Living For The Process

FORTY YEARS  

part one 

The Back Story of the Title song, Forty Years.

By Bruce Hibbard

Creating music ideas and songs has always been a part of my life. Since my late teens I've had a drive to make music. Most of the time it's a labor of love without too much monetary gain from my efforts. But that's OK, I consider making music an art. As with most artistic
individuals, the creation process is where I thrive. After the process, the release of emotion and sense of accomplishment is the payoff.  Most artists come up short when promoting their own art. This would be true for me as an artist as well!  With that being said, the story begins.

The creation of Forty Years

The project started with a song that had its bones designed back in 2002. Forty Years was bought into existence and roughly crafted just after the world-changing 911 tragedy. The lyrical concept for Forty Years was conceived, mapped, and brought to fruition by this underlying truth - as dark and hopeless our world may sometimes appear, at our core we long for love, healing and wholeness. At one time or another, most of us have been able to relate to the Moses experience. Moses thought he was heading for the promise land when he left Egypt. Instead, he wandered around in the desert for forty years and died without ever realizing his promise. Forty Years borrows this biblical story and applies it to our current life. It reveals one man's frustration pursuing these high held values and goals, and how the pursuit can be an endless circle of disappointment and futility . The silver lining in the song is the hope that we will one day stand together as one, without the hatred and division that keeps our world torn apart.

Musically, Forty Years was no less of a journey. It laid in a dormant demo form until 2009 when I dug it up and discovered its potential.

John Willis originally played guitar, and most of his work remains an integral part of the song. Bass additional guitar parts as well as keyboards were recorded by Bruce Hibbard.  Brandon Fields lays down some amazing soprano sax parts. Lenny Allen returns on this album as percussionist.

Forty Years
Word and Music Bruce Hibbard
Copyright 2014 Vizor Music

Sitting here upon this rock

Contemplating waves of sand

Drinking from a silver cup

Should I go, or should I stand

I swear by the moon

And all the stars that hang so elegantly

I won’t be my father’s fool

Blood stains the city walls

Where bricks once were made from clay

Could have been my destiny

Would have been if I had stayed

Buildings rise, and subways break the silence of night

I feel like Moses in the modern world

Endlessly, round and round in circles

Chasing my sanity, this might take forty years

Endlessly, searching for that enigmatic fantasy

This might just take forty years

Evening falls, time won’t wait

Moonlight paints the desert night

Planning out my big escape

Reminiscent of an ancient night

Crazy thing how just one moment can become

The defining moment of a man’s life

Endlessly, round and round in circles

Chasing my sanity, this might take forty years

Endlessly, searching for that enigmatic fantasy

This might just take forty years

Sometimes you don’t know where you’re going

It’s so hard to see, and when you get there

It’s not always what you thought it would be

Somewhere there’s an answer to our prayers

An end to all the struggle, of war and enmity

One day, we’ll walk together through that door

And when we emerge, we’ll be side by side

Endlessly, round and round in circles

Chasing my sanity, this might take 40 years

Endlessly, searching for that enigmatic fantasy

This might just take 40 Years

It's been such a long time since my last post. Several things to mention. The last three years I've been working on a music project for myself.

Forty Years was released in mid June of this year. It's an album containing nine new Pop / R&B songs written and produced by Myself and Lenny Allen. Also appearing on the album are Brandon Fields (sax), Hadley Hockensmith (guitar), John Willis (guitar), Lisa Verzella (horns), Sandy Wright (vocals), Nissi Allen Walls (vocals), Liesa Speegle (vocals and writer),  and of course Lenny Allen (drums, percussion and producer).

                                                                The Great Salt Lake


Two videos are forthcoming. A music video for Love Is Gone is set to be released by the end of October. Most of the filming for the Love Is Gone video was shot at or around the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The picture above was taken on location! A video for Will We Get Together should be ready for release by the end of the year.

My project studio in Salt Lake

Most of the recording was done at my project studio in Salt Lake, as well as my older Park City residence. Also John Willis' studio and The Castle in Nashville, and Brandon Fields Studio in L.A. were used for overdubs. To top things off, Richard Dodd of Nashville mastered the project.

You can go to brucehibbard.com to get all Bruce Hibbard's music. Get lots of updates and info at my Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/BruceHibbardMusic

Spring 2013!

A short video featuring two great hang gliding sites in Utah.  Vlaudies in Park City, and Point Of the Mountain in Salt Lake.

Enjoy 

  

First 2013 Randolph Flight

Flying close to a controlled burn

 A few pics from flying today at Randolph. 

I decided to drive up alone today, and luckily met two PG pilots who

offered to drive my car down from launch.  Turned out to be a very impressive day.

 Climbs to 11k were easy. 

 

Snaky Bear river

11k over the Crawfords

Change In The Wind

Oh man! Can't believe it's been almost three months since my last post.  I usually don't go so long without throwing something out there.  I have mainly been finishing up on the remodel that was started over 18 months ago.  The place is looking great, and I must say, the time has been well spent.  As always, I  remind myself after a remodel - "man that stuff sure takes a lot of time".  And as soon as the words come they are forgotten. 

I have been able to get out and fly through this busy year, and quite a bit.  I had some respectable XC flights, one of which topped out at 80.6 miles.  This flying season I have flown the Crawfords more than any other year.  Due in part to the closures of several sites, but also because The Crawfords are just amazing mountains.  Last weekend Cody and I got to over 10 grand several times and landed in one of the best LZ's you could ever imagine.  Hopefully next year we'll get Inspo's bail out LZ back.  And maybe the repairs on the road up to Francis will be finally complete.  Until then, I'm content with the alternative.

One other huge development is the addition of new family member!  My daughter Melissa gave birth to her own daughter this year.  I never imagined me being a gaga grandad, but it's happened.  Sophie is here and life has once again morphed into a new shape with brand new goals, hopes and wonder.  Thank God for the brand new beginnings we sometimes get to be a part of. 

King 2012

July 9th through the 16th I attended the king Mountain Hang Gliding Championship.  As always, King is one of the most incredible places to fly on earth! With that being said, King can be one of the most frustrating places to fly due to summer thunderstorm activity.  This year the comp was plagued by daily storms.  But there were a few days that provided great flying.

       Our driver Sharron Lepardi and flying mate Lisa Verzella.

       Looking uphill at upper launch.  Approximately 65 competitors this year

        Upper launch.

       On one of the many off days, we explored Craters Of The Moon National Park

     Sharron. striking a pose at a really cool petroglyphs site.

      The 2012 King Mountain Championship winners. Yea that's me.

80.6 miles

After several skunks at Heber this year, yesterday yielded 80.6 miles from Heber, Utah to Mt. View, Wyoming. 

Lisa V and I launched within minutes of each other - around 12:45pm.  We didn't hang around launch too long.  Lisa was out on route at 13k, 15 minutes after taking off.  Unlike many Heber XC days where a pilot is hanging out in turbulent air waiting for the right thermal to get high enough to leave, the air was relatively smooth and great thermals were abundant.  I was 15 min. behind Lisa, and on glide for the cement plant (a great thermal generator 5 miles over the back) after climbing out to 11.5k.  Lift was consistent all the way to Coalville (22 miles out), with climbs to 13+k.  Lisa stayed ahead of me most of the flight, but our flight path to Mt. View was pretty much identical after discussing it later.  At Coalville I got a bit low, but found good lift that took me from 7900 to 13k.  I drifted back into Chalk Creek and worked light, unorganized lift until finding a solid core close to Porcupine Mt.  I drifted NE as the thermal I was in gained strength finally topping out at 15k.

The lift was over this desolate area NE of Porcupine was solid enough, that I felt confident to go on glide for Evanston. I arrived at Evanston (60 miles from launch) never getting below 13k.

At this point the route follows I-80 due east from Evanston.  We both had no problem making Oyster Ridge with plenty of altitude to spare.  There are gigantic wind mills scattered all over this area.  They were indicating a definite westerly flow.  We followed I-80 east, only to find strong west winds and little to no lift.   We safely landed close to the Mt. View exit, a few miles apart in 30+mph Surface winds.

Catching Up

So Iv'e been a bit complacent about posting my flights.  It's been a pretty nice spring for flying in Utah.  Most everyone I know who flies hang gliders, have had plenty of opportunity to get in the air.  Here's how the last month has played out for me.

Two flights at Bauer.  A great little north facing ridge out in the Tooele Valley.  Bauer is a big sand bar, very similar to the South Side at the Point of the Mountain.

Two really good days at Randolph.  The last part of April, over twenty gliders converged at this great Utah site.  Everyone had great flights.  I was able to log a few hours with several gains to over 13k. This past Sunday, Cody and I met at Randolph and had a respectable day.  Both of us logged over 2 hours.

A few weeks back, Greg Billow and I flew Site X.  It was a late evening flight. Given the lateness of the day and the sites history of skunking us, we didn't have great expectations.  It turned out to be a nice soarable evening.  I got 1200 over launch with an hour of airtime to add to my logbook.

Yesterday, Lisa V and myself drove out to Camels (Lisa's back yard).  A great mountain site down by Springville.  We were able to snag one of Lisa's neighbors for a driver.  83 year old Glen Rough. He was quite entertaining on the way up to launch, as he shared a few stories about some of the things he did as a youth.  The last part of the drive up to launch is a really steep 200 yard stretch of rocky off camber 4 wheeling.  Glen was content to stay at the saddle below.  Once we were airborne, we would call him on the radio and he would drive the truck down to the LZ.  As we were setting up, a group of motorcyclist came up the gnarly rutted out road.  One of the cyclist had Glen on the back.  What a hoot to see Glens expressions and hear him go on about the ride up.  I think overall the outing made his year!

I was able to get up in some rather ratty air, climb out to 13k and fly north to Orem.  A short but sweet flight.

That sums it up for the month.  Good start for the soaring season :)

Tuesday April 24th, I flew my first XC flight of the season. Lisa V and I went to the Short Divide along with our driver, Sharon L. The conditions were strong at launch with the wind crossing a bit from the west. Along the route to the north were developing cloud streets with the potential for over-development. Lisa was off first and thanks to Sharon, I followed. Within a few minutes I was circling and drifting to the back ridge. I wasn't surprised to find minimum lift because of the west cross in the wind. I slowly traversed the ridge until I came to a more westerly aspect, at which point I started going up. Soon I was above the ridge and heading west to Gunsight peak. Lisa had a nice side hill landing out front after battling the conditions for 40 min. The lift wasn't that great over Gunsight. After several minutes a large cloud moved overhead, consequently shutting down any thermal production. With a strong southwesterly flow, my usual LZ was going to be hard to reach. I decided to fly to the northwest and land along I-15 where there are plenty of possible LZ's. Once over I-15 I found some light lift and began circling. I burbled my way north drifting with the light lift until I found a substantial thermal that landed me at 10 grand. I was able to continue north, and after a few more climbs to around 10g I reached Malad, Idaho. I safely landed and about two minutes later a gust front from a cell that had been developing from the west hit with winds around 30 mph. 1:45 flight / 23 miles.

A Little Vid For You

Just a quick vid of yesterday morning. Includes a real nice slider by Dan M..

One December Morning

Here's a short vid I made of flying the Point last Friday. It was unseasonably warm and very soarable. Many pilots showed up to enjoy this rare treat - eleven all together. Also, I forgot to give credit to my good friend Phil Keaggy for his great music I used as background in the vid.

The Kaysville House

This is what I've been doing for the last seven months. We bought this great house in Davis County and gutted the main level. Here are some before and after shots of the kitchen. More to come!

Still More to Mention!

A pic taken at the South Side a few years back for the Salt Lake Tribune. Me in my old Talon.

Just a few more flights to mention. One more Randolph day and a South Side flight. Saturday October 22nd proved to be another epic weekend flight at Randolph. Lots of pilots and great air. A few newbies got their first high altitude flight, getting 3500 over in the glass!! I was able to add a few more hours to the log.

Monday November 14th, I made it down to the South Side. Cal was the only other Hang at the top, sporting a broken keel - a set-up issue. Even though he couldn't fly, Cal was kind enough to stick around and assist my launch. The wind was gusty, exceeding 25mph. Once in the air, it was reasonably smooth for late morning conditions. I quickly gained 500 over and explored the consistent lift out front over the houses. Cal was still hanging out in the parking area when I landed. Thanks Cal!

Dave buzzing Randolph launch in his Falcon.

A Couple Of Flights To Mention

The Crawfords. From a previous flight.

Last week I flew the Crawfords with Cody. Wednesday we drove up to Randolph and both logged 2hr flights. Friday, Sam and I added an additional 1:45 to our logs. Both days were typical fall Randolph flying. However, Wednesday I had to actually put some effort into my flight. As I took off the wind turned a bit south sending me below launch. I thought I was heading to the LZ, but did a bit of scratching until the wind straightened out.

Nice Landing

Cody aces his landing at Randolph last weekend.

A chosen few made the drive up to the Crawford's this past Sunday to experience a rare day of soaring. The forecast didn't look that great, just decent looking winds for the afternoon. We arrived at launch around 2:30pm to observe light southwest winds with some thermal induced spikes. I slowly set up expecting it would be a late glass-off. Cody, Greg and crazee Mike followed suite. Mike suddenly appeared harnessed up and on launch. Soon Mike was a grand over launch, leaving the rest of us scrambling to get in the air. Initially, we were experiencing nice reasonable climbs to 10k. The lift wasn't abundant, but consistent enough given the south component. There was an interesting cloud street dissecting the hill at a 45 degree angle. We suspected a convergence line, due to an approaching weak cold front. After a short while the wind clocked around, perfectly t-boning the hill.

As with prior flights on the Crawford's, I ventured out front at the end of each climb expecting to find broken light lift. Today was different! The cloud street was with us during most of the flight, dissipating a bit toward the end of our 2+ hour flights. Along a corridor a quarter mile wide and directly below the street, I was getting significantly strong climbs 13 to 14k all the way out to the foothills west of Randolph. Greg was finding the same amazing lift out front.

Everyone enjoyed this phenomenal soaring day landing with an additional 2+ hours to fatten their flight log with. Cody took the airhog award for the day, landing last with a perfect no-steper.

Just Great Flying! 9/3/11

S K U N K E D

Cody and I flew the Short Divide on Saturday. We knew before hand it might be a gamble given the soaring forecast. There weren't very many other options for flying because of the over development and possible thunderstorms in the area.

We launched around 4:30pm, a little late probably. I was the first off. I was scratching from launch to landing in the powdery, downhill, plowed bailout field. I actually pulled off my landing with several long strides, sinking past my ankles in the loamy soil with each step. I did drop the control frame on the last step.

Cody launched after I landed. His flight was shorter than mine. Cody executed his perfect crosswind landing, specially developed for this LZ.

Saturday Lisa V and myself had Heber to Ourselves. Mike Glassgow was along as driver. Heber hasn't been flown much this year. in fact, I believe Lisa and I were the first hangs to fly there a few weeks ago this season. The conditions were similar Saturday as it was a few weeks back - with a bit more moisture. We launched around 1:30pm into a thready 8-15mph wind. It wasn't a gimme! The thermals were hard to core. They were small and punchy with a definite shear cutting the lift off at 10.5k. We groveled around for an hour in the turbulence, then finally Lisa found a great core out front. Finally full turns in consistant 500 -1000 ft. per min. lift. We took that one to 13.5k and I headed over the back. Lisa hung back and rung out the thermal, climbing to 14.5k. We met back up over the cement plant outside of Park City, and worked some light cores until a fatty landed us over Rockport Reservoir at 14k again.

There were great cumulus developments on route, and several climbs took me close to cloud base. Back to the southeast heavy OD was dumping rain and hail over parts of the Uintas. The storm cells were not a threat given the distance from our route.

After topping out over Rockport, we headed N.E. to Coalville where my flight ended. Lisa flew a few miles further, up Chalk Creek, and landed in a great field in the narrow valley.

Great flight, awesome visuals, good friends!!



Bruce over launch.



Buce getting ready



Bruce launching



Lisa Verzella launching.

Steorts Arete

My friend Arno Ilgner Came out for the Outdoor Retailers show this week. Arno is the author of the the Warriors Way climbing books. Not only is he a successful writer, he's not to bad of climber either. I had the opportunity to break my two year climbing slump.