U-Turn
Feb 20, 2009 sojourn
Last Sunday I was pretty bummed. I had hoped to make a road trip to Nashville with a co-writer friend of mine, Allen. He and I were going to cruise west, spend the week hanging out, writing, just having fun with it all. This was to be a very beneficial trip as I was to get introduced to a few of Allen’s relationships — some very solid writers and club owners/managers.
So, around 6:00PM, while hanging out, guitar in hand, thinking, “dang, I really should have found a way to make this trip”, I noticed an email on my Blackberry from a bass player friend in Delaware. He shared some details about a scenario in need of a bassist to cover some hot young guitarist’s artist showcase dates, and said I should make the call to the owner of a studio where both my friend (a fine musician who’s played with notables like Bad Co.) and this young up and coming artist record their material. I figured, what the heck, and called the studio the next day… no answer, so I left a message. Later that Monday evening, I got a return call. Seems these guys had exhausted their stable of bass players and are down to the wire. Footnote: I’ve been here before… a situation that comes to mind is a door knock while sitting home on a Friday night and being asked by a drummer and keyboardist to get dressed and grab a bass — theirs was in the hospital with food poisoning. I had a blast, and the gig just a few weeks later.
Anyway, the call with the studio owner/producer was pretty brief. I sensed both calm desperation and a good bit of caution on the part of the person I spoke with, justifiably so. He was only talking with me because my friend in Delaware said I could handle the gig… even I had my doubts at first, then figured, what the heck. So, I grabbed the songs off his me.com site and downloaded them onto my iPod. Over the next couple of days I listened through a couple of times, and now have 4-5 hours with bass in hand lifting bass parts off eight well written songs by this young guitar player, singer, and songwriter (who shall remain nameless for now).
Next step is to meet with the guys pulling together the band for the fast approaching shows to see if I fit the mold and have the chops to cut the gig. Whether I get the nod or not is not as important as the fact that if I had made the trip to Nashville I would not have had the opportunity to meet with these guys. Sure, the trip to N’ville could have opened some doors, but this opportunity could actually have a much greater ROI.
Why?
These gentlemen own a well established, productive studio. The recordings I’ve been learning off are out of this studio are high quality tracks, and were not only recorded at said studio (which also shall remain nameless for the time being), but produced by the owners, one of whom also plays drums, percussion and bass on the tracks!
I’m very much looking forward to see how things pan out… I have about a 75% grip on the songs, and should be close to 90% efficiency by the time we meet Sunday morning. The material is right up my alley, and there’s very little doubt in my mind I can do this thing… the opportunity is there because I made a u-turn away from what I wanted to do to where life was calling me to be.
Tags: best laid plan, opportunity knocks, serendipity, u-turn
Listen
Feb 6, 2009 muse
I sometimes need to remind myself how daily chores (including mundane tasks at my day job) go by faster, and generally more productively, when I’m “budded up” listening to music… it’s so easy to get head down at something and realize, shoot, I could have been taking in the riches of melody and meter, ingesting art, perhaps even subliminally growing my craft as a song writer.
Last Tuesday night it snowed, a quite infrequent occurrence in this neck of the woods, at least our locale, but it was cool to watch the wind whip some sky dust on to the earth. When I went to bed it was still coming down, and though inaudible, it was as if I could “hear” the snow piling up outside our bedroom. Thank God for imagery.
Just before writing this entry, I was listening to a CD from yesteryear as I reclined on an easy chair. The house was empty and I’d had a pretty long week, so it was nice to degauss and get my head ready for the weekend. As I was about to doze, the last song ended. The “quiet” sounds of the house took over, with the fish tank pump adding a little Feng Shui to the calm.
More often than not, I’ve a tough time listening to my own intuition… oh, how cheesy, but true. Not just for what steps to take in life, but when and what to write about. I tend to shy away from feelings drilling a hole in my heart (or left temple), partially because I am really trying to be more positive, but truth is, I swim daily in the dark waters of angst, at work and every time I turn on NPR or CNN. Time to start pouring this stuff out into the blender and letting the song chips fall where they may.
If it “sounds” like I’m rambling, you’re right, but hey, it’s a quick read, at least you don’t have to “listen” to me.
Tags: lips sealed, shhh, two ears