How a Terrible Fire Reminded Me of Kindness
The first day of my fall tour, after being on the road for a few minutes, my phone rang.
I let it go to voicemail. I had a feeling it was bad news.
And it was. The call was from one of my venues for later in my tour. The venue called to cancel our show. Because the venue had a fire and burned to ruin.
Heartbreaking.
Here’s the soul-filling part of the story: Ben, the venue owner was so upset that he couldn’t host my show. In the voice mail, he offered t help me find a new venue, find a place to stay, etc.
I’m still touched from his offer. A person facing such a difficult situation was still offering to help me, a musician he had never met in person.
And so many people have offered to help me after my first week on the road. For every complication I’ve faced this week, two people have offered kindness.
Today at a venue a musician insisted I take his extra tuner when he heard I lost mine.
Yesterday, at the Uncommon Ground open mic, all of the musicians gave me free CDs when they heard I was traveling alone without a way to listen to an iPod in my car.
My biggest tour has faced unpredictable challenges, but the kindness of others has really floored me.
I hope that kindness spreads like wildfire for you this week, too.
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Big thanks to Carrie McFerrin who not only helped me in Kalamazoo last week, but has offered to join my bill last minute in Ann Arbor, Sept 14 at World of Beer.
While enjoying Impressionist paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago, a placard caught my eye:
The stress of painting a live model, a tension of fear that you will miss the perspective vs the comfort of a still life…this made me wonder about songwriting.
I pondered: What is the comparable still life of songwriting? And what is the similarity of painting a model?
The process of songwriting might be both.
I put together a music sampler on Noisetrade.com featuring all of the bands and songwriters I’ll be sharing the stage with on tour. It’s day three for my tour with Paul Federici, and we are having a blast!
Like to support a worthy cause? All tips are being donated to 826michigan, a nonprofit writing center for kids!
If you won the lottery, what would you do?
If you won the lottery, what would you do?
It’s a fun question to ponder, and I bet your answer falls into one of these categories:
1.Splurging, materialistic purchase
2. Making a life change
3. Helping others
The odds are against us of ever winning the jackpot, but there is something to be learned from our pondering of the possibilities.
Who says you can’t reach the essence of the goal in small steps? Sure, we might not be able to afford a $400,000 boat, but if one’s dream is to enjoy the water more a year, you make that happen on a budget.
And if your answer was a category three, we can often find a way to be generous with time, not only generous with money.
Attention to detail, that’s what makes the difference.
I asked my wife what she thought makes Wes Anderson’s films so special. The above statement was her answer.
The same goes for all forms of art.
Sometimes the only change a song needs is a few different words in a lyric, a slight variation of a chord, a minor change to the drum beat. It’s the small changes that can be the difference between good and great.
