What a week!

I’m dog tired, and sick, and I have to wake up early to travel to the Interior for a wedding (which I am looking forward to, it will just not help the tiredness).

“Why are you so tired?” you say in an inquisitive and mildly concerned tone.

Well… the main reason I’m tired is because of kids.  About 40 of them to be specific.  This week I helped out with a kids camp called VBS.  It was a blast, but it drained me.  I spent hours upon hours running around, chasing kids, lifting kids, being attacked by kids, singing, jumping, yelling, dancing, playing “grounders” and other games, etc.  For a relatively-out-of-shape-non-athlete like me, this is pretty intense.  Oh yeah, I also had to wake up at 6:30AM everyday, which is also intense for a mostly-self-employed-rockstar-wannabe like me.

Crazy kids and no sleeping in would be managealbe by itself, but this was also busy week with music.  I was burning the candle from both ends (is that how the saying goes?)

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

- finding students and writing curriculum for guitar lessons
- finding musicians and starting auditions for a cover band
- playing shows (I had two this week)
- playing on a radio station

Yesterday, I met Julie Lee.  She is an amazing violinist and we got along really well.  She was so good that I invited her to play with me at my show that night (which Julia Spitale hosted so wonderfully).  We performed some songs that she had never even heard before and no one in the audience would have known - she’s that good (it’s like playing with Brielle, for those of you who saw her play with me).

The radio appearance was really cool.  It was at Simon Fraser University’s CJSF 90.1 FM station, on a show called Melodies in Mind, hosted by Ryan Fletcher.  There were three other performers - Aidan Mayes, Dana Marie, and Day Cart (four if you include both guys of  Day Cart - whose name is a reference to philosopher Rene Decarte) and we did a song circle.  We traded songs back and fourth.  All of them were really talented.  In fact one of Dana Marie’s songs almost made me cry.  It was a great show in general.  You can hear a few of the songs at http://www.myspace.com/melodiesinmind

Or download the full show here in two sections: one and two

Anyway, it’s been a hectic week!  I feel wrecked.  But what keeps me going is that I absolutely love everything I am doing.

This post is kinda late… oh well.

Canada Day this year was pretty awesome.  I started out with a block party.  I helped set up and tear down, I played music, and I fell into the dunk tank innumerable times because whenever the kids missed the target, they would so kindly walk up and hit it with their hand.  It never stopped being funny… for them.  I also floated around to help with whatever else I could.

Then after a quick nap at home, I headed out to my weekly Live Music Wednesdays show at Bean Around the World.  Two amazing acts from Abbotsford came out to play: Barbara Swain and Cale Stanage.  They brought a good group of people with them too.  Barabara’s voice is like an angel and Cale’s songs are so fun - one of his songs borrows the line “I scream for ice cream, you scream for ice cream, we all scream for ice cream.”  We were all sing along to that one.  When I played my set, I felt so alive.  The audience was really energetic.  People were clapping to the beat and singing along and cheering with enthusiasm.  I wish all shows could be like that.

To cap off the night, a group of us watched the fireworks from the park.  What a perfect day.

Last night was magical.  I played a show at a restaurant called the Tipper.  They have a private room for concerts, events, meetings, etc.  It is a very intimate venue.

Shortly after arriving, I met the two other artists who were playing at the show - Megan Beatty and Gina-Lily D’Attilio.  In addition to singing and songwriting, they are both involved in other creative endeavors.  Megan makes art and is also starting something called Emo Well, which has something to do with emotional wellness with music.  Gina has recently started writing songs for hire.  If someone wants a special gift for their friend, significant other, or family member, they can hire Gina to write a song just for them.  She gives them an extensive questionaire (with questions such as “What animal does this person remind you of?” or “What is your favorite memory with this person?”) and uses that info to write the song.  This is really cool.  I’ve actually thought of doing something like this before, but never really thought it would work.  Perhaps I should give it a try.  Gina also started a website/booking group called Solace Music Nation (website still under construction).  Solace Music Nation is dedicated to giving emerging artists the opportunity to play full sets of live music.  They also record the shows and play them on SFU radio.  Creativity like this gets me excited.

As far as the music goes, I thought all three of our sets went well.  I started the show with lots of energy.  Then Megan tooks us through an emotional journey with her cute shyness.  And Gina rocked out with some great melodies and a beautiful voice.  Her voice almost reminded me of Karla Adolphe from Jacob and Lily.

I thought the show was going to end with Gina, but then there was a surprise.  She invited her friend (I forgot his name) to come up for a set.  He started with a bunch of covers.  The most notable were “One” by U2 and “Hallelujah” by Leonard Coen (Jeff Buckley’s version is my favorite, though).  Something really cool happened with these songs… a couple of us in the crowd started singing some harmonies under our breath and before we knew it, the whole audience started singing along in five-part harmony with some sort of beautiful unity.  It was like we were one big family, but most of us didn’t even know each other.  Almost as a joke I started to wave my hands in the air (like I just don’t care) and other people joined in.  It was magical.  This guy then free-styled a couple songs.  We called out what we wanted him to sing about and he just made it up on the spot.  He did one about puppies and one about sunburns.  They were pretty funny.  Altogether, it was a great night.

If you’re interested, I’m playing again this Thursday at the Oasis Lounge.  Check out the facebook event.

I love traveling.  I really enjoy experiencing a taste of other cultures.  Seeing the sights, eating the food, meeting the people… I can’t get enough of it.  So please don’t get me wrong when you read this post.

People should start doing more local adventures.  It is strange that I have a hard time spending $30 to go to a concert, $10-$20 to go to a museum or gallery or aquarium or something of that nature, $100 to go skiing, and so on, when I will spend thousands of dollars going on a trip.  I happen to live in one of the most diverse cities in the world: Vancouver.  It has mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, parks, the ocean, and all kinds of more tourism.  And I rarely take advantage of it.

Yesterday I went on a local adventure.  A friend from out of town and one of her friends, who I didn’t know very well, came to visit.  We didn’t plan too much, but we decided to meet at Stanley Park around 11:30am (but we all missed a bus transfer, so we were a little bit late).  When I got to Stanley Park, I instantly realized that I had been missing out on something.  I had taken my city for granted.  This park is absolutely beautiful and I had only been there twice before.

We wandered around for a while, enjoying the trees and the flowers and the Spring weather.  We played Frisbee on a field.  Then we went to the aquarium.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I actually had a fantastic time.  We looked at all the tanks and saw a number of shows with dolphins, beluga whales, and birds of prey.  After seeing all that the aquarium had to offer, we were getting pretty hungry, so we took a short walk to English Bay for a late lunch/early dinner at The Boat House.  It was a lovely meal of fresh fish and local beer, while overlooking the ocean and feeling the warm sun on our faces.  We then enjoyed a few minutes on the beach before heading home.

In total, I spent just under $50, which isn’t much compared to traveling.  And I had just as much fun as I would in a foreign country (it helped that I had some great company).  All of this is to say that I don’t discourage travel by any means, but I especially encourage getting out there and experiencing your own city.  It probably has more to offer than you realize.

It baffles me how so many people avoid practicing like the plague.  No matter if you’re a singer, musician, photographer, painter, poet, or whatever, there is something about practicing that most people don’t like.  Isn’t this odd?  If you enjoy your craft, practicing should be a good way for you to get to do it as often as you have time for.  Practicing is doing what you enjoy… but you don’t enjoy it?  I don’t understand.

I have normally been the weird one who enjoys practicing and looks forward to playing music whenever possible.  However, I have recently struggled with it a bit.  I think it’s because I started practicing more than I used to.  I have recently tried my best to play through my whole set every single day.  This is slowly becoming a little boring - same old, same old.  But I have realized that I forgot about an important aspect of practicing.  I forgot about something that is very connected to the core purpose of practicing (which is to improve your skill).  I had forgotten about the element of challenge.  I need to stretch my abilities by trying to do things that I can’t already do.  Even just adding a couple different things to my regular practice routine has made it much more enjoyable and beneficial.  I have started doing vocal scales, stretching both my low and high range.  And I have started learning new things on guitar, like some challenging fingerstyle songs.

Yesterday I tried something new.  I went outside to a nice grassy hill and just played guitar in the sunshine.  I didn’t stretch my ability much, but I lived in the moment of enjoying life and music.  It was beautiful.  So my challenge to you is to experiment with your practicing.  Whatever it is you do, try stretching youself, add new elements to your routine, and occasionally change your scenery.  Happy practicing everyone!

Something was off last night.  I’m not sure if it was the alignment of the stars, or a curse of the gods, or what…  But everyone seemed to have canceled plans.  One of my friends got stood up for a coffee date.  A couple other friends had a canceled premarital counselling session.  Another friend had to mysteriously leave town.  And as for me… I had a gig, but the coffee shop I was going to play at was closed because the power went out, so the show was canceled (I’m so sorry if anyone showed up all for nothing).

This was disappointing.  I love performing and I had been practising all week for this show.  I was hoping to make new fans and maybe even sell some CDs.  But alas, no such luck.

There are a lot of disappointments in the early stages of a music career (or probably any career, for that matter).  In my experience, I’ve been disappointed by canceled shows, by not getting replies from venues, by slow CD sales, by rejection, by playing wrong notes, by forgetting lyrics, by seeing others with more success, and by much more.  And this is only the third month since my CD release.  I wonder how many disappointments I’ll have had five years from now.

Disappointment is the feeling that comes when expectations aren’t met.  Some people might be tempted to lower their expectations in order to avoid disappointments, but I think that’s a mistake.  High expectations drive you to work hard.  If you have a dream, you need to set goals and take the proper steps to acheive them.  But you need to realize that there will be many disappointments along the way.  What separates the wannabes from the real deal is how one handles disappointment.  I’m hoping that I won’t be just another wannabe, so I try to learn from my disappointments (figure out if and when I’m doing something wrong, and try to adapt) and then just let the disappointment fall away.  In other words, I get knocked down but I get up again you’re never gonna keep me down (everyone loves a nineties pop/rock reference).  So may we all strive to do our best - or even better than our best - and when things don’t go as planned, may we keep on going without looking back.