farewells, but truly this is anything but. I look at it like this - I love the phoenix, the symbolism of it all, the power of rebirth. Hence why I named my blog/musing screen after one. :-) So, I am leaving this particular blog to start another one, one that fits me NOW, the one that I can share in a new way. So this feels right. Thanks to those who have read my musings throughout the years. I hope you follow me to my new musing home entitled THE TWELVE THAT IS DUSTIN BAYLAN. Yes, I am changing the name, the story of that is on the new blog for you to read. Here is the link: http://dustinbaylan.wordpress.com/ Much love, much hope and joy again, much potential... Winks and smiles of the Cat that is Cheshire, Dustin Baylan
Post a Comment
Read more

Much Needed Silence

The past few days I have liked the darkness, the silence of my room. I have not come out much and have watched "Sleepless in Seattle" over and over and over and over. I started wondering why I want to be alone (I am not depressed at all) and started doing the roommate math. I have lived with 41 different people in my life. I have lived in 21 different living environments not including all the different times I moved around with my family as a kid. I have hit a wall where I just want ME time and a lot of it, no talking, no sharing, just alone time. In this much needed silence I find that I am a much simpler person than I once was, that I really love the quiet, and that it is time to live alone soon. I have done the roomie thing more than anyone I know and met some wonderful people, but I am overloaded with that experience. So, back to "Sleepless in Seattle" and my much needed silence. Dustin
Post a Comment
Read more