First Post

So here I am, back in the blogosphere for the first time since . . . well it's been a while. I suppose that until now I didn't really feel like I had anything I wanted to write about. However, I recently came to the realization that life is quite a bit more interesting and varied now than it ever was when I was in school. Although I suppose that's because I often combine the terms "interesting" and "difficult", so there you have it.

For anyone who might stumble across this blog, or for anyone who hasn't talked to me for quite some time, a bit about me:

Currently I would say I am primarily a street musician; at least, that's how I earn the lion's share of my income. I play at various places in Central Park on days when the weather is agreeable, and am managing to make a decent living doing so, perhaps not by New York standards but I have no complaints.

However, my dream is to become a rock musician, which is why I am a street musician. I have no concrete attachments, no students to abandon, no job to lose, and I can take pretty much any gig that happens to come my way. This has worked quite well considering that in 6 days I will be leaving for a month-long tour of Europe with the band Emanuel and the Fear, a project with which I have been associated for over two-and-a-half years now.

This brings me to the primary reason for this blog: various family members have requested a tour blog so that they can keep up with the goings on of my first ever rock and roll tour, as well as my first ever visit "across the pond". So for at least the first month of its existence, that will be what this space will be used for. That being said, I also hope to leave a small record of life as a freelancer in NYC, and maybe even leave some valuable insights into the business once in a while. Being a classical, rock, and street musician, I've been learning so many things that you never learn in school (such as: ALWAYS bring a stand light to a rock gig. Lighting at such gigs tends to vary for different places on the stage, and I've had the occasional gig marred by a near complete inability to see the music. Also, don't take the spot that another street musician has been playing for 40 years; it will not ingratiate you with them, and it's never wise to piss off a guy with a sax. In all likelihood he can play louder than you can).

So there you have it, my first post on the new blog, hopefully the first of many. Whenever I first start a new blog (this would be my 3rd attempt, I believe) I usually write fairly regularly, then less regularly, then abandon the blog to rot in cyberspace. Hopefully this one has perhaps a longer life-span than my previous attempts, but no promises will be made.