Music

I was driving in the car with some friends of mine, listening to some new bands I hadn't heard, and it hit me like a fever that I need to make music more a part of my life. I asked my friend Sean who some of the bands were that we were listening to, and started writing them down. That night I watched "Once" for the third time - it's a movie about a busker in Ireland and the performance of his songs are the soundtrack throughout the movie. This is the movie that the song "Falling Slowly" came from. So I was watched Once again, and that added to my burning desire to listen to more music, write songs, and play songs for people. The next day I wrote a song.

So this onslaught of inspiration has come rather suddenly. I've had flashes of inspiration throughout the year, but this has been more of a light bulb that stays turned on. It comes with some humiliation though. I played an open mic a couple days ago, and let me first say that I thoroughly enjoyed it - I got to play some of my songs for people, I got to hear some other (good) songwriters and musicians, and one of the most exciting parts was being in that coffee-shop environment, meeting new people and having good conversation. But I felt somewhat deflated when I realized how rusty my songs, my guitar-playing, and my voice were. Part of me wanted to say 'Forget it, music was a thing of the past for you,' but then I realized why I wanted to make music again. I was inspired to make something beautiful. When the writer Reginald McKnight came to one of my classes last year he said 'There are three types of responses to beauty (literature, music, etc.): there's the critic who analyzes it and discerns how it can be better, there's the person who immerses her/himself in the beauty, and then there's the creative type who sees beauty and responds to it by wanting to make more beauty. I identified most with the third one - hands down.

I like to be creative, and I feel incomplete when it's missing from my life. I'm glad music is coming back. My friends Mike and Bernard have been key for helping me get back into it. Mike plays piano and we've been jamming and we're hoping to record later this summer. Bernard is a musical Jack-of-all-trades who plays drums, guitar, piano, makes hip hop beats, and is an excellent freestyle rapper. He invited me to busk with him and some friends at the downtown mall and we'll keep doing that. I love how music brings people together.