October 12, 2017

Hope’s End Red Blend

Early in October, there was a lot of sadness in the world.  I work in the music industry.  As I sit here writing this (on October 4, I needed to get blogs done early this month), I’m thinking about Las Vegas and the terrible shooting at a music festival.

Although I did not know anyone personally at the festival, I have groups playing at festivals throughout October.  It’s sobering to think about.  I worry about their safety, I worry about the safety of the fans, I create Emergency Action Plans (EAP) with five different options for multiple different situations.

And then, I put it all away, and I focus on Hope.

I have hope for humanity. 

While politicians and celebrities on the right and the left argue about gun control, mental illness, and personal accountability, I think they’re missing something even more important. 

Men and women picked up their fellow concert goers that night.  They helped them into pickup trucks and took them to the hospital.  They helped people they’ve never met before scale fences to get out of the line of fire.

Without knowing a name, a religion, or a political viewpoint, average citizens held each other’s hands.  They were afraid together, cried together, and saved each other.

That is Hope. 

Maybe by the time you read this blog, we’ll know the whys.  Maybe we’ll be able to point a finger and understand.  Probably not.  Senseless violence rarely is understandable.

I’ll take my bands out to play, later this month.  We’ll have our EAP for the “just in case.”  But we’ll also be bringing something else.  We’ll be bringing joy and hope to the festival goers who listen to us.  We’ll be bringing happiness, understanding, and love.  We’ll shake hands, smile, and be a little bit of inspiration.

Because that’s what we need.  More hope.  More love. 

We need, as a planet, to focus on the amazing love and beauty that comes out of tragedy.  Because it’s always there.  Don’t let the darkness win.  Incredible acts of love happened between complete strangers that terrible Sunday afternoon.  That’s Hope.

I had already picked this wine and felt like the title fit my thoughts for this blog.  It’s got a cool Halloween vibe on the bottle – one of the bottles I’ll keep in my ever growing “Bottles with Cool Labels” collection.

There’s some sweetness to this red blend.  It’s deep, dark red, a beautiful color in your glass.  I get a lot of chocolate, raspberry, and cherry on the nose, with all of that and a hit of blueberry on the palate. 

This wine is super easy to drink – and it looks like the bottle came off a pirate ship. 

Buy a bottle of this for your Halloween festivities.  I picked mine up at Target for $10.

And most importantly, hold onto Hope.  This bottle is called, “Hopes End.”  I prefer to think that Hope is just beginning.