Hello again, last time we talked about how the whole show came to be, and how many of the songs were written. I wanted to follow up on that some more, before delving off to other subjects.

Last time I shared how I wrote my first BPI song in an hour, after a long day of meditation and psychic-reading. That first song I channeled Mozart.

Next month I had another experience identical to the first: long day at the Institute, meditation, and giving Psychic-Reading followed by class and more reading & meditation. Month two the theme of the class was Spirit to Spirit Hello. We got a lot of hellos that night, and I received my second hello from spirit, even though I may not have know it at the time.

Since I had channeled Mozart the first time, I decided I wanted to do something different with this next song. Here I am, writing songs, singing, and playing the piano! But wait a minute, I’m a drummer Hello! (OK, I’m a percussionist - but it’s so much longer to spell!). I should write something to feature the drums, Hello! So I concocted this groove that was sort of a “Sing-Sing-Sing (with a swing)” meets the Bo Diddly groove (Son Clave, for those of you of the Latin or Percussion persuasion). I had a DW drum set at the time with four tom toms, the perfect inspiration for this groove. And again, this song was written in about an hour or less. This original arrangement was exactly the way I first recorded the song for my first CD; Music From Spirit. As it turned out, I made several adaptions for the show version. I did keep some of the lyrics intact, but also wrote some new verses to help the story line of the show. And that triggered a new arrangement musically. The previous song of the show ends with Johnny vomiting then passing out. Spirit to Spirit, the last song of the First Act, opens with Johnny laying onstage, passed out. The Pastor of the church enters stage-right after the drums begin. She see’s Johnny, and cautiously approaches him. As she begins singing she also gives Johnny a Hands-on-Healing, then some water. After the Horn Break in the middle, a Spirit-Guide appears from a bright light center-back stage. This bridge is actually from another song I wrote that didn’t make the cut as part of the show until last year. I added the bridge after Steve Redig, my audio engineer and co-producer, made the musical adjustment at the first two verses. Ultimately it turned into a duet between Susan and Johnny.

The only other song writing story I want to share is for the song Miracles.

This song came to me in a dream. I was dreaming that I was with a bunch of people at BPI, and we were about to go somewhere on a field trip. I was sitting at the piano as I waited to leave with the group. Then Susan Bostwick (The Grand Pu-Bah) came into the room and said we couldn’t leave until she had rearranged the curtains. OK, so we waited, and I continued to play the piano. Rene, the Choir Director before me came up and said “look at your hands”. I did, Then I woke up. The clock read 2:22 am. I went to the piano … you know rest of that story. The next morning I said to my wife, at breakfast; “ I had a dream that I wrote a song”. Then I thought about it, got up and went out to the piano. Sitting there proudly was another musical staff covered in notes. Finished. Complete. Not only was the song titled Miracles, to me, it was a miracle. The song is still the same, but I added a Gospel style Bridge for the show. This is another example of why I’m not sure if I deserve credit for writing this. It seems to me that The Supreme Being had this plan for me in mind all along, and only reveled that to me after I wrote The Ballad of Johnny Rose. Thank you Lord!