Operation 365... Blog 25

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Archives 30 "The Traveller's Lament" by Don Truesdail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcU56RJl74o

More close-up holiday face time with my boy Truesy-Wuesy. Yes, I called him that to his face... often and it was quite fun. It is Christmas Eve. Don and I spent Christmas Eve together in '07 and I spent it with his Swan Diego family in 2008. I cherish these memories and I have been thinking about Don quite bit as you might imagine this year with the "12 Days of Truesdail" and all. What a great guy! I am very honored to be able to share some of his handi-work with you this special time of year. Peace, love and happy holidays from all the folks here at Operation 365!

This whole show I should have mentioned was filmed by Dylan Avery and this song and many others by Don are available at www.truesdailstudio.com

Hail Truesdails everywhere! And I believe we all have a little bit of Truesdail in us somewhere.


Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Originals 30 "Christmas in San Diego"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3RhexXaffU

Here it is. A San Diego Christmas song.

This song is more emotional for me than almost any of my others. Top 3 for sure. I wrote this tune 2 years ago tomorrow, on Christmas on a day just like today. I got up early and had one of the most productive days of my life. I wrote 3 tunes, this one and two others. I was excited. Christmas is very peaceful around here. I felt blessed to be with friends and I was appreciating it. I started thinking about what a different experience Christmas in San Diego from the cold and snowy December adventure popularized in movies, songs and the East Coast in general.. I was thinking about our unique experience as Southern Californians at Christmas and decided to write a song for us and San Diegans in particular to share our take on this holiday season.

I was fairly pleased with the song. I think even videoed a version of it or two thew day I wrote it. I may have to dig that one out tomorrow for us. That night, I enjoyed a highly anticipated Christmas feast at the home of Don and Nancy Truesdail. Nancy made a fine veggie lasagna and as always, the Truesdails hosted the heck out of the evening. Don even busted out a bottle of absinthe for our sipping pleasure at one point and you should have seen the look on his face when he did. The highlight of the night beyond the night overall altogether was a performance Don and Nancy did for the small group of us assembled. He played his double bass and she played the piano. It was so beautiful it was stunning. I learned so much about Don and Nancy from watching them play. They care so greatly about music and providing their best performances for the enjoyment of those for whom they play. It was blissful.

Needless to say, shortly thereafter when I went to bust out my Christmas tune for the group, I was hesitant and borderline embarrassed, even around such close friends. But I bucked up and busted it out. They liked it very much. Don was particularly verbal in his appreciation I have the highest for his talent and his opinion so to me, it meant a great deal. I played awhile longer in the background, while I listened to Don and Justin Mills converse and as I did so, I penned a big chunk of yet another new tune. What a great day Christmas 2008. In a way, through all this, it's like I'm still there today.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Covers 30 "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGdmSGwW6aI

As a child I loved Boy George. To anyone who knows me at all, that is probably not a huge surprise. I don't what it was about him but if I had to guess it would be his larger-than-life, I-don't-give-a-hoot-what-anyone-says-about-me attitude he exemplified in his outlandish attire. At the time, perhaps I dreamed of having that confidence but as I got older I quickly bagan to emulate it. I remember when I was about 10, I was Boy George for Halloween, shortly after "Karma Chameleon" hit the charts. I dressed up twice. Love divorce. Once I was a mess but the other time I probably looked downright scary (a sensation I am admittedly quite fond of). For years I would wear the karate go that was modified into a Boy George Color By Numbers jacket whenever I felt like it and by 6th grade I had built upo the confidence (or whatever you want to call it ) to wear in to Little League games at which I was just spectating. Good fun. Didn't plan to do this tune today. Was gonna bust one out form off the top of my head and did decent partial versions of Phish's "Sparkle" and Neil Young's "Helpless" before finding my way to this classic still cranked in Rite Aid's and grocery stores daily.

A production note: For some reason the color auto-corrected between the original I recorded today and this number. Maybe it's just getting darker, I don't know, but if I'd had my way, both vids would have the colorier color that this one has instead of the sunny washed-outness of the other number. When you believe everything happens for a reason, these are among the types of things you just have to accept.