Place In The Sun

If no one made a sound
We’d just be sittin here
Maybe feel a little awkward some
But it would please me so much more
Than all this jabberin
About things we really don’t know

Well this talk has made my jaw so sore
I’d like to turn it off
And not make another sound
Cuz we’ve talked about it all before
But we’re still sittin here
So let’s buzz in this awkward hum

Sit still, our thoughts will come and go
Just breathing in and out
Our heart beats the only sound
All our energy is finite so
Our time is limited
So let’s optimize our energy flow

“Where have you been my elusive son?”
My mother does say when she calls me
“Worry me sick! I thought you dropped off the face of the earth!”
I’ve buried my face in books and the dials on my 4 track recorder
Recording everything I’m thinking but I can't quite say about my place in the Sun

Place in the Sun!
Place in the Sun!
Place in the Sun!
Place in the Sun!
Place in the Sun!

I come from striving
I come from privilege
Born on this stolen land before me
Anyone can see the colonial dream’s genocidal nightmare
Gratitude pours to the ones close to me
Your energy fuels my intention
I will not sleep until every being finds their place in the Sun!

Place in the Sun!
Place in the Sun!
Place in the Sun!
Place in the Sun!
Place in the Sun!


Written by Geoff Doner
2021

Art & Family

I have been playing music since I was about 4 years old. I started out on the piano with 10 years of classical training and soon became proficient on drums, guitar, bass and vocals and have been recording my own music since I was a teenager. Using my parents tape recorder boombox, I began recording myself on cassette. After moving to Toronto to attend art college, I borrowed a 4 track recorder until I could afford my own. Then came along a digital 8 track, followed by GarageBand and then Logic, which I currently use.
​
I have dreamed of making music a sustainable living. But, deeply entrenched habitual thinking, a lack of self-worth, crippling anxiety and chronic depression coupled with a lack of knowledge of how to make that happen has kept that dream at bay. And so I have worked at countless jobs, earning an income to keep a roof over my head, pay bills and eat, all the while keeping my dream alive.
​
After a day at work, whether it be painting or renovating houses, working in a woodshop or metal shop, building sets for tv and live events, working for catering companies, as a stagehand, bartending, driving a truck, delivering food, I would come home and record music, what I consider the real work. Music is the only means of truly expressing myself. Through music I am able to process life, understand myself, express myself in ways that words on their own cannot. When I am engaged in my art, I am in my place in the sun.
​
Shortly after the pandemic hit, my wife and I were renovicted from our apartment after 12 years. I also lost my main source of income because I was working behind the scenes in live events. As for many, the pandemic forced us to reevaluate what we were doing for an income. We have been running an arts org Bureau Of Power And Light for about 8 years and were compelled to reexamine how to make this a sustainable business for us in our new storefront location in east end Toronto. I have since been working at labour intensive jobs to try and stay afloat, but it destroys my body and my soul.

The daily grind to survive in an expensive city like Toronto takes up so many hours in the day that it is extremely difficult to spend time with dear friends and loved ones.

Life is impermanent and time continues on. Our energy is finite and there are only so many hours in a day.

It is with all of this in mind that I have come to realize that there are only two things that truly matter: Art & Family. Family includes those close and dear to me too, my chosen Family. I commit to dedicating my finite energy and time on this earth to my Family and loved ones, to my Art and my Music, and to doing what I can to make this world a better place for all living beings. Nothing else matters. Everything else will take care of itself.
​
This is the story behind Place In The Sun and why this project is so important to me.

It is my hope that my story will resonate with others whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the pandemic, who are currently trying to pivot and find a new mode of living sustainably. I hope to inspire others who have been forced to recalibrate what they are doing with their life that it is possible to actualize a new way of being in this world, that it is possible to live a meaningful, purposeful life, one that aligns with one's true nature.​

Thank you so much to all of my family and friends for all of your support, especially in the last few years. I most definitely could not be where I am now without you. Much love and gratitude to you all:):)