08.26.07
A Brand New Day
We had a very fun gig last night in a new venue. We shared the show with two other musicians, Steve Grogan and Molly Durnin. We all did two alternating short sets. Although it was a minor annoyance having to bring our equipment and do all the set-up and break-down by ourselves, we still had a good time. For one thing, it was nice sharing a show with younger people. Also, there were a fair amount of people who came specifically to see us. That was a nice change. We’ve actually had a gradual increase over the last few months of people who return to see us or hear about us from friends. The down side was there was no publicity in the paper. Oh well, it was a chance to break into a new place. Molly was very good. She did two songs that she had written the night before. They were both good, but I was very impressed with the second one. I felt inspired to write and discouraged at the same time. After the show, we chatted with Mr. Math for a while. I mentioned my dilemma about not having a secluded place where I could go to compose my songs. He told me about a famous artist who painted on someone else’s back porch because he didn’t have studio, yet. My reaction to this was to dismiss it and tell him about having too many distractions from Grandsweetie when trying to write or play music. He then told me about some great mathematician who did much of his important work “with his grandchildren on his knee.” At that point, I decided to give up. He just didn’t understand. Later last night, after unwinding at home for a couple of hours, I decided to read before going to sleep. I remembered Molly’s two songs and the things that Mr. Math had told me. At 3:30 am, I had a wonderful new song that I plan to debut at our next show. It’s called “A Brand New Day.” It’s a new style for me and is fun and light. The lesson I have learned from all of this is a lesson I should have learned a long time ago: If I want something, I need to go out and grab it rather than waiting for it to find me. I’m sure I’ve learned it many times. I just get caught up in the struggle and forget. Thanks to Mr. Math for the encouragement and to Molly for the inspiration.