Race To The Finish
There’s less than 2 weeks to go before we move to Carrboro, NC. I feel like that guy who is running a race, and then falls and breaks an ankle. Then he wants to finish the race so badly that he drags himself over the finish line by his fingernails. Or I guess I feel like the Jamaican bobsled team in Cool Runnings.
Actually, things are not that bad right now. Nancy is home from work to help with Baby Jessica, and I have a lot more time to do stuff. The thing is, I’m being pretty ambitious about doing a lot of things each day, especially like practicing the keyboard and doing some cardio vascular exercise.
Today, a couple of Nancy’s friends came to take away our wall bed. We had a great time bringing it downstairs. The bed is so big that it could barely fit, and we ended up trashing the bed and the walls of the building a bit.
I’m starting to think a lot about how to approach doing my organ group in North Carolina. I guess it will be better if I do less of a side-man role, and more of a leader. I’ve been practicing a lot, and I feel like my skills are starting to develop more quickly, but moving to a new place and starting fresh with a new instrument seems like a huge ordeal.
Then I decided to break it down into more of a schedule thingie:
Month 1-2 – Get together and jam with whoever is willing. Make a list of tunes I need to know, and identify the things I need to work on the most.
Month 3-4 – begin to ask to sit in with groups around town.
Month 5-6 – Start to do gigs with jazz groups as a sideman
Month 7-on – Make a nice demo CD. Go out and actively seek out gigs for my group
1-year – make an album
Maybe I can shoot for that schedule and see what happens. One of the cool things about switching to organ from bass is that if someone wants to hire a bass player, an organist can also fill that role.
Wow, it’s been a while!
You get what you pay for folks. I guess that means that my blog gets stuck on the back burner when my life is a little busy. I’d like to tell you about my week, and then tell you a little about my future plans.
Two nights ago, I went out with a bunch of friends to the Kiosk on 116 street. We hung out there just talking and telling stories until they closed. After that, four of us went to midtown and hung for another 2 hours! It was a legendary hang, and I’m so thankful to Paul Carlon for hooking it up. I’ll definitely remember that one.
On June 1, the tenant at our place in Carrboro moved out. The next day, the construction company came to start working on the kitchen. We are also getting the floors refinished, and the whole apartment repainted. To me, it seems totally unreal. Have you ever had a moment where you thought about someone you knew years ago, and said “That person, right now, is probably eating dinner” or something, and tried to picture it? My brain has a weird disconnect between what is happening here and now, and what’s happening far away unobserved. It’s impossible for me to visualize the apartment, which I haven’t even seen for 10 years, undergoing this crazy construction. I guess if someone told me the world was flat, I’d believe that, too.
I’ve stepped up my exercising quite a bit. Now I’ve been running from home, around the park, and back each day, pushing Jessica in the stroller. It’s about 4.5 miles total. I was running for about 1.5 miles each day, then my friend Larisa inspired me to take the plunge and do the park. One thing I found out, is that if you can run for 15 minutes, then 45 minutes is really not that hard. Only difference is that you get really really hungry later! I’m trying to get rid of my ‘baby gut’, which I’ve put on in the last year or so taking care of baby and not exercising enough.
Another thing I’m really excited about is that my friend Matt Brandau moved to town a couple of days ago! I’m still trying to figure out what kind of gigs he wants to do, then I’m gonna hook him up big time with gigs. He’s turning over a bunch of bass students in Carrboro to me.
I have two main musical goals for when I get to North Carolina. Of course my main thing is to take care of Jessica and Truffles, make sure bills get paid on time, etc. But personally, I want to:
1. Play organ gigs. Jazz/Funk stuff mainly, where organ plays the bass line. I feel like I’m getting to the point where I could hold my own at a jam session, so I’ll probably start there and work my way up.
2. Blogging/Recording/Producing. I have an idea for a zero-overhead music company where I record stuff myself and promote independent music I love on the internet. The idea is evolving slowly. I just feel like I want to unravel the full potential of my musical experience in a way that just ‘playing gigs’ won’t allow.
Whew, that’s a lot of typing.