I am neither Swedish or Norwegian. My job goal is to be the person you want to run into on your worst day. (Preferably not with your car.) Aaron is my name and music is my game and my meat and drink. And while there is a song for everything (and a Sting song for almost everything) I occasionally have something to say that is not contained within the confines of a song...
"We are so fortunate to have a support system as big as we do. As you remember in the beginning of the month we posted something about our wonderful friend Aaron. Aaron is musician who has taken it upon himself to help out Tim and Amanda. Through the month of April half of all proceeds on songs purchased though Aaron's site will be donated to Team Gilson. We know that the question is out there, why are we fundraising for Tim when hes already received his transplant? Here's the answer; even with insurance there are many expenses not covered and must be paid out of pocket. Stanford required that Tim be within 45 minutes of the hospital for the first 3-4 months post-surgery. Tim and Amanda now have relocation expenses, care for Tim once he leaves the hospital, doctor visits, co-pays, deductibles and Tim will be on a lifetime of anti-rejection medications. So that's it, anything you can do would be appreciated. Share this link, purchase some music or a financial contribution. Again, thank you all for the love and support you have shown thus far. It is appreciated more than you will ever know."
And a little update: ALL PROCEEDS are going to Team Gilson through May.
TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!! WE'VE FOUND A NEED, LET'S FILL A NEED!!!!!!
Hey Crew,
It's Springtime! The time when a young band's fancy turns to playing more music in the Summer, Fall and WInter!! More music is coming out soon as well as live video from the band! So please go tell your "soonlyweds" and office managers and favorite venues that THEY NEED THE AARON GAYDEN BAND! We love to play so whenever you can spread the word about us we'd appreciate greatly!
See you on the road!
AGB CHECK OUT THE BANDS NEW VIDEO!!
More to come soon...
P.S. While you're deciding to throw that anniversary, graduation, birthday party or wedding reception please go to reverbnation.com/aarongayden and support Team Gilson. (Half of all sales this month go towards helping Tim Gilson and his family as he recovers from his double lung transplant.)
Life is not easy for any of us. And when the body is struck by disease or injury it can be absolutely devastating! Tim Gilson is the son-in-law of my dear Twinner, Wanda Dwyer. (She and I sustained walker/crutch inducing injuries on the same day last year and so between us had one decently working pair of legs.) He was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis which is scar tissue building up in the lungs causing shrinking and hardening. This resulted in a miraculous double lung transplant on March 11. But of course, there are huge physical and financial hurdles that follow such events in people's lives. As you know, I am a full-time musician, meaning I am not in the top percentile of wage earners in our nation. But I DO want to make a difference in people's lives, particularly, Tim and Amanda's. Here's where you come in. Wanda, my Twinner, will take over at this point.
Wanda Allen Dwyer via Team GilsonTo all my FB friends, I can't say it any better than my daughter, Amanda, has said it. And if you don't know or remember why we are doing fundraising, Tim, her husband, had a double lung transplant March 11, 2012. There are a lot of costs not covered by insurance. Oh, and if you don't what to purchase, may I suggest, songs #3, 4 12 and 18...just saying!"Tim and I have truly been blessed with a wonderful support system comprised of some pretty amazing people. Aaron Gayden is just one of those people and has opened his generous heart to our cause. Through the month of April half of all profits from songs sold will be donated to our fundraising efforts. So when you get a sec check out his talent and buy some tunes! Promise you will not be sorry."
Aaron Gayden Band | Auburn, CA www.reverbnation.com This is the most recent update from Amanda: Team Gilson "The last few days has been full of small complications for Tim. Last weekend Tim was taken to the ICU because he was having a hard time breathing and his heart rate was very high. They ended up putting a chest tube in on his left side and within 30 mins they drained over 2 liters of fluid. After that Tim's breathing got better and his heart rate came down. He was sent back to his room on Sunday. Monday came with its own set of complications but Tim got through them with the help of his mom. Tuesday he felt a tad bit better but come Wednesday, Tim was physically and mentally exhausted. Even though he was exhausted he was able to force himself to do exercises once an hour for 5 hours with the help from Amanda and his cousin Dave. Today the doctors are putting another chest tube in his right side because there's still too much fluid around his lungs. Even though he will have two chest tubes, Tim is determined to continue with the hourly exercises as well as working with the physical and occupational therapists everyday. The next few weeks are going to be tough on Tim as he pushes himself more and more each day. Everyone's support has been great and we truly appreciate each and everyone of you! Thank you."
We all hope you can help Tim and Amanda through this trying time. (And I hope and think you'll be blessed by the music.) You can lend a helping hand. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERNCE! God bless you for your support and God bless us, every one!
I have been on Isagenix since January 2 and I have lost 30+ pounds! During much of this time my wife, Carol, was in San Diego. So some wonderful folks at our churches stepped up to the plate (literally) and provided us with food. Jenelle (daughter), was home to cook a little, Spencer (son) is actually quite proficient in the kitchen and I discovered out that I can actually cook inside on a, what's the word, stove/oven thingymabob. On Isagenix, when you are in losing weight mode as opposed to maintenance mode, you drink two shakes per day, eat a light snack every 1 /1/2 to 2 hours and eat one full meal daily. So, as you can imagine, you want that one meal to really count! That is why I have come up with this fiendish plan. I will pit all my favorite chefs against each other to make their best dishes and so that every bite is pure heaven! Because as one of said favorite chef's said "EVERYTHING IS A COMPETITION!" You know who you are and that this particular blog is all your glorious fault ;-)
So bring forth your salsa, your stroganoffs, your tacos, your lasagnas, your chili, your macs and cheeses (ooh, *family cook off pitting Lori, (my Mother-in-Law) against Carol, and Alyssa, (daughter), your sauces and hot sauces and dips, your breads and your yummies of all kinds. Bring them forth into battle and we well find out who's cuisine reigns supreme... wait, that's been done. But you know what I mean.
At any rate, as I was telling a friend on Facebook the other day, I WILL come to your house and grill. I am submitting Mae Ploy Chicken for the cook off. And I am hoping you all will start submitting your signature dishes. In the meantime, you will find a plethoric menu of delights at My Crowded Kitchen. I have a few recipes here in previous posts and I KNOW you have a dish that you or someone in your life makes that is sure to make a meal worth waiting for! I have a dream today that someday we will all gather around our grills and our stoves and make a feast fit for kings and queens. And the beauty of it is, I will still be losing weight (IF I can manage to not go into shark mode).
Exercise+Isagenix+MODERATION= Weight Loss
Because food IS (still) your friend! So let the games begin!!!!!!!!
*Family Cook Off: Carol's family is EPIC in the kitchen! The thought of a family cook off alone is totally Pavlovian!
For those who know me, you know I am pretty mellow guy. But today I am enraged! First, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am a 43 year old Christian, conservative, black, male musician. I was raised by my parents to treat all people based on their actions as opposed to their ethnicity or any other factor. I was raised to treat them from the biblical mindset of do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And to lead with love because god loves them. My wife is white. My daughters are white. (I guess that makes them my "step daughters", but we don't use that term in our life. I just don't want any confusion.) My son is mulatto. "Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry." That's me and my world.
I was listening to Dennis Prager speak about the Trayvon Martin case on his radio show and I was reminded of how far we've come as a nation and how much we have refused to acknowledge. He cited figures from a recent Juan Williams (who is black) article.
Here is a portion: "The most recent comprehensive study on black-on-black crime from the Justice Department should have been a clarion call for the black community to take action. There is no reason to believe that the trends it reported have decreased since 2005, the year for which the data were reported.
Almost one half of the nation's murder victims that year were black and a majority of them were between the ages of 17 and 29. Black people accounted for 13% of the total U.S. population in 2005. Yet they were the victims of 49% of all the nation's murders. And 93% of black murder victims were killed by other black people, according to the same report.
Less than half of black students graduate from high school. The education system's failure is often a jail sentence or even a death sentence. The Orlando Sentinel has reported that 17-year-old Martin was recently suspended from his high school. According to the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Office, in the 2006-07 school year, 22% of all black and Hispanic K-12 students were suspended at least once (as compared to 5% of whites).
This year 22% of blacks live below the poverty line and a shocking 72% of black babies are born to unwed mothers. The national unemployment rate for black people increased last month to over 13%, nearly five points above the average for all Americans.
The killing of any child is a tragedy. But where are the protests regarding the larger problems facing black America?"
His killing IS a terrible tragedy. But those are frightening figures. Back to Dennis Prager. The thrust of his conversation was about the reaction to the Trayvon Martin killing. The "Hoodie Protest". We don't know if the shooter is a racist. He may well be. Time (I pray) will tell us what really happened and why. Glorifying thug life as the ideal for young black men is not the answer. And the figures above show at least two huge issues in the black community. Blacks are MUCH MORE LIKELY to kill each other than be killed by all other racial groups combined. 93% of black murder is black on black murder. 72% percent of all back babies are born to unwed mothers. These two problems alone dwarf whatever lingering problem of bigotry we face in our nation. Those figures should be generating protest. Sadly there will ALWAYS be racism. But the problem is no where near the top of the list of obstacles to blacks or any other minority in the US.
Like I said, I am a musician. I am a full-time musician in a small market during a bad economic period. I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Not the blackest of environments nor a media center. My wife is white, my daughters are occasionally blonde, my son is obviously mixed and I am making a living. I have not been attacked or harassed, turned down for employment or anything of that nature. When I was in Idaho with my wife I did get bad to funny looks in the supermarket. The looks stopped...when I took off my Lakers hat! I was still black at that point. In my lifetime, I literally know that I have gotten jobs in my one area of expertise and professional grade talent, at least in part, because I AM BLACK. This has been both because I can do the job AND because these organizations (some of them very white and conservative) not only don't have a problem with black people but are OFTEN very specifically looking for cultural diversity. We (black people) are 12.6% of the population and we are a major force is most aspects of pop culture. I hear that even the President of the United States is widely considered to be black. (His mother is white, his father is black.) You can't tell me "Ain't a
d_ _ _ thing changed!"
Things are by no means perfect in America but I would rather be here in this day and age as a black
an than anywhere else. Again, I was raised not to care about what color someone is. And I have lived my life that way. I have had the "N" word yelled at me in public twice in my lifetime. Before marriage, and at a very platonic point in our relationship, we went to an IHOP in Pasadena. Mind you this was a VERY platonic time in our history. We got daggers from the black family that came in at the same time. No chemistry, no contact between us. Two obvious friends going to IHOP. And I have been in the South with my wife and called "Sir" by white men older than me. This was not in the city. It was a backwoods fish fry joint. We honeymooned at Disney World (theoretically in the South) and had no funny looks or incidence of any kind. And upon returning to San Diego a black waitress wouldn't acknowledge my wife at all and the table of black women behind us talked about us with said waitress the whole time we were there. I have been in Atlanta walking around the underground City with two white friends and gotten looks from both races of "What are ya'll doin?" Not aggressive just puzzled. 6 years later I went back with my wife and the four of us went up state and around town and not a look. Maybe this is my fault for taking my parents at their word and example and just dealing with people based on how they are. But race has never meant anything to me. Do I love who I am? Yes, I do. I love being a black man, it's been great for me. I love being from "my people". But my default setting is love everybody. It's just how I am. And I am not hating on anyone, but in my experience, I have seen more racism from blacks than whites. Ain't a d_ _ _ thing changed? No, THAT IS a change and it is a change that Reverend King would give his life (again) to see reversed.
The words of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. "Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
Famous last words...and how was YOUR day? You just never know what someone's was like. So I figure, you can almost never go wrong by trying to make someone's day. When given the opportunity to breathe life or death into someone's existence, breathe life! You never know if you may be pulling someone back from the ledge. So just assume that if you don't have a reason to make them squirm or tow the line they would be better off with something to make them smile. By the way, YOU are looking particularly fit today. Did you know you are one of my favorite people on the planet? There are people you know that just make you smile when you think of them. YOU CAN BE THAT PERSON! Have a great time being sunshine on cloudy days!
In fact, now that I think about it, tell us who makes you smile the most!
