Those who make time.
I’ve noticed some folks have popped off the e-mail list and some have added themselves. Life is a fine line of doors closing and opening isn’t it? My motto lately has been…”NO OPINION”. I’ve been trying to look at things with no opinion, try it…it’s not that easy all the time. You feel your little “opinion” popping up in your head when conversations are slinging around. Some people sit back and listen, others get in there and participate in conversation, some folks bully themselves around to be heard. Some folks you want to hear but dare they disclose their insight. I love being around people, I learn so much and with “no opinion” I try desperately to “stay in the middle” of course I HAVE and opinion…everyone does…do you like vanilla? chocolate? Mac or PC? Coke or Pepsi? Hendricks Gin or Bombay (ha…had to get that in there for those who’ve been following along!)
I love to people watch and I’ve always said I have the best seat in the house as a performer. I tell Mo, “I don’t know any one that would be aloud to stand up in a restaurant, bar gig and just look around”…it would be weird if I weren’t singing right? I mean, could we all agree on that or is it just my opinion? If I didn’t have a guitar in my hands or a voice popping out harmony…it would be a strange seat for me to just look into everyone’s eyes and stand up in the middle of a place on some random Sat. night. The show from my perspective is a completely different show than you all might see.
This might freak some people out. Am I watching YOU?! LOL! People might have an opinion about that…some folks might drop off the list and NEVER want to see another show…paranoid I may be thinking something too while I play and gaze around the room. Some people want to be watched (I’ve noticed) others avert their eyes and others catch a moment and somehow that moment becomes ours. That shrunken piece of time where I can see into someone’s soul and they see into mine. I see their true selves and it makes me smile and they smile back at me for whatever they see. I just LOVE that. I think it use to scare the hell out of me at first…”what will they see” ha! And sometimes when I’m feeling not so confident I can still get a bit nervous and avert my own eyes. It DOES take some concentration to play, remember your words and to now and then to be hit with a stare that runs so deep, can derail most any musician. I’ve seen it happen many times, to myself and others…we are human after all. Our confidence levels are random on any given day and performing definitely puts a gage out there to be in touch with it. No opinion helps though. No judgment about what you did or didn’t do, said or forgot to say, bumbled chord or flawless arpeggio. Music is great practice for “no opinion” and these newsletters are too.
Half the time I sit down and write a title like I did today, “who’s got the time” and I go completely in another direction! I was going to tell you about my dog chasing chizzlers in Stanley (chizzlers = chipmunks) stomping like a bear with both feet into a wood pile. I was going to mention about how yesterday I was waiting for a friend so I laid out in her yard and stared up at a GREAT tulip tree blowing in the wind and it swallowed me up with it’s unspoken language. I was having an opinion that if I shared that, would people think “all I do is lay around staring up at trees and write songs…must be nice to have that kind of time”. But who has the time to just go out an lay in the yard for 5 minutes and watch the wind blow? Letting it fill them up? Anyone who MAKES the time to do that can. And if you are on your lunch break gazing up at some maple or cottonwood (the best is lying on the grass stretched out…my preference) and cars are passing you wondering if you had a heart attack or if you passed out from heat stroke…that is their opinion or view point. You can’t control what others think about you…it’s virtually impossible and I always say, “their thoughts are none of my business.” So…give yourself the freedom and the time to do what feeds your soul.
We hope that you find good “soul time” with us at our shows and with these writings! Be well and hope to see you this week here:
Tues. 7/31 @ the Liquid there is a fundraiser for Angela…a very important event for this little lady. We’ll play sometime around 6:30-8 and the details about her are here http://benefitforangela.blogspot.com. Please make a contribution if you can to the cause. No amount is too small, she really needs financial assistance!
Wed. 8/1 @ the Bardenay in Eagle 6-9 pm for an all ORIGINAL (that means self penned songs) set list!!!
Thurs. 8/2 @ Hyde St. Pub 7-10 pm for another all Original set! 🙂
We will be playing for RIDE IDAHO this Sat. in New Meadows.
