If I could sing, this is how I would want to sound. Jon McLaughlin is one of those artists who should have much more fanfare and radio play then they do. So, please listen and enjoy the video below. Then make sure to purchase all of his music you can.

SONG: "Questions" by Jon McLaughlin
LYRICS: Click Here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FerZ_R2-6sY

I'm sure I'll have tons of music posted by Jon on this site in due time! Stay tuned, and make sure to spread the word to support your favorite artists!

Chad

Music can move our hearts and guide our souls. The songs that I write have a particular meaning to me. What is fascinating is how we (as listeners) find our own meanings between the lines. Those meanings act as mirrors and show anyone willing to listen, a piece of yourself.

SONG: "Run" by Snow Patrol
LYRICS: Click Here!

Leona Lewis does an amazing job on this song. Most of the time, the remakes of songs pretty much suck, but this one absolutely does not. She is such a talent and I will probably have songs of hers on here!

Please Comment Before You View the Following As It May Skew Your Thoughts:
THE BAND'S MEANING: Click Here!

What do you think... what meaning does this song have for you? Please comment below!

2010 was an amazing year for me. It started off with failing a physical at the tender age of 33. My blood pressure was through the roof and my doctor wanted to give me medicine. I thought NO WAY! I'm 'arfin' 33 years old, that's crazy. Plus, I didn't want to take a pill where my symptoms would be masked giving me the perfect excuse to keep doing whatever stupid habit I was doing which caused the problems in the first place. Damn us humans, our "human condition" is unbelievably lame! I say that without looking from a distance, I say it being intertwined within it like everyone else.

So, I immediately began tracking my food intake. I realized that my diet had far too many calories and my sodium levels where around 4000-5000mg of daily intake! YIPES! Thus, I "woke up and smelled the cement." I started a regular exercise regimen and ate better. Go figure, diet and exercise. Did I mention "Human Condition?" LOL. My doctor and I also found out that my Vitamin D and Potassium was extremely low and my Magnesium was in the lower region of normal. So, I researched supplements and now take a very basic, but effective (and Dr. approved) regimen. I also changed my diet to include the nutrients necessary rather than, again, taking a pill and keeping my crappy habits.

Come September I had lost 40lbs, my BP was back to where it was since I was 17 and I was able to do things physically that I hadn't been able to in years! (Come to later figure out, it depends on the temperature what my knees can and cannot handle). I was actively dating and meeting great new people. I HAD ACTUALLY KEPT MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTION!! WOOT!

So, kick ass! I was having an amazing year so far. But, suddenly things became blurry. Not until the beginning of the New Year did things come back into focus. Not necessarily for a bad reason, but for a reason where those who came in and out of my life from September to December met the opposite of me.

Since birth, I have always had this heart thing where it would race, without warning most times, for no reason at all. Sometimes, I would throw PVC's. Both symptoms have always scared the crap out of me. This fear obviously would make it worse and last longer by causing an adrenaline rush. I went to doctor's and had numerous tests as well as landing in the ER where I was in trigeminy. All was found to be benign. But, I had found a medicine that really helped with the symptoms and lessoned them massively. It was a med that I had no problem taking everyday so as to not experience that hell. Plus, nothing else had worked.

Now, fast forward again to September/October 2010. Figuring out the levels of Potassium and Magnesium and changing my diet had virtually stopped all symptoms that I had with my heart! Plus, adding Vitamin D, I felt better than I had in a long time! I love my doctor and she and I had teamed up to make a life altering change for the better in me! I wish all those other doctor's had been keen to check my blood for those issues long ago. So, with all of this fantastic news and experiences, I thought "hmmm, maybe I don't need to take 'that' medicine anymore which helped with my heart symptoms in the first place!" To me, it made complete sense... and how awesome would it be to get off of a daily medication! Right on, right? ... Well, wrong. And I didn't realize it till very late. I went cold turkey off of this med. Little did I know that you weren't supposed to do that at all! I really didn't notice it as it was a gradual decline, but I went into a deep depression (yes, side-effect of cold turkey). I was jaded, pessimistic and overly-sensitive.

In the middle of December, It took a couple of friends of mine to sit me down and figuratively kick me in my head! I had left a trail of contempt behind me and wasn't fun to be around. So, I did my best to clear my head and realized they were right. I had stopped all of the beneficial health habits I had picked up and gained 5lbs back. I was eating crap, feeling like crap, and was numb to everything. I was feeling nothing at all. So, one of my best friends, Todd, and I talked and were able to ascertain the one constant was the medication. I was hopeful that conclusion was to solve this problem. But, I had to make sure. I realized that there were some amazing people I had met, some I dated, some potential good friends and some old friends I had burned. So, if it wasn't the meds and it was something else, I didn't want to make the situations worse by jumping the gun and starting my apologizing tour of 2010 too early. I knew that I had to be on the medication again for at least 2-weeks to a month for things to take affect and for me to ascertain whether it truly solved the problem.

Well, here I am within the time frame and the fog I had waded through in pain has lifted. Again, with the help from amazing friends, we had figured it out. And, with this perspective, I have learned an amazing amount about my actions and regrets I have from them. So, as 2011 has taken its reign, I know I need to try to put things right as much as I possibly can. Thus, onwards I will now go. Wish me luck!

UPDATE:
What is great about this post is I wrote the above in late December/early January. But, I had to wait until my Sam Beckett approach to trying to put right that which once went wrong came to a conclusion. Since then, I have been extremely lucky to at least put rights to many of those who I affected. Some, not so much... but that's life and in the scope of things, this is just a blip. It's funny, I think I did my own 12 step program! hehe. Again, I quote my great friend Kyle... "seconds after the darkest of nights, is the first of light."

So 2011 has started out pretty darn great as well! So, please raise a glass with me as I toast: "Here is to you, your passions, your plight, and human conditions. May they bring you faith, hope, love and inner-strength. May the rhythm of your hearts and music in your souls sing loudly and proudly. And, if they stumble or stutter, may those around you help to lift you back up as you would do for those around you!"

Blessings Abundant,

Chad

So, I was asked a question on what my favorite songs are. Safe to say I have a lot, and they all create different moods or intertwine my life experiences with certain emotions reminding me that I'm alive and giving importance to even the sappiest of cliche's. So, I thought I'd give you one of the songs that I find to be one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

Gira Con Me by Josh Groban

Il mondo gira con me questa notte
Piccoli passi che faccio con te
Seguo il tuo cuore e seguo la luna
Cosi’ nascosta lontana da me

Il mondo gira con noi questa notte
Ah esistesse lontano da qui
Un posto dove scoprire il mio cuore
Sapere se puo’ amare o no

E girera e girera il cuore mio assieme a te
E girera il mondo girera
La mia vita e un giorno lui si s capira

Sei tu che giri con me questa notte
Sei tu che giri lontana da qui
Ma si io so che tu sei la mia luna
Qualcosa Mostri Qualcosa No

Ci sono strade azzurre nel cielo
Ci sono occhi e il cielo e gia li
Si questo credo siano le stelle
Ah se potessi fermarmi cosi

E girera e girera il cuore mio lontan da te
E girera il mondo girera
Questa notte e un giorno lui si s capira

Cuore e gia si lontano
Si tu sei la luna
Potessi scoprirlo nel cielo

E girera e girera si girera il cuore mio
Girera il mondo girera la mia vita
Un giorno lui si si capira
Un giorno lui si si capira

TRANSLATION:

Turn with Me
Little steps I take with you
I follow your heart and I follow the moon
So hidden far away from me
The world wanders with us tonight
Ahhh if only far away from here existed
A place where to discover my heart
To know if it can love you or not

And it will wander and it will wander
This heart of mine along with you
And the earth will wander
My life will wander and yes yes one day it will understand

It's you who wanders with me tonight
It's you who wanders far from here
But yes I know that you are my moon Something you show, something you don't

There are blue roads in the sky
There are eyes, and the sky is already there
Yes, I think this is the stars
Ahh, if I could stop like this

And it will wander, and it will wander
My heart far from you
And the earth will wander
My life will wander and one day yes, yes it will understand

Heart already far away
Yes you are the moon
If only i could discover it in the sky

And it will wander, and it will wander
Yes it will wander this heart of mine
And the earth will wander, my life will wander
And one day yes it will understand
And one day yes it will understand you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK1FG4w8l7I

This has been an awesome year so far! It started off rough, but things are going great. I have finally taken my own advice and have worked my butt off to get myself back to where I can do more. More specifically, I have lost 40lbs thus far and that is pretty significant weight to take off of my knees. I'm finding that I can actually jog some now! As much as I want to start sprinting again and get into all the sports I was competitive in... I know that a baby step approach is the better way to go. In fact, that is how I have achieved such significant weight loss: I focused on walking... then walking faster... then getting my heart rate up... then my diet... repeat diet 5 more times... then slowly lifting weights. Now, it's finding a balance between all of those and ensuring that my habits change. I'm not doing anything else differently until those core changes take affect and become my habits. (It has also helped that I got my dog back. Making sure he is healthy has allowed me to make me be healthy as well).

Eating better has been the most notable difference. I really took onto health and nutrition and realized this fact: I wish my school's taught this stuff... or force taught it. I now understand why I felt why I did during practices when I was younger, and how different I felt in games. What I was eating for lunch trashed me for practices... and was trashing the opiate receptors in my brain and I became addicted to bad fats, mass quantities of salt and that terrible high fructose corn syrup. So, when my knees gave out and my activity waned, my addiction to terrible foods reared its ugly head. But, I couldn't hide it through my activity. In a strange and very heartening way, the self-described activities I lost brought out a diet issue that was not only plaguing my activity, but my moods. Since I have tracked what I eat, I found horrible trends. The amount of salt in our overly-processed foods is insane. The average American eats more than twice the amount of salt we are supposed to. In fact, a large percentage of restaurant dishes contain more then the whole daily allotment of sodium. When I cut it back to what I am supposed to, I had dreams of licking potato chips = no joke! I didn't eat them, I just licked off the salt. That's indeed pretty nasty, but again, what a realization from my subconscious addictiveness to processed foods. Then, I noticed my potassium & magnesium were out of whack as well. By researching and incorporating ways to steady the levels out between those minerals, numerous positive changes ensued and I can do things I couldn't before! In fact, I can now ascertain how I feel by what I've eaten and how well I've slept.

My doctor loves me because I bring her research . She has told me that America's worst epidemic is its diet and the food industry. Now, after educating myself, I wholeheartedly agree. I believe there should be a massive push for preventative medicine, not reactive medicine. The medicines/ingredients/everything we put in our stomachs on a daily basis deserve just as much scrutiny as the FDA gives it's medicines. In as so much as High Fructose Corn Syrup should be banned - and I'm sure there are many others as well.

Now, as I use this paragraph to gracefully step down from my soap box, I must say that I still will eat pizza, hamburgers, steaks, white breads and some candy. It's all about moderation and balance. Anything that has high fructose corn syrup or enriched (insert any ingredient here) I usually run from, fast. Some friends and I have even started a group that come keep each other in check and stay in touch / offer support to help us become healthier. Life is far to precious and the people in our lives are too.

So, I still have some work to go before I steady out and maintain, but I have to say the road has been amazing and I adore the fact that my blood pressure is like it was when I was 17. How awesome is that?!

Be well everyone, and again: thank you for supporting my artistry. You feed a large portion of my spiritual side and in turn given me strength to do the best I can to be a better musician.

~Chad

When a year passes go and we collect our $200 of debt, it is the obvious time to reflect on one's life. Whether we do so because our conditioning is so rigid or the psychological effects of winter weather kick in - at least it aims itself in a positive view to use this time to make changes. We garner such a huge amount of "this will be the year" that infects our brains so rapidly that after only a couple of short months later, that conviction has waned. I too struggle from this condition and even applied reverse psychology on myself - "This year I will gain 20 lbs and eat bacon for every meal." Mmm, doesn't that sound amazing? Now, I could never let myself do that and so I've failed on my New Years Resolution, but such failure is deemed a success. Woo me! I've changed the contextual condition of the semantic meaning of failure to make myself look badass!

Some people can run and exercise all the time, I cannot. I could as a kid and through about my mid 20's, but then my knees and hip declined to work... and 4 surgeries later, it has not changed for any better. I do suffer from my conversations pointing towards what I was when I could, and that has become depressing. Sadly, it has been dating which has been the catalyst to build this barrier. Everyone wants an active lifestyle, and when you physically cannot achieve that - it becomes a negative. So, I try to explain how 10 years ago, I could climb 3 14'ers a day, naked, in the cold, carrying a small goat on my back. Yet, it often fails because unless you've known me for 20+ years, one cannot garner that much understanding acceptance necessary to fill out that "perfect mate" checklist. I guess what I am saying is - it is extremely tough to have your personality and desires stunted by your body's ability to fulfill them. I honestly get sad watching basketball, tennis or soccer. I want to be out there on the field. It was my home. These plastic chairs in the peanut gallery just suck and do nothing to feed my competitiveness. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to be paralyzed... but my heart certainly goes out to those who are. Their struggle and the amount of strength it takes is akin to my friend who had the heart transplant a few years back.

Some people do drugs. I don't, never did, never will. However, I do miss the "high" I got from exercising so much.

Some people eat. That's me. I can remember eating massive amounts of food and losing weight because of my exercise regimen and multiple year round sports. I used to drink a slimfast after every meal, do the weight gainer 8 million and had a personal trainer work on me to build up my muscle. What is funny is when you look at my arms, they are strong, but tiny. I couldn't gain any weight at all with all of those ingredients trying to get me to bulk up. Now, because of my knees the most difficult thing to do is not eat the amounts of food I have been accustomed to since I was a fetus. Now, my beagle, Copper, if given a bag of food would eat - throw up - eat - throw up - eat ... until everything was gone. And because I have the measuring cups, that won't happen.

So, all of that mumbling and blabber above is to say, my New Year's Resolution is to hire a chef to make healthy, portioned meals and hire a "life" secretary to shock me if I stray beyond my boundaries. This seems funny but it is almost necessary because when I get into those "crazy musician" dark moods, food is there to blanket me... and sushi is just too expensive to have all the time. If I could, I'd be perfect!

So, final answer: "This year I will turn all of my excuses and self-inflicted emotional reactions of the reality of life... into motivators. I will find a way to quench my competitive physical thirst through safe channels. I will finish my new CD and start working on a Christmas CD for 2010. I will make it my duty to do those things that ought to have been done, but would not have been done unless I do it. I will make valiant strides ahead to be... a better man for myself." And if anyone can help me figure this all out... please, show me how!

Chad