My mom told me once that when I was a little boy, every New Year’s Eve I would walk around the house singing, “…an old leg sign.” Yeah, cute huh? I have been having so much fun making music with my buddies Mike and Bruce. Just three old dudes (well, they’re older than me and don’t tell them I said that) making a joyful noise. Last night over a few beers and passed around bottle of Jack Daniels, we turned up the volume and cranked out some fun tunes by Neil Young, The Velvet Underground and Elliot Murphy just to name a few. We were just knocking them out, smiling away and it felt fun, exciting and youthful. It reminded me of those Saturdays as a teen making a loud racket in my friend’s garage. It was an element of playing music that I have missed for many many years. In my last bands I feel like I spent more time making websites, booking gigs and taking care of business than I did really enjoying myself. After my last band split up I was pretty much done with bands but this experience has made me realize that I can really do this and enjoy it. It has helped me to recapture that excitement and youthful fun of making music with good people. It can still be done and it doesn’t have to be all work and stress.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the creative future holds for me. I have managed to find inspiration in talking to friends and sharing music with them. Recently a good friend has been keeping a blog and I really enjoy reading her writing. It makes me realize that I don’t read enough of other peoples creative musings but by doing so, I have found a lot of inspiration. Inspiration is all over and it’s funny how I seem to have shut myself off from a lot of the simple places that inspiration can be tucked away in. Going for a long walk, a drive or just sitting outside still for a 1/2 hour seems to really bring something to me. In 2012, that is my goal. To seek and find inspiration in places that I didn’t know or places that I just ignored. When I go for walks, I’ll leave the phone in my pocket and take in everything. I will keep my head up as I walk and maybe even slow down the pace enough to take things in.
… an old leg sign.
