Be Selfish

If you do things that you do not enjoy, eventually you will stop doing it, won't you?

The exception is your form of employment; we'll suffer many slings and arrows and derive no real sense of joy or satisfaction in what we do. And we do it in exchange for the paycheck.
The paycheck becomes the means to do what we want to do. The means to be selfish.

So people who do what they love for a living are the epitome of selfish. They are doing it to satisfy themselves. Someone will argue a caregiver is aiding their fellow man first and then perhaps themselves, but no - they enjoy helping. That act is enough to release the endorphins.

If you are a writer, write. A musician, play. And find a way to secure income from it.
BE SELFISH.

The connotation is a negative, but if done with joy and passion it actually becomes a most empowering thing.
The next thing you know you are passing your joy to another aspiring musician, or sharing a shoulder with one who needs it or making hearts soar...SOAR with your words in your book. Inspiring people with your acting.
How is that a negative thing?

A teacher, a good teacher loves to light a fire under his or her charges. If they can ignite the spark of learning, the profound and deep joy must be almost overwhelming...or maybe it's just me?
A writer expressing ideas and sharing feelings, an artist putting their own emotions on canvas or in a sculpture, a very selfish act.

Love is a selfish act, you do it to please yourself first.
It seems all the best things begin when you think of yourself first. With PASSION and JOY. An honest love of what you do. Selfishness without the two is evil and self defeating.

So how did the word come to be seen this way?
Sinister - it means left hand, nothing else...it became the Left Hand of God...ah, that is a bad thing.

Language, be it music or words or mathematics is ever evolving and without knowing the beginnings we lose perspective on the present. The future falls from our hands.

Lets all be selfish! Do random acts of selfishness!

Before You Panic - Check Your "Stuff"

Last weekend we were playing a cowboy venue and during 'Up On Cripple Creek,' I heard my volume cut in and out. More amp issues? "Noooooo!..."
I went to the gig bag and pulled out another cord - same thing.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

We finished the set and I took my stuff home. Last night as I was playing the volume cut out again..."Oh yeah."
I swapped cables...again. (Never learn, eh?)

It turns out that both cables were bad. I thrash my cables - pull them from the guitar unintentionally all the time. And yet, as a group we tend to overlook the little things that keep the ship of music afloat.
But here I am swapping back and forth and hearing the same symptom when using both cables. My heart sank.
Amplifier issues are not cheap - even when they are easily detected and fixed. Just bringing the amp to some one for service means dragging seventy five pounds from point A to point B.

The chain is only as strong as the yadda yadda. And in this case an overlooked piece of the chain caused major consternation.

My pedal board requires a ninety degree angle plug to mate with my noise gate and not lay atop the adjoining pedal. And that, of course makes it slightly more expensive.
Considering how many times a year I gig and how much abuse my cables suffer, I certainly got my money's worth - C.B.I. makes wonderful and relatively inexpensive cables. And I will certainly pick up a couple of replacements from Styles Music , but I decided to be brave and try another brand, Spectraflex .
Ordered on Friday for $22 shipped and I'll have it by Monday.

Oh, and if you have not done so, you should consider a Prime account from Amazon. For $79 a year, you get free two day shipping, free television programs and movies that you can view on your Fire, it also has a lending library for ebooks. It's March and I am sure I have saved the yearly fee, already.

But I Had Fun

Usually, when I expect a gig to be sub par, it exceeds all expectations. I've walked into dives; replete with the smell of urine...knowing I was going have a bad time of it, only to be very pleasantly surprised.

Last Friday I received a call to play the Annual Farmer's Market - the twist this year...as an opening act. The Market in LaVerne is a weekly event throughout the summer months.
(As Day Light Savings Time ended later than was usual and was begun four weeks early, the effect of everyone's clock has been noticeable)
Last year and the year before that, I had played during the height of activities. This year, would I like to be one of the five acts to help kick it off for the year?
Sure. A gig is a gig. And I have been here on a somewhat regular basis...might as well.

But this year, I had heard the coming weather report. A veritable deluge of Biblical proportions. This is SoCal...it doesn't rain, much. But I do remember that it was not a waiver concerning fire season that I had to sign when purchasing the house, it was that we live in a Flood Zone. I've not seen that much rain in the eight plus years we have lived here.

Friday was grey and rainy and nasty. And Saturday began with some of the heaviest rain I have ever experienced...ever. I grew up in N.J., I am used to rain.
I just knew the gig was going to be very cold and very wet. And that meant it would stink.

As I started to load my equipment, the sun came out. The rains stopped.
The eye of the storm? The lull until the onset of the second predicted storm?
Who cares?

Yeah, it WAS colder than comfortable. Mid fifties and very windy. We set up inside of a three sided tent that was to keep the rain off us and our electric equipment. However, these tents were not made to stop the wind.
I live at roughly one thousand feet of elevation. These are the foothills, there is wind more often than not. And at times - very strong winds.
But the sun shone, it did my heart good to be out and play in God's own venue. Huge pines, mountains in the background...it was beautiful.

The music wasn't bad either.

Sideman

In 2010 I was one of two names in the bands with which I was associated. More than one hundred gigs that way.
2011 dawned and I started playing backup for people who couldn't make the gig for one reason or another. I acquired a mandolin and that added a new dimension.  But my writing and composing had slowed down. I found myself working on technique.

While it is never too late to learn something new I had lost faith in my core abilities and wanted to fulfill those perceived shortcomings.

I think watching Jimmy Vivino had a lot to do with cementing that mindset. While I could do a couple of things better than he I was lacking in many others. Trying to expand the repertoire is fine, punishing yourself for what you studied is foolish.
I was neglecting what I did well. We should always play to our strengths.

I took a step back and examined what I was trying to achieve. I want a musical career, rather than a hobby that supplements my nine to five.
How was embarking on an entirely new tack going to accomplish this? It wouldn't - it would adds years to the learning curve. I don't have the time to waste.

2012 and the gigs I have had have all been sideman jobs with one exception. A message?

I thought to return to my "roots" and expand in any way that can be immediately felt and used while learning new things at the same time. But to prioritize and focus on my core.

I think, more than anything I am someone's sideman or an entertainer.
I will think on this, but not too long.