SET LIST EIGHT (8)

1 Thirty Seconds……………….83

2 Pretty Fountains

3 Playing Chess…………..84

4 Sky and Light

5 Discartes…………………...86

6 I Am

7 Timeless To Ten……………..88

8 Listen

9 Fear…………………..89

10 Down

11 Spinning………………..91

12 Somewhere……….92

THIRTY SECONDS

I got about thirty seconds…

To get inside your head

So let us save the small talk

For another time instead

Now I have only twenty seconds left…

To sew this little seed to try to

Turn my belief into your belief

How do I get you to see that

Once you unplug yourself from your TV

You can begin to make a difference

To someone else, yourself and me…

Uh oh…just ten seconds more…

To let you know that there are

Countless caverns

Left within your mind

Just waiting to be explored...

PLAYING CHESS

Burning up...Burning out...

Sitting in an ashtray...

With no way out...

Walking in circles...

Across hot coals...

Something landed on my lap...

What? Only God knows...

This is some new sh#$...

Highly funky...

Caged like a monkey...

Start by turning one key...

End up as a junky…

You may say highly unlikely...

But you could end up just like me....

If you say yes...

Would your life be a mess?

It's anyone's guess...

Well, life's like playing chess...

Let me explain my life

In a way that you can see it

I'm fighting a battle

I'm playing a game

But I know I’ll never beat it

So many moves though

I proceed with caution

While I’m weary of hesitation

Each step must be wise...

Just to escape total domination...

In that there is no compromise

All the devils have eyes...

Some wear suits and ties...

And tell dirty lies...

Some things just won't die

Someone watching

From way up high

Is playing chess with my mind

And I think the general

He wants me to die

As he sends me to the front

Of the battle lines

I've been a pawn

For far too long

Even though I'm still fighting

I don't know which side I'm on

Every time I look behind me

The general's gone

I hear checkmate

I now stand alone

And half-way around the world

Is a long way from home

Somehow I was taken

And played just like a fool

And I was mistaken

Thinking everyone plays

By the same set of rules

When I smash the board

I'll free myself

When I drop my gun

They'll enlist someone else

For I am no hero

I've lost all hope

Of saving mankind

If I can save myself

Then at least

I won't be wasting time

If I ever get that far

Then I'll try to free the others

One at a time

Show them what to be weary of

And all the warning signs

For even on top of the world

There are still mountains left to climb

SKY AND LIGHT

I scared myself today

When I saw the world

In a whole new way

Every mind’s a piece

of unmolded clay

And mine’s become trapped

inside a maze of words

That I cannot explain

or write nor say

We all live beneath the same sky

Yet we don’t all see the same light

Some see nothing

but the summers sun

While others look up

at a winters night

While waiting for the other shoe

to drop unto the floor

I've given up trying to make sense

of anything any more

For this stale air has

finally gotten the better of me

Had to take a walk outside

to try to change my scenery

Everything I have known has

decided to play tricks on me

My past is my shadow

that no longer stands beside me

Long ago we parted

and went our separate ways

Long before this whole mess started

Before this city was set ablaze

I scared myself today

When I saw the whole world

In a whole new way

Every minds a piece

of unmolded clay

And mines become trapped

inside a maze of words

That I cannot explain

or write nor say

We all live beneath the same sky

Yet we don’t all see the same light

Some see nothing

but the summers sun

While others look up

at a winters night

Yes, I had to take a walk outside

and change my scenery

And hopefully bleed

some new blood into me

Escape from my surroundings

and all of this abject poverty

Provide my eyes a change

and find something new to see

I scared myself today

When I saw the whole world

In a whole new way

I scared myself today

Became trapped inside

a maze of words

That I could not explain

nor write or say

DISCARTES

I hear whispers from the lost souls of man

Questioning everything that I think that I am

So I do not think therefore I am not…

Part of the problem or solution

Since my character no longer

Plays any role in the plot

It is then my mind reminds me

I have no memory

And there was something else…

But I forgot

Today, what is not needed it gets deleted

Just as in ancient times

When translated, annihilated

Just meant defeated

No, not just the soldier in retreat

But his dog, his flag and his whole family

I hear whispers…

Voices unknown to me

Hence I fall back into a dream-like state

Looks like everything will have to wait

Living in a dream…

To wake up one must fall asleep

Returning to reality…

Close your eyes as the same process repeats

Peace!

I AM

I am to their God

What the Beatles were to Jesus

Independent thought

Is the only thing that frees us

Even chained to a cross

I claim that you

Can still get lost

But not everyone believes this

Noah floated in a flood

And the reason was all because

Humans are just like

Viruses and diseases

Just as peasants are to power

As dangerous as weeds

Are to a flower...

And Brutus was to Caesar

Living in the age of painted rust

Sure looks pretty but do you trust

That it would even hold your weight

Or all those behind you trying to escape

From all you corporate hypnotists

Going around brainwashing little kids

Almost too slippery it's so surreal

The way I think and the way I float

The way I vote and the way I feel

Almost too good it should be destroyed

But then again that would leave

An awful lot of people left unemployed

And we know they'd need something

To kill time and fill the void

Some choose crime over rhyme

And Sarah Palin over Arundhati Roy

Oh to be a master to many

And a slave to none

Won't you tell me all about it

It sure does sound like fun

TIMELESS TO TEN

Sure going viral might

getcha paid and it

might even getcha laid

and make grandma need

a new hearing aid

“What'd ya say?”

It might make you friends

Send ya on an upward trend

Spiraling high above the earth

Until you find yourself

coming crashing on

back down again

“So what then?”

But by being bold

and staying true

Could and would you

Call your life a failure

If you find you’ve inspired

the minds of just a few?

Can't you see

that it's better to be

Timeless to ten rather than

having fifteen minutes

of fleeting fame

with the minions

They say a stitch in time

It may save nine

I say I’d rather be

timeless to just ten

Without regard or sentiment

for or of public opinion

I’d rather be loved by some

And feared by none

As opposed to reigning supreme

Over any other living beings

I’ve been thinking it’s better

to use my powers to heal

To try to unify

and not divide us all up

into different social classes

Delivered from temptation

Let me not yield

For I’d much rather level

the playing field

Than to try to climb

And rise above the masses

LISTEN

Down on the corner

Of Ocean and Demora

I’ve seen a lot of drama

My fair share of horror

Sometimes you see it coming

Or you’re hearing people running

As you’re thinking ain’t that something

That the prey has gone out hunting

Though you’re not sure what it means

You’ve fallen deeper in the dream

Begin to question your beliefs

Leaving others to plant seeds

What will grow?

What will grow?

What will grow?

It’s hard to know

Sometimes it shows

Other times it don’t show

What do we make

Of all these mistakes?

Try hard, trying hard

Keep falling on my face

Down on the corner

Of Ocean and Demora

I’ve seen a lot of drama

My fair share of horror

And though you know that it’s a trap

Your biggest failure’s not to act

It’s too easy to look back

Long after the fact

Saying I wish I did this

And I didn’t do that

Inaction and indecision

Leaves you full of things you’re missing

And now it’s lost

The gift you’ve been given

You paid the cost

No, you didn’t listen

FEAR

My fear is my friend

So long we’ve been together

From the beginning

Until the very end

Some call it other names

Play their silly games

Pretend they’re still the same

Though facts remain unchanged

You’re hearing two voices

Coming from different places

With two opposite choices

As you find yourself now facing

A separation of church and state

In this case it’s your logic and faith

One is gone the other’s been misplaced

Lying in ruins and laid to waste

Yet it takes dialogue and not debate

To make whole again this fractured state

We need common ground not lines in the sand

For unity to be found in our fellow man

With this goal in mind we must forge ahead

While biding our time with our feet on the ledge

Tight to our toes lies a precipitous drop

But with our backs to the wall we cannot stop

The daylight is dwindling

As darkness draws near

Every path towards escape

Has circled back here

I’m not alone…

It’s my friend who comforts me…

Fear

DOWN

When you’re down

That’s when they show

Funny how

They always seem to know

A cloud of doubt

Soon you’re all wet

Burned out black out

Less we forget

Our history’s

Full of regret

What we pretend to be

Sans our secrets

When you’re down

That’s when they show

Funny how

They always seem to know

A man like me

Teeters back and forth

Between being benevolent

And a fan of force

Half of me believes

There can only be

One king of the jungle

My other half isn’t deceived

And keeps reminding me

To stay humble

When you’re down

That’s when they show

Funny how

They always seem to know

So…

If you find yourself in a hole

The first thing to do is stop digging

What I’ve learned you will soon know

You lose the right to choose

when you’re begging

Once you took pride in self-control

Now you take whatever you’re given

That warm smile’s turned frosty cold

You’re making a mistake

- this ain’t really living

First find some sunlight

Then you can grow

Discover who and what you are

Rather than keep it hidden

Now behold

The shooting star

You’ve always been

And always are!

And now you know

What before...you didn’t

SPINNING

It is said that every

body is a temple

So surely somewhere in here

there's a place of healing

Lately I've found my hands

folded and praying

Though I'm not sure

if I should be standing,

sitting or kneeling

I've been having

the strangest of feelings

But I can't quite

put my finger on it

Though I know

there is a key

unlocking and revealing

That which I have been

searching and seeking

Still I have yet to

lay my hands upon it

In all of these --

my wheelings and dealings

Perhaps I lent it,

lost it or pawned it

For this isn't how

I planned it

I've slowly become

an army of one

I'm beginning to sense

that I'm surrounded

As around and around

and around I'm being spun

And I spin...

Seems I can't win

Yet I'll die before

I ever surrender

So I fight...

My own insides

And all these memories

I don't want to remember

I can't lie...

Or try to hide

In this journey

of mine to venture

Into the very

core of my mind

Just to see what

is at its center

So I pry...

From here outside

Whenever I find a room

with a chained door

That I know still has

yet to be explored

One that some day

I shall have to enter

SOMEWHERE

A handful of empty promises

all about a better tomorrow

I’ve found them to be all hollow

Leaving me here

with just this sorrow

Once I had all I thought I’d need

But now I got nothing but memories

It’s time to show me a sign

God, let me know you’re up there…

Somewhere

Lately it seems my faith

has somehow been misplaced

I hope it hasn’t disappeared

And that it’s still round here…

Somewhere

When the yellow sun is glowing way, way up high

You could never expect to see any stars in the sky

But you know they’re up there…

Somewhere

But it can boggle the mind

just what goes on… up there

Surely the stars still shine some places sometimes…

Somewhere

Yet where we come from

and where we all go surely I don’t know

But everything here

had to come from…

Somewhere

It’s lonely in the dark

on a cold night

Feeling without an ember,

without a spark

Clinging to emptiness oh so tight

Yet you know love is inside you…

Somewhere

Yes, you know love is inside you…

Somewhere