A Week of Inspiration

So, once again I've found that I cannot seem to keep up with this thing. Or anything, really. As busy as I'm used to being in college and such, I cannot seem to adapt to this lifestyle of job and music being a job and being able to balance work with play. I don't really know how I managed to do it while I was in school, but it seemed a lot simpler when I had a structure to my days that worked by the hour. As awful as it was, I think I would embrace that right about now. I've also found, however, that whenever I am granted some time to myself or time away... I lose track of that too. But I think that's a good thing.

So... let's start with last Sunday. The 21st. Mom and myself loaded into the Ford Edge and trekked past the old stomping grounds of Western New York to get to St. Catharine's, Ontario. What awaited us there was a long line at the border, a very vague idea of where to go, the quaint city of St. Catharines, a wine festival, and Ms. Sarah Slean. For those of you who know me well, I've grown to love this singer/songwriter/performer/artist, and until then had yet to see her live. I'd been told by boyfriend and friends alike that she was one who needed to be seen live to fully take in, and since I needed some new inspiration in regards to making live music a true experience this was an entirely necessary road trip.

We left around 2pm, and got there around 4... (it really shouldn't have taken that long, but hey, we were in no rush). We shuffled around the wine festival, got some food, and camped out pretty close to the stage. It was a pretty cold day for an outdoor festival, so the next couple hours felt like... a couple of hours, but she was definitely worth the wait. What definitely wasn't worth the wait was her opening act. I don't remember who it is, and for the sake of whomever it was I won't go through the trouble of trying to find out. He was... pretty awful. When you're soundchecking IN FRONT OF THE AUDIENCE, I don't believe it's wise to have your backing tracks playing while you're not singing. Or hey, for that matter, let's talk about the actual show. When your one backup singer is singing... there aren't three of him. You're not fooling me (though I think you were fooling the girls who sat behind me, because they thought you were "really great"), and no, we know the older dude playing lead guitar isn't singing into the mic... he's singing... but not near the mic. Or any mic.

Finally, Sarah took the stage about 40 minutes later than scheduled, and I'm not even sure what to say about it. She is a force on the stage. A charming, charismatic, witty, adorable, seemingly effortless force. There was such a sense of happiness in me the whole time she performed, because a) I had finally gotten to see her live and b) it was the farthest thing from disappointing. I cannot verbalize the experience, but I did jot down the set list for those of you interested:

1) California
2) So Many Miles
3) Euphoria
4) Notes From the Underground
5) Get Home
6) Hopeful Hearts
7) Lucky Me
8) Another Midnight
9) Goodnight, Trouble
10) Duncan
11) Out In the Park
12) No Place At All
13) Please Be Good To Me
14) Sweet Ones
15) Sound of Water
--ENCORE--
16) Looking For Someone
17) Parasol
18) Wake Up

So, needless to say... it was amazing. We drove halfway home, stayed at a hotel and finished the trip Monday morning in time for me to get a half day of work in.

Monday evening we headed out to the Turning Stone Casino (yes... I saw a show there) to see The Indigo Girls (yes... I saw them there). And to make things even awesomer, Missy Higgins opened. Again, if you know me, you know how major a concert like this is. So again, I have no words. It was sweet. They played "Closer to Fine." I laughed and thought about that 'Office' episode. Sigh.

Tuesday I grunted through a day of cleaning ceiling light fixtures and rafters (slowest. day. ever.), and Wednesday headed to Nashville to visit Michael.

With the exception of a couple glitches (bad weather at a connecting flight and a change of flights and a bigger layover and... a charge for checked luggage?) I got there, and seriously had the best 5 days since, well, the last time I was there in March. There's something about that city that I cannot get enough of. And being with Michael again was too good, again, for words.

I would recap everything that I did while I was there, but as you can tell time has gotten away from me again. It had been a good 10 days of sheer happiness and inspiration and a well needed vacation from the norm, and basically when I returned the following Monday I crashed-- hard. Like, literally. I have been sick since Tuesday morning. Whether it had been from the plane ride back, or maybe from my mom who had been sick for a while, the past few days have absolutely sucked. Work has been so hard to get through, and I still can't breathe through my nose.

What I would do for another trip south. Where it's always sunny and warm and friendly and inspiring.


Today, since I obviously cannot sing, practice was canceled and I got a day to work on my painting. I finished an oil sketch to the best of my ability (never done one before), not so pumped on it, but looking forward to how it's going to look once I get using paints. It'll be nice to work on a painting without a timeline.

So there, in an incredibly small nutshell, has been the past 10 days or so. This week looks pretty promising; practice tomorrow, Casey coming out Monday for the Junkyard Ghost Revival in Syracuse, and a full week of work and another start to hoping this week is the week everything will change for the better. My friend Michaela is coming home this weekend, and hopefully one of my bests from Fredonia will come out as well.