Grayson Capps Archives - Page 2 of 3 -

Living Out LOUD!

By Simone Lipscomb | October 22, 2014

simonelipscomb (161) — *Robert Randolph and The Family Band*

With a foggy head from an after-midnight arrival back on the coast, I sat processing images at the iMac control station. Images from LEAF (Lake Eden Arts Festival) and autumn colors from the Smoky Mountains had me dancing in my chair but it was the friendly elk photos that made me stop and wonder, How did all of these amazing experiences happen in three days?

Receiving the ticket for LEAF was nothing short of amazing. The event was sold out for months. I had a feeling the weekend was divinely unfolding….and it did. I’ll begin this tale on the way to the festival.

I left Atlanta before dawn and made my way in the darkness through the North Georgia Mountains. As sunrise was still an hour away, I found myself in Clayton, Georgia with 36 degree temperatures causing me to grab a vest when I stopped to buy a cup of coffee. Burrrr! Onward and up to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a short little climb up from Waynesville, North Carolina to see the sweeping views…of ice and hoar frost and feel temperatures below freezing. When I exited the heated seats, harsh wind whipped over the ridge and made short work of photographing anything.

Back down I went to get on I-40 east toward Asheville….Swannanoa…Black Mountain. LEAF! I arrived in time to enjoy breakfast from The Corner Kitchen and rosemary potato wedges that made my eyes roll backwards. The chilly but sunny morning had everyone is good spirits. Children were playing, nearby parents were enjoying morning coffee. It was a beautiful atmosphere of love, kindness, joy and…peace.

Ready for a bit of Sunday morning gospel I strolled to Eden Hall to hear Church to the Nth Power. AWE-some!

The sunshine called so I stepped outside and watched monstrous bubbles entertain energetic kids…and adults who were too self-conscious to run after them…but I saw the gleam in their eyes.

simonelipscomb (10) — *Gee’s Bend, Alabama Quilter and Singer*

Then it was time for Willie Sugarcapps…the home-grown super-group from coastal Alabama. I entered their venue early to get a good seat for photographic opportunities but a large section was filled. Almost as soon as I sat down two women from Gee’s Bend, Alabama were introduced and they started singing gospel songs. Then Asheville kids they had worked with during the week joined them and sang and I’m pretty sure most of us in the audience were singing before the music ended.

The women are part of a group of famous quilters and singers from south-central Alabama and helped the youth learn quilting. A mosaic of intense-color was presented to wild applause.

Then it was time for Willie Sugarcapps…and they put on a great show. Wow-zers!

simonelipscomb (113) — *Robert Randolph and The Family Band*

Barley’s Pizza for lunch while listening to Robert Randolph and the Family Band. I couldn’t stop moving my feet…luckily I’m relatively coordinated so chewing and keeping time with my boots didn’t cause any difficulties. As soon as I finished lunch I wormed my way into the front of the tent and stood mouth-agape at this pedal-steel-guitar-playing light-bulb-of-a-person. Or spotlight-of-a-person. Forgot my ear plugs and even though it felt like my ears were ripping apart from the speakers, I couldn’t look away…couldn’t do anything but connect with the energy of this dynamic performer.

As I stood photographing him as he played, I felt his strong love and immense passion for what he was doing. It felt as if he was a pure channel for joy and laughter. It was church for the soul. It was very difficult to stop dancing as I focused and squeezed the shutter on my Nikon. But I managed to get some good shots.

With an encore that lasted deliciously long, I knew I needed to push a bit to make the next Willie Sugarcapps set up at The Barn. I arrived in time to hear David Wilcox’s final song and even got a few images of him. His music has been an inspiration for many years…geez…I hate to say it but…decades.

SimoneLipscomb (7) — *Willie Sugarcapps…Corky Hughes, Grayson Capps, Will Kimbrough, Savana Lee Crawford, Anthony Crawford*

Then Willie.… Corky Hughes, Grayson Capps, Will Kimbrough, Savana Lee Crawford and Anthony Crawford. The Barn was a perfect venue for their wonderful music. The second set was a bit softer and the songs took the audience a bit deeper in this smaller, more intimate space. They were having fun and so of course, we were, too.

The darkness of The Barn with filtered light and hints of turquoise, blue, and orange accent colors seemed to weave a sort of magic around the notes, words and harmonies they created. During Grayson Capps song, Love, tears rolled down my face as the words found a deeper place to touch. And yet the energy didn’t get heavy…or sad. It kept getting sweeter and lighter as they played to close down that particular stage of LEAF Autumn 2014.

Love this shot...Grayson Capps and Will Kimbrough having FUN! — *Love this shot…Grayson Capps and Will Kimbrough having FUN!*

Reviewing over 1500 images wasn’t something I looked forward to but as I progressed through them, frame-by-frame, I saw the energy of life and love and laughter shining through faces. Moments of sheer joy reignited within my heart and I realized I was smiling…and laughing as I worked.

The photography portion of the trip ended yesterday in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I ducked into a corner of the park to capture some autumn colors and saw elk near the visitor center. Of course where twenty elk gather, masses of humans follow.

I started to drive on to avoid the crowd but something made me slam on the brakes and pull into the full parking lot. I waited for a car to exit, parked, grabbed my camera and 70-200mm lens and walked toward the masses. It was very crowded and the elk were really too far away to get any decent shots so I walked down to the river for some quiet time before leaving the mountains.

SimoneLipscombELK — *I can honestly say this mother and baby elk blew my mind….*

Absentmindedly looking at rocks on a sand bar in the river, I didn’t notice the elk cow and calf wading in the water, headed straight for me. I gathered my wits and backed away, giving them space to cross uninterrupted. They weren’t stopping regardless.

Once at a safe distance for all three of us, I started photographing them and couldn’t believe my good fortune, luck…or divine providence. Ansel Adams once said he thought he sometimes arrived at a place just when God wanted someone to snap the shutter. That’s how the encounter with the mom and baby elk was for me. The only reason I believe it actually happened is because I have photographs to prove it.

Three days, three nights and I feel exhausted but like life bestowed upon me some magical window of time. I visited with friends from my old neighborhood, participated in an amazing festival of love and life, heard music that filled me with joy and love, connected with a mother and baby elk in a gentle and respectful encounter….saw brilliant colors of leaves and blue sky. I think over the past three days I was living out loud. And it felt marvelous.

To the LEAF ticket fairy…or fairies…THANK YOU! So much….

Magic Cauldron

By Simone Lipscomb | September 29, 2014

Opening concert of the Frog Pond season and the torrential rainfall, the flash floods, the get-out-your-waders event simply didn’t happen, at least not in Silverhill, Alabama. Where there’s good juju perhaps the storms stay away just long enough for friends to come together after a long summer break to celebrate music, life and all things good.

Willie Sugarcapps opened the season and it seemed especially potent given that it is the group’s birthplace. This group is an example of the kind of magic that happens on the back porch stage at Blue Moon Farm.

Reconnecting with friends, with the music we all love, is a wondrous thing. But it goes beyond that. It’s as if the land itself welcomed us all back…the musicians and music-lovers so the spirit of community was sparkling and evident by smiles, hugs, singing coming from under the tent. We had a revival all right…a revival of the love of music and each other.

If you don’t go, you just won’t know….how sweet the spirit of friendship and the common love of music creates a place of happiness and joy. Witnessing the coming together of musicians sharing new songs, performing them for the first time together, shows us all the potent creative process in action. A lesson not to be ignored.

On a personal note, there’s sometimes a song that goes straight to my heart and creates an opening. Sometimes we all need reminding of the light within….or the star within. Thanks Brother Will…and all the members of Willie Sugarcapps for bringing their hearts and creative spirits to the Frog Pond. You all show us magic in action. And to Cathe Steel…you provide a container for this magic to happen. So thanks for stirring the cauldron of creativity and inviting us all to witness the beauty.

Music of the Spheres

By Simone Lipscomb | September 21, 2014

The live oak tree forest was quiet and tucked away from the busyness of life yet held an outdoor stage in its embrace. An open field provided a place for seating and the sounds of the night welcomed musicians and music-lovers alike.

Cool, refreshing evening air was heavy with dew and as we listened to outrageously good music anything not in motion was soon coated with moisture. The intense humidity and heat of the past several weeks had given way to the beginnings of autumn on the Alabama Gulf Coast. It was a great time and place to relax, enjoy music and visit with friends.

After a while of standing with a heavy lens and camera body, I began to tire. In addition, it was past my bedtime when Willie Sugarcapps began to play so I was weary and sleepy and had a two hour drive after it ended. So my chair called and the camera found itself snuggled into the pack.

Dreamer’s Sky began. Will Kimbrough’s new song is an upbeat, happy song with a bit of a jig sound with mandolin and fiddle. I closed my eyes and allowed the music to take me. The notes and words moved through my mind and suddenly I had the thought, The nature spirits are really digging this music. Then the image of two wolves dancing on hind legs came to mind. Then two coyotes, foxes, rabbits and all creatures of the wood came to my mind and I ‘saw’ them celebrating along the edge of the forest. Owls, squirrels, even earthworms were dancing with joy.

The vision brought sweet feelings of love and peace. I opened my eyes and looked into the velvet, night sky and saw stars and planets and I heard the words, music of the spheres. It was as if harmony was raining down like stardust on all who gathered, both human and non-human. There was an undeniable unity I saw in my mind’s eye and felt deeply.

I believe the only way we will heal ourselves and planet Earth is to be united in love and harmony. That unity comes from a positive connection we have not just with other humans but with all life. To the foxes dancing in the field or the owls doing a dance step on the tree branches. Or the neighbor of another color or religion.

A collective vision of harmony can change the world for the better. This is my dream, this is my vision. I place my hand in yours and issue an invitation to join in the dance, in the celebration. I hold the paw of sister wolf. I grasp the flipper of mother sea turtle. The owl talons and my hand unite. The fluke of the massive humpback reaches for my hand…and yours. We can dream a new way of living into being. It begins with harmony and learning to hear the music of the spheres.

Thank you Will Kimbrough for the music and to Grayson Capps, Corkey Hughes, Sugarcane Jane…Savana Lee and Anthony Crawford…for bringing it to life tonight via the Willie Sugarcapps ‘vehicle.’ And if you, kind reader, are wondering about possible substance-induced vision…the answer is no. No alcohol or anything that altered my consciousness except beautiful music…beautiful harmony.

Who Squealed Louder?

By Simone Lipscomb | August 6, 2014

A balmy 97% humidity made it feel as if I was paddling my SUP board through water instead of on water. So close to the consistency of liquid was the atmosphere that I was soon drenched as I got into my fitness groove.

No air stirred, and the reflective river’s surface was only broken by mullet, alligator gar and bumblebees. Two of these flying wonders were upside down creating small ripples. I love bees and always stop and lend a paddle blade to rescue them so the two fat-bodied, pollen-toting creatures flew off to gather more pollen after a little help. I then continued downriver.

It was a hot paddle even though I started at 7am. But the playlist for the morning kept me going and before long I had paddled past the ski course, my 2.5 mile mark, and turned around. I faced the sun on my return paddle and it felt like I was being steamed alive. As fast as I drank water, I sweated it out of my body. My focus narrowed to simply getting back upriver and into the shade of the narrow part of the waterway.

Alligator gars were popping the surface as they came up for air. They can breathe underwater or at the surface and in the summer I see them from my paddle board as they pop up to breathe. I’ve had close encounters with them before and one time a large one (four feet long) surfaced at my left foot and I screamed like a kid. Since my board moves through the water silently I find myself too close often.

Today I had a particularly interesting encounter with this living fossil fish species. I was digging in, paddling hard. Jackson Browne was playing on my iPod and I was singing along…of course. “Fountain of sorrow….” and BUMP! My board was knocked. I squealed at the same time the gar squealed. I swear…I wasn’t suffering from heat stroke. The fish squealed! Either that or her armored, jagged, diamond shaped ganoid scales, that are nearly impenetrable, scraped the bottom of board and made the high-pitched sound. Or perhaps it was that double-row of sharp teeth. Regardless, I heard two squeals and can only claim one as my own.

It gave me a good laugh and brought me out of fine voice form momentarily. But I quickly recovered and went back to sweating, singing, paddling and groovin’ on this fine, summer morning on the Magnolia River.

My playlist you ask? It’s listed below in no particular order:

Fountain of Sorrow, Jackson Browne; Keep Breathing, Ingrid Michaelson; There Will Be a Light, Ben Harper; Never Alone, Lady Antebellum & Jim Brickman; Brothers & Sisters, Coldplay; Get On Your Boots, U2; Love Someone, Jason Mraz; Best Friend, Jason Mraz; Love is the Solution, Will Kimbrough; Sugar, Sugarcane Jane; My Someday, Brigitte Demeyer; Blessed Are the Brokenhearted, Jill Johnson; Washboard Lisa, Grayson Capps; Go in Peace, Sam Baker; Lift Your Spirit, Aloe Blacc; Ocean Soul, David Wilcox; God Bless, Lisa Carver; Mercy Now, Mary Gauthier; Singing Me Home, Lady Antebellum; Lost, Jay-Z & Coldplay; Knockin’, Carolina Chocolate Drops; Gypsy Train, Willie Sugarcapps; Not Alone, Ben Taylor; People of Love, Snatam Kaur; Surround Me, Ben Taylor; A Couple Hundred Miracles, Will Kimbrough; Running on Sunshine, Jesus Jackson; Beautiful, Akon, Colby O’Donis, Kardinal Offishall; Make You Feel My Love, Adele; The Whole Enchilada, Keb’ Mo’; Belief, John Mayer; …and more that I can’t remember.

Soul Full of Music

By Simone Lipscomb | April 16, 2014

The morning began with a journey through my musical past as I pondered a question posed by a Facebook friend: What are your twenty most favorite albums? Music seemed to rush into my mind as did experiences and places where specific melodies and rhythms brought to life emotions from long ago.

SimoneLipscomb (4) — *Savana Lee Crawford*

For hours I thought about music and the powerful role it has played in my life…from beginning piano lessons at age seven through a lifetime of relationship with various instruments and of course listening, dancing, living to tunes created by those gifted souls whose lyrics, melodies and emotions have touched me, changed me, guided me.

SimoneLipscomb (8) — *Corky Hughes, Grayson Capps, Will Kimbrough*

Art and beauty expressed as emotions…harmonies…rhythms…melodies.

As I reflected on favorite albums I found the melodies intertwined in experiences packed with emotions. Many revolved around the time I was coming into my own person as a late teen/young adult. I remember an ELO concert that was simply mind-blowing with their laser lights bouncing off the strings of the cello. Or the Santana concert which left me with ringing ears for days…but the power of Carlos Santana’s music was incredible. Finding music that expressed my heart and mind and created joy within me was empowering….was life changing!

*The daughter came much later but she followed the Auburn path.*

Dixie Chicken by Little Feat came to mind strongly. It was a constant at Auburn with pre-football gatherings going into post-game cook-outs. Summers working at Gulf State Park during college years were enjoyed with The Eagles, Allman Brothers, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley. Every album I chose had strong emotional tattoos that will be with me throughout this life, coloring my soul.

SimoneLipscomb (5) — *David Wilcox…photo taken at COTA in Fairhope, AL*

Songwriters and musicians take their ideas about life and transform them into anthems for us. They weave words with rhythms, melodies and harmonies that become magic while we sing and dance along, creating our lives. Like the old slave tunes that created musical maps used to navigate escape, music gives us all a map of sorts to living joy-full, soul-full lives.

What does music mean to you? How has it influenced your life?