As I am writing this AI is constantly reminding me that it can help me. Warning me that without it’s help I might err in syntax, grammar or creativity. Escaping that messaging is the impetus of Jules Klee’s Slow Tour.
Jules, a mom with two wonderful kiddos, has been living at the speed of light. Hustling children, Gardening Design Company and the resurgence of her music career. As her fellow American I’m like, “Yeah, that’s the way we roll!” But Jules’s journey as a woman of deep faith, physical stamina and a need to express her experience through song, sees the need to change gears. Hence, the Slow Tour.
As she left this morning with her Road Manager Alex, perhaps the quietest person on the planet; there was a default smile on her face. It’s 3 hours to Grayslake and Andy’s Records, in the rain. She planned to leave at 5am but the duo didn’t hit the park trail in Peterson Woods until just before 8am.
After the show last night, Nettie somehow had the energy to make salmon, asparagus, potatoes and crumbled boiled eggs in about 30 minutes. I put away the chairs in the basement, Alex stowed their gear for today’s trip and Jules tucked herself away in the guest room to call her kids and say goodnight for the evening.
We converged on the kitchen, me on dishes and sous chef duties. Alex leading Jules through a planned stretching routine and yoga practice just off the kitchen on the solarium floor. We chatted the late night away.
Dinner on the porch; Nettie’s favorite place to eat. We talked music, religion, faith and cults, gardening, companionship and food. We looked at the route to Grayslake from our place for her next stop, Andy’s Records.
I always marvel at people like Nettie and Jules. They set goals and accomplish them. My method for accomplishing my goals involves thrashing about and lots of apps and links. Until last night I never realized how important their slow steady pace is to their success.
Once when speaking with Steve Dawson about songwriting he remarked that he liked to go really slow.
Slow? Slow.
I don’t know if having Slowness as a practice is genius or just an acknowledgement of how Capitalism manifests in the world as a stresser and race to the bottom. It’s a simple business model that keeps literally every one moving at a steady unrelenting pace. That is, unless you make the decision to Slow Down.
Jules’s other insight, which I’ll paraphrase, is about the ideas of knowing and certainty. She mentioned her observation that people seemed overly cautious about moving forward without a plan. She further specified that she didn’t mean to advocate for “No Plan” rather she questions the rigidity of planning. In my own words, the pursuit of perfection hamstrings forward motion.
The dream of Success is a kind of Perfection.
Jules has a definite plan. Today it’s to get to Grayslake on 2 bikes with trailers. 38 miles in the rain. Her show is at 1pm today. Without allowing for hunger, health and bathroom breaks, without stops — the trip is 3 hours according to Google Maps.
Jules is an experienced biker. She likes long trips. It gives her the opportunity to experience the world around rather than whipping through it on her way to wherever. She errs on the side of caution– enter Alex, Road Manager and travel buddy.
She’s not trying to be Buddha. She’s just slowing her life down to where she can understand it, make some thoughtful decisions, and play by her own rules.
The performance at ShooBooty Studios last night was amazing. She sings like an angel, while playing guitar, but the stories of love and loss, trust and betrayal are heartfelt and tear jerkers.
She opened with “He Don’t Know A Thing” A song that seems to be about one woman’s escape from troubling circumstances into the arms of a lover or a moment, or a space. Assuming that it’s JUST about the arms of another person seems to fall short of her songwriting ability. While it may be a lover you can hear in her lyric and tone– the hook of the chorus, “We didn’t wake the devil; Just as far as I can tell” evoke images of of hiding and finding respite; praying not to be discovered. “No he don’t know a thing about you.” More than a picture of hiding a lover, it’s speaks to those things that help us survive torment that lingers on and on. Peace and quiet.
She made me think about the path from the innocence of hopes and dreams to the crushing reality that things don’t have to go well. The Slow Tour to me represents the season we enter after the smoke of broken dreams clear. It’s the wizened victory of uncertainty. We don’t get to give up, not because our feet are held to a fire but because as beings we are designed to live to the next moment through aspiration. Paraphrasing Jules again, she embraces the Uncertainty. That is how she moves forward, carries on … cautiously, deliberately, certain of nothing, free of the constraints of what defines a relationship, what defines happiness, with Joy as her intention.
Watch this space for information on my upcoming show Sept 17th at Uncommon Ground where I will host Jules Klee and Joe Gorka. We may even share a tune or two.
