The usual Monday stuff...laundry, vacuuming.
I got a CD in the mail that I haven't heard in a while--the self-titled album Rickie Lee Jones from around 1979. You probably know it by the first track-Chuck E.'s in Love. Interesting how much this stuff I hear in the female singer/songwriters of Decatur, not to mention someone like Norah Jones. I love it, though. Some of my favorite late 70s stuff, including some great horn stuff by Tom Scott, Ernie Watts, and Chuck Findley. Anything where the saxes are playing in unison really gets me excited (Steely Dan does this alot, and I thank them for every note of it). Love that sound. Steve Gadd is also on this one (ahh that fill in the middle of Chuck E.'s!!!!!!!), and I'm in love with everything from the 70s that has him on it, so this one does me good. (Here's a great Steve Gadd clip from YouTube from some clinic--he seems pissed about having to demonstrate something yet again, so he starts off like he wants to die, but about 2 and half minutes into it, he's lost in it and going nuts!)
Rickie Lee Jones has some cool things in her blog. I can relate to the idea of bringing the music to life at the gig, and how sometimes you want to share it with the audience, and sometimes it's more of your own thing. I think it's safe to say that most non musicians think that you show up to the gig and the magic happens, when in fact some nights you just can't get it there. The notes are right and nobody's messing up, but it just isn't happening. I bet on half my gigs I drive there worried about it not happening...what if I can't summon the spirit? What if I try as hard a as I can, but the notes just don't connect? I dread those rides. It's a kind of fear of failure, but not failure like I'll play wrong notes; more like the failure that I'll play the right notes, but it still won't be right. What do you do then?
