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Steve Cox - VoGE

Steve Cox


Last Updated: 11/27/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 53
City: Memphis
State: Tennessee
Country: US

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Saturday, September 27, 2008 

Category: Music
IT'S FINALLY HERE!
http://voiceofgoldeneagle.com/

After YEARS of putting it off I have FINALLY taken the
time to build a website for VoiceOfGoldenEagle.com and
I invite you to please drop-in, register, and say HELLO
if you feel so inclined. I'd love to hear from you!

I will be adding to it steadily over time, so please
make a bookmark and drop by every once and a while.

9:43 PM 
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Saturday, January 26, 2008 

Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Automotive
People occasionally ask me why I don't play more live engagements like I used to. There's a simple explanation. I have an injury from a car accident several years ago that makes it difficult to stand up to the rigors of performing.

This is no tale of woe, though! I'm hoping others can learn from the telling and perhaps prevent them from sharing a similar story of their own.

THE GORY DETAILS
Here's how it happened... To put it simply, someone pulled out in front of me from a side street. They had a stop sign, I just had clear road. I was going 35mph when, less than 2 car lengths from the intersection, the other driver suddenly accelerated directly in front of me. The sad truth is that they only looked over and saw me when they started hearing the screeching of crunching metal.

In spite of cramming my brake pedal through the floor, my front end hit their car like a wrecking ball and I saw the look of terror in the other driver's face in slow motion as I plowed into their (thankfully vacant) passenger side.

Somehow, by the grace of Creator, I was able to brake fast enough that the other driver came out of the accident with nothing more than a banged up knee. I'll be forever grateful for that! I wasn't quite as lucky. When I saw the accident coming, I tensed up every muscle in my body just before the force of the impact wrenched and twisted me.  A long bruise on my chest showed where the seatbelt had prevented me from meeting the windshield face first.

CAUSE OF ACCIDENT
The driver wasn't drunk, wasn't on their cellphone, and had an unobstructed view. Their mind was simply preoccupied with being home in 3 blocks and they didn't look before pulling out in front of me. Their one moment of distraction was all it took to change my life forever.

POINT OF THE STORY
The age, sex, and ethnicity of that other driver simply doesn't matter. The point is that could have been ANYONE that drives a vehicle. It could have been you! All you have to do is be distracted for a moment and not look ONCE, at the wrong time.

So, let's be careful and drive like our lives depended on it. Please.
 
Thank you for listening.
Witsatologi nihi  (Many blessings to you!)
 
...VoGE

4:59 PM 
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Monday, November 19, 2007 

Category: Blogging

A few observations from where I sit
============================

If you want to know the future,
look to the now-that-always-is.
Focus not only at the horizon,
But also at your feet.

There's no other spot in the Universe
Exactly like the one you occupy.
Each moment is filled with reasons for being.
Find out why you're here now, this very instant...
The very pebbles at your feet reach for you.
To teach you.
 
- VoGE 2004


============================

Just Because


Just because my understanding may be different
from yours, do not assume I have NO understanding.

We just come from different experiences.

Just because my vision is different from yours,
do not assume I am blind.

We just see things differently.

Just because you disagree with my words,
do not assume you are the only "good person"
in the conversation.

That is called prejudice. The mother of hatred.

 
- VoGE 2002



============================

Beware the Extremes


"There will always be extremists who distort a good thing
into something destructive and unrecognizable."

-VoGE 2001



============================

REMEMBER (The Consolations)

 REMEMBER that it comes to each of us a time for crossing
over and that it is in Grandfather's hands, not ours.
 
REMEMBER to spend time on those things that matter most.
An hour spent giving love is worth more to your spirit
than a lifetime of getting wealth.
 
REMEMBER that second hand faith is worse than no faith at
all. Find your own path. No one else should chart your way
but Creator in your heart.
 
REMEMBER Grandfather is always within you. And you are
within Him, even when you feel the most distant.

 

REMEMBER that you always serve Grandfather regardless, but

it is YOUR choice whether to serve the Creator or the Destroyer.

For both are available to you equally. Choose wisely gentle

spirits. What you plant is what grows!

 

REMEMBER that Creator made each of us for a high spiritual
purpose. No one else has your destiny.

 

REMEMBER that our true spiritual mission is threefold; (1) to

maintain our balance within, (2) to spread love without, and

(3) to complete the circle, each in our own way.
 
REMEMBER that pain and adversity are often the best teachers.
If Grandfather puts a mountain in your path it is because
your spirit needs the lessons that only a climb can provide.
 
REMEMBER that the universe is comprised of complete circles.
There can be no light without darkness, no joy without pain,
no dawn without sunset, no parting without reunion.
 
REMEMBER that Grandfather can love you only as much as

you love others. If you choose to hide your light in a lonely

dark corner, He will leave you to it. If you cling to your pain,

He will let you keep it.

 

REMEMBER the choice is ALWAYS yours.

 
AHO!

...VoGE 2007

More to come...

9:55 PM 
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Tuesday, November 13, 2007 

Current mood:  calm
Category: Music
ABOUT THE MUSIC

A few folks have written asking for some background on these songs I make available here on MySpace, especially collaborations. In my 50+ years of living on this planet I've been blessed with knowing and working with some incredibly gifted and wonderful artists. It is an honor to be able to share some of the music and the stories behind them with you. And away we go...

NOTE: These songs can be heard via the player located in the left column of my
            MySpace page. They are described here in the same order as the playlist.


THE BIG MISTAKE
Jimi Jamison & me
This one was done in Jimi's home studio about 1992. Like many of these songs, it was intended to be a writer's demo. I'm playing/sequencing/programming/singing everything except that great accent piano by Hal Butler and, of course, Jimi's unmistakable lead vocal.

CONTINENTAL DIVIDE (Confidential Divide)
John Roth & me
Anyone who knows me knows also that I am a great fan of "computer assisted production techniques".  Consequently I always have a wealth of rhythm tracks from my home studio that I am sharing with friends to have some fun with. This track is an example of what happens when John Roth grabs ahold of one of them! He's not only playing the lead on the track, but he took over the production and wrote an entirely new section to the song using entirely different keyboards in his studio. No small feat, but John pulled it off admirably.

FREE WIND
Shawn Lane, Adrian Miller & me
Once upon a time, about 1985, my good friend Terry Ratcliff owned one of the best home studios in the area. It was also a creative home away from home for the reclusive virtuoso Shawn Lane. It was at "T's" that Shawn worked up the first drafts to what would later become his Powers Of Ten album. I had the honor of being at the console for some of those sessions and we even did some writing and working together on other stuff. This track, Free Wind, represents one of those efforts. That's me on the flute and background vocals with Adrain singing lead vocal. All other instruments by Shawn.

WESTERN DRIVE
Andy Tate & me
Andy and I have been improvising "freestyle music" together for  years. It is always fun to sit down and see what he'll come up with next. This is an example of Andy soloing on one of the more exotic stringed instruments in his collection, the Godin Glissentar. I'm playing/arranging everything else.

I HEAR THE CALLING
Voice of Golden Eagle
A personal affirmation song. A message of warning and of hope. Produced, arranged and performed by me.

HEA YIE YO (It Is So)
Voice of Golden Eagle (me)
Technology can be a wonderful thing. Especially when it unites a small studio on the Chickasaw Bluffs with Douglas Spotted Eagle's ongoing Native American recording projects. Written and produced by me.

BEWARE THE PRICE
Zeeza and VoGE
During the heyday of MP3.com as an indy artist website, I had the honor of meeting some extremely talented artists and Zeeza is surely at the top of that list!  From her home studio in the wilds of Canada we exchanged recordings  and collaborated, allowing her to sing her vocals from 3,000 miles away. As I've said, technology can be a wonderful thing!

SNOW DANCER
VoGE
I woke up hours before Dawn. Soft, soundless snow fell slowly in thick flakes, covering everything in its star glittering blanket. From the window of my studio I watched and played. By Dawn it was finished. This song is the result.

OPEN MY EYES (That I May See)
Elder Silvercloud, Tatavari and VoGE
This is one of several collaborations between Elder Silvercloud and myself. Though he himself would have rejected the labels, Silvercloud was indeed a very gifted mystic shaman and seer. This song recounts one of the major visions that shaped his life. The rhythm and percussion on this track was provided by Tatavari, my wonderful and talented friend in Montevideo.

DREAM SEEKER
VoGE
Some of the more haunting melodies come from that deepest time of night shortly before Dawn's first light, when the portals between this world and the next are the most transparent. I closed my eyes, asked to be made hollow, pushed record and this music was the result.

LEARN TO FLY
Dana Pannell & VoGE
This is a preview of the new, soon to be released VoGE album! That magical guitar work is courtesy of my good friend Dana Pannell. He and I have been writing music together since 1973.

IF EVER
Ed Cox, Sr. & me
You can't get closer to my heart than this one. Written and recorded in 1991 and featured on my 1998 "Jazz Fantasies - Memphis Style"  CD, the incredible alto sax is none other than my dad, Edgar W. Cox, Sr. He was the Memphis Jass and Blues Club's musician of the year in 1992. In his younger days he toured with the likes of Gene Krupa and wrote arrangements for the Coast Guard Jazz Band.

THEY'RE HERE!
me and my computers
Basically, my most recent example of me taking a jazz romp. I love arranging and composing almost as much as performing and the structure of Jazz gives me a great framework to play within. Every jazz song I write is, at some level, a tribute to my father.

LUCKY 13 WALTZ
me and my computers
Another selection from my 1998 Jazz Fantasies album. Part of what I called C.A.M.P. (The Computer Assisted Music Project).

TRUST TURNS TO DUST
Jimi Jamison and me
As mentioned in a previous entry, I have the honor of calling Jimi Jamison both a friend and a musical collaborator. For a couple of years we had a blast writing some really great songs as I kept all the gears oiled in his "16 tracks studio with weedeater". This selection, from 1992, features John Roth on guitar.

THE PHONE KEEPS ON RINGING
Jimi Jamison and me
Another selection from those early '90s sessions. This one features Jimi's bandmate from the Target days, Buddy Davis, on lead guitar.

SOMETHING TO BELIEVE
VoGE
Title selection from the upcoming Voice of Golden Eagle CD release.

STRANDED
VoGE
From the 2003 VoGE album, Spirits In The Sky. A proclamation song featuring the sage ruminations of Elder Silvercloud.

TRAIL OF TEARS (a soldier's story)
VoGE
The actual words of  Private John G. Burnett, a soldier who marched that march from the wrong side of the rifle barrel. Written as a letter of explanation to his own children and, perhaps, his own conscience.

5:12 AM 
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Sunday, November 11, 2007 

Current mood:  calm
Category: Religion and Philosophy
This is an excerpt from a blog I had back in 2004 I wanted to share...

I had a conversation with an old and dear friend the other day. His heart was troubled by the world he saw around him. His faith gave him a type of strength, but it also robbed him of hope. He had been sold "Heaven in the sky" and was convinced that everything about this world was evil and corrupt.

My heart ached for him as I realized how little he knew of Grandmother Earth and Her wonders.

A family man, honest and caring about others, he was haunted by the terrible visions that filled his eyes and his TV set... The cruel deeds of his fellow men... The harsh realities of a world unbalanced. As his words unfolded I saw creases of pain that had been etched into his heart by negative experiences.

I shared his concerns, but not his anxiety and depression, for in my view, this is supposed to be a place of transition and change... An opportunity to grow as spiritual beings! It is only thru heat that steel can become tempered and strong. This world is a spiritual proving ground filled with the seeds of both Hell and Heaven. It is for each of us to decide which will flourish and grow in our own heart.

I tried to convey to my friend the wondrous visions Grandmother Earth bestows on those who will simply look... The nurturing of Spring babies, winged, furred, scaled, and naked... The gathering of the rainbow across the land as bare branches burst into celebration... The awesome spectacle of Sunrise, bringing with it another day full of possibilities yet undiscovered... But, his mind was closed to these wonders and they brought him little joy. Like a man riding backwards on a horse, he saw only the rutted, crapped-on path behind him.

He clung to his holy book like a shield against all pain. But in the process he also blocked out Creator's healing Light!

I left my friend knowing that I had not reached him. His faint parting smile told me he thought me some opto-mystic fool with my head in the clouds. As I contemplated all we had shared with each other, a prayer for us both echoed through my spirit...

"Creator, open our hearts that we may feel... The possibilities in every moment... The miraculous in the commonplace. Creator, open our eyes that we may see... Beyond our pain... Beyond our perspective... Beyond the horizon. And let us always be open to the blessings you bestow upon us EVERY step of the way!"

AHO!

...VoGE 2004


4:59 AM 
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Friday, October 12, 2007 

Category: Blogging

   
Did you really set up a MySpace site?
Yea, I did... And here you are!

Why did you do that with all the other sites you've got?
Well, as an "internet performer" you gotta go where
the people hang out, and there are a LOT of folks on
MySpace these days, some are even old friends I
haven't seen in years. It's like a reunion of sorts.

Is this a "VoGE thing" or a "Steve Cox" thing?
It's two things in one! Seriously, this represents an
opportunity to merge both "web identities" into one,
which is as it should be.

Does this mean your other sites are shutting down?
No, not at all. MySpace doesn't allow for the depth of
content or subtlety of design that having my own
domains/sites offer. But, it's a GREAT place to set
up a page with links directing people to your "other"
pages. That's what many of the major league musicians
are doing these days. I'm just late getting with the
program. 

What made you finally decide to get on MySpace?
Laziness was overcome by necessity. I had two music
related web clients that wanted a MySpace presence (Stax
artist Ronnie Williams and my old friends Terry Wall
& The Wallbangers), so I provided that service for
them. While I was in here I just set myself up at
the same time.

Would you recommend that I get on MySpace too?
Exposure is what it's all about. If you are an artist in
ANY medium with something to share over the internet then,
yes, in my opinion you should probably be on MySpace.

And be sure to send me a Friend Request when you get here!

Thanx...
...Steve

10:58 PM 
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