Welcome to my serious blog.
Last night I went to an open mic at a cafe in New York. I was looking forward to it because I want to meet other musicians. I'm part of a small group of musicians who have founded an independant record label called Frictionless Records, which is a member-run musical collective dedicated to artistic and musical cross-pollination--musical mutual aid. We help each other write, record, and perform. We are friends. We are also geographically scattered, and since I just recently settled in New York, I'd like to get my feet on the ground, poke around in some musical scenes, and keep eyes and ears open to how we might be able to expand. Expand in terms of performance and expand in terms of size--we want to find more like-minded individuals with whom to work.
I went to an open mic as a sort of Step One in this process. Unfortunately, this open mic was a serious clique-fest. Some skilled people, some interesting guitar work, some beautiful voices, but there was limited time and the MC let his drunk friends prattle in front of the mic for excessive periods of time. What's with the mentality of not respecting other performers and just waiting for your time to dominate the mic? I'm so not interested in that.
Time ran out. I did not get to play. I biked back home to the Bronx and fell asleep and now I'm at work, tired and a bit grouchy because I got less sleep than I generally prefer.
This blog is about lots of things, and music and bikes are two big things in my life. Music has been in my life for as long as I can remember and I'm experiencing a really serious revitalization. A few weeks ago, my band opened for The Wrens, an older, well-respected, super-talented indie rock band from New Jersey that we adore. It was a pretty big deal for us; I don't go to many shows and I'm completely not down with the tour circuit and who's releasing what new album when, so it was my first musical innundation in a while. The Wrens blew me away with their talent; I got re-inspired and am putting a lot of new effort into my music.
Biking is a more recent love of mine. Two/three years ago I got interested in bikes, and started out by learning the duct-tape-and-hammer mechanic method--not unlike the "shake it until it works" school of home engineering. I borrowed a friend's urban singlespeed road bike and was thrilled at how fast and effortless it was, and needed to have one. Bought a fixed gear beater from a friend for $80 and a spanish textbook. Shortly thereafter I got a job in a bike shop and built up the bike that I've been riding for the past year and a half, an IRO Mark V frame with a variety of random components on it. I commute 20 miles a day, do some casual alleycat-style urban racing, and some long distance utilitarian biking.
There's a bike scene in NYC, too--an urban fixed scene--and I'm not much in it yet. But maybe soon.
Also of note and of excitement is: I might be buying a real pretty classic track frame. It's a possibility, far from a probability. It will be nice to have nice things. I don't own a lot of nice things.
Last night I went to an open mic at a cafe in New York. I was looking forward to it because I want to meet other musicians. I'm part of a small group of musicians who have founded an independant record label called Frictionless Records, which is a member-run musical collective dedicated to artistic and musical cross-pollination--musical mutual aid. We help each other write, record, and perform. We are friends. We are also geographically scattered, and since I just recently settled in New York, I'd like to get my feet on the ground, poke around in some musical scenes, and keep eyes and ears open to how we might be able to expand. Expand in terms of performance and expand in terms of size--we want to find more like-minded individuals with whom to work.
I went to an open mic as a sort of Step One in this process. Unfortunately, this open mic was a serious clique-fest. Some skilled people, some interesting guitar work, some beautiful voices, but there was limited time and the MC let his drunk friends prattle in front of the mic for excessive periods of time. What's with the mentality of not respecting other performers and just waiting for your time to dominate the mic? I'm so not interested in that.
Time ran out. I did not get to play. I biked back home to the Bronx and fell asleep and now I'm at work, tired and a bit grouchy because I got less sleep than I generally prefer.
This blog is about lots of things, and music and bikes are two big things in my life. Music has been in my life for as long as I can remember and I'm experiencing a really serious revitalization. A few weeks ago, my band opened for The Wrens, an older, well-respected, super-talented indie rock band from New Jersey that we adore. It was a pretty big deal for us; I don't go to many shows and I'm completely not down with the tour circuit and who's releasing what new album when, so it was my first musical innundation in a while. The Wrens blew me away with their talent; I got re-inspired and am putting a lot of new effort into my music.
Biking is a more recent love of mine. Two/three years ago I got interested in bikes, and started out by learning the duct-tape-and-hammer mechanic method--not unlike the "shake it until it works" school of home engineering. I borrowed a friend's urban singlespeed road bike and was thrilled at how fast and effortless it was, and needed to have one. Bought a fixed gear beater from a friend for $80 and a spanish textbook. Shortly thereafter I got a job in a bike shop and built up the bike that I've been riding for the past year and a half, an IRO Mark V frame with a variety of random components on it. I commute 20 miles a day, do some casual alleycat-style urban racing, and some long distance utilitarian biking.
There's a bike scene in NYC, too--an urban fixed scene--and I'm not much in it yet. But maybe soon.
Also of note and of excitement is: I might be buying a real pretty classic track frame. It's a possibility, far from a probability. It will be nice to have nice things. I don't own a lot of nice things.
Labels: bikes, frictionless, music
posted by mattio at
10:56 AM
2 Comments:
Ah, I can tell this is a Serious Blog because you wrote "we want to find more like-minded individuals with whom to work" instead of "we want to find more like-minded individuals to work with."
This is a little bit exciting! And will be good. (I've been toying lately with the idea of doing a photoblog--less tagging friends on Facebook, more hey I like this composition.)
L.
So, I think I'm going to do some research and track down that pretty little number we saw at mud.. you know: Dark, curvy body and a small one too! I want to hear how [the guitar] sounds in my arms...
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