Back to the Lab Again

"Wanna dance again?"  I asked the stunning blonde with the half-inked tattoo.

"Nah, I'm good."

Ouch.  Cue the Bill Murry scene from "What About Bob" in the therapists' office.  "ow....ow...OW!"

(To add insult to injury, she was actually a lousy dancer, even worse than me.  THAT'S how much of a fool she thought I was.)  

I've been hitting the salsa clubs with an intensity, and besides the social component, I've gained valuable insight about teaching (by being a hopeless beginner at something), confidence, and rejection.  It's this last point I'd like to mention.  

  I got an email from a comrade yesterday, and she's wondering if she has the courage to share some of her (excellent) writing with the world, and her classmates.  I get it.  I'm still terrified of singing, even though I do it all the time.  When something is so personal, and we care about it so much, the stakes get dizzingly high, and I usually fold.  

  Salsa has been teaching me otherwise.  Granted, it's easier for me to get shut down, because while I mean to get good, I never want to go pro.  My music is my (current) life's work, so there's a layer of insulation and the ability to laugh off my epic failures on the dance floor.  That being said, it's still not easy to stare down that prospect of rejection each and every dance, from the ask, to the actual dance part of it.  Sometimes girls will just stop dancing with you, and say a really catty "thaaank you" as they ooze away.  Meanies!  But I keep going back.  I have tape on my living room floor where I practice.  I watch YouTube, I go to the classes, I stomp the feet, I gradually stomp less, the moves are getting better, I see improvement, I stomp the feet again.  If the girls are snarky, there's always more.  And there's always another audience if the first one doesn't like it.

The song "Lose Yourself" applies.  "He keeps on forgetting."  "It's back to the lab again."  "Oh, there goes gravity."

  But the fear of rejection isn't deciding what I do anymore.  I drink some caffeine, and hit that floor.  I know at the very least, I'll get a good Facebook status out of it.  I'm doing it over, and over, and over.  It's getting easier (both the dancing, and the courage.)

  Now, I sure sound like a big talker.  I need to do this with artistic stuff, and I plan to.  It sure has been an interesting experiment in psychology, learning on the fly, and that "few seconds of courage" to punch that fear right in the face (or at least stomp it's fashionable foot.  I'm so sorry, Lindsey.  If you're reading this, I'll take you out for a pedicure after you get out of the doctor's office.)  

  So, to Comrade A., I say...

For those about to rock, we salute you!  Have fun, give it a shot, and you've got this!

- Josh

 

Shadows

"Happy Friday" doesn't cut it today.

  It's been 14 years since the shadow arrived.  The elderly, paranoid neighbor called that sunny morning.  "You'd better turn on the TV, something's happening."  We hauled it out of the closet on the TV cart, put away as it usually was in my unique upbringing.  I saw the second plane hit. The elderly neighbor's paranoia couldn't stop this.  This means war.  I felt sick.  That night I crept out into the back yard with the telescope.  There were no planes in the suburban DC sky.  Humanity was grounded once again, looking up, dizzy.  Coinciding neatly with the destruction was the divorce of my parents, and September 11th seemed to mark the beginning of the Shadow.
 
  Today I pad around my house quietly, pouring tea and working on tour ideas.  The breeze carries the sound of crickets and a Chopin record spins on the turntable.

  I think about the Shadow.  About my friends, returned from a war that wasn't known before this day in 2001, their faces changed with the sacrifice that the Shadow demands.  There was my buddy, a young kid who used to run lights at the punk club.  I saw him the other week, barely recognizing him.  He was all grown up, and home from the army.  "I'm glad you didn't get shot or anything" I said.


 "I did.  Three times."


   There's guitar students who don't remember a time when the twin towers stood, and other guys sitting in the chair in my studio who would rather not speak about their time overseas.  "Let me know if you want help putting it in a song" I say.

  I've only been on the fringes of the Shadow, never having to walk through a NYC street or valley in Afghanistan, both choked with a dust symbolically bound.  I can feel it, though, and it's paralleled my coming of age and own struggles, while magnitudes lesser, still painful in their own way.  It's not my intention to compare war and loss to personal tribulations, as I feel that not only disrespectful, but inaccurate.

   I watch the trees sway and hear trucks rumbling on the highway.  The small businessman who owns his trash truck stops at the curb as I write this. Life goes on.  I've been reading Machiavelli's The Prince and planning The Kindness Exchange tour.  It's an odd combination.   On this anniversary, two thoughts strike me:

  Actions are both ineffective and indelible.  The attackers failed to break a people, and yet, that shadow is forever.  One must remember this in one's own actions.  What we do is ultimately futile, yet everything...everything leaves a mark.  I had a dream last night that I was rude to a beggar, and then tossed him a penny in a power play.  I told my mother with tears in my eyes "and he stooped for it - I know how he feels ."  I chased after him, hoping to give him a dollar, having a change of heart.  He ran away, thinking I would hurt him.  He never came back.

 The Shadow takes much from us, yet shows us more than any light.  For those of us still here to gaze at the sunlight filtering through drying leaves 14 years later, I think it's worth pondering.  We not only see how dark the night can get, but we live to see the day.  The dawn may be cloudy, but it's there, and so are we.

How have we changed?  What are we made up?  What's important?  What will we do with our time?


- Josh


 

Music, personified

I've been working on salsa dancing lately.  As Donald Trump would say..."It's a total disaster!"

  Well, not quite.  But the results have hardly been graceful.  It's been most helpful with my guitar teaching, though.  Always a sympathetic teacher, I have extra respect for my students.  It's hard to learn something new, and there's nothing to bring the feeling back than to get repeatedly kicked in the metaphorical teeth! 

  The journey is not all sweat, though.  New experiences bring new thoughts, and recently, I saw a question that I haven't been able to answer, but one that I hope to figure out with everyone.  

  At the salsa club the other night, I witnessed a performance by some experienced performers.  The two best dancers presented a striking contrast, and the heart of the questions:

One of them was a knockout gorgeous Latina wearing a slinky feather costume, and the other was a man in tights and a sparkly jacket.  Now, the only reason I mention this detail is to illustrate that I'm predisposed to enjoy the Latina's performance just a bit more...

  Now that we have our scientific basis stated - Mr. Sparkly Jacket floored me.  I mean - this dude was out of this world.  

  He spun and leaped across the floor, and became the music.  I was reminded of a flame flickering with cheery and mysterious abandon across dying embers, a mind of it's own, bearing a message if we but watch.  If Salsa, that smoky, exotic sound, the vapors of a fiesta far, far away, were to condense into human form...it would be this guy.  

  Ms. Feather Mermaid shimmied across the floor, tossed her hair, and demonstrated utmost skill - but remained mortal, a person who knew how to dance at a high level.  

  I recalled the time I saw Jeff Beck in 2006.  His band was talented, skilled, and earned every cent of their pay.  They knew a lot of licks.  Then Jeff picked up his guitar, played one note, and in doing so, explained why it was his name on the ticket.

  Why?  And how can we condense out of the sounds swirling through the air to become a flame of whatever we're trying to express?  

  I don't know, but let's figure it out.  

- Josh  

If Jack White said...

Rockers!  Comrades!

  Happy Summer.  It's been hoppin' over here.  Went to the New Music Seminar in NYC to write for Dotted Music.  This interview just hit.  Beat Mickey Mouse in Times Square in a Cigar Box Guitar dance-off, and heaped Zumba taunts on him.  Ah, I love the Big Apple.

  I've been mulling an idea for a while that, if applied, can make each and every one of us rockstars.  Then again, so could most any idea in any self-help book.  It's the dedication and the application that count.

  However, the New Music Seminar gave me some fresh insight on it.  I tend to approach the business side of my music with a 1970's mindset of needing a cigar-smoking executive to say "you're gonna go far, kid."

  This emphasis on the value of approval doesn't fit my world for two reasons:

1.  That's not how things always work anymore.  The "new music industry" has many avenues to success now, from Vine stars to traditional labels.  But this is old news.

2.  In a crowded playing field, I sometimes think "ah, if Jack White only called me to go on tour, then things would change."  Perhaps you've thought something similar.  However, here's the deal:  If Jack White called me right now, I would have to put him on hold while I freaked out first, then realized that I don't have a show built that could play his tour.  So, the problem isn't with Mr. White.

  This is quite empowering.  There's no gatekeeper keeping me out in the cold.  So, time to throw all the junk out of the garage, and build that show.  It's the old "dress for the job you want, not the job you have" idea.

  This isn't to say that I'm just sitting around.  Well, I am blogging right now, but still, I'm plenty busy and work very hard.  I'm excited to tweak this for the long game, though.  And get that music factory going in the garage!

  So, just a few New York thoughts for you.  Stay tuned for more.  It was such an experience, from getting to interview American Author's James Adam Shelley, to jamming on the street, and of course, chatting with such a diverse and ambitious industry.  (Oh, and again, the defeat of Times Square mascots means that I'm the alpha mouse, and I take great pride in that.   #SupMinnie?)

- Josh

Sunday writings

Heya, comrades! 

  Well, it's been a totally rockin' weekend, what with the Farm Fest and Funk Fest and mega broom guitar jams!   To top it off, I was hanging out with my mom and two brothers today, and driving home, was struck with a "Sunday feeling." Maybe it'll make it into a song, maybe it won't...(wouldn't a 7 track concept album for each day of the week be nifty?) But, wanted to share some writing with you. Any song you hear is usually VERY processed and edited - here's an early draft of some "destination writing" that's nowhere close to music, but might get there someday.

"The waves exchanged
goodbyes floating through the late afternoon air
and laughter fades in my rear view mirror

The sunlight igniting a lime green blaze of the
beech leaves

I can almost feel the cycle ready to trip
like the black and white numbers through the dusty dash
on the odometer of that old car I used to try to drive around

The wheels harmonize with the wind
as my hand sculpts it
rushing past my arm
resting on the windowsill of the car

not clenching the steering wheel
that's for the deals and hustles of the Wednesdays

Timeless, ageless, yet always of a slightly worn chronology

sturdy, resting, able, yet expecting the heavy lifting to begin again soon

But quiet for now

just a few bird songs in the approaching twilight

and the questions gather like the dusk

"where will this all lead?"

Intentional Listening

Happy #ThrowbackThursday, comrades!


  Just went up the street to drop some stuff off at the thrift store....annnd wound up getting some cool jazz records.

  As is human nature, I've been justifying my obsession with collecting music, and I've stumbled onto a cool idea that I'd like to share with you.  I think it can improve both your musicianship and your life (and at the very least, make me feel OK about all the crazy records.)

  What if you looked at music the way nutritionists look at food?  You know the food pyramid, with the recommended daily servings of the different food groups?  What if you did that with music?

  I've been telling this idea to a few comrades this week, and wanted to share it with you.  What if you tried to listen to at least five styles of music each day?  (So far, I'm on track.  I woke up to the classical radio station, blasted some Franz Ferdinand, was studying and building a Run DMC beat in my studio, put on a Motown record, listened to Poets of the Fall - pop rock from Finland - and now have Billy Taylor spinning on the classroom turntable.  He's jazz, and I've never heard him before.  Wow, what an album!)

  I'm intrigued with this idea of intentional, or active listening. One of the first questions I ask my guitar students is "what have you been listening to?"  Most people, myself included, listen to what's there, be it on the radio, the iPhone, or whatever we put on our playlist a few months ago.

  I'd encourage you to go beyond, and watch your musical diet.  Listen to what you like, and keep adding stuff.  I hope that I'm right when I say "you are what you hear."  Of course, this wouldn't explain why I can't play Mozart, but I like to think that, deep in my musical mind, there's a bit of everything that I listen to.

  Our intention can be to hit a balance, like the five styles a day, it can be a research, as in "I'm going to add some gypsy jazz elements to my playing, so first I'll add it to my listening", or it can be an all-consuming study, as it was with most of my family when we discovered Stevie Ray Vaughan...and got a ton of his bootleg recordings.


  The point is - try paying attention to how you listen to music, and see what happens.

  As I was visiting with my father, and we discussed 1960's tunes as a Beatles record played, he made the point of how lucky we are to have access to recordings.  Imagine being a composer before you could listen to music on the radio or any sort of recording.  Here we have a shelf of priceless knowledge that we can access any time we like.  Want to know how Beethoven would put some chords together?  Go ask him!  (listen.)  Wondering about cool snare drum sounds and how they evolved over the years?  Listen to Elvis, The Temptations, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Pharrell Williams.  They're all there, and we can learn from them anytime we like.

So...have fun listening!  I always learn a lot when I do.  And try that 5-style a day experiment and see how it works.  If you haven't already, download a free Spotify account to access pretty much any song ever.


- Josh

         (My living room, being taken over by my record collection!)

The 2015 Rail Tour!

Comrades!

  Happy #MusicMonday!

  Boy oh boy, I've got some exciting news for you today!  I'm proud to announce....The 2015 Rail Tour!  That's right, backed by my newly-formed label, 5th Grade Records, I'll be embarking on a 10 city tour on September 4th, and of course, playing a lot of online events, too.  (I'm also excited to see if the new live-streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat will help bring the tour to everyone!)

  Now, now, big news for me, but let's face it, it wouldn't appear to influence you at all.  "Bah, good for him" you might be growling into your fifth cup of coffee, trying to catch up on a mountain of paperwork.  "Musicians...."


  Yes, I realize that, at first glance, this might be another "Hey, I'm going to travel half a day by dragonfly to a Spanish castle, with your help on kickstarter!" type of deal.  (Bonus points if anyone gets the Hendrix reference.)

  But nope, this is a bit different.  There will be a cool social/world bettering element announced soon, and as with previous projects, it's very interactive.  So, basically, I get the hassle of checking into distant hotels in the middle of the night, and you get the fun of a being part of a big social and music project.  Plus, there's no money or fundraising involved from individuals, so you don't have to worry about that.  I can't wait, and the planning phase is kicking off in a big way!

  Just off the top of my head, at this part in the logistical journey, I'm especially looking to talk to musicians to collaborate in the cities listed, venues/performance opportunities, business sponsors, media connections and outlets, and anyone enthusiastic about the idea!

  Happy #MusicMonday, and WOW this is going to be fun!

All Aboaaaaaarrrrd!


- Josh