365 Outtake Tuesday - A Significant Birthday in the North

I love this state. I love these humans. I often marvel at how many amazing, thoughtful, creative, supportive, loving people I am surrounded by. I had a Significant Birthday last February, and we celebrated with a Significant Birthday Trip to the North.

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It's so rare to spend time being quiet together. Or to share more than one meal together - to cook together. It is truly a gift to be able to sit by the fire while your buds have a snowball fight outside, or to read a book while they're playing scrabble and cooking your birthday dinner. I cherish these memories with my whole being. Here's to cultivating more time for members of our chosen family. 

Here are some photos of my nearest and dearest up in Elk Rapids, MI, in Carol's family's cabin on Grand Traverse Bay. I hope you enjoy this peek into some time well spent with my tribe.

 

It was interesting to go back and edit photos I took months ago. It really showed me how far I've come photographically since then. I have the 365 Project to thank for that, I think. Thank you for taking a look!

Much Love,

MLB

365 Outtake Tuesday - A Mid-January Day

Hello Friends! It's time for another Outtake Tuesday installment where I showcase some of the photos that did not get used for my 365 Photo Project.

This photo was taken in the Westgate Mall parking lot in Ann Arbor, MI, in mid-January. Eli and I were walking to Barry's Bagels for a bagel and a schmear when we happened upon a car that was covered in bumper stickers. Just as I was about to take a photo of it, the owner came walking up and enthusiastically told Eli and I about each sticker. I love me some bumper stickers and I love me some Ann Arbor, y'all. I also love her parking job! Ha!

January 13, 2017

January 13, 2017

365 Outtake Tuesday - A winter show with Red Tail Ring

Hello Friends! It's time for another Outtake Tuesday installment where I showcase some of the photos that did not get used for my 365 Photo Project.

Laurel Premo and Michael Beauchamp are just about as sincere and authentic as two humans can get, and watching them play together on stage as Red Tail Ring is a pure joy to behold. Their musicianship is impeccable and their songs sink right in to my marrow. One of my favorite things about watching live shows is witnessing the connection and interactions between the band members and listening to the stories told between songs. Laurel and Michael have such an effortless way of being on stage together, each adding their own interesting side-notes...it pulls you into every song. 

 We normally only seem to cross paths once a year-ish when we all play the Earthwork Harvest Gathering in Lake City, MI, but this year is different! Back in January my band and I were lucky enough to share a couple of shows with Red Tail Ring. We did a show at The Ark in Ann Arbor, and then met up again to do a night at Bell's Brewery on their home turf in Kalamazoo.

This small set of photos was taken at the Kalamazoo show on January 26th.

Enjoy!

-MLB

The view from the stage as doors were opening. Such a great room!

The view from the stage as doors were opening. Such a great room!

365 Outtake Tuesday - Be Kind. Be Grateful. Be Love.

Hello Friends! It's time for another Outtake Tuesday installment where I showcase some of the photos that did not get used for my 365 Photo Project.

This week I chose some photos from a walk I took back in January. It was on January 20th to be exact. Inauguration Day. I REALLY needed a walk this day. Whenever I am troubled by things much bigger than myself, Mother Nature has a way of re-centering me and shifting my view of things to a larger perspective. She reminds me to take a deep breath, feel my feet on the Earth, and to just be right here in the moment. In this moment all is well. And when I come back to my center and ask, "Ok, what can I do today? What is the next right thing?", the answer is always seemingly simple.

Be kind. Be grateful. Be love. 

I say seemingly simple because these are perhaps the most difficult things to do. But when I am able to live from a space of deep gratitude I am more capable of being kind to those I fear, disagree with, or don't understand. On my best day I can even love those people. No, for real. It's true! And - at the risk of sounding like a crazy hippie I'm STILL going to say it - I believe whole heartedly that living from this space has the potential to change the world.

Does this mean I'm perfect at it? Hell no. I battle my own prejudices and judgements everyday. I am unkind even to those I love more than I care to admit. But life is about progress, not perfection. It's about noticing where I could've done better, forgiving myself, and then trying to do better next time. And the time after that. As spiritual teacher Sharon Salzberg puts it, "The healing is in the return."

So, more than anything, this is a reminder to myself. When there is fear in my heart about things I have no control over, or anger toward people I don't even know, it is time to ground myself, reconnect with the planet, and get the peace-of-mind-medicine Mother Nature so abundantly provides. 

Take a deep breath, enjoy the photos, and most of all -

Be Kind. Be Grateful. Be Love.

And forgive yourself when you can't.

-MLB

(I'd love to hear how you center yourself and find peace of mind when you're trapped in the fear mind. Comment below or send me an email if you're feeling it.)

365 Outtake Tuesday - The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Welcome to the second installment of Outtake Tuesday, a place where I get to share some of the photos I didn't use for my 365 Photo Project.

This one is a somewhat romantic shot of Carol tuning her fiddle as a man on a bicycle goes by in Corktown, Detroit. She and I were backing up Matt Jones as part of a festival called The Strut. You would never know from the photo that we played to a pretty much empty room except for one table of our closest friends. During the set a drunk old Irish dude came up to tell us that we sucked and all our songs sounded the same. A few minutes later he decided to leave, and as he left he yelled one more asshole thing across the bar overtop of the song we were playing. He also had the audacity to place a flyer for a show on the stage at our feet ... ha! 

I tell you this because it's important to remember that the stories you tell yourself about the lives of other people when you see somewhat romantic photos of them on the internet are probably not even close to true. And also, sometimes all you get for playing your songs on stage is a good photo and some time well spent with your buds, and that's enough.

July 1. 2017

July 1. 2017

365 Outtake Tuesday!

Hello Friends! Some of you may know about my 365 Photo Project I'm doing this year where I'm taking at least one photo everyday with my DSLR, editing it, and posting the results at the end of each month. Well, it turns out that some days I take waaay more than one photo and I want to share some of the outtakes with you. So, every other Tuesday I will be posting a few!

Welcome to Outtake Tuesday! 

This one features one of my favorite people on the planet - my Mom! I could seriously write a novel here, so I'm going to try to keep it concise. My mom has been on this planet for 66 years and I swear she has more energy than I do. She has had an incredibly tough couple of years. Just to give you an idea: I got in a really bad car accident at the end of 2015 and she was by my side for weeks, including sleeping on the floor next to me in the hospital and at rehab. She spent weeks at a time in another state in 2016, taking care of both her brother and sister, losing them both to cancer in the same year. When she got home, and while experiencing a grief I can't really comprehend, she found out she needed triple bypass heart surgery. The surgery happened last November. Following the surgery she had to figure out how to stop smoking after 40 years. She did that, too. 

I tell you all of this because these outtakes you're seeing are just a snippet of what she is capable of just months after heart surgery. They were all taken in June during the weeks of a very tough move for my partner and I. She was there helping us all month and it really meant the world to us. Enjoy!

June 9, 2017

June 9, 2017

This photo was taken the day of the big move. She is sitting in the middle of the chaos in our new house, while the moving company guys brought the big stuff in. She spent the night to make sure I was ok.

June 11, 2017

June 11, 2017

This photo was taken a couple days after the move when we had to go back and clean the old apartment. It was 90 degrees outside. My mom did what is unquestionably the worst job when you move, washing the cupboards inside and out. I realized toward the end of the job that *I* should probably be doing that job, not her. I said that to her and she was like, "Yeah! Why am I doing this?!" Haha. She will probably hate this photo, but I love it so much. 

June 16, 2017

June 16, 2017

A few days later she spent the whole day with us in East Lansing for Eli's White Coat Ceremony at MSU. 

June 21, 2017

June 21, 2017

You can see on her face here that she doesn't want me taking her photo again. This is her taking a breather in the middle of an 8 hour day (!) in my new yard, helping me make it feel like home. The day before, she drove out and we went and got all the yard work tools we would need. She spent the night and the next morning she was out in the yard two hours before me. I made sure to work two hours after she stopped to make it even-steven! At the end of the day my house did feel a lot more like home.

I love all of these photos. I could go on and on about my mom and how she teaches me what courage, grace, acceptance, hard work, and unconditional love look like. I'll leave it at this: I do not know what I would do with out my mom. I love you, Mom!! 

Thanks for spending some time with my outtakes! Many more to come!

Much love,

MLB

 

A Magical Musical Experience

Hello Friends! We just got back from recording in Kalamazoo, MI!

ML & the BB finishing up a two day session at La Luna Recording and Sound in Kalamazoo MI

ML & the BB finishing up a two day session at La Luna Recording and Sound in Kalamazoo MI

The band and I spent 2 full days with Ian Gorman at La Luna Recording and Sound where we laid the foundation for Misty Lyn & the Big Beautiful's yet-to-be-named 4th record. (Where is the 3rd record, you might ask? More on that later...) It was easily the most inspired, capable, and comfortable studio experience I've ever had!  We were able to accomplish my best-case-scenario goal of getting 9 tracks recorded live, including vocals! To say that Ian is a master of his craft is really putting it lightly. I think the whole band felt the same way and the whole process felt organized and seamless. Matt, Carol, Jim, and Ryan were all on and performed like the pros that they are. I can't say enough about our time at La Luna and I can't wait to get back in there and finish these songs! 

I also have to mention that the comfort I felt in the studio was due in no small part to the generosity of our friends Joyce and Tony who opened up their home to us while we were there. A haven for many an artist, their house is affectionately called Miss Muse for a reason. It is a quiet, peaceful, private setting to rejuvenate and gather inspiration in between shows or recording sessions. There are no words to adequately describe the space this place holds in my heart.    

My gratitude is off the charts. A thing that will never get old: Writing songs and then sharing them with my band, and then recording them and sharing them with you. It is a dream come true. Over and over again. 

Much love to you - more to come!

-MLB

Here are some shots of our time in Kzoo!