Recovery Coffeehouse
Jul 21, 2009 sojourn
I didn’t have any idea what to expect when I showed up at Anuvia Prevention & Recovery Saturday afternoon. I’d been invited by Rick Spreitzer to join him and Trip Rogers for a couple of hours of trading songs in a songwriter round for staff, clients and others in 12-Step programs.
While setting up a few folks asked what kind of music we played. The puzzled looks could have been cause for my spirits to drop, but I was there to play. And play we did. It was a really well balanced round from the perspective of contrast between our songs. Though the audience was fairly sparse, they were attentive and receptive to both song and our light bantering, which often included audience members, as well as divulging intimate aspects about how songwriting impacts and affects our everyday lives.
We played these couple of hours out of a desire to share of ourselves in hopes we could spread a little joy. I believe we accomplished that objective. Truth is I was blessed by the kindness and grace of the staff and audience. I arrived without preconceived notion, and left feeling like a million bucks. Lord know I need to do more of this type of offering, and plan to reach out to other organizations.
This was the debut of the Recovery Coffeehouse, mothly installments to follow, with different writers and artists. Quite likely I’ll be a distant memory at Anuvia by Labor Day, but it’ll be a long while before the warm-fuzzy in my gut fades away. Can’t say I’d have it any other way.
Stake in the ground
Jul 11, 2009 DIY
It’s getting on half way through a pretty busy summer to date. Last week’s gig at the 4th of July festival with Desmond Myers was a sweet and satisfying musical experience. Desmond played well beyond his years, at the ripe old age of 17, and we were treated to a really good sound man, enabling a great jam for a very receptive crowd in downtown Greensboro, NC.
But now the schedule is settling down and it looks like the rest of summer will be relatively quiet gig-wise. I expect to have my updated web site online by end of September so this is a perfect opportunity to map out 4-6 songs for an EP to release simultaneously. Of course this means having to wrestle with picking just a few songs, and maybe even writing 1-2 new ones, without overcooking the whole effort, ending up frustrated and wishing I’d never started the project at all.
A big question is how much to track at home and how much at the studio, which is mostly dependent on balancing cost and expectations. Then there’s mastering and packing, or not… I mean, I could go for it doing the bare minimum in the studio, mostly drums and auxiliary parts, and keep the production simple, with much more likely achievable results. Reality is I don’t have a following, so to expect people to spend money on my songs may not be realistic. However distribution works out, whether per track or physical EP, the main objective is to get my material out there and begin developing a fan base.
So it’s time to change hats for a couple of weeks and layout the game plan, which needs to be pretty much in stone by August 1st if I’m going to hit the end of September target. This is both the fun and the peril of the DIY mindset, a lot of learning and adjusting on the fly. There will no doubt be frustration and heartache along the way, oh well. I’ve talked about this project for a while, it’s time to put the first stake in the ground, time to put up or shut up.