Clinics for 2010

I have worked with countless worship leaders, singer/songwriters, bands, and musicians in my 16 yr touring and studio musician career. I love passing on any invaluable information that I have attained to help your church, band, or artist career. I basically work with your band, worship team, tech staff, studio, and/or solo act to attain the best possible sound and feel that you can possibly attain. With my guide called How A Band Works: We will study the anatomy of a band, worship team, or solo act. With my method we will study Rhythm Section Basics, Role of Guitarists, Tasteful Playing, Stage Presence, Tone, Sound Production, Technical Aspects of Sound and Instrument Gear, and etc. If you are in need of work with your vocal team, or any single instrument with your band or team I have the staff and indvidual instrumentalists to help with any of my sessions to attain your goals. Please inquire at the email or number below for more info and booking. Looking forward to working with you.

Jet Black

Jet black

Glossy stars in the summer night
As the cold mountain air hits us
Given to dreams so bright I stare into the beauty of your brown eyes so weary
As I set adrift the understanding of why you are so pure to me

Could there have been a better gift to me than you?
So fragile and yet so uncontainable.. you are the light of so many lives
There has never been anything like you...
Born to be alive and unafraid.. you have conquered all that's tried to conquer you

Flowing and never an ebb
You stand on the hillside and let your jet black hair sustain your beauty
All have seen that you have a fire
And let it burn out the weakness of the words of those who have tried to tear you apart

Sleep does not comfort you.. it is not your peace
It is her face... your young gift
An unexpected rider on a chariot to pick you up from your hardened labor
There is no mystery to her.. she resides in the deepest place of you

You are a glow... a mass of tranquil dimly lit candles in the mansion of my mind
Your ink tells a story not definitive.. but of how understated you are on the inside
How could I ever not see you for you again
I am blank with my madness of how you can be a ghost
An apparition that haunts my understanding of beauty

And as the summer sun enjoys your skin
You will constantly be blooming in the rain
The orchid that you are... growing towards the sun with little support
And thriving from the angels that sing over you... as Heaven sings its chorus of how you are admired

A Longing

a longing...

In a land of confusion and a state of disarray
I lay in a ray of disestate... a longing
my thoughts will never line up right.. poured into this sea of wishing
why don't you speak to my soul a little longer
and I'll bring you a dove from heaven
All confusion and dillusion are made right with a glance..
a peak into her wondrous soul..
Created carefully and beautifully...
She gives from a place of peace...
All lies are motionless there.. and her eyes speak of solace
Let the angels sing over her a little longer
so I may hear what heaven thinks of her...
There is no confusion in their songs of her...
All that God has in his essence he has poured into her..
In a sea of wishing in this confused world.. She divides the path between the vagabonds and the saints..

In this state of disarray... a longing
And the angels sing over her peaceful sleep

A Beautful Dark Past

A beautiful dark past

We burned like the sun
We travelled the harsh landscape
I sacrificed my secrets
I gave away my soul
You looked me in the eye
Told me that I was like no other
We reaped a temporal blessing
We blazed a path thru our soul
I face the wind
I face the highway
I see how far I have to run
I forgive you again cause I see heaven
I won't forget the purity I held so dear
We burned our eyes looking at the sun
We laughed as we dined with wine
I forgot why I really loved
I forgot why I really cared
No more begging or playing my worn out fiddle
This is the last dance of the evening
I once held you there and kept you warm
And I always meant it
Travelling the earth to and fro
My mind races at feeling nothing
Being a caboose on a long train
And seeing you so far behind
I never didn't care
I just forgot myself
I lost the man I was born to be
The shelve, the mannequin, the dust in the attic on our picture
tells a story of once upon a time
and once upon a time I gave my all
No regrets... Just a beautiful dark past
Now becoming a lost highway
But you still remain
And I soak you in...
And the winds blow through my heart
Taking the memories far away
Far away until I'm 85
And when I come to die I'll still remember you
Through the stone cold haze of my distant fading memoirs I gave my all
No regrets... Just a beautiful dark past

Contentment

I have failed at alot of things in my short life.. alot of it has been with the females mostly. That has to be #1 and then a close 2nd is friendships. Those relationships have fallen prey to my intense drive to be perfect or the best at my craft. I have really been relentless since I was young to get where I wanted or envisioned myself to be. When I've been with my girlfriends or friends in the past. I was always more focused on where any of that fit in my life and how it was going to help me be successful. Of course that sounds selfish and rude.. but I've never run over anyone to get where I'm at. If it has ever seemed like that then it wasn't a choice I cognitively made or handled. I don't believe in karma so to speak but I do believe that those things do come back to bite you. Especially in a small community like the music community. And most of all it's just highly unethical on every level. Nobody should ever stab anyone in the back to get to the top. I promise you won't be there long.. Look at Saddam Hussein. He got the noose years after shooting his opponents in the Iraqi parliament to be dictator. With that said.. it gets you no where. Be real!!

Ok What I'm getting at.. Follow me here

I was born into a funny mixture in my family. My father's side including my father was hardly musical. They were instead very funny, hard working, farmers, southern baptist, and loved Baseball. With my Father I was instilled the joy of knowing people and caring about them. I was given the tools to work hard and never quit till you're done and your employer is happy. I also was given the absolute love of baseball. My father loved baseball.... loved people, ... most of all loved God. And he made sure to tell everyone about it. After my father died I feel like some of those things were lost in the mix somewhere. I did my best to hold onto them.. but I think when that influence is gone and you're mourning that person.. you're also mourning the values that left with them. Don't get me wrong.. I haven't forgotten them and still see their influence in my life. My father was that kind of man.. Everyone he knew is still influenced by him.. and still mourns his death even after 18 yrs or being gone. I can't even fathom being that man. I still wonder why he is even gone after 18 yrs. .. You wake up one day and literally you're hit with the news and then a few days later burying your dad. I mean that's absolutely crazy still to me.. I can honestly say that it still shocks me and maybe it does my brothers too. But I know it has supremely had a large effect on my life and relationships. I have even just now realized that I'm even dealing with his death after 18yrs being gone. You ask how could that happen? .. I really don't know. But the fact that I realize that it and that effects every relationship and avenue of my life has been revolutionary. I can no longer be the strong one and act like nothings wrong.. If I'm ever to love anyone truly I've got to love myself. And that is dealing with the inner pain and being real.

Ok... so where I'm going with this.

How is your life effecting your relationships?
What is it that drives you to be where you want to be??

My drive to be on the road and to do music wasn't to be rich or to have a big house and big car. It was for healing .. I can honestly say that.. The road and travelling have been a huge part of my life and I've seen just about everything in the USA which I've very grateful for but it still left me empty. I love music but it still left me empty.. There have been so many nights after leaving the exhileration of the stage and goin back to the hotel room.. laying in my bed staring at the ceiling and saying to myself, wow if only all those people really knew how much I hate my life. I have to tell you that I am always left wanting more.. I'm never at a place where I'm satisfied.

And that's wrong..

In this life you've got to know contentment. And I quote the quote "Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want but the enjoyment of the things you already have" .. How easy is that? Not so I guess .. we are never satisfied. Michael Jackson seemingly had it all.. Destroyed his image over and over again to look like Peter Pan and built a place called Neverland. I can attest that there was no contentment there. I can also attest to you that in my industry there is little contentment. And also there seems to be none in the world.. Now of course don't get confused that you should not pursue your dreams and goals and confuse contentment with Apathy. That's not what I'm saying.. I'm saying that Whatever is driving you to get to where you want to be will be evident when you get to the so called place you've dreamed to be. You will face it and you will be faced to let it consume you or you to consume it and defeat it. There's no medal for making it to the top... you just have more "friends" that you never knew you had and more enemies.. whom are either jealous or just plain hate you for doing what you love and they're not.

In my life I've had to overcome and am still overcoming my issues. One of the hardest things is learning to be patient and content. Discontentment effects your relationships and can defeat your life. You will never be satisfied in this life with your accomplishments in this world. But I end with this.. God has been the only thing that has been that satisfaction. Of anything that is more of a mystery to me it's the satisfaction of being at peace with that truth. Truth is satisfaction and Truth is Love, God is Love, God is Truth, The Holy trinity encompasses them all. Until you grasp that there can be no rest. I say it confidently.. not arrogantly, but as a Doctor letting you know a cure. You can either take it or leave it. But in a world that has come to believe more that ever that you believe what works for you and I'll leave you be I must say that that is not working. Not everyone will believe what I believe and I understand that. But I believe everyone should hear the truth and decide for themselves. There is no where in this life that you can get to that will ever make you happy. You will always need and want more.. and the wanting we are left with has to be filled with something.

Please know that it is not God who screwing up your perception of him. I have to boldly say that alot of Christians who don't know better but who are also still searching like yourself have probably done that to your perception of him. .. Remember that God is still God.. He is Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit. He tells the truth not to hurt you but to give you LIFE. If you never go to church or never talk to a Christian again.. this will always be true. It doesn't matter if you can't touch him or see him. The evidence of God is all around you.. No one has ever seen the end of the universe but we still believe that there "might" be one (which is another argument we won't get into. Go read some Stephen Hawking or Carl Sagan if you want more explanation). But I give you hope that contentment can't be found in yourself. Stop trying..

I leave you with this verse from Isaiah 55 . I hope we all can dialogue on this. I'm open to hearing anything from everyone. Love you all.. Jon

Come, all you who are thirsty,

come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without cost.

2Why spend money on what is not bread,

and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

3Give ear and come to me;

hear me, that your soul may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

my faithful love promised to David.

4See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,

a leader and commander of the peoples.

5Surely you will summon nations you know not,

and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call on him while he is near.

7Let the wicked forsake his way

and the evil man his thoughts.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him,

and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9“As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10As the rain and the snow

come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

12You will go out in joy

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

will clap their hands.

13Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree,

and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown,

for an everlasting sign,

which will not be destroyed.”

Fading

I think one of the hardest things to see is someone you love start to fade away.. When they start to give up. When that person all of your life has been a rock and now they've begun to crumble. I don't really have much to say other than I'm taking this pretty hard and I'm learning to how to cope with it. Those we love grow older and we look back at how selfish we were in times of their need and wish we could change things. I know that I must take every opportunity to protect my love for them and let them know that I love them. I have seen too many people leave this earth that I've loved.. and I treasure my relationships more now because I know our time is precious. Always take the time to reflect upon those you love and let them know you do. And most of all give them hope that their lives mean something to you and to everyone that knows them. I'm broken .. I do what I can and I have to go back to my reality and hope I left a lasting impact on those I love. I have so much to give and it would be a shame not to share it to those who I know are fading away. James 1:2-6 has been pressing hard on my mind lately. It's giving me strength to face some of these things and helping me press on. That's it.. I love you all .. Good night

For the seekers and the sought

"Those who wish to succeed must ask the right preliminary questions" Aristotle, Metaphysics II, (iii), i.

I'm not gonna write long.. I'm going to write more of a prologue to a series of blogs on different events and ideas that are flooding the mainstream and the underground on cultural and spiritual movements. I feel like I'm now drawing a line in the sand on my beliefs and faith. It seems I can't go on in this life with all my experiences and realizations without mentioning them and trying to help a doubting world understand the reality of God, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Spirit. I welcome any scholar, seeker, theologian, atheist, bhuddist, any sexual orientation, or merely a normal housewife to the pauper to comment and openly discuss anything that I'm going to heavily research and hopefully without any bias, Although I'm a Christ Follower and believe in his life, death, burial, and resurrection, I welcome your opinion. I'm going to say in the humblest of ways that I won't feel threatened by your opinions and hopefully facts on why you believe what you believe. I have a deep and burning conviction that all search for truth must have facts and empirical evidence for the physical and the non physical. Although we will be discussing some spiritual matters that require faith and seem abstract. I hope we can present real and tried/True factual data that supports the claims of the Bible, Bhagavad Gita, Koran, Book of Mormon etc.. so on and so forth. In fact I get in discussions all the time where all we have is conviction on a subject without proof of why we're even defending it. I want to be challenged by hard evidence. In this year of 2009 we live on a very old earth and a very very old cosmos. There is evidence of many things and texts that make claims to who or what created it. It doesn't matter to what you believe... search within yourselves and reason to yourself about why you hate Christians.. or why you hate Muslims, Homosexuals, Bhuddists, or Catholics. Search within you and lay that aside in our search for truth. We must remain open and conduct this with a goal in mind.. To Find the TRUTH. Truth is peace to me .. And I hope that at least we can all reason to help understand why we believe what we believe.
I will be watching a very controversial film tonight on The Zeitgiest .. I will be getting to the bottom of why it has enlightened some and plunges others into doubt. I feel as though I need to understand the claims it makes so I can make a rational assumption on the assertions it is claiming. I will never just assume a role and speak from haste. I will do my own seeking and give you the facts about what I've just seen and heard.
Let this be our online L'Abri no. 2 .. It's not the mountains of Switzerland but we can at least come together from whatever background we're from and agree to disagree from time to time. But I hope in the end we will present the facts and rationally conclude with new and fresh opinions if we are inclined to do so in our hearts. Thanks

Jon Skaggs