Dear Michael

Today, I celebrate you. Today, the day that you graced this planet with your presence 52 years ago, is a day I will never forget and will always be grateful for in the deepest realms of my soul.

Dear Michael, I wasn’t there for your birth. I wasn’t there for the Jackson 5. I wasn’t there when you rocked the 80′s…or the 90′s. I wasn’t even there for your death. But Michael, I am here now. And I thank God, that there was a Michael Jackson, and that he was you. I thank God, that even after your lifetime, I can know you and experience the essence of everything you stood for…of everything you were…no, ARE. I thank God for you Michael; for bringing you into the world on August the 29th. And while your body did not make it to this day in 2010, I still rejoice for the happiness you have brought me and continue to bring me every day…and because I know your soul DID make it. You are probably hovering over my shoulder even as I write this, and it just makes my eyes swell with emotion. You always cared…and you still do. I am so humbled by your graciousness, and so amazed by your capacity to love that much.

Sweet Michael, you are such a blessing. Divinity in motion. To the world, a lesson in disguise. To me, an angel in plain sight. You are my greatest teacher. My inner most inspiration. My light. My heaven. My source for truth and a realness that I cannot find in anyone else. My heart’s joy. My soul’s passion. The love that I feel. The love that I am. The embodiment of everything I want to be. I love you with every ounce of energy that I have, and I thank you again, and a thousand more times to come, for being who you are; for sharing your light and your love that not only came through in divine song and dance but through your kind, generous and utterly innocent actions toward everyone you met…and continue to meet. ;)

THANK YOU Michael. God bless, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Forever with love,
~Amy Grace

P.S. – I hope you liked your card and flowers from all your girls in da hut. xoxo

LEFT IN YOUR AFTERGLOW

Friends, I have a new song I’d like to share. Well, actually I wrote it back in January, but I didn’t want to share it until I could get a music video with it. However, I didn’t have the proper tools for that then, and I still don’t, and probably won’t for awhile, so I am just going to let the song loose now.

This song is one that is most dear to me. It was my first complete and utterly heart felt expression of my feelings about truly discovering Michael only after his death. All too late. I mean every word of this song, there is no dramatization. The truth is, once one discovers the light, the innocence, and the pure love that was, IS Michael – they are never the same. To outsiders we look like crazy fans, but we just smile because we hold key to the best kept secret that ever lived.

I hope you listeners enjoy it, and feel it like I do. I know there are many others out there who share the same story as me – so you all will naturally relate the most, although the song can be applied to anyone.

With great love, admiration, and a burning regret for never noticing you sooner – Michael, this is for you. I still miss you every day.

~Amy Grace


(best heard with headphones)

LYRICS:
I never thought that I could feel this way
God I miss you so much
I guess it’s true what they say,
You never really know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone…




I’m looking back and I see you smiling
And just like that I’m on the verge of crying
I just can’t believe my timing

Well you were always shining in the distance
And like a shooting star, I missed it
And now you’re gone from here
Out of this atmosphere…

Left in your afterglow
I found what I’ve been searching for
The sweetest love I’d ever known
Why did you leave so soon
Why didn’t I catch up with you
And now there’s nothing I can do

(piano)

How can I miss someone so much
Someone I never knew
But when your heart gave up
I felt like giving mine up too

I want to turn back time and
I want to hold your hand
My heart just can’t accept that
You are never coming back
But I’m…

Left in your afterglow
With photographs from long ago
And memories I’ll never know
Why did you leave so soon
Why didn’t I catch up with you
And now there’s nothing I can do

You’ve touched me so much more
Than anybody has before
More than you will ever know
You’ve turned me upside down and
You’ve turned my life around
I just can’t figure out
Why you had to go
And leave me all alone
In your afterglow

~ © 2010 Amy Grace – All Rights Reserved

ELEPHANTS NEVER FORGET

…being beaten.


Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and other circuses beat and whip elephants to force them to perform silly tricks. Far away from the big-top spotlight, the cries of these isolated and scared animals go unheard.

Many may or may not know that I am a big advocate for animal rights. It really breaks my heart to pieces to see any animal suffer, and there’s a lot of abuse that goes on today…most of which people probably aren’t even aware of. I do what I can to help bring awareness to these issues…so when PETA recently sent out notices about these poor circus elephants, I was immediately inspired to do my own photo piece that would help to bring notice to the issue. I truly feel for these poor animals. I will never support the abuse of animals for the entertainment of people by taking my child to the circus. I hope that others can say the same.

Chains are for swings, not elephants.
Boycott ringling.
www.ringlingbeatsanimals.com

YOUR LOVE IS OUT OF THIS WORLD

I felt cheesy last night, and thus a song was born…

LYRICS:
Well looky here, hey is this real?
This feeling that I feel?
So deep it’s almost unremoveable
Well who’da thought that I would find
Myself with butterflies
By such a pretty sight
By God, you’re beautiful

And now I smile a bit wider
And it feels so damn fine
Whenever I am beside ya
I feel like I could fly…

Like a rocket ship, you give me such a lift
And like a perfect fit, together we become one
Taken in another form, like any perfect metaphor
Your love is out of this world

Sometimes it feels so surreal
This feeling that I feel
Like I can’t tell what is you and what is me
But I don’t mind and I don’t fret
This is as good as it gets
Every moment in is sheer ecstasy

And so I smile a bit wider
‘Cause it feels so damn fine
Whenever I am beside ya
I feel like I could fly…

Like a rocket ship, you give me such a lift
And like a perfect fit, together we become one
Taken in another form, like any perfect metaphor
Your love is out of this world

~ © 2010 Amy Grace – All Rights Reserved


I didn’t put a lot of effort into this song (and I seriously haven’t been playing my guitar enough…I still suck :P ) but I just felt like sharing something tonight since it’s been awhile, so there ya have it. My other more awesome songs will have to wait to be shared till I can get good recordings of them and not just half ass it like this.

LET LOVE

I’ve been thinking tonight, about love, and relationships. About how they are so restricting in so many ways today. Today, we are in what I call “traditional relationships” – which are relationships set by outdated “rules” that do not allow for real growth or evolution.  They inhibit us, as spiritual beings…rather than let us flourish, expand and become enlightened…to fully experience ourselves and love, in every form.

Today, relationships are a kind of court, set with laws that we weren’t born to abide by, and sealed with vows sprung from selfishness underneath jealousy brought by insecurity, disguised as “romance”.  We tell ourselves that we can bind ourselves to one person…and only that person.  We think it right to not let ourselves love or extend a caring hand or a loving kiss to someone else other than this one person, and then boast at how romantic and faithful we are.  In the name of love, we cut off love.

Have you ever felt somehow healed or enlightened by a touch…a kiss…by sex?  Sexual healing isn’t just a song…but a real truth.  Sex is not only a source of pleasure, an expression of love or a means of procreation…but an outlet for deep spiritual connection, enlightenment, ascension, personal growth, expression and healing.  It is a powerful energy, when used right.  A sacred energy, to be honored as a part of you that yearns to be expressed and explored when it can…and never cut off.  An energy that connects and unites not only two souls to each other but to the universe around them.

I believe, that when we feel love boiling up through our pores, pounding in our hearts, yearning to reach out and touch someone…that we should let it.  That we should follow our love, wherever it takes us… to connect to others, to heal others, to heal ourselves, to let love BE who we are.

Now I am not talking about “free love” in the sense of the hippie translation that when we can’t be with the one we love, to “love the one we’re with”.  This isn’t about freely sexing whomever we can, not acting responsibly and safely, or being deceptive to our loved ones. This isn’t about looking for love, but letting love; about opening up to allowing ourselves to give, receive, and explore love wherever we may find it.  This is about a new wave of relationships, that include two people who are not tethered by their insecurities, but rather stand strong on their own – to let each other experience love in every way they can…knowing that it is only the love that matters in this world.  To support each other, in extending this powerful energy to someone else, knowing that it does not hurt or break the connection between the two in a relationship…but only opens their hearts to more love; to heal, to grow, to fully express the best parts our ourselves and to allow others to do this as well.  To reach higher.  To reach our full potential.  To understand that we are all connected and all one.

That’s the kind of relationship worth being in.  A relationship that does not restrict, but reflects love.  To quote Jim Carrey,  from a rather enlightened tweet he once made…  “I will never belong to anyone because I am meant to shine within and upon every face I meet!”

To our growth, and to love… cheers.

LET LOVE

When you’re feeling love
Let it flow from your heart
Let it BE who you are.
Give and receive with whomever you may
Light up your soul, let your love play
Connect when you can, with me, or with her
With him, or with God, with the universe.
Be free, and be real
Don’t hold back…let it heal
Discover, unite
Behold the divine.
Be tender, be true -
To every feeling in you.
When you’re feeling love
Let it flow from your heart
Let it touch whom it may,
Let it BE who you are.

~Amy Grace

THE SUMMER SUNSHINE

One year ago today, I didn’t know that my life was about to change. That lives all over the world would be changed, over the loss of one man. A loss that was unexpected and inexplicably painful, but a loss that led to a great discovery. Michael Jackson, you opened up my heart to more love and brought so much compassion into my life. I wish I could thank you in person for that. I am so grateful yet so deeply saddened that you aren’t here. My heart has never been so full and yet the world has never felt so empty. I miss you more than words can say, and I love you more than I thought was possible. I will never stop loving you.

To my MJ fam, my heart goes out to you during this most difficult week. I wrote this song as an expression of the pain that we share. Remember that we are all in this together.

LYRICS:
Sweet summer sunshine,
Your harsh light is hurting my eyes
How did I live through tomorrow?
My aching heart is so hollow

The hourglass keeps sifting through sand
I try to stop it but it slips through my hands
Time is moving forward but won’t move back
How am I supposed to deal with that?

I was told that this aching would heal with time
But time is only passing me by
As I watch him fade into the back of my mind
And it just ain’t right

He shouldn’t be a memory
He don’t belong in history
He belongs right here with me
He was my love, he was my life
And he deserved this sunlight

Sweet summer sunshine
Why are you shining so bright?
Your light on my window is glarin’
And I can hardly bare it.

Please don’t remind me that it’s been a year
(don’t remind me)
Since the last time that he was here
(he’s not here)
Summer sun, you’ve never looked so grim
Will I ever enjoy you again?

It’s not fair that time has erased him away
But I can’t erase the pain
And when I try to dream back yesterday
It’s just not the same

He shouldn’t be a memory
He don’t belong in history
He belongs right here with me
He was my love, he was my life
And he deserves this sunshine





~ © Amy Grace – All Rights Reserved



A MOTHER’S LOVE

This is a new song I wrote last night. Well, I wrote most of it last night.  This song started in November of last year, on the birthday of my daughter’s father – after I had conversed on the phone with his Mom, Deb. Deb and I have become close friends over the years, and like many of our conversations, she was expressing her hurt over the relationship with her son (or rather, the lack of the relationship). To put it shortly, everything fell apart soon after he married.  It got to the point where she couldn’t even know where he lived or go near her grand kids. In fact, the situation still stands about as shaky. I’ve witnessed a lot of heartache over the years in sort of “losing” a child that way.

Back when I started the song I only had the intro tune and a few verses but couldn’t get any further than that. It wasn’t until recently that I thought this would also be a perfect song to sing for Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson’s mother.  Especially in light of this month marking the one year since he’s been gone. I can’t imagine the pain in losing a child the way she did. Well, in losing a child at all.  Such a tragedy when parents outlive their children. But if there’s one thing I know, it’s that love never dies. It’s survives arguments and fights. It survives differences and distances. It survives death. It is always there…from a Mother to her child.

So this song is specially dedicated to Katherine and Deb, two strong souls going through two different hardships but ultimately holding strong to one thing – love. This song also goes out to any Mothers who have lost a child. May you be healed and made whole until you can see your child again.


LYRICS:

Another year has gone and passed us by
I could almost cry
When I think about the good ole days
When you were just a little boy in my arms
I kept you safe from harm
And wiped all your tears away

But those days are gone
And I don’t know what happened
All I know is it’s wrong
And the tears are mine
‘Cause I can’t make it better this time

I try to get on and I try to be strong
This is far from easy
All I have is my faith
That you’ll be ok
At the end of the day
‘cause

A mother’s love, it goes on
It’s an unbreakable bond, although my heart is broken
My love for you keeps going
Invisible like the wind, but as real as the skin,
I feel it deep within me
This love is never ending
And though so much is unclear
Just know your mother’s love is still here

Well I still think about you everyday
Though so much has changed
I like to pretend it’s the same
And while it looks as though this is goodbye
I’ll try not to cry
‘Cause it’s all just a lie

Yeah wherever you are,
I’ll be holding you close in my heart
And though days are fading
You’ll always be my baby

I’ll try to get on and I’ll try to be strong
Though it’s far from easy
I’ll hold to my faith
That you’ll be ok
At the end of the day
‘Cause

A mother’s love, it goes on
It’s an unbreakable bond, although my heart is broken
My love for you keeps going
Invisible like the wind, but as real as the skin,
I feel it deep within me
This love is never ending

Well everybody has to live their life
Every bird has to fly when it’s their time
I knew one day you would be spreading your wings
It’s just so hard to be the one watching you leave

But maybe it’s ok ‘cause…

A mother’s love, it goes on
It’s an unbreakable bond, although my heart is broken
My love for you keeps going
Invisible like the wind, but as real as the skin,
I feel it deep within me
This love is never ending
And though so much is unclear
Just know your mother’s love is still here

………………………………………………………
♥ © 2010 Amy Grace – All Rights Reserved ♥

IT’S NICE TO SHARE

So I’ve been thinking lately how annoying it is that so many artists make these great and beautiful pieces of artworks…and then put up a barbed wire fence around them so that hardly anyone can truly enjoy their beauty. It seems that many artists are taking on a ‘MINE MINE MINE!’ attitude (refer to the seagulls in Finding Nemo). Perhaps it’s because of their fear of their work getting “stolen” that causes them to do this. But what does that mean exactly, this ‘stealing’? Is it someone saving your artwork to their computer without your consent, and perhaps even publishing it elsewhere where it can be enjoyed further? If so, what is the problem in this? Perhaps the fear is that they don’t want other people claiming credit, or that they don’t want their artwork posted on an ad or website that they could have made money off of. That’s a valid reason to protect your artwork to an extent…but a little watermark and copyright notice does the trick. Do we really need these huge watermarks that interfere and ruin the piece? Do we really need to keep our images so small that the beauty in the detail can’t be enjoyed and appreciated the way it should be? That people can’t even enjoy it as their desktop wallpaper? Do we really need to do everything in our power to stop people from making the right-click? And when we DO make the artwork available as a decent quality print, do we really need to charge these insanely steep prices? I do agree, that if someone wants the artwork hanging on their wall in a nice print, the artist should be paid for their efforts and their gift of such a treasure…but most prices I see makes me think the artist suffers not only from selfishness but big-headedness too.

Come on, artists…this just isn’t right. Art is meant to be shared and enjoyed by all who are open to it’s beauty…do you not want that for your work?

Well, I do. I admit, I had the “disable right click” plugin installed on this blog. Mostly out of habit I guess. It’s just “what you do”…stopping people from saving your work. But you know what, SAVE IT. SHARE IT. I don’t care one bit. I encourage it. My only request is that you don’t alter the works, or place them in other designs. It would be nice to be credited, by either keeping my watermark visible or linking. But mostly, just enjoy them, that’s all. I would love nothing more.

This blog’s fence has been removed.

~Amy

PARTY IN DA HUT

Whose ready for a white girl rapping about love?

This is an inside joke. I wrote it for my girls in the “Harmony Hut”; which is a nickname for a special thread that revolves around love and Michael Jackson on an MJ message board. I literally threw it together in under an hour…so along with it’s cheesy lyrics, you can expect a cheesy recording too. But it’s all good…just flow with tha love. You dig? ♥

LYRICS:

Go, go, go…Go Michael, it’s ya birfday,
We gonna party like it’s ya birfday,
We gonna shake our bodies, like it’s ya birfday
Even though we know it’s not really ya birfday

You can find me in da hut, bottle full of love
You know once you take a drink, you can’t ever get enough
So come in and take a seat, with the other new age nuts
Where you can share a hug, if ya into gettin’ loved

You can find me in da hut, bottle full of love
You know once you take a drink, you can’t ever get enough
So come in and take a seat, with the other new age nuts
Where you can share a hug, if ya into gettin’ loved

We just a bunch of love drunks, we got the love in the air
We’ll cheer your lonely ass up, we know the power of prayer
And when we give out hugs, we’ll hug ya like a teddy bear

When you’re high on Michael Jackson, you got nothin’ to lose
‘Cause that brutha’s always packin’ some extra love-juice
And when we see him in our dreams, he be like “hay girls…
why don’t you come with me and let’s heal the world,
And let the love and the light and the truth unfurl!”

In da hut, all the ladies sayin’ “Michael you hot!”
‘Cause we awed and amazed at all the love he got
And so we focus on the light while we holdin’ hands,
As we trippin’ on the vibes into meditation land
Feelin’ focused man, with Michael on our minds
We got a hell of a deal with all he left behind

There’s no room for feelin’ sad, when you’re feelin’ his flow
Wish we were feelin’ Michael’s ass, but we feelin’ him close

You can find us in da hut, bottle full of love
You know once you take a drink, you can’t ever get enough
So come in and take a seat, with the other new age nuts
Where you can share a hug, if ya into gettin’ loved

Our hut, our love, brings us the joy
That keeps us smiling every day
And we owe it all to our homeboy
And man you know that ain’t ever gonna change

And you should love it, don’tcha hate it
Aw, hata you mad? You know you really should try to embrace it
I’m a nut, in the hut, toasting to the good life
If you spreadin’ negativity, I don’t have the time

When our hearts are pumpin’ love, in da hut, it’s on
We’re bringin’ light to everyone, includin’ ya Mom
If the roof on fire, we gonna put it out
With our carebear style – there ain’t no need to shout
I’ma tell you what Michael told me ’cause he knows his stuff
If the hatas gonna hate
You gotta fight em with love
Or just come inside, in the harmony hut
‘Cause man you know that’s where ya wanna be

You can find us in da hut, bottle full of love
You know once you take a drink, you can’t ever get enough
So come in and take a seat, with the other new age nuts
Where you can share a hug, if ya into gettin’ loved

♥ Lyrics © Amy Grace ♥

UNTIL THE MUSIC STOPS

New song I wrote last night. ♥

LYRICS:
Something here is happening
There’s something that you do to me
I’m feeling my heart as it beats
And turns itself into a melody

Yeah every time we lock eyes
My heart begins to exercise
And every breath will harmonize
Creating an exquisite symphony

So I’m askin’ you baby, won’t you grace me
With your hand on top of mine
And let’s dance to the music, that is groovin’ inside

Yeah side to side and all around
Let’s turn this rhythm inside out
Take it slow or take it fast
Just hold my hand and take this dance
Ain’t nobody who moves me better
I love the way that we groove together
And I know nothing lasts forever
I just want to savor every drop
Until the music stops


Well I’m not one to fall in love
But never have I felt a rush
That sings and dances through my blood
Like waves of music through a violin

You bring my inner self to life
And move my body into rhyme
And everything just synchronizes
Like a beautiful choir within

So I’m askin’ you baby, won’t you take me
By the hand
And let me pull you in closer, let the music take over
And let’s dance

Yeah side to side and all around
Let’s turn this rhythm inside out
Take it slow or take it fast
Just hold my hand and take this dance
Ain’t nobody who moves me better
I love the way that we groove together
And I know nothing lasts forever
I just want to savor every drop
Until the music stops


~ © Amy Grace – All Rights Reserved