Okay, time to blog

As indicated earlier by my wife, the ball has started to roll on the music front. This is good, beyond good; it's why we moved down to Long Beach in the first place. It's been a crazy but wonderful adventure thus far, but has seemed incomplete without progress in that area.

I guess it really started with hearing a number of friends and family telling me that I should be getting out more [musically speaking], but I had the easy excuse that I had 'already tried.' When I moved down here (2006), I tried everything I knew to do to get out there. It was conspicuously unfruitful. I managed to get a couple of students, which was great, but I lost those when the world economy crashed. So I had this classical training, great experience and skill, and ended up feeling 'all dressed up with nowhere to go.' It's a tough place to move from there. It may sound sort of silly, but the oppression of the dead end felt inescapable. I would make an occasional contact, but would fail to pursue it well because I believed the lie that it wouldn't happen, it couldn't happen, I wasn't good enough for it to happen.

Anyhow, just in the last six weeks or so, things have been changing greatly. I got picked up by an agent though a friend of mine. That necessitated recordings and head shots, a considerable expense. However, the head shots were completely taken care of by a professional photographer friend. I had a few old recordings from my conservatory recitals, which at least prove I have chops. I wanted to record some new stuff to demonstrate my versatility in various genres, as well as the misc. instruments I play (flute, Native American flute, penny whistle, etc.). So I search for a USB mic that will be appropriate enough to do some instrumental recording with. I go to a home recording web forum and poke around. They all slam USB mics, which I expect (latency and quality issues), but I find a couple that look like they'll do. For shiggles, I post this old clarinet I have that I haven't been able to sell. I don't expect anything to come of it. However, a fellow on there wants it for his studio, and is feeling generous and wants to help me. We do a trade for a very nice mic, and an interface to plug it into the computer (which can also do mixing & add other mics, guitars/basses/drums etc.). It's so much more than I was originally looking for. I got a mic stand and cable from a guy on Craigslist that lives about 5 blocks away. We meet and hit it off. He's been an audio engineer for years, a fun Christian dude, and I give him my card. He listened to my recordings (old conservatory stuff) and can't wait to work together. I was also invited to sit in with a band that does corporate gigs in and around LA (which is definitely 'nice work if you can get it'). Everything is aligning.

What really amazes me is the fact that all of this has come out of nothing. On the heels of my former business partner defrauding our company, it feels like I've had less to work with now more than ever. However, just taking the time to listen to God's call has pushed out the lies I've been listening to for years. Everything is coming together, and it's wonderful. The adventure continues on a new footing, and it couldn't be greater.