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A Photo Is Worth 1000 Songs: Spring Forward

Ahh, spring.

It’s probably an overrated season, although it gets higher marks just because it comes on the heels of winter, which can be so displeasing that it has been known to trigger a depressive disorder in some people.

Wait a second – time out. Summer is less than two weeks away and I’m only writing about spring now? What gives?

Given the unusually cold and even wetter than normal couple of months we’ve had in the Northeast, it’s only really begun to feel like spring for a couple of weeks now.  Despite the fact that in this area of the country this season traditionally encompasses a lot of rain, most people associate spring with a rise in temperatures and — most importantly —  the blooming of trees and flowers, even if it seems to take longer and longer to occur each year. Sure, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb and April showers beget May flowers, but the first thing that typically comes to mind for most people regarding spring are the blossoms.

Not only are the plants coming to life, but birds return from their southern sojourn, animals awake from hibernation and in a sense, humans do too! Go to the park on the first warm day of spring and you’ll no doubt find people running, rollerblading, skateboarding, playing soccer and baseball, tossing a frisbee, practicing yoga and tai chi, and countless other activities that the cold, dark winter prohibited them from enjoying. Suddenly, the calendar ignites with parties, commemorations and other social engagements and with the additional daylight, everyone seems to get more accomplished.

While a good portion of spring pretty much mimics winter while offering only a slight improvement, the glory spring receives can be attributed to one major difference – anticipation. It may be 50 degrees, overcast and rainy (as much of our spring this year had been), but just knowing that better weather is on the horizon is enough to raise the spirits of many. (Or, if not raise the spirits, at least prevent people from losing their minds.)

It’s kind of like how I feel about Fridays compared to Sundays. Despite the fact that I have to work on Friday and not on Sunday, I actually have a better mindset on Fridays just because I know that two days of leisure will follow. While I do enjoy my time off on Sundays, beneath it all there is a subtle sense of foreboding that I have to get up the next morning for a full week of work.

Spring, a time of relief, rebirth and reverie.  

In our accompanying photos, a view through pine trees offers a glimpse into a world coming alive. The green moss lurking under the melting ice shows that Mother Nature’s dormancy has ended, a sign that kinder days await. Fresh streams run full again. Flowers sprout. A cold, misty mountain morning unfolds into a blanket of sunshine over verdant plains and hillsides,  just as the bleak winter eventually gives way to a more benevolent time.

Spring.  A time for starting over, a time of optimism.

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Ever since becoming deeply moved and then essentially obsessed with reggae music as a teenager, Dave has always strove to learn as much as possible about the history and culture of reggae music, Jamaica and Rastafari, the ideology and lifestyle intertwined with reggae. 

Over the years, he has interviewed many personalities throughout the reggae world including Ziggy Marley, Burning Spear, Lucky Dube, Bradley Nowell and many artists in the progressive roots scene.

Dave has also written and published a novel, “The Cosmic Burrito,” a tale of two friends who drive across the USA in search of the ultimate burrito. He plays ice hockey weekly for a recreational team he founded and manages, Team Rasta.

Reggae music has filled his life with a richness for which he will forever be grateful, and he gives thanks to musicians far and wide, past and present, whether they perform roots, dub, dancehall, skinhead, rocksteady or ska, whether their tools are analog or digital, as well as the producers, promoters, soundsystems, selectors and the reggae massive at large who comprise the international reggae community.

You can follow Dave on Instagram at @rootsdude and Twitter at @ElCosmicBurrito.

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