Ok, so I’m a little bit late, but I spent this weekend up in Traverse City where my band Old Empire played at the 12th annual Traverse City Film Festival. This was great for a myriad of reasons. One is that I had never been to Traverse City before and it is absolutely beautiful up there. The only other times that I’ve been in that area were more than ten years ago and in the middle of winter.
It was really great to play a festival again. It’s been a while and there’s something inherently fun about playing in an open air environment. I’m normally a pretty loud player with this band, which makes sense for the kind of music we play. I didn’t play any louder because we were outdoors, but it felt as though there were no barriers to the sound. I wasn’t getting echo off a wall a few feet from me. Actually, I wasn’t getting echo at all since there were no buildings for a few hundred yards. It was very freeing. I know we’ve got a few more festival dates coming up around the end of summer and I am looking forward to those.
Here’s a video of one of my cymbals being played with by the wind in the setup area on Grand Traverse Bay.
Ok, now down to the nuts and bolts of it. I’m done with the school year, which as I mentioned in the last post was keeping me from practicing as much as I want. It has gotten a bit better, but there are other things, sone of which being creating posts for The Musician’s Notepad, and believe it or not responsibilities for the band, that are keeping me from full daily practice. That being said it is getting better. As far as playing with the band goes, I feel as though I’ve reached the ‘initial lull’ and I just need to work through it.
Initial lull, you ask? I’m sure there is a real name for the phenomenon I am about to profess about, but I don’t know what that name is. When one learns a new skill or in this case wins a new position they tend to come into that position or that skill with all pistons firing. They really nail it, … for a while. Then there is an ‘Initial Lull’ where that person’s skills seem to take a slight step back and they have to build back up to that highest level. That’s where I am right now. I’m over thinking my parts and feel and messing a bit of it up. I don’t think anyone has really noticed, but I have. I just need to really get back in the woodshed and go for it.
I’m keeping this one short for now so I can get it out on time…ish. For now just enjoy this pic taken after our set at The Open Space. I’m the goofball with the hat on.
’Till Next Time
Otto