Social Media.

"I'd get rid of my Facebook, but I need it for my music."

I've heard this from my peers, and I've said it myself, 

and I don't think it's true.

Occasionally, an article will pop up about Facebook and/or social media in general, and what it's doing to us. This one from CNN recently crossed my news feed. Granted, it's an opinion, but it rings true with me.

Some choice tidbits:

"...in today's always-on social media world, our solitude has been replaced by incessant online updates, which both weaken our sense of self and our ability to create genuine friendships."

"Kids are growing up ... assuming that it's perfectly normal to reveal everything about ourselves online."

"It's time to wake up to the truth about social media. Networks like Facebook have turned us into products in which their only economic value is our personal data. Like any other addiction, we need recognize its destructive reality. Facebook is free because it sells our most intimate data to advertisers. "

I have long recognized my own addiction to social media. I say it, and people laugh, and I do say it with a smirk and a side of sarcasm, which warrants a laugh. But I admit to times when I stayed up until 3 or 4 in the morning when I had work at 8 am. I admit to letting the rice burn because I was on Facebook. Some weeks, I have more control than others, but for the most part, I don't own my Facebook account. It owns me.

I've quit for periods of time. I think my longest stretch was two weeks. My longest longest stretch was really when I was on the island in Alaska, and the only connection to the outside world was a radio and 20 minutes of satellite phone per week. Those times, I remember being able to breathe.

I don't actually like Facebook.

There, I said it.

So why don't I quit? The argument comes across thusly: "I'd quit Facebook, but I need it for my music." 

Which, in all honesty, sounds and feels a little bit like "I'd quit drinking, but I need to relax."

Not for me, but, y'know, for an alcoholic. I'm a Facebookaholic. If you will.

What about it do I really need?

As a musician, sometimes the only way people contact me is through Facebook. In fact, on multiple occasions I have been contacted via Facebook message with a request for my e-mail address, which is clearly listed on all my Facebook pages, profiles, what have you.

I use it to create and promote gigs or other events. Socially, I also use it to gather friends together in various fashions, and I administer several groups and pages for work and/or pleasure. It's so mainstream now for so many people that I'm not sure I can ever fully extricate myself from my obligations. Or, even if I did, wouldn't I just transfer all those functions to other places? It's not Facebook I'm addicted to, it's something therein which I haven't yet pinpointed. I'm not sure that just ditching Facebook solves the problem.

I'm not sure that it's Facebook or social media which is inherently evil, and I'm not sure that cutting it out is the answer. But here's what I'm sure of.

It's not magic.

Social media is just a tool to reach people. It is no different from websites, or e-mail lists, or RSS feeds, or snail mail newsletters, or phone lists, or what the heck ever. It is JUST a communications tool. 

Ultimately, my success doesn't hinge on how well I communicate. My success hinges on making great music. That's what I want to do. If what I do is really awesome, people will find out. The end. Maybe instead of banging my head figuring out how to reach more people and scolding myself for not using social media more effectively, I should just focus on being awesome and becoming more awesome.

So heck with it all.

Horseshoe Crabs!

Time keeps eluding me, so here is a quick update:

Peace, Love, and Horseshoe Crabs was THE BEST! Ever! Thanks so very much to the Friends of DuPont Nature Center for all their great efforts.

I remember sun and breeze and sand and good, kind people and smiling faces.
I remember sweet free swag, including a PLHSC T-shirt and a free book about horseshoe crabs!
I remember my friend Shane joining me for the adventure and jamming on some sweet tunage.
I remember nearly getting front-ended (?) at a Shell station, which is still really hilarious for some reason.
I remember campfiretimes and sistertimes and beachtimes.
I remember "Hallelujah" singalongs and B95, the infamous red knot.
I remember a Red Knot song, which complemented the Horseshoe Crab song perfectly!
I remember Ennio, whose acquaintance we were quite pleased to make.
He did not regale us in person with any of his Spanish pop music though.

 :(

I mostly remember being really happy and making lots of really good music and being around really good people.



 COMING UP:

 Super-secret project with The Honey Badgers!

 AND some sweet gigs. Next one is the 6 in Willytown, brought to you by Gable Music Ventures.

North Carolina

The open road. A sticker-smothered guitar case. Sidewalks, strumming, and pocket change.

They just seem to go together, right?

I like a good road trip every now and then. I just retuned from another such trip to North Carolina, which in many ways is a second or third or fourth home to me.

The impetus for the trip involved a friend's wedding in Boone, which spun out into about a week of dancing and catching up and music. 

Here's a dulcimer shop in Blowing Rock, NC. This guy was so awesome. He let me try many of the dulcimers behind the counter.

Instrument shopping is something I take seriously and I go long-term when I'm making a decision. I need to play a variety of instruments and really feel out which instrument is the best fit for my need and personality. He had some cool ones, including some dulcimers in the shape of a banjo... I have mixed feelings about that.

I did purchase a dulcimer capo, though, in order to increase my current playing potential:

I managed to line up a gig at Tate Street Coffee while I was there. Coffeeshops, again, my favorite of venues. I had a small and extremely dedicated crowd, which are the best! And I played about 18 songs. All in all, a very awesome night.

I have to give a shoutout to all my friends who gave some of their time to catch up and talk to me. I felt really really super-encouraged after my trip was over. On my way home, I even listened to my own music and I was 200% less critical than I normally am. So thanks.

Finally, I stopped over at House of Musical Traditions near DC on my way back up the east coast. I used to live down the street from this store... I never appreciated it the way I should have.

Here we see the wall o ukes. They also had a whole wall of banjos, a dulcimer room (hammered and mountain), various percussion, tinwhistles, guitars (including some guitars upstairs that were too expensive to even breathe on), mandolins, some asian instruments I didn't even know the names of, and I'm probably leaving some stuff out.

Again, I bought nothing. But it caused me to dream again in ways I haven't dreamed in awhile. To imagine a fuller extent of what I could do. And, heck, one day I will buy a new instrument or two or seventeen.

I will leave you with a little happy, courtesy of my friend Jessie. I danced the last waltz in Winston-Salem on Tuesday with a gent by the name of Austin. As you may or may not know, usually that's it for the dance, but on this particular evening, the band (Pilot Mountain Bobcats) struck up this bouncy little number and we couldn't see not dancing to it... so here's a short clip of us doing just that, mostly improvising on swings, and me in my new skirt that my mom made. :)