The Home of Vertical Alignment

The Vertical Alignment
Multi-Media Album

Team Signposts In the Studio OIAD Sessions Our Lowcountry Skybridge I Heart NY

Oklahoma Highway Journey to Tanasi

“Signposts” and “Joseph’s Dream” on da beach!

Journey to Tanasi

another trip to the past and the future

a poetic photo essay by Peter J with Terri J

Site of original Cherokee town A Signpost…

Events conspired to quell a notion
And stop a journey to tomorrow
Technology became a potion
A yesterday it sought to borrow

But from the pluff my feet came free
Through fallen trees on I-26
I sailed into Tennessee
Through mountain Cherokee sympathies

Malfunction Junction slowed me down
Slipping through into the night
Road construction like a crown
Knoxville soon is out of sight

Late I came to Lebanon
Estates of lighted houses fair
Gentlemen and gentle ladies
On rolling land beyond compare

Tessa Groves

Elijah and Tessa bring Carl's coffee

Morning dawned, a day in motion
Nashville near enough to touch
Music City like a potion
I'd Sing if I could find the clutch

Kevin Thomas and Carl Groves (seated) of Disability Consulting and Salem Hill

A new solution carried far
Creates connections never seen
Kentucky drummer and Nashville star
Hope will let them intervene

The Volvo at Disability Consulting in Galatin, TN

(l to r) Kevin Thomas, Carl Groves, and Peter J

Evenings spent in wondrous dwelling
A family's love fills all the seams
Asleep I tear the tale's telling
Dream a thousand Hillion dreams

Carl and Janie's World Carl and Jaynie's World

Jane Groves Jaynie Groves

Tessa (l) and Elijah Groves Tessa and Elijah Groves

Cousin (l) with Chloe Groves Cousin Julie (l) with Chloe Groves

Carl's Hammond

Not Everybody's Studio

Morning dawns in Tennessee
The animals and hills rejoice
Tanasi in Cherokee
An echo of that Native voice

A town bequeathed a state a name
That white man tried to hallow
But Tennessee remains the same
True destiny lies fallow

Did Andy Jackson ever hear
His state's name spoken clear and strong?
In Native voice he learned to fear
As he forced a Nation on Trail long

Monty's new toys

An evening spent renewing friendship
From long ago and far away
In Nashville teacher showmanship
Lifelong buddy found his way

Peter J and Monty Pierce in Nashville

One more night in storied dwelling
Family fun to warm the heart
Music swells with Hammond's telling
Telecaster finds its part

Carl cooks up a mean stir-fry

Gretchen Groves

World's cutest Wurly player

Pete wrestles Carl's Telecaster to earth

The smooth sounds of Carl on Hammond

Still wrestling…

After the jam

Carl's son Alex Groves, the eldest of the kids

Peter J and Carl Groves

Fog lay on the ridge behind me
Early morning road to home
Roller coaster road of freedom
Volvo like a metronome

Foggy ridge behind the Groves home

Through The Gorge I leave Tanasi
By Smoky Mountain's fierce veneer
In forests of the Cherokee
The mountain air a souvenir

I-40 through the Great Smoky Mountains

Tunnel on I-40 near Asheville, NC

Piloting the mountain roadways
Volvo knows the way to fly
Lazy ocean springtime dream days
Mount Pleasant is a lullaby

I am home again

Ravenel Bridge to Mt. Pleasant, SC

Or am I?

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In March of 2008 I traveled to the Nashville, Tennessee area to deliver and install a server for Disability Consulting, the company owned by Carl Groves. Carl is also known as the leader of the legendary C-Prog band Salem Hill. Working with Carl is Salem Hill drummer Kevin Thomas. These two men stand up for those who are unfairly denied government disability payments. As advocates and defenders of people who cannot defend themselves against the mindless decisions of gargantuan government, they fulfill several Scriptural mandates. It was an honor and a pleasure to help these men gain a new level of connectivity to their important daily work.

I had the distinct joy of staying with the Groves family at their home in Lebanon, TN. Situated on gorgeous rolling countryside, their house had a storybook unreality that crept into my heart. The Groves family is one of constant action and loving relationship. With five kids, Carl and Jaynie are always on the go. The two youngest, Tessa and Elijah, formed a special bond with me as I told them all about my daughter Melody. They devoured every picture I had of her on my cell phone and then Tessa enjoyed talking to Melody when I called her.

I stayed in a room downstairs situated off of Carl's studio. It was like living in the Salem Hill museum! (Look, there's the original painting from the cover of Not Everybody's Gold! And there's Carl's seven string he played on the video! Look, there's the original painting from the first Salem Hill cover!) There was a sweet peace staying in that place that belied Salem Hill's tough guy image.

I also got to see my old friend and former VA member Monty Pierce while there. He had moved to Nashville a year ago and is now in a happy place. I was really glad for him and it was good to see my buddy.

Leaving Lebanon was a bittersweet moment for me. I longed to see Terri and Melody but part of me just wanted to bring them there. One day soon I know we will all get to visit and my girls will experience the boisterous peace that is the Groves household.

After I returned I discovered that the state name of Tennessee had its roots in the name of an ancient Cherokee town, Tanasi. Originally situated down a creek from the legendary Cherokee town of Chota, it now lies entirely underwater. The Tellico Dam, constructed in 1979, spelled the end of that important piece of Cherokee history. The waters of the reservoir covering those ancient towns are a picture of the Cherokee civilization of Eastern Tennessee. Like the waters, the white man has covered everything Cherokee.