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.

The first time I tried busking, a security guard shut me down after only six minutes.  The prime spot that I thought was public property was apparently private property.  ”Oh well!” I thought, “I’ll just find another good spot.”  But it’s harder than you’d think.  I walked around Robson street looking for a place to play.  As soon as I spotted a decent open area with lots of pedestrian traffic, I noticed that there was already a busker there.  The next good spot I saw was being reaped by a homeless panhandler.  I didn’t want to compete with him (plus I would feel bad taking away his “business”).  Other good spots were taken up by painters and street venders.  So I tried relocating to a different neighborhood.  I thought that Gastown might be nice, being a major tourist location.  However, I found the sidewalks to be too narrow to perform on without blocking pedestrian flow (not getting in the way of  business is one of the main rules for busking).  So I called it a day and gave up, after only performing for six minutes and making no money.

Well, tonight I gave busking another try.  I decided to go to the Broadway / Commercial skytrain station.  Commercial drive is an artsy area, so I figured the people there might appreciate some live music.  I saw a great spot right away, so I got all set up and was just about to start playing.  Sure enough, a panhandling homeless man came up to me and complained that we would be competing and confusing people.  I didn’t want to get in a fight, so I went around the corner to the other entrance.  

I got my first busking dollar from a guy who had a request.  But not a song request… no, he wanted to hear me play scales!  It was a little bit odd, but I’m all about pleasing the people, so I played those scales backwards and forwards with passion.  

Eventually I began playing a set of songs - both originals and covers.  I got a lot of smiles and had a few people stopping to listen.  But only occasionally would someone actually drop in some change.  It was frustrating to see people stop and reach into their pocket or purse (me thinking they’re reaching for change to give me) only to pull out a cell phone or lipstick or whatever.  It got my hopes up and then shattered them.  

At one point there was a small group of people gathered around.  They seemed pretty into the music, so I was thinking I might get some money, but after I finished a song, one of them told me that he built my guitar.  I like to think they actually did enjoy the music, but the main reason they stopped is because they noticed I was playing a Haida Gwaii guitar and this guy was the luthier.   It was interesting meeting the guy who put so much work into building the guitar that I put so much work into playing.  We have very different experiences with the instrument.  His creation (the guitar) has made my creations (the songs) possible.  Very cool!  He gave me his card for the new guitar company Paragon (since Haida Gwaii guitars aren’t being built anymore).  

I ended up playing a full hour set of busking and made a grand total of… drum roll please… three dollars and seventeen cents.  Not quite minimum wage (or even half, for that matter), but that’s okay.  I basically view it as paid practice.  I made more money by practicing on the street than I would have by practicing at home, so I say it’s worth it.  Now I just have to make $31.83 to break even on the cost of my busking license.  Ridiculous.

I guess I’ve neglected my blog for a little while… but I have a really good excuse - I’ve been busy!

Seriously, lots of stuff has happened since my last post.  Yesterday, CBC Radio 1 played my song “Shame on Me” (I had no idea they were going to do that.  My friend just called me up and said that he heard my song on the radio.  I was pretty excited, to say the least.), I played a show at the Railway Club (great turn out and great bands to open for: Fuzzcat and Missing Starla), and I auditioned for the Olympics.

…did he just say the Olympics?

Yes I did.

I will be an Olympian, skin-tight body suits and all, and I’m going for the gold!

Not really.  But I did apply to play music at the Olympics.  The weird thing was that my audition wasn’t for music.  It was for “movement”.  They figured that musicians have rhythm, so they must be able to dance and move.  Little do they know…

I’m not one for dancing, but I surprisingly had a lot of fun.  We did some line dancing and other movement exercises.  I think they were mostly looking for a few things: (1) good coordination,  (2) good at following instructions, (3) good attitude.  They would then train the people that they choose.  Apparently they are auditioning 3,500 people, so it’s a long and complicated process.  My audition was three hours long, but the time flew by.  I really enjoyed the experience and I hope to be chosen to “move” during the Opening or Closing Ceremonies.

At the end of the audition, they announced that three people will be asked to  stick around for a special audition.  They called out the numbers and I was one of them!  I was almost scared.  I thought I might have done something wrong.  But no.  This was awesome.  They wanted to audition us for carrying the Canadian flag as the Olympians come in behind us at the Ceremonies.  Could you imagine that?  If I get picked for this, basically the whole world could be looking at me on television for a short period of time.  That’s intimidating.  But it would be such an honor.

This will be my only post about Olympics stuff though because everyone who is involved in the Ceremonies is sworn to secrecy.  They want the performances to be a surprise.  They even specifically said that we cannot blog about it (I hope I won’t get in trouble for this post).  I won’t even find out if I’m chosen until September anyway, so you’ll probably forget all about it by then.

If there’s any lesson I learned from this experience it was that life is more exciting when I’m open to trying new things.  Even though my expectations didn’t line up with reality (I thought I would be auditioning for music, not movement), I experienced something new and fun.  Take this concept and apply it to your life.  Go be adventurous!

Finding places to play music can be challenging.  It gets even more challenging when opportunities fall through.  I found out yesterday that two of my upcoming gigs have been canceled.   One of the venues decided to not do any music for the month of May and the other cancellation involved a miscommunication.

I only have one show still booked, which is coming up on Monday.  This means I desperately need to find some more.  Today I looked into house concerts.  I found a website called Acoustic Roof that lists various small venues for acoustic shows.  Surprisingly there weren’t any in Vancouver, but I emailed some venues in other towns.

I’ve also been considering busking.  I know it’s not glamorous, but it would be a way to play publicly on a regular basis.  The only problem is that I’ve met some conflicting information regarding permits.  Some websites say that you can busk anywhere without a permit except for Granville Island.  But other websites talk about people getting fined for not having a permit.  I’m a little scared of being fined because I don’t have a lot of money to begin with.

Does anybody know the local law on busking?

Does anybody know of any venue I could perform?  Perhaps a house concert… or anything really.  I’m not too picky.

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.

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.