15 Qawl 166 B.E. (Baha’i Calendar)
Soundtrack in my head: Cocteau Twins, “Know Who You Are At Every Age”
Today marks the fourth anniversary of The Different Drummer Soundtrack. My first entry talked about getting used to the online tools provided by Squarespace, the home to this blog since its inception. I also started the tradition of including the byline “Soundtrack in my head” and listing whatever song was going through my head at the moment.
Prior to starting this blog, I’d been keeping a journal for over fifteen years, and by 2005 I felt that it was time to write for more than just myself. I also had the desire to write about co-op life, and promote the spiritual organization of Mahikari.
Many changes have occurred since then. I left Mahikari in the fall of 2007, and became a Baha’i. The following spring, I began to add the Baha’i calendar date to the byline. But with such a significant shift in my spiritual life, I decided to change the name of the blog to “A Colorburst Prayer” in the summer of 2008.
However, for some reason, I kept on renewing my ownership of “thedifferentdrummer.net” domain name. And in the summer of 2009, I suddenly felt called to restore “The Different Drummer” name, while keeping the word “Prayer” in the name.
And today, on the blog’s fourth anniversary, I’ve decided fully restore the blog’s original name, “The Different Drummer Soundtrack.”
The main reason is that it simply felt right. What’s in a name anyway? Actually, my original working title for this blog before I started it was “Deluge of Sound.” But “The Different Drummer Soundtrack” suddenly came to me, and when I discovered that “thedifferentdrummer.net” was available as a domain, that sealed the deal. I took several months to come up with the “Colorburst Prayer” name, but after I changed the name of my blog to that name, I found that as I talked it about it, it simply did not resonate with me.
And “The Different Drummer Soundtrack” simply kept growing on me. I’ve always known that things that suddenly come to you often do so for a reason. I realize now that the name fits me. I didn’t find the name–it found me.
For those who are not familiar with the literary reference of the “different drummer,” it comes from Walden by Henry David Thoreau. He said, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
I am a “different drummer” in many ways–in my choice of lifestyle, in my choice of religion, and the way that I tend to question everything. As a DJ, music has been part of my life since an early age, so it makes sense that a “soundtrack” be part of the name. I also think the name is fitting for my intended audience for this blog, which not only includes Baha’is and people who live in co-ops and intentional communities, but also friends, family, non-Baha’is and non-co-opers who might have some curiosity about the lifestyle I lead.
Thanks to everyone who has read and commented on this blog over the last four years, and I hope to continue to offer provocative, stimulating, and quality content on “The Different Drummer Soundtrack” for years to come.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears “the“ Different Drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
(Henry David Thoreau)
