Month: February 2024

I’m playing at:
Hilltop Tavern and Inn
9544 Kiowa Rd
APPLE VALLEY, CA 92307
760-247-7727
I start strumming and crooning at 8pm
No cover charge, indoor seating,

DAMIEN & THE 63 LIPLESS FISH

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damien-riley/message

Something highly original in the horror genre. Love it, not for everyone.

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damien-riley/message

I liked it!

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damien-riley/message

All my life I’ve run to people to share something good. Sometimes, family and friends have accepted the share and made it their own. Other times, they have told me something like “I’ll check it out.” and never gotten back to me. Yet other times, especially through a computer, they never acknowledged the share at all. I used to get so frustrated when people did the latter. Now, I think the second one mentioned above bothers me more than anything. So what would I prefer? I don’t know. That’s the point of this post.

I think amazing discoveries are for us and us alone. If we thought of this and practiced it with new discoveries, our lives would be better. What’s more, we’d be more enriched and fulfilled. It’s as if there is a magic oatmeal we’re given to eat when we get inspired. We should eat it, we should not force it someone else’s face. Does that make sense? For example, today I heard such an amazing song in a commercial. It had that familiar effect on me where I felt chills and I was moved. I shared it with my sister because we have the bridge of sharing amazing songs established. She loved it but no one else I sent it to responded. I heard a voice say “Damien, maybe that’s for you.” That feeling, that inspiration, maybe its okay if it blesses you and no one else.

The Buddhist philosophy teaches that we must nurture within. The external world only exists in as much as we perceive. Interestingly, it’s not evangelical in nature. Having been raised in the Christian church, maybe that’s where I got this sin. I’ve been pressured to share goodness all my life as a by-product of an imperfect religion posing as the answer … to everything. I have a good feeling it comes from that.

People come from all sorts of cultures and islands without bridges to us. Occasionally you meet someone who gets you but most times that is only for a season. I learned this truth big time with my divorce. But despite the yearning and disappointment of no one getting us, we should miss the impact of inspiration on our self. Take it in I say, let it be for you what it is. Eat the oatmeal and let it infuse your soul with something good. It doesn’t have to be shared to do that. What the result of keeping these things in is unknown. I’ll let you know further into my own experiment. Now go be amazed by the universe and world and don’t feel any need to share it! The next time you are moved by a song or anything powerful, before rushing to share it why not consider this exhortation: That’s for you.

I try to not participate in male chauvinist bullsh** but I tolerate it as I must in movies from the 60’s. This one sent my Geiger counter needle off the paper. Even as much as I dig Matthau. No f in Gracias on this one. They lost me at the slap.