The Adventure Begins

By Avery Davidson
La. Farm Bureau Federation

Those of you who know me well know that every word I see or hear makes me think of a song lyric. It’s sometimes a blessing, but it’s normally a curse… for everyone around me. I also tend to not keep what’s in my head in there for very long. So, I am compelled to share the sudden earworms that slither forth from the deep recesses of my warped and twisted psyche.

Why would I use an entire paragraph to tell you all of that before I even begin talking about this trip to Japan and Thailand? Because music, lyrics and the people who write them influence nearly every creative endeavor I pursue. 

So, as I blog, expect to see quotes from songs I love, possibly at the beginning of the post. Maybe you’ll see them sprinkled throughout. Perhaps, I won’t use a single line, which will likely be the case with this post. 

The band I think you’ll see the most references to on this trip will be Rush. For starters, Rush wrote a song called Passage to Bangkok that I will quote repeatedly when we make the journey from Japan to Thailand. (I can already hear Alex Lifeson playing that hummable opening riff.) Also, the band’s longtime drummer Neil Peart died at the age of 67 on January 7. The world didn’t find out for three days. Peart relieved vocalist/bassist/keyboardist Geddy Lee of his lyricist duties when he joined the band in 1974. Despite being the person in the Canadian power trio to bare his soul in words, Peart was a very private person. So much so that I’m not sure anyone outside of his family and the band knew he was battling brain cancer for three years. 

The other person of whom I think on every single Louisiana Farm Bureau trip is my former boss and friend Michael Danna. Mike was the master storyteller. He chronicled the adventures of the LSU Ag Leadership program for more than a decade. Mike’s ability to give the characters of his story personality and life, because he studied the nuances of their being, and to describe events in great detail always made you feel like you were there with him. Whether it’s the time he blew out the breakers at a hotel in China or when he watched the bus driver for his bus get hauled off in handcuffs because he was driving drunk in South America, the details made the story. 

Like Peart, Mike lost his fight with cancer. In his case, it was esophageal cancer that took him nearly five years ago. I miss him. I try to honor him by carrying on his tradition of storytelling on these trips. It’s a challenge for me, the guy who always leaned on the crutch of “Look at this video! See that?” to find those descriptions; to capture the essence of people from the weathered cracks in their faces to the pearly glints of their smiles. I will try. I will fail. I will try, again. 

So, as we prepare to board our first of two flights that will take us to the Far East, know that I’m honoring the memories of two men who influenced me; one directly and one through his work. I’m looking forward to the adventures we will have with Class XVI over the next 12 days. They will be sharing their experiences here, as well. I always love reading their perspectives. 

Since it’s still dark outside, I think it’s fitting that I end with these lines from Fly by Night by Rush. 

“Leaving my homeland
Playing a lone hand
My life begins today.”