These are honest words. On Sunday night at about 4am I was laying in my bed… dog tired from 2 consecutive 12+ hour work days with the Guv’nahs… and my heart was beating so fast that I couldn’t go to sleep… my mind was racing about the events of the last year of my life and how important this music and the Guv’nahs have become to me.

I cannot explain the feeling that came over me on Sunday night around 10pm during the video shoot for “We’ll Be the Light”. I looked out over a sea of people in the Preservation Pub, all working together for a common cause… the humble cause of “supporting our band.”  Many of the volunteers had been there since 10 AM! (Yes, 10 AM!)… setting up tons of extra lighting, organizing the equipment, and helping script the night’s activities. Those dang lights made it feel like it was about 110 degrees on the stage. In the back of the room I saw 5 to 10 volunteers in bright red “Dirty Guv’nahs FILM CREW” t-shirts, making sure everyone had filled out a waiver to be in the video, serving free beer and pizza, and crowd controlling. I think I also saw Matt Dearman signing autographs. At the bar I saw tons of friends and fans, laughing and having a good time. In the foreground I saw around 75 people pushed up against the tiny stage in Pres Pub… helping us create the music video. Keep in mind that these 75 folks had been there for 3 HOURS. Final count of the number of folks that came to the music video shoot at some point during the night was upwards of 250. I hope that each of your faces make it into this freaking video. HUGE THANKS TO SCOTT MURPHY for directing the whole video shoot… and THANKS TO BERNADETTE AND THE PRESERVATION PUB for letting us trample your bar for an entire day. The community of support was unbelievable. THANK YOU. (And because you are already asking in your mind… the video will be ready in 4 to 40 weeks)

One of the few things that almost all philosophers, thinkers, and theologians believe is that we were each created to live in community. That we specifically have some gene inside of us that is only satisfied by the satisfaction of sharing life with other people. The monk and well known writer, Thomas Merton, wrote an entire book called, “No Man is an Island”… and Martin Luther King Jr. often wrote of something he called “the Beloved Community”…. saying things like, “The type of love that I stress here is not eros, a sort of esthetic or romantic love; not philia, a sort of reciprocal love between personal friends; but it is agape which is understanding goodwill for all men. It is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return….”

You may have heard Simon and Garkunkel’s song “I am a Rock”… and while it is a fantastic song… it is a sad song. The tune tells the story of a man or woman who believes that through seclusion you reach safety, and that in safety you are fully satisfied. “A rock feels no pain, and an island never cries,” go the lyrics.  These are the words of a person running from community.

Anyway, I’m rambling now… but I have so much excitement in me right now about our upcoming album and the momentum that is building with the Guv’nahs that I can’t help but admit it. So there. I’m excited. Thanks for being apart of the beloved community that we’re trying to help create.

james