CAR ACCIDENT!

Yep, I was in a small parking lot accident. Yep, Miss Mazda got a sweet dinger on her right door. It was quite the doozy.

I was pulling a right inside the parking lot when someone parked pulled out and turned right as well, with this left bumper nailing the side of my door. It only felt like a small nick at first, but when I went to look it was HUGE!

Because it was in a parking lot and we were both turning, it was hard to put fault on either of us. I did try and say it was a bit more his fault, but he wouldn’t give in J. I thought I’d try J. We split the cost 50/50 and didn’t go through insurance to save on premiums. Arugh. That was a sign for me to drive LESS. So I’m taking the TTC as much as I can from now on. It’s been great so far since I can read on the subway/bus and don’t have issues of what the hell to do with Miss Mazda when I go downtown after work.

NXNE

Over the weekend I volunteered at the NXNE (North by North East) music festival. This is an annual music conference and festival in Toronto. This year there were 26 venues and about 400 artists playing. By day there was a conference at downtown hotel with panelists from the industry talking and giving advice about (what else) the industry.

I was assigned The Free Times Café, which was a venue that I’ve played a few times with my band. It was the “singer/songwriter” w/o bands venue, which basically meant solo acts all night.

There were artists coming from as far as Tennessee, North Carolina and Michigan. Not bad eh? The Nashville artists were great, although one was a little on the country side for me. I was there for 3 nights total (Thursday – Saturday) from 8 PM – 2 AM. There were 5 acts a night, starting at eight, resulting in a total of 15 acts over the weekend. I saw anything from airy female singers, to country/blues to folk/pop and everything in between.

One of the most interesting performers was one which described herself as “Americana, Punk and Blues”. I must say it was one of the more unique performances I have EVER seen! How many singer/songwriters wear cowboy hats, do front kicks, yodel and yell at the top of their lungs in one set? THIS ONE!*

One of the highlights was a guy named Will Hawkins coming in from Brooklyn, which I’d say has a Bob Dylan sound sprinkled with Bruce Springsteen on top. He was great. I could totally see myself listening to his music over the cottage. I can’t wait to hear what his full band material sounds like. During his set there was a women who bought his CD and was a movie producer wnating to collaborate for her next film!

I got in a short conversation with him, and he was telling me how he worked straight out of university, only to lose it after 4 years to start being a professional musician. He worked at a recording studio with 10-11 hour days. Playing more music and recording in a studio after 11 hours were the last things on his mind! He regrets working and losing those 4 years in the name of “stability” and succumbing to the social and parental pressures coming out of university. Course his advice to me was (paraphrasing) “There’s always bills to pay, and people to please. You’ve got to do you what love and everything else will fall into place from there”.

Geeze, he’s got a point, doesn’t he? There will always be bills to pay and people to please. At least I don’t have any dependants nor in a dire financial situation, so I can make a decision on my own free will - there's just the stress of social status and the shoulders of expectations to meet and exceed. I guess it’s the reverse, since I’m so privileged to be relatively financially stable. Am I doing what I love full time? No. Do I at least enjoy what i'm doing right now? Sometimes. Is there a dire or passion to put my talents somewhere else? Yep. Do I have leads or am aware of what steps to take to pursue my passion on the next level? Not really.

So that’s where I have to start. NXNE was GREAT in that I was surrounded by so many music lovers and musicians. It was incredible. The major difference in me and all of them was that I was in a stable "career". Most were doing PT jobs, contract jobs, artist freelance work or in school. I think I’ll be in this job for about a year, and while I’m here I’m going to save $$ and keep building those contacts. There are so many opportunities in downtown Toronto to meet more people in the music community, whether they be “connected” or not. I’ve already met some great people at NXNE. I just want to be a part of music more than just once a week with my band. As I did mention before, I’m going to start taking some vocal coaching this summer, followed by some more guitar schooling in the fall – I really need to learn some more theory to improve my technical skills. And of course going to as many concerts (whether large or small) as possible! :)

Take care,

RE

“Eat drink and be merry”

*you may need to brighten the video a bit – I have it low res to save space.