JD Hinton

My Yearly Valentine

JDH — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:59:31 +0000

It’s no secret. Mother died in a bus wreck on Valentine’s Day. That was in 2003. The first year after was full of foreboding loss in all corners.

On the one year February anniversary, a week of seriously gloomy Texas skies dissolved into a soft Currier & Ives snowfall. The lawns and trees were covered in a mantle of pure and silent white. I had geared up for a weather delivered emotional wallop as February 14 landed. This first anniversary I was given a gift in the snow. Peace. Later that day the sun came out. The snow gave way to the blue shining Texas skies. I immediately felt God had sent me comfort in my sorrow. The rough places had been made smooth.

The day mother died I was on an island in the Caribbean for a friend’s wedding. My brother had left me a message to call him, but did not mention why. Phones were scarce and I caught a tram to the main hotel building to call back. On the tram I began talking to a man from Scotland. I excitedly told him that mother was a Scot, and I was proud to know that part of my ancestry. The man got off the tram before I did and as he left he spoke to me directly in a language I did not understand. Then he walked away. I looked back and he was gone. I now believe he was giving me a Gaelic farewell. What I believe now is that his farewell was angelic. In a few minutes I would learn of mother’s death. For reasons I would soon know, I was being told goodbye and to be strong. From Scot to Scot.

Today is February 14 again. It’s 2010. I’m not in Texas for the first time since 2004. In LA it’s sunny. Here there are hearts and flowers and all the usual February trimmings. No one here knows that Valentine’s is different for a small group of people in Texas.

Yesterday I went to the LA Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. Afterwards I had the chance to speak to Lloyd Ogilvie. Lloyd was pastor at Hollywood Presbyterian where I attended during the 70s and 80s. Lloyd is a Scot. My mother’s family is part of the Ogilvie clan which I was thrilled to relate. As we parted he gave me the Ogilvie clan parting. I can barely pronounce it. I certainly cannot spell it. He said it to me in English, “ fight to the end.” Don’t give up. I got the message. From Scot to Scot.

Crazy Hearted

JDH — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:43:16 +0000

Got to see Crazy Heart. Good film. Jeff Bridges delivers and the reviewers recognize that. Glad to see T-Bone Burnet team up with the late Stephen Bruton for so much of the music in the film. When I first moved back to Texas, Peter Coyote told me to look up Stephen in Austin. I tried, but we missed each other. I wish now that I’d saved the message he left on my phone when he called back. Saxon Pub won’t be the same without Stephen’s guitar, but these songs from Crazy Heart will play on. Talent, pure and simple. Burnet also dropped in a Townes Van Zandt song which always perks up my ears. Haven’t met T-Bone… yet. Still have his vinyl lp I bought in the 80s. Enjoyed his concert back then at the Palace Theater across from Capitol Records in Hollywood. Good Music memories.

Traveling With Dad

JDH — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:43:00 +0000

AFTER CHRISTMAS–

it’s hard to get back to business as usual. During my radio dj days, going on the air after Christmas was floating time. All anticipation was outside the radio station. Insiders know Hollywood leaves for Aspen or Vail by Dec. 15. See you in January. All work is anti-climactic this week.

MONDAY–

was a good but very unusual day. Don’t know what to make of it at this point. Dad wanted to drive up to see the small town and the house where he was born (Westminster, TX). Then, because we were so close, he wanted to cruise up another 15 or so miles to Sherman. Dad was “from” Sherman and to me it’s always been where my grandparents lived. I knew from the way he presented this idea that A) he wanted to go and B… yea! there is a B) he wanted me to go with him or he wanted me to see it… and see it with him.

DAD–

is not very sentimental-nostalgic. (I cover that base way beyond anyone else’s mere human ability.) In my whole life we have never once driven through Westminster even though it is very close to Sherman. For many years it was on our way to & from Sherman. I did not know it was there. If it meant anything to dad, you’d think we’d have been through there at least once before 2009. Dad took mother through there sometime in the past 10 or 12 years. Now out of the blue he wants to go there before the New Year and show it to me — “before the end of the year” is how he presents the idea to Me. No idea why not with my brother – or with both of us. Me.

NORTH OF DALLAS – NORTH OF PLANO–

and a bit to the east we rolled into a town that has mostly evaporated. We saw the handful of vacant windblown storefronts where there was once a town with a bank and a drug store and 4 or 5 other shops. The stores surrounded a large square lot where dad says the townfolk would congregate when the Traveling Medicine Shows came to town. We saw the streets and one house still standing that dad knew. We visited the cemetery. His great grandparents and some other family are buried there. I watched as dad walked the small field to find the graves. He talked, but only about things that had happened. Nothing emotional or attached to feelings. Just reliving long ago times.

THEN WE DROVE–

to Sherman. He showed me another house I did not know he’d once called home. Of course we drove by all the places and down all the streets that held any lasting value for him. More stories. Remembered names of people now gone or unfindable. Tales and details he wanted to speak out loud - to bring back to life a moment or a world he once knew that no one else he knows will ever see. He wants me to know its there. What’s important about it is something he’s going to leave for me to sort out.

THE TRIP UNDERSCORED–

that time is fleeting and my time with dad is precious. There’s nothing ominous on the horizon. I just sensed this was a way to visit some of the old home places one last time. Dec. 28, 2009. It was a good father-son day.

Merry Christmas & Happy Decade

JDH — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:43:38 +0000

Merry Christmas!

This morning’s paper carried this item:

10 YEARS AGO IN THE TELEGRAM – JD Hinton, a long-time Central Texas resident now a singer/songwriter based in Los Angeles–will be performing with a “choir” of Los Angeles singers entertaining Pope John Paul II in the Vatican on Christmas Day.

Ten years of memories and new friendships with the finest singers in the world!

A TEXAS Yuletide!

JDH — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:21:34 +0000

“… the days dwindle down to a precious few” (oh how I wish I’d written that) and here we are headed toward Christmas 2009. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I am Yule-tiding in Texas where folks are hoping that – just once – Santa would use Longhorns instead of reindeer on his annual visit. Back to LA in January. To my beloved friends in Scotland, Happy Hogmanay!

New band for JD HINTON: “Songs in the Night”

JDH — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:09:36 +0000

The JD HINTON “Songs in the Night” concerts in Hollywood feature a new JDH Band… extraordinary musicians. They are:

Guitarist Billy Watts has recorded/performed with : Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams & Carlene Carter. Billy is currently working and performing with Eric Burdon, Jackson Browne, John Trudell, Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps, and The Twilight Lords.

Phil Bloch is recognized as one of the premier rhythm & blues drummers in LA. Phil has worked with Terry Evans, Ry Cooder, Solomon Burke, Little Richard, Marva Wright, Willie Green, Jr., Hamish Stuart, Delaney Bramlett, Steve Cropper, Tom Scott

Rick Solem you may know from his time playing piano with Dave Alvin & the Guilty Men.“… I place him right next to The Blasters Gene Taylor in the boogie woogie/blues/New Orleans style of piano playing.” Dave Alvin

Joe Lamanno has played bass with Tina Turner, Rick Springfield, and Harriet Schock plus a variety of LA and So. California artists over the years including The Association, The Turtles, and Bill Medley.

I Have To Dream

JDH — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:12:57 +0000

It took a lifetime to write this song one afternoon.

As August was becoming September, I looked out the back of my house. The hillside was in full summer bloom. I thought about all the times I’d been at this window. And I wondered about tomorrow. I made some notes on a yellow pad, and then it was time to find the music.

“I Have to Dream” was originally conceived around a piano in a Baptist church in Glendale, California. I am sure that has a lot to do with its feel and the sound of it. Rick Solem understood immediately what the song needed and worked with me on the music. Ross Vannelli provided a perfect arrangement and weaved the theme through the score of Children On Their Birthdays.

It almost didn’t happen. The scene in Children On Their Birthdays where this song appears was not in the original script. After seeing early edits of the film, director Mark Medoff got the cast and crew back together to shoot a new scene. He called me in because he needed a song for this new moment in the film. I will always thank him for that.

Someone To Believe

JDH — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:12:32 +0000

Producer Kevin Goetz asked if I had a song for his movie Touched By a Killer. I said I did. I meant “I would.”

While watching an early edit on video of the movie, I made some notes about the characters. I found in their story what I felt like we’re all after… Someone to Believe. The moment my fingers touched the piano I played the first six notes of the song.

On lots of songs I use co-writers in order to take my original ideas in directions that I can’t predict. In this song, my music and words came together at the same time and very quickly. I couldn’t write fast enough.

“Someone to Believe” gave me a chance to work with Kathrin Shorr for the first time. It’s her performance you will hear if you see the movie.

She’s a tremendous singer who came to Scotland to sing with me at the Edinburgh Festival last August.

The other great collaboration and friendship that began because of this song was with Ross Vannelli. Ross composed the score for Touched by a Killer. It was his work with this film that gave me the idea that we should collaborate on the movie Children On Their Birthdays.

The Bat Cave

JDH — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:12:52 +0000

Welcome to Wide Brim Music

Beware the Leopard Chair

Regards Maggie – Farewell Patrick

JDH — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:20:07 +0000

It’s sad news to hear Patrick Swayze died. It was the final bit of bad news about him that began over a year ago when we all learned he had a deadly form of cancer. This is all so starkly opposite from what we knew about him from his screen roles.

Ashton Kutcher smartly (and I think caringly) sent a tweet about Patrick’s death that included a link to the Saturday Night Live scene where Patrick and Chris Farley played shirtless Chippendales dancers. It shows Patrick in fine form and willing to do what it took to make the scene work. Ever the pro, he was the straight man – second banana that helped stage Chris Farley’s comedic highlight.

I liked being around Patrick. It only happened a few times, but it was always fun. The last time was at a mutual friend’s birthday party in a Hollywood restaurant. We had the whole place on La Cienega to ourselves. I became the DJ for the night. The place had a good sound system and everyone agreed we’d need music to make this a party. I brought boxes of CDs from my collection to provide the soundtrack for the evening.

The party worked! There was dancing going on immediately. Some couples. Some groups of women who all hit the floor together. In some ways it was just like the jr. high school dances you remember. Girls on one side of the building. Boys on the other. At this party, Patrick and a lot of the guys were on the street front patio so they could smoke cigars and backslap. Their dates and wives had their own fun inside. I had the music.

I remember this party every time I hear Patrick’s name come up. After the guys had spent a substantial amount of the party hanging out together, they broke ranks and headed through the open air entry back into the restaurant. Patrick came up to me and said “Play some Motown. We’re going to dance with these girls.” I’d been playing Motown throughout the night. They could have danced anytime. But now was the time that they wanted to dance… and now they would sweep in like knights on horseback and show the women who loved them why they came to this party in the first place.

R.I.P. Patrick

JD Hinton