Every so often you come to a fork in the road with a friend and the conversation takes a twist you didn’t expect. Oft times that can be a good thing. Sometimes it’s not so good. Today I had a conversation that started off in a not so good direction and changed into a different direction that went to a good place. At least I think it did. It’s a person I hold dear and don’t get to see as much as I like. When we schedule something, it often gets changed or dropped altogether. Which is disappointing. Such is the case for this coming weekend. We had a plan for probably 3 weeks at least to do a musical event this friday.
NAMM is starting on thursday and runs thru sunday. A lot of musicians attempt any means possible to get in. It’s a great networking opportunity. For those with less talent or who are great music appreciators, it’s a way to meet some of your favorite players. For me it’s a way to stay in touch with some friends that I pretty much see once a year at NAMM. It’s also been a boon for me to pick up endorsements.
My friend is in demand. Her time is short and people are constantly pulling at her because she is damn good at what she does. I had surprised her with getting her a ticket to NAMM and it made her happy. Then came a flood of people vying for me to hang with them at NAMM, which when I mentioned it to her that some people would be carpooling with us, well… A person she works for is coming in to town on friday and yet another opportunity for her to attend an event on friday evening has led to us abandoning friday and opting for Saturday to hang out at a much more relaxed pace. That was the turn of the good.
Then came the concept of calling friends by their name. The subject switched to talking about friends. She’s very friendly, as a lot of musicians are, we have to be. But it doesn’t mean we’re good at actually being friends. I’m guilty of it myself. I can be extremely hard for someone to get to know. But if I want someone to know me, I’ll do what I can to be open. That doesn’t make it easy. Turns out, she’s very similar in that respect. This comes back to my post for yesterday where I was wondering about why someone would not refer to their friends by name. The short of it is, she didn’t realize it something she did. Could be a cultural thing. But it gave some clarity. I learned something about her that I didn’t know before but have easily guessed. It’s much better to have clarity rather than a guess. Her name is Femke in case you’re wondering and she has been featured here on Single of the Day before.
I also learned that I have a tendency to try too hard with some things. I need to learn to let go, have more fun and channel a flow. I realize that I attempt to push harder when something doesn’t work. Probably not the greatest way to forge ahead. All part of the reason why I’m taking random drives on sundays. To pick a spot and go there with a flow. Along with some other things to let go, change is happening and it’s a good thing.
I wonder how much John Mayer’s creative flow is done thru being clever or just happens. That’s a good question. Of all the musician’s I have had an opportunity to play with, John ranks up there as part of the top 5 that was a pleasure to play with. Solid musician. Nice guy. Inquisitive. Which shows in the music he writes. Where as for myself, I’ve been working on scaling back complexity. I have a tendency to be too intricate for my own good. Simplicity helps a bunch. I’m still learning. Which is a good thing.
Being that I’ve been thinking with a bit more clarity as of late, I’m going with John’s tune of the same name. It’s got a good groove. Something I really appreciate. Lots of little simple parts in there. Sprinklings of horns and pianos, and such. All doing simple things to create a bigger canvas of sound. Mix that in with his signature vocal sound and boom. You’ve got a song that cruises along and sounds great.
Don’t be surprised if I end up with a song in the future with the same title (a shocker to those who have written with me). 🙂
Have John? Go get him now!