The January wolf moon.  I lifted this shot from Pintrest.

 "There's a full moon shining, on a January night,

Reflecting the sun, while we're hidden from it's light,

and I'm being followed, everywhere I go,

By moon shadows laid out on untouched snow"

"Casting Shadows" 

https://richardamaldonado.bandcamp.com/track/casting-shadows-a-song-for-gretel

    It snowed a few days ago, so I got to live out one of my songs as well as sing it to honor the occasion.  The "wolf moon" hung low and orange as it cleared the ridge.  The song "Casting Shadows" is a song of gratitude for being.  That's what I felt, gratitude, as I stood in the single digit temps, the fading light, looking east.

A Nano-career as a professional musician, singer-songwriter.

 Which is smaller micro or nano?
A nanometer (nm) is 1,000 times smaller than a micrometer. It is equal to 1/1,000,000,000th or one-billionth of a meter. When things are this small, you can't see them with your eyes, or a light microscope.

(you may have to use your heart)

From this moment in time, considering the larger realities of the world, I find myself inclined to think about my so called career in music and performance in the past tense.  It's not that I wouldn't like to continue on the path I began, but that path really doesn't seem visible to me.

"Geared up with hiking boots, a back pack, a walking stick I come to the edge of the land. I look out, look left, then right and see only sand and sea.  I left the forest a year ago now, or almost, and haven't seen a tree or any other thing that might be used as a boat or raft.  I can't continue on the heading I have chosen.  A way forward is invisible to me. Way out over the water are dark clouds and lightning that make even the ridiculous idea of trying to swim toward my goal, unthinkable."

 Maybe it was a small career in music, very small, micro, no even smaller, a nano career in music.  You might think that thinking of my "career" in music in the past tense would be painful, but I tell you it is definitely not, in fact, maybe it's better this way.

I a very short time, I feel that I have accomplished a lot, or at least that I have done what I set out to do and so much more than I dared imagine possible from me.

I set out to learn about music, not to master an instrument, but to become versed and skilled enough to enjoy expressing myself with it, and to create music, the music that I felt was inside of me.

That is a pretty vague requirement.  It could have been learning to play "Twinkle, Twinkle little Star".  It also could have been playing and creating something that would resonate around the globe and over time.  I did not require that my experiment with music be affirmed by anybody else other than myself.

I have enthusiastically appreciated music for as long as I can remember.  I have been in awe of those who created and performed it.  It has accompanied me even when I was alone and far from a radio or recording.  When I could not hear a human caused bit of music I listened to the music of the earth and universe as it spun, and hummed along, or let it lull me to sleep.

Why my Nano-career satisfies me.

First,

    For a few years I was payed to play for people, and during that time I have never publicly played a song that I hadn't created myself.  I was asked to play my songs for others.

Second,

I made an album and a few people bought it, but only a few.  I made that album because a couple of people asked me for it.

Third,

I have had the privilege of affecting people in a direct and positive way.  I have watched people who were in a hurry, slow down for a moment and listen to my song.  I have been told by people that I have changed them, with my song, from a dark mood to a happy one.  I have made children want to connect with me, but really, I believe, with live music.

    My career may have been very small, on a nano scale, and been short, a few years, and reached only a small number of ears, but it accomplished all it was suppose to and more.  I have gained so much from this short, small adventure.  I have gained things that I did not know were there to be sought.  What more can somebody ask for.

In truth, I will go on.  I have many songs that have not been released to the public, and I have ideas for songs that I have not yet created.  I have curiosity and enthusiasm for playing more, and often and taking music down avenues new to me.

I listen to my own music, not all the time, but often.  I eat the food I make and it makes me happy.  I sail the boats I built and enjoy them.  I live in the house that I have worked with my own hands and tools and it gives me great comfort.  Why should I not enjoy the music I make, not just in the making of it but also listening to it?

I have heard some actors say that they never watch themselves on screen.  If it's true, I find that sad.  If they can't find some joy in watching their own work then why should we?  Learning to accept my shortcomings, as well as my strengths, being happy with who I am is something that performing music has taught me, and that is a lesson I can use all my life.  I've learned, not to take it all so seriously, laugh at myself, not just with myself.  It' OK.

I want to thank all of those people who have taken a moment and listened, especially those who had a kind word or smile or a thumbs up, or even a coin tossed into my case.  You gave me something I never dreamed would be for me.  I hope that the songs were an equitable exchange for you.  I definitely think I got the better deal of it. 💗☮️🎵

Winter Annex

 Well the studios have moved into the winter annex.  The shop was getting a bit to cold to be inviting.  For the winter season the warm wood of the ceilings and floors of the cozy attic space will replace the dusty old boat shop studios.  Maybe this will be a good time to do the work of organizing and getting out the albums that are waiting to be released.

Today I put out an album/playlist of 12 songs, 10 previously released, for Fall listening.  It's a way to say Hi to the world and to send out an offering of some simple, gentle, unpretentious, music that goes along with days spent inside avoiding the cold, wet, weather, and the viral load in socializing.  Strange days.

"Autumn Easy, 2020" is out on Bandcamp as of today.

Leaves and rain

 

Autumn has arrived and with it comes the urge to create again.  This year has been weird, very different with yet to be understood changes at all scales of being.

Used to be that with the fall I'd come into the "Boat shop" and start work on a boat build.  Since the transition to "Boat Shop Music Studio", the urge has been to come in and write new songs or do some recording.

This year words have come few and far between, or maybe, at such a great volume as to be unmanageable.  Maybe all the ideas and thoughts were just too many and overwhelming.  Music has continued to flow, but mostly in the form of improvise instrumentals.  Therapeutic and dependable, though it was, it was also like smoke, very real and affecting but the moment I tried to grab it, via the record button, it slipped away and vanished.

A few Pro's and Con's of recording in the Boat shop music studio.

Pro    Great, familiar space, surrounded by wood and boat stuff, with views of the trees and sky

Con    A bit dusty from the woodworking

Pro    When it rains the sound of rain on the roof can add a nice sound texture to recording

Con    When it rains the sound of rain on the roof can add an annoying sound to recording.

Pro    Close proximity to nature

Con    When reading for a sound cable one has to be sure that the cable is not a black rat snake!

I once noticed a mic cable caught up in the snare drum stand, only to discover it was actually a young two foot long black rat snake.  On the good side they are calm snakes and keep the mouse population in check.

Two days ago, for the first time in a few months words to a song came to me.  So maybe the season trend will continue.  Even if it doesn't come right back, I am still having a good time improving on the guitar, for myself and for the chipmunks and birds, and I am listening to a lot of music, both old and new to me.

Peace

Festival Season!!! NOT!

So, ya, back when I played with "Santana", at "Woodstock",.....NOT!!!

Lately I've been recording instrumentals because the noise in the world, all the things people say just seem to be a bit to much and I don't feel like adding to it.  It's been fun and kind of revelatory.  

The first project was an EP, sort of, I called "Projections and Reflections".  On hindsight I think I would have rather called it "The Riverglide Project", an eponymous title for the "band" identity for these instrumental projects.

I also put out a single "July Experience" and have a few more tracks ready to release.  May get them up today.

For a couple of weeks I've been listening to Pat Methany's new album "From this Place" while cooking dinner.  Really great work. The drumming (Antonio Sanchez) just kills me.

https://www.patmetheny.com/news/full_display.cfm?id=134

With the world the way it is right now, Festivals are not happening.  One of my new pieces "Ballers Last March", is something I imagine being played at a festival.  If you are into bands like Massive Attack, and have seen some of the footage from the MELT festival in Germany, you'd get what I am thinking about.  

I'd need a band that might consist of 1-lead guitar, 2-rhythm guitar, 3-bass, 4-synth, 5-drums, and maybe another percussionist.  It's a long way from playing and singing folk like songs with an acoustic guitar.  Gotta dream big, right?  It was fun to create anyway.

Were gonna zoom, zoom,,zooma, zoom!

Well that was new and different, and actually a lot of fun.

I was asked to take part in a video conference thru ZOOM the online meeting app.  Bill Batson was up to his usual antics and hosting a Sketch Flash Mob.  30 plus participants signed in to the session and after getting their prompt for what to draw, set to sketching for about an hour.  During that time Ian Moore and I each played a short set to give em something to listen to while they draw.

I was really worried about the sound quality, but it turned out pretty good I think.  It was a lot of fun, very comfortable and laid back, even though that is probably the largest single audience I've played for.  I could actually see most of their faces, though most were head down in their drawings.
In truth it was a step out to something I never had imagined I do or even like to do.

It has been a while, months, about half a year, since I last performed.  I felt the time away from it, the being out of practice.  It is like anything physical that one has to stay in practice for.  All things considered, it went well enough.  Before I had stopped playing out, about half a year ago, I was just getting to the place where I could over come the nerves that clench up my muscles and elevate my heart beat.  Today I had to just play thru it because my heart wanted me to play everything double time, and it was as if I had no power of breath.

I was very glad to play my songs for some new people.  I guess this is as social as we can get right now, and it will have to do.  It didn't feel like settling really, it was good.  Thanks to Bill, and to ROCA.

Nyack Flash Sketch Mob

Studio, cold, but open

It is the age of isolation, kind of.  With the virus, and the fear of spreading it keeping us all away from each other this seems a great time for artists to focus.  Be inspired and create.  I think that in actuality many people are suffering from the stress and confusion of the situation.  This is were the therapy of creative effort can really help.
I have opened the studio back up for the season.  It's still chilly in the morning, so not much in the way of recording.  I'd rather just sit out on the deck, in the warm sun and sing and play for the birds and chipmunks in the morning, and come into the studio after it has warmed up.  I can't seemed to be bothered to light the wood stove and heat the place up that way.
Letting go of the weekly performing that I did for over 2 years has been an adjustment, but not such a bad thing.  In this sense, the virus and isolation has actually removed a bit of stress for me.  I was always concerned about trying to be in my best form for the people who would hear me play.  Now, I don't worry what the birds think, they are pretty kind and forgiving.
So, it's just me and the music.  I have not got any closer to recording the new albums. Maybe this summer.
In the mean time crude videos of me doing some of the songs are going up on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp3ikM13RTRJs0-KJRINriw?view_as=subscriber
and I am putting the Summer Sessions 2018 album up on Soundcloud.com , one track at a time.
https://soundcloud.com/ramaldonadobsms-4986569/tracks