While I was driving through Nevada I put in my soundtrack from Schindler’s List.  The main theme from that movie is one of the most moving pieces of music I have ever heard.  And the violin solo was played by Itzhak Pearlman, one of the most brilliant violinists of our day.

I’m not sure if it was the music itself, or the fact that Pearlman is Jewish, or that the music is from a movie on the Holocaust, or the fact that I was driving through the barren Nevada desert (which looked absolutely beautiful)…

Whatever it was, or the combination of all of those things together, almost brought me to tears.  I’ve never heard a violin cry the way it does in that song–with longing, beauty, desperation, elegance, and graceful dignity.  I wish I could find better words to describe it.  I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a song with such raw emotion…

This past Sunday I drove back from Utah.  I was on vacation visiting friends and attending my friend Michele’s wedding.

As I left Shane’s apartment on Sunday, I stepped into the most beautiful and peaceful Utah morning I have ever experienced.  It was clean and crisp, and the clouds hung low over the eastern mountains.  It felt like the Earth had renewed itself through the previous night and was just beginning to wake.  I stood there for a few minutes and just soaked in the feeling of renewal.

Luckily, I had the impression to take a picture.  Understandably, the picture doesn’t capture the full beauty of the moment…

The day was beautiful today…  I loved it.

I think what I liked the most was that the weather was perfect:  clear blue sky, about 80 degrees.  What inspired me was a combination of driving fast in my Dodge Charger (which I have still not named) with the windows down and skylight open, while listening to Absolute by The Fray, and driving through the west side of Roseville that is still undeveloped.  Right by my house there are huge open fields that just go on and on… WOW it was amazing.  Can’t get much more inspiring than that.  I even took a picture of myself while I was driving…

Jon Inspired by The Fray, Nature, and Wind

I listened to Absolute at least 10 times today…  And while I was driving home tonight–cranking Absolute with my windows down–I was so inspired that I pulled over and wrote some lyrics of my own…  Then I cranked the music, and sped home.  Wow, I love feeling inspired

And when I got home the inspiration didn’t stop.  My roommate mentioned Smashing Pumpkins and that he had the music video for Disarm–easily one of my top 5 songs of all time.  Needless to say I watched it a few times…