The Woods!
I grew up next to the woods. Houston is half scrubby, half pine trees. So some really big humongous trees grow, and when the world wants to go ahead and take something back, it does quickly.
But at the end of my street were woods, where a creek fed into a bayou. The bayou separated the neighborhood from a very posh golf course, Houston Country Club. And then some little unnamed creek separated us from a tennis club, which we belonged to.
I spent an amazing amount of time down in those woods. Luckily, as a kid, I wasn't susceptible to poison ivy, so I was always (like always) down there farting around, pretending.
There were lots of houses that cantilevered over it. One of my favorite places to go was where a lady would put her huge mynah birds out. And they'd be out for a couple hours, and all they would do was scream, "Brian!"
Never not laugh-out-loud funny.
That's where we learned how to smoke grapevine. As a kid of the '70s, we'd grab cigarettes off the bar at our house and go down and smoke those to--choke ourselves stupid.
Learned the difference between a cottonmouth and whatever the other thing was that looked just like a cottonmouth that wasn't poisonous.
And I also remember getting a Walkman. And then walking through the woods, which was a totally different experience. And I can't tell you which one is better or worse.
Today, at the end of the main street in our neighborhood, there are woods here in Austin. There's a creek that is a sometimes creek these days, unfortunately, but it's about eight miles to downtown. And eventually ends up as the very world-famous Barton Springs, which is kind of the jewel of the city.
I say all this because there's no better thinking place in the world than walking through the woods (with your dog preferably).
And as much as I love music and as much as I love everything else, as I look back, I think the old woods were not improved by headphones.
And although, when you're a musician, you have to listen to a bunch of music, you have to work on a bunch of music, you have to practice a bunch of music, meditative time without it is huge. Maybe just-as.
There used to be a time where I had real trouble falling asleep. I could sleep once I was asleep, but there was no option for stuff ringing in your ear.
Like, I could have used my Walkman, but I didn't have enough batteries. And I had an earphone for my radio, but again, there were only so many batteries to be had.
And they were about as expensive as they are today, so my parents kept that shit super tight.
Over the last three or four weeks, I've tried to keep the headphones out when I'm going on a walk, or in the neighborhood, or certainly through the woods, and even in the car, just having nothing on.
And that kind of transition time has been super useful for music, life, etc.
Thinking through issues. Working on something, letting it cook. And seeing what happens next time I listen to something or pick up a guitar.
I don't know.
Maybe the silence amplifies the music.