Operation 365... Take 16

I've decided as the orchestrator of Operation 365 that I should commemorate the holiday season in some special fashion. As a spiritual but not religious person, the truths that I have discovered in the universe are my own and no one else's. While I would never try to convince anyone else to believe as I believe, I am happy to share the sources of my inspiration with anybody who's interested.

There is no more enlightening event in life than death, ironically. Dealing with the death of a loved one is more transformational than anything humans experience with the possible exception of falling in love. My dear friend, Don Truesdail, an east coast transplanted, San-Diego based-musician passed away on his work to teach kids music on January 13, 2009. The impact that event had on myself and our friends here can not be understated. Until then, things were almost worry-free on our Utopian scene. As much as I leaned from Don in life, it does not approach what I learned from him since his passing so in honor of my fallen comrade, Operation 365 will be celebrating the "12 Days of Truesdail" for the next dozen of days, so enjoy some of the work of and tributes to a great man, Donald Leslie Truesdail.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Archives - 21 Melissa Eisler - 10-22-2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqa20dRpKcg

This is Melissa Eisler's song "On the Fence" recorded at Don Truesdail's posthumous birthday celebration on October 22, 2009. Melissa tells a short story before playing the song about a talk she had with Don, myself, and Don's wife Nancy about her song she was writing "On the Fence." This is was always one of my favorite Eisler tunes, if not my very favorite. Enjoy!

NOTE: To my chagrine, hours after posting this video, Melissa Eisler alerted me that she did not wish to have this video available online. To maintain 3 videos a day for 365 days format which is the whole point of Operation 365 (that and learning about yourself and life of course...), I replaced that video with this space holder video instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=466w_5OO2L0

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Hopefully it won't happen again.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay (with The Greens of Mind) - Originals - 21 "Moondrop"- 10-22-2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DMjk3zM89w

The Greens of Mind is one of the bands I play with from time to time. It features Barbara Tolbert on vocals, Charlotte James on violin and guitar and "The General" Justin Mills on cello. The Greens of Mind may be the best representation of the great vibe that was in the air in 2008. Barbara and Charlotte appeared on our little scene in late '08. Almost instantly The Greens came to be. Practices were a pleasure. Good gigs were falling in our laps and I wrote a handful of tunes I was really proud of that seemed to perfectly fit the talents of the group assembled. None of those tunes was more attention-grabbing and entrancing than "Moondrop."

Audiences always seemed to take note of this unusual throwback of a song, volleying between Barbara's innocent vocal and my more gruff and disconcerting counterpoint. Don Truesdail really liked this "Moondrop." We had a really cool jam of it on New Year's at the end of 2008 in which Don rocked it out on the banjo. Here it is performed by The Greens of Mind at Don's posthumous birthday concert on October 22, 2009. For more information on Don and his music, please visit www.truesdailstudio.com

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay (with Farhad Bahrami) - Covers - 21 "Sweet August" by Don Truesdail - Recorded live on 10-22-2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfMfe7NX9U4

This is a very Truesdail-y way to start the "12 Days of Truesdail" but Truesdail is one of my favorite words in the whole language so consider me tried and convicted of such. All three of today's Operation 365 entires were recorded at Don's posthumous birthday celebration on October 22, 2009. A few people covered songs of Don's for this special event. I played Don's tune "Sweet August" with a friend of mine and mentor of Don's, Mr. Farhad Bahrami, tar master. That's the instrument he's playing. It's called a tar. Farhad also played "Sweet August" on Don;s fabulous CD, "Dasvidanya Bingoland, Hello Nancy," available to you at www.truesdailstudio.com. We love Don and we love this tune so we played it and here it is now for you. "Onward and upward," Don said on more than one occasion. Amen brother!