Weird couple of weeks there. At first weird in a good way — home again to Cleveland for Thanksgiving with family and friends. (I have footage of me and Scott doing a song there, which I hope to post as a “happy holidays” message closer to the New Year.) But then almost the whole week after that, Amy and I went into Renegade Craft Fair prep mode. I built a display frame thing for hanging scarves and stuff, and Amy made more scarves and other wares to sell. (Check out her stuff at her Etsy shop.) On Saturday, we set up shop…but Amy’s back wasn’t feeling too good.
The next morning, it was twice as bad, and so I took her to the emergency room. This meant skipping day two of selling crafts at the fair…but a few hundred bucks isn’t worth Amy hurting herself any more than she already was. The doctor said it was a muscle thing — not a bone or spine thing — which is reassuring in a left-handed sort of way. She got some great drugs and she’s been all Dazed and Confused up in here for the past couple days. She’s got a follow-up at the doctor’s Friday, so we’ll have a better sense of what’s actually wrong. Where was I going with this?
Well, speaking of not knowing where you’re going with this, I saw Canasta at the Beat Kitchen in the middle there — Saturday night. Very inspiring, as their new jams (one of which is called “I Don’t Know Where I was Going with This,” natch) are, like, way more rocking than I recall Canasta being before. A lot of it revolves around their new drummer, who’s…just…insane. Like Fab from the Strokes crossed with Lol from Ride. A controlled hurricane, if you will. It got me going.
But seriously, where? Oh yeah. Much to my surprise, Larry didn’t have an engagement a week from tonight, and so me and him and John are going to record again. In preparation, I recorded quick demos of the two songs we’re going to attempt…and in the process, ALMOST A WHOLE DANG OTHER SONG POPPED OUT. Which is a relief, since one of the John and Larry songs has like a million words and has taken a year to get together, just about. Some come fast, others come slow. But then in the shower some lyrics for this other sketchy thing came together..and it’s just like…I’ve been…EN FUEGO…for the last few days.
I still have to get a freaking show, though. That end of things still sags depressingly, of course. I have a strategy, for whatever that’s worth. But it requires…gulp…effort. Don’t worry, I’ll do it. My hope is that all this creative upswinging will serve to bolster me to do the gig-grubbing. You see, when I’m on fire with the songwriting and the practicing and the recording, I tend to feel more like a “real” musician…who therefore deserves real gigs. So I feel like less of a heel asking for them, and so I can actually do it without stuttering. So to speak.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know. Burn out the days. Burn out the nights. And so forth.
