I am in the top one percent.  Seems that may not be good enough for some these days.  The times they are…a changing?  Nah.  Some folks just like to complain.

I got my new CD Take Me There this week.  The Cover Art Design was done by Jerry Brown of Celery Inc. Medora, Indiana.  Thank you, Jerry.

I am so proud of this project.  Having my name on the cover is tough to a degree.  I know I know…I wrote all the songs.  I sang them all.  Still.  This doesn’t  represent what went in to this endeavor.

I am so thankful.  On Saturday, April 27th @ 6:30 PM,  I go back to the old home place, Brownstown, Indiana. I last lived in Brownstown 40 years ago and all these years on I am going back to sing and share with old friends. Who does that?  Well, my dear friend, Barry Hall, has helped me do this.  One of the sponsors of the Brownstown Central Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Barry made this possible.

My musical journey is a great story.  There is not enough room here for me to begin that.

So what I am doing this evening?  I am listening to the multiple CDs that hold the keys and the individual sessions that led to final product Take Me There.  I still have the CD from the December 2011 demo session that started this all.

There is a twinge of sadness that goes with the completion of a project like this.  It started with demo sessions  December 21, 2011.  That was a special day.  We were on to something.  On April 23, 2019 CDs were delivered.  The end result?  Something I have no words to express the gratitude and appreciation I have for the folks that helped make this real.  All-Star lineup.  That is what Jefferson Carpenter brought together.

Rod Wurtele, Jeff Guernsey, John Burgard, Dan Trisko, Barry King, Jason Sturgill, John Hayse, Gene Wickliffe, Robbie Bartlett, Tim Krekel, Jim Baugher, Aaron Montgomery, my sister, Lynn Benson, and myself.  We did it under the careful watch of the great Jefferson Carpenter at his Al Fresco’s Place Recording Studio.  And man it sounds great.  Thank you all.

You have taken me there!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I am sitting on the back porch this evening after a great day of family and sharing and vittles on this same porch.

Happy Easter everyone!

Though the years have flown, the images and sounds are still lively ingrained in my mind and my heart.

The choir at the Brownstown Baptist Church, which included my parents, were there on Easter Sunday singing a hearty version of:

“UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE…WITH A MIGHTY TRIUMP O’RE HIS FOES…”

That is a classic.

The Easter service Carrie and I attended this weekend was missing that song, though it was a still a meaningful and good service.

I am blessed and I am thankful.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Sitting on the back porch with my dear wife, Carrie, as dinner warms in the oven.  I am sure the vittles will be good.  They always are.  I am a fortunate man.

The internet is an amazing thing.  We are on the back porch, both pecking away at laptop computers listening to WNCT 107.9.  That is our station of choice when we visit our beloved North Carolina shore.  Based in Greenville, this station has a solid signal south of there.  And this signal, thanks to the internet, is clear as a bell.  Far cry from the days I waited for the sun to go down as a teenager so I could hope for a good signal from 890 AM The Rock of Chicago in my Ramsey, Indiana bedroom.  I loved those days.

I was asked today why I am not posting much on speaktherights.com these days.  I wish I could say there just isn’t time.  That’s not true, here I am.  I have been busy with other things, however.

Do I miss sitting here tapping away on the keyboard?  Yes.  Do I wish I did it more?  Yes.

My friend reminded me of the 50 posts in 50 days last year when I turned 50.  He said I was getting lazy.  I wish that were true.  I could handle that much better.

I love to write. I always have.  When I was in the 10th grade I had a teacher gush over my writing prowess.  Glad to accept the praise, I did not know what it meant until I was late in my 40s.

I can tell you this…speaktherights.com may have a new name on the horizon.

I have been criticized by some for having a web page whose title sounds “ultra-conservative”.  That was never the intent.  If you read the very first post, it is still on the page, you can find the origin of the name of this page.  Whilst I am still a Republican according to the courthouse, I cringe at what the party of sensibility has become.  It is not that anymore.  It is a polluted dysfunctional place now.  One day it will get better.  It has to.

I like the name speaktherights.com.    I always have.  But, after over 500 posts we may be in for a change.  I think so.  It won’t be complicated.  I know what it is already, providing I make the call and make the change.  I am still chewing on it.

Until then, keep on speaking the rights!

Danny Johnson

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Danny Johnson Solo Acoustic Stories and Songs
Brownstown Central High School Auditorium
Saturday April 27th 6:30 PM – FREE ADMISSION
Presented by the BCHS Fellowship of Christian Athletes

So this is the promotion on social media.

My old friend Barry Hall and I, with a little help, figured this out.  Barry is one of the Brownstown Central High School Fellowship of Christian Athletes sponsors.  I play guitar and sing and tell stories about songs that I have written.  I too believe in miracles.

It will be good times I am sure.

My new CD “Take Me There”, I am waiting for it to be delivered, was a labor of love.  I found making music to be exactly that.  I am so fortunate that I found it, albeit later in life than most.

I got  the idea for the cover after I saw this picture:

That is where I sit and play and sing during recording.

Here I am singing one over again.

The other side of the glass.

“Take Me There” is an effort that I am very proud of.  We started working on this in 2011 with a few demos and in 2012 we recorded some proper material.  In 2016 we refined that.  In 2019 we brought it all together and recorded a few more tunes.  This takes so long because this is what I do in my spare time.  Songwriting comes to me when it comes to me.  I am blessed in that regard.  I don’t chase songs down.  Never have.  The timing was excellent.

Going back to Brownstown to debut some of the new material is something that, for me, is perfect.  I have some stories to go along with the songs and it will all be straight-forward stuff.  Just me and a guitar and my songs in a room full of old and new friends.  I am looking forward to it.  It makes sense.

If you can make it, I hope to see you there.  I think you will find something that is appealing to you.  At least you’ll know where the songs came from.

Speaking the Take Me There rights.

Danny Johnson

Optimism.  That is a solid commodity.  We still need it.  We need it in the tough times we are in.  Seems like folks are having too much fun putting each other down.  We’re better than that, aren’t we?  I would like to think so.  Strange old times we are living in for sure.

One step up and two steps back.  My business feels like that.  I am an educator.  On a National Level that is embarrassing.   One a state level it is tough.  I was elated, for a change, when Indiana leaders said to other leaders that making a high school senior pass the citizenship test given to immigrants in order to graduate was not a good idea.  Miracles are still with us.  So are tests.  That is what got us here in the first place…this education hurdle.

Give them a Civics test!  That is the answer!  No, it is not the answer.

Our kids are tested to pieces.  Our math and English teachers are chasing a test.  Get those standards in or else!

Civility.  Isn’t that what they are getting at when they speak of a civics test?  No, no, no…I am not just talking about people getting along.  I am talking about the civility we have left behind in the age of testmania.

What do I mean?  Employers are clamoring for workers with a strong work ethic, good communication skills, good attendance, and please be drug free!  Amen.  And God Bless you!

Schools have not been able to help this process for a long time.

You’re old Uncle Dan can remember a time when we did not have the GRADUATION EXAM hanging over our heads.  When we were in English class and there was a time for everyone’s voice to be heard about an issue of the day, be it related to subject matter or not, we went around the room and let folks speak their mind and we respected one another and we LEARNED from each other.  We cleared the air.  We made progress as people.  We did not fear that we were missing a standard we would be held accountable for a few minutes of testing.  We were more interested in being accountable for our lives and the lives of those around us.  That is where education as we know has failed its students.

Is it a money issue?  Testing is a BIGGGGG business.  There is a pile of money to follow somewhere.  We don’t do that though.  There just isn’t time.

Politicians never got it.  They won’t. They don’t care enough about kids.  That is obvious. After all, the ones they impose their will on can’t vote yet.  Their parents are too busy trying to put the bacon on the table and who could blame them?   I don’t.

But I do know there is a solution.  Let kids be kids again…not testing robots.  I know I know…the new graduation pathways set forth by the Indiana State Board of Education seem to be getting the point.  But their answer is so verbose and full of hereofs and therefores that it still looks pretty overthought and pieish.  They don’t get it.  Folks like me are just left to deal with their crap at the bottom of the hill.  Now that is speaking the rights!

Did I plan this rant.  No.  But it needed to be addressed.  The last post I made was March 18th, my 51st birthday.  I think this is my longest hiatus on speaktherights.com.  I don’t regret it.

What I sat down here to talk about was the new bridge at Surf City, North Carolina.  The bridge at the header of my page is gone.   It makes me sad.  But the new bridge is something to behold.

Between the the poles in the channel is where this once sat.

The Bridge is behind us in this pic.

My dear wife, Carrie and I spent last week at our beloved Topsail Island, NC.  It is our second home.  We found it together.  It is our place.  Can’t ya tell?

Hurricane Florence was not kind to this area.  Folks at church and at the fish market we frequent told us that 40 percent of the houses on the island are still looking to get ready for summer.  They are a resilient bunch.  The house to the south of us had to be completely rebuilt.  The one to our north needed work too.  So did ours, but it was minor comparatively.

The morning we left, I took this picture.

We’ll be back.  Hopefully I can say that about the sensibility of Indiana’s decision makers one day.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson