GrooveLily

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog entry … so many things swimming around in my mind and wanting to be true to all of it. Eventually, I just decided to write and see what comes out … after all, isn’t that what blogging is all about?

The theme that keeps appearing for me is “What do I do?” (I know … it’s always good to start with easily digestible small chunks … how am I doing so far?) I’d like to start with my recent trip to Pittsburgh.

Tracking background vocals for SBW

On Friday night 10/24, I flew to Pittsburgh for a Saturday vocal recording session with Brendan and Val for our upcoming “Sleeping Beauty Wakes” album. We’re really psyched about this record … it really feels like us; long time fans of the band should find lots to remind them of what has been special about GrooveLily all along, while at the same time it really feels like a new, inevitable step in our evolution (we throw around the term “GrooveLily 2.0″ from time to time … might be a little high falutin’, but you get the idea). The reason I think this session is so illustrative of how my (and Val and Brendan’s) life has evolved in the last few years is as much in the logistics of the weekend as it is in the content of the music we are making together. I left my full time IT manager day job (my title is “Manager, Technology & Development” … talk about high falutin’!) a little early to hop a flight from LaGuardia to go meet my band mates who are in Pittsburgh debuting a new musical that they were commissioned to write by the City Theatre of Pittsburgh. After a lovely evening with my sister Cherie, brother in law Stanley and niece Edie (who live in Pittsburgh), I met Val and Brendan at the theater at the makeshift studio they’d set up in a vacant dressing room. I think I speak for all of us when I say that there’s always a communal feeling of “oh yeah … THIS is what we do!” whenever we get together after a prolonged absence. This is not to say that the things we do when apart are in any way less important, less impressive, etc. It’s just nice to have an artistic and emotional home base to which you can return.

Ironing Board / Lyric Sheet Stand

As I write this, I realize the analogy I just made … “home base” … is actually the crux of my thematic wanderings as I pondered this blog entry. In baseball, there is only one home base. I realize that I now really have several home bases, that are all important in their own way, and that all require a similar amount of focus, care, and ambition. I imagine this evolution is similar for Val and Brendan … and happily, the overlap in the Venn diagram of our collective home bases is GrooveLily.

GrooveLily, Self Portrait, 10/25/2008.

My other home bases: My IT career, which was always part time until recently, and which is now something I am pursuing not just as an additional means of financial support, but as a part of my life that should be as fulfilling as my music career. Speaking of which, home base #2: my musical life in and outside of GrooveLily, for which my ambitions remain high. Finally, and by far most importantly; my REAL home base … my wife and son. Of course, each of these areas of my life crisscross, overlap, inform each other, conflict with each other, etc. But, I must cultivate all of them. This is at odds with a long-held common belief that you really have one vocation, and everything else is an avocation; sorta the real-life version of the baseball analogy. Well, I don’t believe that … I actually never did, but I feel even stronger now than ever.

There are so many examples of people like me, Val, and Brendan … those with multiple home bases, if I may. Some recent examples that I’ve noticed; Jim Webb … Senator from Virginia and author; I even remember hearing him say in an interview that he thought of himself as an author … that made me smile. I also recently heard a radio show that focused on Ted Conover and his book “New Jack,” which is about his life as an under cover prison guard at Sing Sing. Even though he is a journalist and author, he talks about how the lines became blurred, and how he couldn’t do the job half-assed; his life and those of his fellow guards depended on his really doing the job … not faking it. While not directly applicable to my situation, that aspect of it rang true with me: do it for real. There are so many other examples, including many friends of mine who are truly world-class professional artists (musicians, actors, writers, directors, film makers, dancers etc.) and at the same time have other careers … many of which are pursued with the same care, ambition, and joy that they pursue their art.

While I may always struggle with it, I am equally proud of and hopeful for each of my home bases. I also think that more and more of us are living less-than-typical slash careers like this … I expect that by the time my son is a rock star drummer / surgeon / movie star / middle school teacher / CFO of a major fortune 500 company, it will all seem normal.