I know that no one ever comes here to this abandoned blog, but I just decided to post a few thoughts here today.

"Cry On My Shoulder" is a song I wrote while deployed to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea in 1999.  I was really moved by my intense loneliness and I reached for music almost instinctively as a form of comfort.  There is a song by the Beach Boys called "Don't Worry, Baby" that was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love that has touched me deeply for years - this song, while being a poetic exchange between two lovers before a drag race, actually spoke to a much deeper need for me - the need for comfort and security that only God could offer.  I wanted to capture that loving comfort that "Don't Worry, Baby" had offered me for so long and offer it to my friends and listeners in this generation. 

"Cry On My Shoulder" will probably never be heard by more than a few hundred people, but those few will hear the love that I poured into the song - love that comes from the heart of God.  Hopefully, that love that I first felt from a scratchy old Beach Boys record will touch others, and bring them comfort in a time of brokenness.

                   

This will be my blog/e-mail/message board/guestbook for JohnnyProctor.com. 
The primary intent is to discuss music, the indie scene, mp3s, the charts, new tunes by our favorite indie artists, and collaboration projects.  Still, if you just want to leave a line or two about any subkect whatsoever, let's talk! 

Hey everybody, I have really neglected this site but checked and wow!  I'm still getting 60-100 hits a day. 

I just joined a new music community called Rocket Radio, a forum to showcase unsigned bands and artists.  If you like my music, it would be really great if you could visit Johnny Proctor on Rocket Radio and vote an opinion on my songs and on me as an artist.  There are also many other artists there offering some really good music for free.

You can also download any of my songs there for free.  I hope you will check it out and vote.  I'm not making any money off of this; its just great to know that people do hear my music and I can get actual feedback on how they think it sounds.

-Johnny

This year a lifelong dream of mine came true. Thanks to the miracles of modern technology and the talent of my brainy wife, This year I was able to get my music recorded, uploaded to the internet, and heard all over the world. I have wanted to do this since I was a little child and first heard the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. The songs have been in my life for years. Some written on the DMZ in Korea, one from Iraq. The recording station I use was a gift from my Priest who greatly encouraged me to record my music (thank you so much, Father Pawlikowski). The technology was mastered by Amy who found a way to get my music from a SmartMedia card into cyberspace. Amy, I am deeply in your debt. Although I'm far from a household name, my songs have been played in Sweden, Brazil, Iran, Ukraine, Finland and many other nations. In December, my songs were played 1,999 times and downloaded 132 times. I am absolutely thrilled. That music can be heard on Soundclick.com   I appreciate all who have stopped by for a listen even if my music is not your personal style or taste. Happy New Year and many blessings on you and yours in 2005. Johnny

I have always loved aqua and other blue-green shades. I once had a Pontiac GTO that color. Cool! My daughter has a poster on her wall of two porpoises leaping out of crystal clear tropical water with lots of blues, greens and splashes. I don't know why that moves me so, but I saw that poster and said, "I'm going to write a song about the feeling that color gives me." So I wrote "Aqua Blue" about the true blue faithfulness of my best friend, Paul. I'd love for you to give it a listen here: AQUA BLUE

Aqua blue = happy feeling!

After 25 years, my first hit!!!!!!!!

I have the #19 song on the Soundclick.com Surf Rock charts!  Ironically, the song is titled "Number One in the Nation"...

...I admit, I'm a medium sized fish in a tiny pond, but...      ....I'll TAKE it!  Thanks to everyone who gave my music a spin (that's what we oldsters used to call it when you played a record) or a listen!  I have to celebrate! 

The song is an autobiographical 2 and a half minute surf rock/revved up harmony blast that chronicals my journey from teeenager with stars in his eyes to middle aged man who still can't let that dream go.  Enjoy!  http://www.soundclick.com/pro/?BandID=220644

Its easy to remain private and even anymous in cyberspace.  Many people relate to each other, although virtual strangers (no pun intended) in a highly personal way. 

What impact has the internet had on your "in person" relationships?  Are you more inclined to lean on your cyber-friends or your nearby ones?  Is personal, physical proximity necessary to maintain frienships?  Where do you draw the line?

Personally, I believe that cyberspace is a great place to exchange ideas and even feelings (limited as the forum may be) but we have to stay balanced with our "real" relationships.  Perhaps this is a non issue.  A mature person can stay rooted in their "present" relationships and still connect in a different way online.

The internet is a GREAT tool and it has impacted communications in a powerful way.  As an aspiring musician, I appreciate the immediate access it gives to people who would never otherwise hear my sounds.

What do YOU think?

In the car? At home? In the office/work space? Online? On your computer? While you jog/walk? Do you prefer the private world of headphones or the blast of a great song filling up the room? Do you ever use music to change your moods? Or to create a mood or feeling?

Do you sing? In the shower, or while doing the dishes, or to your children? In Church or Synagogue, do you sing the hymns or just stand silently while others worship with hymns? Do you ever just break out in some song totally unselfconsciously? Did you ever want to sing in a group or a band? I would really like to hear about the ways you employ music in your life!

I am simultaneously invigorated and saddened by the democratic process in full bloom here in the USA 2 months before election day.   I am thrilled at the soaring rhetoric, enthusiastic patriotism and real accomplishments proclaimed at the RNC; I am appalled at the level of compromise required to win the "swing" votes and what that ultimately means for our Republic.

Politics in our republic require a vigorous debate of the issues and a slavish, condescending appeal to uninformed, yet influential voters.  I am encouraged by the success the GOP seems to be achieving as a "big tent/inclusive" party ( a political necessity) yet deeply troubled by the strident social liberalism embraced by the Gulianis and Shwarzeneggers of the party. 

Homosexual activists and their grip on the media have become such invincible brokers in election politics that many conservatives are afraid to stand against so-called "gay marriage" and the cultural degeneration introduced to our children through music, TV, print and internet traffic.  Many people want to diminish the importance of abortion and its impact on our declining moral culture, preferring to occupy themselves with the war on terror or the economy.  In truth, no more pressing issue exists in America today than where we are headed as a people ethically, morally, culturally and socially.

I am deeply saddened by the GOP's abandonement of Illinois Senate candidiate Alan Keyes (another political necessity?) who has admittedly appeared too strident an personal in his denunciation of homosexuality as a sin (defined by Keyes and St. Paul as "hedonistic and selfish").  The statement made in an interview at the RNC was a response to a reporter baiting Keyes on the issue of Dick Cheney's homosexual daughter - bait that he took in typical Alan Keyes uncompromising moral integrity fashion - and now has members of his own party abandoning the race to radical pro-abortionist and gay-marriage advocate Barak Obama. 

Politics - it demands so much compromise to achieve victory - and without victory, no meanigful change can take place.  Yet it scares me that eternal moral truth is often a casualy of the dirty process that renders even the victors impotent because of the pragmatic demands of popular elections.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/01keys.html

When I was in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne, I participated in more than 150 combat patrols, raids and convoys.  During one of these patrols, while manning a machine gun mounted on our HUMV, the words to my song "Your Soldier's Coming Home" came to me very fluidly.  I recall writing a line here, a line there as I manned my gun and scanned my sector, finally getting the word-for-word version featured on my website.

The song is a snapshot of the deep, emotional longing a soldier experiences for his sweetheart and the way it intensifies as the day for redeployment draws near.  My heart nearly burst with anticipation of that precious moment when I would hold my lovely wife and hug my children again.  This is what I have tried to convey with "Your Soldier's Coming Home", both musically and lyrically.   If you know a military family experiencing the lonliness of separation due to deployment, send them this song as a gift.  Everyone who has heard it has responded very warmly to it, especially the families of deployed military.  However, the song speaks to anyone who misses a loved one, and it is my intent that it gets the most universal application possible. 

This paratrooper is thankful to God and all who supported us in the War in Iraq.  I hope you enjoy "Your Soldier's Coming Home."  To hear it, click here:  http://www.johnnyproctor.com/soldiershome.html

Johnny