KS Friday | The Direction of Intention

Savor Good Moments [on KS Friday]

Posted on July 27, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

When you find yourself wondering what it’s all about, play this game: fill in the blank, “In this life I have….” Fill in the blank again and again and again, searching your memory banks for all the magic, mysterious, and miraculous experiences you’ve enjoyed. The good moments.

I like this game because, inevitably, I arrive at the realization that the good moments are the smallest of moments. Although swimming with whales or seeing the northern lights are miraculous, the really good good moments are first kisses, watching your baby sleep, holding hands after the storm passes. Laughing hysterically with friends just because.

Kerri’s composition, Good Moments, is a musical river of small moments, quiet yearning, tender touches, the smell of autumn leaves. Play the game and begin with Good Moments. It will transport you back. It will unlock the door to your memory bank. It will also help you realize that this moment – this very moment – is a very good moment, indeed.

GOOD MOMENTS on the album THIS PART OF THE JOURNEY available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about GOOD MOMENTS

www.kerrianddavid.com

good moments/this part of the journey ©️ 1998 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Gratitude, KS Friday, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, good moments, Gratitude, inspiration, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, learning, life, memory, music, presence, relationships, small moments, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange, this part of the journey, truth | Leave a comment »

Imagine Peace [on KS Friday]

Posted on July 20, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

When I first met Kerri I was still pitching ideas to Yaki, a conductor/artistic director of symphonies. We’d created a few projects together. Yaki is a visionary, one of my favorite past-collaborators. He knows that symphonies, like all performing art forms, must reinvent themselves to attract the next generation audiences. Our projects were rooted in both new and traditional compositions. They were multimedia story-tellings, explorations of arts crossing disciplines.

So much of Kerri’s work lends itself to a symphony. Listen to the strings in PEACE! There is a cello line that breaks my heart every time I hear it. I sent PEACE to Yaki with two statements and a question: Listen. Imagine the possibilities. What could we do?

It was a different time then, or, perhaps, it is a different time now. Have we ever needed peace more than now? And so, on KS Friday, I send you this PEACE with the same two questions I asked Yaki but with a much greater imperative: Listen. Imagine the possibilities. What could we do?

PEACE on the album AS IT IS available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post on PEACE

www.kerrianddavid.com

peace/as it is ©️ 2004 kerri sherwood

Filed under: KS Friday, Possibility, Uncategorized | Tagged: AS IT IS, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, imagine, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, peace, portland chamber orchestra, possibilities, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, symphony, the melange, walla walla symphony, yaki | Leave a comment »

Touch An Angel [on KS Friday]

Posted on July 13, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri is thready. Important dates are always noticed and honored in our house. She is nearly Balinese in her attention to auspicious dates. Soon we will honor the life and loss of Wayne. Kerri’s brother Wayne passed away many years before I came into her life. I knew immediately about him. She adored him. He is certainly one of her good angels.

Through her stories and those memories warmly told by her family, I feel he is now one of my kindred spirits, too. Every once in a while, when I need a good bit of brotherly advice, I ask him questions – well, one question in particular (“What am I going to do with your sister?!! She’s out of control!”). He has yet to answer me but like all good angels I do hear him howling with laughter at her antics and my utter confusion.

On this KS Friday, reach for your good angels. Let Kerri’s song for Wayne put you on the back of his bike and take a ride into a special place and time with those you’ve loved and lost. Toast them with a good cup of java, as I do Wayne. From what I hear he was nearly as great a coffee lover as I am.

ANGEL YOU ARE on the album AS SURE AS THE SUN available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about ANGEL YOU ARE

www.kerrianddavid.com

angel you are/as sure as the sun ©️ 2002 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Family, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: angel, angels, brother, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, family, good coffee, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, memories, society6.com/kerrisherwood, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Hold On. Let Go. [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 29, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Holding on. Letting go. The creative tension that describes life. Unlike other tensions, tug-of-war tensions, the creative kind is circular, a cycle as winter is to summer. It is a deep, slow moving river capable of carrying you away.

Give yourself a treat. Let go of the task at hand. Step into the river and let Kerri take you away.

HOLDING ON/LETTING GO on the album RIGHT NOW available in iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s post on HOLDING ON/LETTING GO

www.kerrianddavid.com

holding on/letting go – right now ©️ 2010 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Creativity, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: creative tension, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, energy, holding on/letting go, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, right now, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

In The Night [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 22, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

If you’ve ever stretched out in a mountain meadow on a crystal clear night and watched the stars amble across the sky, you will recognize this piece. If you’ve ever, hand in hand, taken a midnight walk on a warm summer night, you will recognize this piece. If you’ve ever walked along the beach at night, the summer moon hanging lazy in the sky, you will recognize this piece.

Take a moment, today, and step into a memory, step in the night.

IN THE NIGHT on THIS PART OF THE JOURNEY available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post about IN THE NIGHT

www.kerrianddavid.com

in the night/this part of the journey ©️ 1998 kerri sherwood

Filed under: KS Friday, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged: beach walk, contentment, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, in the night, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, memory, meteor showers, society6.com/kerrisherwood, solo piano, studio melange, summer nights, the melange, this part of the journey | Leave a comment »

Say Goodbye [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 15, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Sometimes I ask myself how many of my days in this very finite life have I lost just trying to get through. How many times have I looked forward to the end of the day, to the escape of sleep and the hope of a better day tomorrow. How many times have I reminded myself to BE IN my moments, to live them fully regardless of their pleasure or pain. What’s the rush?

Lately, after life handed me a second chance, rather than getting through or looking for an end, I am relearning. I ask myself, not to yearn for sleep, not to hold my days and moments so blithely but to live all of it so when I at last crawl into bed at night, I can honestly say, “I hate to say goodbye.”

HATE TO SAY GOODBYE on the album BLUEPRINT FOR MY SOUL is available on iTunes & CDBaby

read Kerri’s blog post on HATE TO SAY GOODBYE

www.kerrianddavid.com

hate to say goodbye/blueprint for my soul ©️ 1997 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Gratitude, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: alive, blueprint for my soul, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, embrace your moments, Gratitude, hate to say goodbye, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, live life, presence, second chances, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Feel More [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 8, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’m sure that accountants never sit at their desks and review their accounting of the past 30 years. Lawyers, I suspect, may review a case here and there but I doubt that they ever sit in a room, surrounded by all their cases, and consider them as a body of work. Artists necessarily review their work all the time.

Because of our melange both Kerri and I have been sitting in our studios surrounded by our life’s work, revisiting every era. She listens, pours through old notebooks, tinkers with pieces that never made it to the recording studio. I pull out canvases, flip through old sketchbooks, and portfolios. We compare notes. We share our favorites. We disavow our least favorites (“Someone else painted that and stuck into my stack. That piece is awful!”)

It is much more emotional than you might imagine. Each piece comes thanks to a potent life experience, a funny story, a period of loss, lostness, foundness, utter ful-fill-ment, the vast and empty void. We stare at what we achieved, we face what we aimed for and missed. We stand on the edge of what next calls to be explored.

It is not an intellectual review, a study. It is a feeling pathway, a conscious opening to experience in all its many colors. There is no rational sense to be made in what we do or have done. “Making art” is a dedication to feeling more. It is a love song.

BUT I FEEL MORE on AS SURE AS THE SUN is available on iTunes & CDBaby

PURCHASE THE PHYSICAL CD

read Kerri’s blog post about BUT I FEEL MORE

www.kerrianddavid.com

but I feel more/as sure as the sun ©️ 2002 kerri sherwood

Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, feeling path, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, life path, life review, sense making, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Move Me [on KS Friday]

Posted on June 1, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

Kerri composes on scraps of paper. Her notes are unintelligible to those of us outside of her mind. Lyrics peppered with mysterious hieroglyphic symbols and magical music notation that skips across multiple napkins and old homework assignments. What’s more amazing to me: she can play perfectly beautiful pieces of music as she deciphers her random-note-trail.I’ve accused her of being like John Nash, the character that Russell Crowe plays in A Beautiful Mind. “You’re not a paranoid schizophrenic are you?” I ask, scrutinizing her for clues.

“I don’t know, I’ll ask myself,” she replies. I am out-gunned at every turn.

Recently she pulled out a plastic sleeve stuffed with wrinkled paper, post-it notes, and random scraps of scribbles and jots. “This is the song They Way You Move Me,” she said.

Amazed. On this KS Friday, take a moment, put down your scraps of paper, and follow Kerri through hers. Give over and let her beautiful song, The Way You Move Me, move you.

THE WAY YOU MOVE ME on the album AS SURE AS THE SUN is available on iTunes & CDBaby

THE WAY YOU MOVE ME gifts and products

tote bags!

read Kerri’s blog post about THE WAY YOU MOVE ME

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: Art, Creativity, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: as sure as the sun, composition, creative process, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, KS Friday, society6.com/kerrisherwood, studio melange, the melange, the way you move me | Leave a comment »

Take Stock [on KS Friday]

Posted on May 25, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

We just passed an anniversary of sorts. Five years ago, en route to a consulting job, I stopped for a few days to meet a woman. We’d never met, but for the previous five months had exchanged daily emails. It was a surprise correspondence, a deep diving conversation about art and love and divorce and aging and…life. We called our correspondence The Roadtrip. I thought it was about time to meet my Roadtrip partner. I stepped off the plane, met Kerri, we held hands and skipped out of the airport, drove to her place, sat on the roof and drank wine. And, my entire life changed. I felt as if I’d finally come home.

So, this past week, five years down the road, we’ve been taking stock of all that has happened, all that we’ve experienced together. We are telling each other the story of us. So much extraordinary life in all of its color, bumps, losses, discoveries, illnesses, good coffee, frustrations, delights and small moments of appreciation.

I sit next to H in the choir. He is 92 years young. He inspires me. I told him about the week of taking stock. He nodded. It’s good to look at where you’ve been. It’s the only way to know where you next want to go. I told him that it seems to me that life moves really fast and he laughed and said, “You got that right!”

On this KS Friday, take a moment. Take stock and tell yourself the story of you. Let this beautiful composition, Kerri’s Taking Stock from her album RIGHT NOW, inspire you to look back and, as H said, “Touch the riches.”

TAKING STOCK on the album RIGHT NOW is available on iTunes & CDBaby

Kerri’s Designs, TAKING STOCK gifts & products

t-shirts, hoodies, leggings

read Kerri’s blog post about TAKING STOCK

www.kerrianddavid.com

Filed under: KS Friday, Story, Uncategorized | Tagged: correspondence, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, looking back, memories, right now, society6.com/kerrisherwood, Taking stock on Right Now, The Roadtrip | Leave a comment »

Let Me Take You Back [it’s KS Friday]

Posted on May 18, 2018 by davidrobinsoncreative

let me take you back

Before Kerri and I were married, I asked her daughter, Kirsten, to tell me ‘the one thing’ I should know and understand about her mother. Kirsten’s answer was immediate. “Mom’s the most thready person you will ever meet,” she said.

It is true. Kerri is the most ‘thready’ person I have ever met. Thready means threaded to the past. We mark auspicious days. Each piece of furniture in our house carries a story. Every day she writes in her calendar what we did or what happened; at the end of the year it is our ritual to read the calendar and retell the stories of the days just lived. We light candles for lost loved ones.

She is rooted, deeply rooted, in family, in ancestry, and she actively and consciously tends the root through her thready-ness. And, what is most remarkable to me, is that her thready-ness is not weighty. It is in no way heavy. It is light-hearted and surprising and lively, just like her composition Let Me Take You Back. On this KS Friday, take a moment, and let Kerri give your spirit a lift. Let her take you back.