The Definitive Opposite Of Omniscious And Not Quite As Omnipotent.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thanks Hallmark...
I know it's a ploy to get consumers like me ready to spend lots of money on cards and tree ornaments, but it works...a few days ago (yup, in mid-July) I passed a Hallmark store in the mall and they had their Christmas displays up previewing the new Christmas Tree Ornaments for 2008. I'm the biggest sucker for Christmas. The entire season just lights up my life, so as soon as I see the first signs Christmas is near, I immediately perk up. So now, I'm plotting how early I can get away with putting up my Christmas tree without getting too ahead of myself. Perhaps I should at least wait until it's not averaging 90 degrees outside.
Tonight was a great show, the second for me with this new material. Before these couple of shows, it'd been about two years since I last played out live. The first show was a few weeks ago and Beans Coffee Shop in NJ, the venue was my home stomping grounds and a good place to kick off playing live. There was a small audience and I stumbled my way through the performance, but still alive in the end. I covered about two hours alone. Tonight was different. I was nervous because I had just returned from a long work trip and was very tired and still not too confident in my performance after the last show. Top that off with this being a longer show and at a bigger venue with more bystanders and audience in general and you'll understand the source of my anxiety. What I did have by my side was Jenny and Tyler. They were great and really helped me through it. They took care of the gear and we tag teamed the show which helped keep the energy fresh. The song I was most concerned with was "Give Me A Fairytale" because of all the parts and the soaring notes that repeat throughout. Somehow, when the time came, I took a deep breath, got lost in the song and before I knew it, the song was finished. I sold a few CDs and got a front row seat for a Jenny and Tyler show...it was a great night.
I'm not sure how many more shows are in store for my future, it's strange, part of me has let go of the emotions and moved on from the place those songs were birthed from but part of me also wants to move enough units of this project to be able to do another project soon more definitive of who I am now. We'll see, that's usually all I can say: "We'll see."
Thanks to all of you that came out to Borders Books in Newark, it was great to see you smiling faces.
On July 1, 2008, I celebrated my 3 year anniversary working on the East Coast. It's hard to believe I'm starting my 4th year. It's the longest (since leaving high school) I've been in the same place. Everything is great here, but sometimes I do get the itch of wanderlust again. I'm spending the Independence Day holiday (appropriately so) figuring out where I am in my life.
So far, this summer has been unexpectedly great. I didn't think it was going to be awful, I just didn't know what to expect. Usually, I'm set to attend about a dozen or more weddings. I guess I'm finally hitting the age from where all my friends are getting married to where all my friends are having kids. That being the case, there's a lot less traveling this summer as far as cross-country and international trips are concerned. Maybe that's why I'm itching to get away. Anyway, this summer Nick and I have been subcontracted out from BEL.com to take care of audio for national acts coming through a beach venue called "The Bottle and Cork". This has been a nice quasi-getaway from the corporate settings work usually brings. This summer we're essentially taking care of rock shows with brief breaks of the corporate work. It's just like when Nick and I did audio for Rock Class in college at Greenville. For those of you who don't know what Rock Class was, it'd take too long to explain.
I love the rock show scene...music takes over and people let loose the problems and stresses from the rest of their days. Being around all this music has really been kicking me into writing again. I think I'm half done with enough songs for multiple albums! Now I just need to spend some time sorting out the details and shaking out the chaff. After that, I guess it'd be time to record demos and send them out to various producers I've got lined up. That's right, this time there'll be a production team. The last album was incredibly personal and to an extent, the next one will be too, but I want it to be more fun and hold a broader tone. So far, there is only one ballad! And that was written for my little god-daughter Lyla...
In the midst of my thoughts of travel, my buddy Jeb sent over this video and it only fueled my fire to hop a plane...it's really inspiring and quite practical...it just reminds me that we do what makes us alive, the rest will fall into place:
So now, it's time to sleep while I have the chance and figure out where I belong in this gigantic maze of the world and life. Goodnight friends... -Rod
