They say life is a journey. Here’s a song and video in that spirit.
Filmed over the course of a year and change, the “Bruce Lee” video is sort of an elaborate selfie, shot on my phone with a little $10 tripod, often set up on top of my car. There were shadows, paint brushes, many murals visited, many locations and shoots that didn’t make the cut, and eventually, this past December, a trip to Kenya to visit my brother Austin and his family.
The trip was dense with people, places and first time experiences, and I haven’t begun to write about it and digest what all happened out there. Suffice to say, when my plane flight left the Nairobi Airport, I felt a beautiful heartache, and knew that I was forever changed.
When the covid-19 pandemic set in, I got some video editing software and started putting the footage together. You’ll probably be able to tell which shots came from Kenya. The rest of the video was filmed around California, and mostly around the Bay Area. If I saw a cool mural, I’d pull over and sing in front of it. My friend Shakti Kennedy suggested that I visit the Bruce Lee mural in Jack Kerouac alley, after she watched the first draft of the video. Naftali Beane Rutter gave me some key guidance on the basics of editing, as did my brother Austin Peck. Both of them have made some powerful films that you should see.
The song “Bruce Lee” is borderline Christian rock, or like the redemption narrative of classic country songs of the 1950’s and 60’s. For a long time I’ve invoked Bruce Lee’s name as I talk to myself. He symbolizes discipline and balance in my inner language. The book I hold up mid-video, “Striking Thoughts”, is a collection of his writings that has given me sparks of inspiration and spiritual guidance since I was 20. I think the core idea of Bruce Lee the song is that the biggest thrill in life, after all adventures and misadventures without, is to find mastery within, maybe through the pursuit of an art. In Bruce’s case, it was his body. In my case, it is a marriage of music and words.
Shouts out to Luke Westbrook, Miles Wick, Shakti Kennedy and Darren Racusen for their invaluable input. On a musical note, thank you to Ethan Turner for recording & producing this song, John Greenham for mastering, and Kim Ortman for singing the lights out. Hear the whole album at www.peckthetowncrier.bandcamp.com, or just email me about vinyl, double CD and book versions of the album and I’ll walk to the post office and mail you a copy …
While this pandemic has had, and will continue to have disastrous results for humanity as a collective, it also presents an opportunity to journey within, with renewed commitment to palpating our own infinitudes. I hope all the locations in this video and the story of the song will give you a feeling of movement, and will resonate with your own inner quest.
Peck 
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