Where did my goals go? Oh yeah, recording.

Things got nebulous for a second. They always do that when I don’t bother to set goals. The only thing that’s been keeping me focused is this recording thing. I sat down last night, though, and came up with 8 main goals to accomplish by the end of December. Then I taped them to my fridge so I can cross them off when I accomplish them. ^^

And, yes, recording is one of them. 4 tracks pretty well stabbed at, now. “Half-Decent” is hard to record because I alternately yell, then don’t. >.< That’s the price of having a personality.

Another main one is this website. I was investigating everything... thinking about how I could just do wordpress, like everyone else... but, you know, I hate doing what everyone else does. So I might just try to make my own site and learn some CSS, XML, and javascript as I go (I already have HTML skilllllz, yes, beyond the b, i, and u tags, thankyaverymuch).

It’ll probably take a bunch of time to learn, but honestly, any time you can invest in bolstering your computa skills is time well spent, if every job I’ve held has taught me anything...

Christmas in October

There are always, always, always, excuses. Mary Oliver probably puts it best in her poem, Kookaburras: "In every heart there is a coward and a procrastinator." She goes on to say, though, "In every heart there is a god of flowers, just waiting / to stride out of a cloud and lift its wings."

Her poem has a strong and stern message: Do not choose the former of the two, if you can possibly avoid it.

See, there are things in life, balances to be struck, bargains to be made. People answer this question - what's more important today? - while ignoring this question - what's more important for my life?

Yesterday, a group of us (incl. Battleshy Youths, Paper Janes, and various folks) chose to answer the second question in complete and utter defiance of the first.

And it was rockin'.

A lot of what's real and good in life makes no sense on the surface. Looking from the outside, you'd have seen a group of young people who have homework and school and jobs and obligations; you'd have seen them temporarily discard most of their obligations, including the forfeit of sleep; one of them has a recording studio in the basement, for some reason; his folks are somehow okay with about 20 people making use of all but a few rooms in the house for practicing, collaborating, eating, and hanging out; the house, by midnight, is littered with coffee mugs and bowls of chili; musicians climb in and out of the studio with a menagerie of instruments, some loud and obnoxious; and the last few stragglers finally leave the house at 3 AM to dodge herds of deer as they navigate through rural Pennsylvania to capture a few precious hours of sleep.

I know a number of people who would NOT be okay with this happening in or around their house.

So what's under the surface that makes it all worth it?

Friends, new ones and old ones. The practicing of creativity and generosity. Giving help, accepting help, asking for help. Encouragement to make full use of the special and unique gifts given to each of us.

Also, we possibly recorded some sweet tunes somewhere in there.

What a day.

Something's in the details and it's actually good.

I kinda like that this setup totally trumps the TV. (Come to think of it, I should probably make up a dust cover for it, since I use it like, once a week, maybe?)

I always underestimate the value of having a nice workspace. And I always kid myself into thinking that music isn't work. I know, inherently, that it is work, and I do take it as seriously as I take any other job I've had. I just make stupid decisions, like, having a workspace doesn't do that much for ya.

Um, yes, it does. baka!!

I'll be the first to admit that I am in a learning process. I mean, shoot. Despite years of classical training, I hardly ever played in front of a mic before I started pursuing singer-songwritership. That takes getting used to; it's a whole crazy world of understanding how to play and sing into microphones, why feedback happens, how sound system setups work (for the longest time I wasn't even sure I knew what a "monitor" was). But the learning is fun and I don't mind admitting I'm an idiot if it means I also get to talk about having fun.

I've been selecting, detailing, preparing songs. Ditching songs that don't resonate with me (cos why should I record songs I'm not 300% in love with?). Printing out lyrics sheets to my own songs, getting into the nitty-gritty of how and why I want to express certain elements of them, questioning and editing chord choices... I freakin' love it. Details, details, details, I love them. An ounce of detail can convey pounds of meaning, even if unperceived by the majority of listeners. They matter, and I love making them matter ^^

Zeal, and Pre-chickens

There has been a lot of this in my life lately.

It's a terrific thing.


In case you can't tell what "it" is, it's musicing. Musicing with people randomly, awesomely, at odd hours of the day and night. Running around water fountains, instruments in hand, yelling the lyrics to a minutes-old song (aptly named, I think, the "one chord song"). Improvising a song on Main Street in the rain about how we weren't busking. Guitaring on the beach with four friends and ten-foot breakers. Referring a new friend to a store that sells balalaikas.

You know how when you leave a place for a long time, you come back and it feels wrong? The doorknobs aren't at the right height, you can't remember the little tricks to all the sticky locks, the faucets turn the wrong way? This is like the opposite. This is like arriving at a place where all the little things actually feel familiar, even though you've never lived there before.

Honestly, there is so much freedom in my life right now, and if somebody saw me running around in the rain singing Puff the Magic Dragon in vocal harmony with my friends, they would seriously doubt my sanity, they would say something disparaging about how kids these days should get a job and become contributing members of society. And, you know what? I wouldn't care. Because I am contributing, just not in one person's narrow mindview. I'm really happy just being crazy. If this is the only life I ever live, I hope I've done it well and much to the consternation of narrow-minded people.

Lately I have been doing a lot of networking, though, and some playing out (most recently, the Queen's open mic). Things are happening, things have been scheduled, mulled over, talked about, collaborated and elaborated upon.

However, I do not count my chickens before they hatch. Ideas are not actual things. So expect updates when the actual things happen, but feel free to ask me in person about ideas, if you want to get your head talked off.

There's a lot of excitement. A lot of potential and energy (potential energy!!) and I hope the momentum doesn't get lost, I hope crazy new things start happening, I hope I will have the courage to take some steps and leaps and bounds when they start manifesting in real life.

And the rest of August went something like this.

Strawberry ice cream flat root beer float.

Both ingredients are remnants of social gatherings I've had here at my bachelorette pad, and there's no decent way to get rid of them... so I've merely deferred to the indecent methods.

Speaking of indecent, hellooooooooooo not updating my blog for a month.

Here, before you read on, click "play" on this song I wrote. Then you can listen and read at once. It'll be magical.

Click here for lyrics and stuff

What happened in that time?

• First paying gig since May! Or so I believe, since I haven't yet received a check. If I don't, I guess I volunteered to play background music for a dinner party. (I guess it's not really in good form to report publicly that I haven't been paid yet, but, that's just the thing... here's a transparent look at how I'm growing from my experiences. /tangent)
  
• Played for the Delaware Friends of Folk coffeehouse. It was their second round of performers for the Delmarva Folk Hero contest. Michael said I should do it, so I did, and I did my darndest and I just didn't make it. Reasons I'm not disappointed: there's a lot of good performers in the area, I can't win everyone over, and I planned and played my absolute best. Anyway, I ran into my fellow FAWMer and songwriter Aaron Nathans, which was kinda cool, and I got a taste of how the open mics are run by the Delaware Friends of Folk. Plus I met a ton of cool folks, which I always try to do wherever I am and it's always a good time. Michael & Erin's duo, the Honey Badgers, were finalists from the first round so they'll be playing at the Delmarva Folk Festival in October. Yay!
  
• Played at Mojo Main's open mic a couple of times, which was snazzy. One night I brought the dulcimer onstage, which was pretty fun. ^^ Oh, my snapshot was also in the local paper... it's not in the online version, but they wrote an article about some of Delaware's open mics, and Mojo Main was featured (of course!). In my own humble estimation - this is one great open mic. I've played/run a few in my time...
  
• I lost all my guitar students. Yep. So. There's that. I know my role as a guitar teacher, and if I've got beginners I generally expect that they will discover more of their musical identity while studying with me; once they know who they are, they might find another teacher or program that fits better, or they might decide that a little bit is enough for now. As long as the decision's what's best for the student and the student's family (and as long as it's not because I stink), I'm a happy teacher.
  
• The timing of it, though, is impeccable... which is to say, I'm not sorry to have a little of my time back to focus on what I'm doing, at least for now. Looking into the fall is like looking into a smoke-filled room. Fragments and bits of opportunity are drifting around and it's hard to say what's going to happen. Some exciting and new stuff's over the horizon, though.
  
• Also I finally joined ReverbNation. Michael told me to do it at the end of July and I told him I'd look into doing it the next week. Better late than never!! I don't know how the rankings work but somehow I shot up to #19 for Newark, which is quite strange.
  

So, yep. Ready for September. The end of summer means fewer hours at work which means greater hours for music!! :)

Basking in some local music...

TA-DAAAAAAAA~!

Camps are over. I prayed hard and I worked hard and it turned out beautifully. We had a pizza party on Friday, and there's a few of us who'll go in and deep-clean this week... but it's pretty much... done.

The monsoon cancelled our weekend programs, so I just got to sit around the house. It was a good thing... I was in a little physical pain and a little spiritual pain, neither of which I'd like to go into detail about on this here blog. Most of my weekend, therefore, was NOT dedicated to cleaning (so the house still looks like it's the last week of camp), but rather to sitting in my favorite recliner and busting out some Final Fantasy III.

Anyway, it was a good weekend, full of music and people. I had the chance to see a couple different shows... Bullbuckers played at Home Grown in Newark on Saturday night. Facebook informed me of it about 8 hours prior. I have my ups and my downs with social media, but that was a definite UP!

Bullbuckers is a local ska band - I saw them open for the Toasters here in Delaware a month or two ago. (Another one Facebook told me about.) I lost my favored FAWM hoodie there, but the bands did such a good job keepin' everyone skankin' all night that frankly, I just didn't care. Bullbuckers are a seven- or eight-piece band, and they rocked at Mojo 13 that night. I couldn't believe they were a local band - with a sound that polished, they had to be touring from somewhere. Anyway, I'm glad I had the chance to see them at a bonafide ska show surrounded by that ska energy... they did a great job at Home Grown, don't get me wrong, it just wasn't a ska show. ^^

I go out by myself with moderate frequency. This was the case all this weekend. It's not like I have no one to ask, but I just like adventures sometimes. Going out with people is a very safe thing. Safety is the hazard.

But the cool bit was running into some old friends from high school who are also ska aficionados. Sitting at the bar alone would have been just fine, but it's great to be at a show with fellow appreciators who will yell and clap in appreciation when the saxophone player mutes the low note with his knee, leaving himself to stand on one foot while blaring the sax.

Sunday, I went to a house show here in Newark, DE. This is a relatively new venue. The family just loves local music and having folks over and I'm not sure if this was the case, but it seems very much like the house was designed just for those two things. Runa is an awesome contemporary Celtic band. One of their members is genuinely Irish... :) His wife is American but she did a great job singing in Gaelic on many songs. They are just an incredibly enchanting and mesmerizing group. It was wonderful to see them in such an intimate setting - there were about 12 or 14 audience members, so I got to meet a lot of new folks and I got to chat with a good number of the band members. I had thought the guitarist was classically trained (got excited when he had to pause mid-set to file a broken nail), but it turns out he has just busked a lot. ^^ I have to admit a bit of guitar envy because his guitar sounded positively magical. He played a steel string like it was a classical. I have yet to figure out how one does that without destroying the nails. :( Shannon, the singer, told me a good deal of her story, how she was working and trying to make ends meet that way (in the "normal" way that so many people know), and that her husband (the guitarist) encouraged her to quit her job and see if they could make the band work. She commented that it's been three years and it seems like most small businesses need those three years to actually start taking off. They're now playing tons of festivals and it's really easy to see why... they are just a fabulous Celtic band and they have definitely come into their own.

And let me not forget to mention - the awesome drum battle! Bodhran versus the drum kit. (Well, it wasn't really a kit, but it was the best acoustic percussion setup I have ever seen, played by a great percussionist from Canada.) (Did I mention that the fiddle player was from Japan? None of them was from the same country. :)

Apart from being a tad jealous ;) it was a great weekend for music. Now that the summer's more or less over, it's time to burn more demos, cut more business cards, and renew myself musically.

And clean the house.

Deciding