Festival Mode! 

Back in the social mode, with the music.  It's been a while.  The time away was well spent.  I feel so much more ownership of my songs and the playing of them.  Sometimes ya just need time.

    Seemingly, as easy as just doing it, I am performing regularly, twice a week.  They say half the battle is just showing up.  In this case it seems to have been more than half.

    Well I am trying to do more than just show up.  I guess I am trying to step up.  The Vanagon is on the road now and set up for regular performing.  We have the extendable awning to cover our spot, provide a little shelter from the sun and rain, but not too much.  I had a graphic magnate made for the side of the van, it's from the album cover of "Summer Sessions".  I think this makes sense as this project is a bit of an endless summer adventure.  The van goes in full festival mode on Sundays at the Haverstraw Market.  From my seat their in the doorway I can gaze out at the sky and clouds and just be with the music until I come back down to meet the eyes of the generous listeners and passers by as we give each other nods of approval.  People have been truly lovely and kind.

    The amp rig is now solar powered!🌞. We've got plenty of energy in the little power station to last thru the markets and it is constantly recharging.  It's works so well that it is hard to figure out why it hadn't happened sooner, or why we hadn't used this kind of system for other things.  Our rig is made by Westinghouse and we bought it thru Lowe's.  

    Sticking with my "nano music" career attitude, I am playing at the Nyack Farmer's market before any of the normally booked musicians.  That's early, when the market opens, or close to it, and no true musicians want to be awake at that time, let alone, be playing a gig.  So I take what others do not want.  it leaves more for them.  In this case, a fee, and I get the freedom to play for as much as I want for the 3 hours before the real talent shows up.

    On Sundays at the market in Haverstraw, which is just barely able to be called a market, though it has been happening for TWO decades, maybe more, there is just the one farmer's stand, and me, so far.  It's very low key and it's kind of like doing my regular Sunday thing, but out in public.  Over the past few years I have tried to play on Sundays as if I was performing, though it was just me and the chipmunks and birds, and trees.  That time allowed me to develop some skills, or at least kept me from forgetting how to play in front of people.  The rest of the week I played just for me, informally or worked on songs.  

    So far I have had a friend show up and hang out with me.  Coffee and muffins, or breakfast burittos from the farmer (mmmmmm!) and just play music.  I have been pleasantly surprised by the reception from all the local people.  My music is mine, and it seems far from the music of the local culture, but even so people seem to get a smile when they pass by.  Maybe it's just the van, it is pretty great looking.

    I am pretty content with this situation.  I get to play my music for others and watch it's affect on them, without all the pressures that can come with some gigs.  These two markets feel like my neighborhood, familiar, safe.  I think that a degree of pressure or nervousness can be good for a performer, but I know that for myself that bar is very low and to much of it is really destructive.  This is supposed to be fun or why would I be doing it, right?

    My friend commented that my guitar strings seemed tired, that I could use new strings.  I have grown used to them.  I generally don't change them til they break.  This time when one string broke, I changed the whole set, my friends comment in my head, and the result was like getting a different instrument.  I need to store that away in the brain for future reference.

    I hope that I will post here a bit more often now that I am playing out again.  I still have not done the work needed to be able to publish the two albums worth of music that I've had compiled since before the pandemic, and I have a few new songs as well, so there maybe things to think and write about.

Until then, Peace.