Suppressing The Muse

So I have been relatively disengaged with music over the past year or so. While I play my guitar daily, I haven't made an effort to really learn anything new or to push myself in the way of writing or performing. Not sure why exactly. In fact, I haven't even listened to much music over the past year, and haven't bought any music in OVER a year. I've been engaged in some cathartic life-altering decision making and there just wasn't much room in my brain for music. Regardless, I'm playing a show here in Santa Monica at McCabe's Guitar Shop on January 6th as an opener for Ernest Troost. Ernest has coaxed me into playing some banjo on a couple of his tunes, so here I sit, practicing my banjo and trying to write a tune or two. I've also started listening to Elvis Radio and Classic Soul on the free XM radio that came with my car (by the way, the XM radio was supposed to be active for only a three month trial period, yet it still works. Is it, that if I were to pay I would receive more channels, or did they neglect to shut me down...? In any case...) I have to admit that I'm feeling the pull a bit more, so maybe I'm "back"... maybe...?

Rant

I'm out of a job. Now you would think that unemployment would be the perfect time to maybe get some songwriting done, right? Wrong. Apparently, the time one lacks whilst slogging through successive workdays is not nearly as much an impediment to creativity as are the impending financial woes that could result from joblessness. So as I sit with my resume, and several unfinished songs before me, I decide--cathartically--to write in my little online journal. Why? I have no idea. I suppose I just wanted to feel what it was like to actually write something for a change; you know, to formulate thoughts, put them into words, and see if they make any sense. How am I doing? All the while, CNN is broadcasting perpetual coverage of the civil unrest in Egypt, and I have the volume turned down. Every now and then I turn it up and revel in the fact that I am witnessing the collective power of people to effect real change, whatever that change might be... Then, slowly, cynically, I realize that the end result will, in all likelihood, be some sort of compromise in which an opportunistic demagogue will be "elected" to power; one who is sympathetic to either pro-Israeli western interests, or to some branch of fundamentalist Islam. Either will ostensibly be in favor of some vague notion of democratic reforms, but will simply reinforce the path of least resistance; that is, the path that furthers the interests of the rich, powerful, and devout. The day-to-day lives of average Egyptians with modest aspirations probably won't improve... ok, I guess I'll try and write a song now.

Me at McCabe's Guitar Shop

Sound check at the hallowed folk venue. This was actually a real gig... they paid me and everthing! Pretty spooky... from the green room all the way down the steep nautical-grade stairs to the stage, the erie tension of heros, musical history, and ghosts. The pictures that-literally-fill the walls of upper McCabes, pictures of just about anyone you can think of from the folk/singer-songwriter world, e.g., Peter Case, Tom Waits, John Hammond, Townes Van Zandt, etc... serve as cruel intimidation, inspiration, and validation. We'll just have to see if they'll ever have me back... sigh...

So... I've given a bunch of CDs to a radio-promotions liaison named Jared Ingersol. Jared has sent my CD to some 180 people for airplay and print/blog review. So somewhere near you a song from "Folk-Worn Prose" is--hopefully--being played on a volunteer staffed folk-radio program, at a community station, broadcasting on a relatively low-watt signal, out of some building that was originally otherwise-purposed (like a strip mall unit or school-district-owned facilities management shed) and hundreds of people who would not have otherwise heard, say... "The Rise And The Fall Of It All" will be either basking in the sweet sounds; professing utter indifference; or... something much worse. So if you know of such a radio station, feel free to call 'em up or email them and request a track or two from the new album. Thanks, in advance...

Shaun