The Chris Chandler Show

Piloting Paper Airplanes

I stared at a blank page inside of a new note book… dreaming of the worlds that could unfold from its pages… but the blank page just stared back at me with infinite blankness waiting to see who would blink first…it was me.  The blank page glowered at me in triumphant smugness until I ripped from the note book and folded it into a paper air plane and sailed it out the window of my fourth story apartment building… dreaming of the rocket and the stars…

I piloted that paper airplane past power-lines and traffic lights… police helicopters and automobile radio antennae…  before I landed it next to a parking meter on a city sidewalk and was arrested for littering.

While in prison I accepted a temporary tattoo that read “Youth.”  

In my youth, I remember, my older brother playing with match box cars on the living room floor… having such a good time…making up stories about the places the people in the cars would go to… but I was the kid brother… I could not join them.

But then I remembered my brother had borrowed my allowance from me (stolen it really but we won't go into that) for an RC Cola and a Moon Pie – in short – he owed me money.

So I made a deal that I would forgive the debt if he would just give me that match box car. He did so – and I found myself alone with a brand new automobile – lonely as I ever was – realizing it was not the car I wanted – it was the imagination.

Look, just because it is make believe does not mean I don't believe it….

I mean – What is true?  Read the news paper… It is amazing to me how far a story with no legs to stand on can walk.  Yet, facts are clearly useless – unless used in a metaphor.

Just because you believe it doesn't mean it’s true.

Which is why I always say – I'm so cynical I am optimistic.

Painting with broad strokes like this may cover a large canvas, but you can't see the picture unless you are standing on Mars.  

And when standing on Mars everyone is dreaming of the rocket and the stars.  And when sailing in a rocket through the stars all one dreams of is solid ground.  

Perhaps it is good that all we want is what we cant have – cause if we had everything we wanted what would dream of?  

So go ahead… Dream of being up there – in a rocket in the stars – for up there you realize that PT Barnum was wrong… the greatest show on earth is life…
if ya don't like it you should find better seats.

and once you're in it's general admission…  There are no cheap seats but there are some very expensive ones.

So make friends with the usher – and don't be afraid to crash the gates on the more expensive seats…

And to do that you're gonna need a ladder.

But don't be afraid when you get up there – because the harder you fall…

… the higher you bounce.

It is far better to climb the real latter of the imagination than to climb the pretend latter of success – for the latter of imagination is held aloft by the foundation of Shakespeare and Degas.

The latter of success is held aloft by the marionette strings of the Koch Brothers and Donald Trump, And when you get there – who would you rather have a beer with?

So remember – as the big bang taught us – it can't exist here, if doesn't exist out there first. And Sometimes ya gotta go out there - to bring it back here.

What I am trying to say is… life is sweet… unless you don't want it to be… and as any good southerner who has ever ordered iced tea before knows – for that you have to make a special request.

Originally released on the album with Paul Benoit Matadors (2011)

Piloting Paper Airplanes/ Rocket and The Stars
Chris Chandler/Paul Benoit

PT Barnum was wrong... The Greatest Show on Earth - is life.

Paul Benoit: Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, Piano,  and Vocals
Dan Weber: Drums
Andrea Witgens: Vocals
Hugh Sutton: Piano
Chris Chandler: Spoken Word

Recorded and Mixed by: Blake Harkins at Lost and Found Studios, Seattle, WA
with additional tracks at 31st Ave Studio by: Jakael Tristam, Seattle, WA
Published by: 9th Wave Publishing/ Stray Dog Music