so...tuesday night is the big gig at the viper room, and i alternate between bouts of bonecrunching anxiety and an almost untethered euphoria. the mantra that works is this: it is one night, one night, one night.
if i turn out to be a miserable flop, well then at least i had the bravery to try. if i find that i love it and am well-received, then perhaps it will be the beginning of something beautiful and new. whatever may happen, it will be a party, a wild ride, with friends attending from all phases of my past---multitudes of unexpected last-minute developments have this show shaping up more like a piece of performance art/drama than a musical set. there may be many many musicians backing me, some of whom i have never met. there may be an actress, and a lost native woman from the past, and a librarian, and time portals. ....no, really. you should really, really be there.
i have learned this about myself: the more that is piled on my plate, the happier i am--both literally and figuratively (laura can vouch for this one!). i LIKE organizing summer classes and pulling together a band and learning new songs and raising children and putting eggshells 'round the tomatoes and working on a book and mapping out a similarly multi-coursed future, all at once. it is the moments when i find myself at a loss for purpose that i grow tired.
I can't wait to hear how the gig went! I'm sure you were your brilliant-S!
ReplyDeleteThanks Shelayna! I lucked into the directorial talents of one friend and he in turn brought together an amazing group of musicians that I hope to play with long into the future....it was wondrously fun!
ReplyDeleteWrite about the gig! You told me, but I love when you describe things here.
ReplyDeleteTotally! You are so true! I just described what I was doing to my cousin up north: "I'm illustrating a children's book with a soon deadline, prepping for an art opening (even sooner), AND teaching a different art camp every week. But, it's pretty mellow compared to my last job."