Another spring, summer, fall winding down on Cape Cod. It's been a blur of house guests, comings and goings (including mine!), health crises involving those near and dear, alarm at what continues to go on in the world, family meals on the deck, Full Moon open mics, hope and inspiration from ordinary people doing extraordinary things, music camps, bike/roller blade rides, jump-starting the car in the new winter weather when Mr. Efficient AGAIN left the keys in the ignition all night, juggled schedules, changing plans, and new opportunities.

Vermont, Virginia, Texas, Colorado, New York, Tennessee, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, California, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Kentucky, Nebraska, Maryland, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, California, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Puerto Vallerta have all beckoned so far in 2007...(your state not here? Call/e-mail!).

A recent highlight was an October invitation to give a 90 minute presentation at NASA's Goddard Space Center near Washington DC as part of their "Exploring Leadership Colloquium". As a casual fan of "space: the final frontier" most years of my life, it was wonderful to dive into more research and knowledge about the history of the space program, and with good reason: I offered to write a song for the occasion when I was contacted more than a year ago about doing this. Then I forgot the offer I'd made. She called me a couple weeks before the presentation and casually asked how the song was coming along. Eek! I squeaked out some kind of "pretty good so far" response and got BUSY as soon as I hung up the phone.

What did I do? I launched my psychic feelers out into the universe to attract any and all things space-related to my awareness and consciousness. Ask. Believe. Receive (if you haven't read "The Secret", I just saved you a lot of time). A few days later I was at a friend's home casually glancing at a stack of newspapers piled in her living room headed for the recycling bin. On the very top of this huge pile was a science section of the New York Times whose headline read "The History of the Space Program". Boing! And for me, the beauty of songwriting is that sometimes the song will take you where IT wants to go, not where your agenda may try to dictate...here's the song, and it looks like a copy's going into outer space in 2008 on a NASA mission...thrilling.

Rocket Science © 2007 David Roth

It's fifty years since Sputnik, when the Russians shocked the world
With an orb and two antennae Earth would never be the same
Fueling our worst fears that we'd be vulnerable and weak
If we did not respond in kind, we'd lose the game

So we got our act together, and Explorer One went flying
But not before the Russians sent a dog up into space
If I said I knew why they thought dogs should fly, I would be lying
They were caught up in some kind of human's race

A race to the furthest star
A race to the galaxies above
If a little bit of fear could go so far
Imagine what a world could do with love

Gagarin took a spin around the globe in 61 and
He was followed ten months later by an astronaut named Glenn
Alexei took a spacewalk, Captain Kirk, he took our TV
And I've never been the same since then

In a race to the furthest star
A race to the galaxies above
If a little bit of dreaming goes so far
Imagine what a world could do with love

Imagine human footprints on a distant lunar plane
Imagine floating science labs where gravity is gone
Imagine the potential that our species could contain
If we were drawn...to love again

I heard a scientist declare the world as we know it Is destined to be swallowed up in some gigantic hole And nothing that we do on earth will outlast or survive this Is there any point in trying to take control?

Just another baby boomer, writing poems Putting flowers into rifles, hugging trees and singing songs But the questions in the air aren't rocket science: What's the point and where on Earth do we belong?

In our race to the furthest star A race to the galaxies above If a little bit of vision goes so far Imagine what a world could do with love

And finally (for now) it's two years my thyroid surgery, and I'm feeling great and going strong. December 2007 also marks the 20th anniversary of the last time I had a part time job. The new year will see my 10th CD, second songbook, and two music videos...whodathunk I could do that in a mere 240 months.

Peace, blessings, abundance, compassion, gratitude, and kindness, one and all.

 -David