Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 167

Day 166 - August 24th 2009

Back at Philly Rising

Everything I do on Monday’s before the open mic starts is basically background noise. For me it’s the best way to start the week. Music Music Music. I’m surprised I haven’t gotten sick of it yet. My ankles been killing me lately. Probably cause I haven’t really been off it in like two weeks. With 6 gigs on a 7 day stretch it’s hard to do the things that need to be done like rest my leg or rest period.

I wanted to work on some songs pretty bad today but I’ve been asked to take over Saturdays at Lickety, which puts me at three nights over there, which when you’re at a new place is extremely hard work. My stress level’s been up quite a bit lately since they’ve even been talking about me overseeing Tuesdays…yikes. My acting teachers in High School were right, the reward for work is more work.

It was pretty hot today. As is August in the illadelph. The beauty about this city is that no matter where you are in the city you can see the skyline. Nothing beats the sun resting over the Liberty Buildings in the afternoon. As I turn the corner onto Walnut Street and see the sign for World Café Live, my stress level falls away because whenever I’m there I know the place is going to be well run, top flight everything. All I ever have to focus on is my job. I don’t have to answer bar tender questions, I don’t have to field complaints about unrelated B.S., all I have to do is be entertaining.

I opened up with a short set and noticed something strange. There were an inordinate amount of kids there tonight, when I say kids I mean people under 16 years old. It was remarkable considering the musical prowess of these kids, particularly in the songwriting realm. To me that’s half the battle, things like stage presence and look and vocal and instrumental proficiency can be improved upon but if you can write decent songs at the age of 12 you are going to have quite a run in this business in my humble opinion. I peeped the swag of a lot of these kids, that’s also something that’s going to be useful to them.

The grown up acts were good as well, especially our winners City Line and Damien Anthony. It was one of those nights where you go “Man this City has so much talent” if I can be anything like Amos Lee (who has blown up but is always reaching back and helping out Philly Artists) I’d be ok with that. So many of these guys have bright futures. It’s extremely inspiring

We ran till about 11 and I was so pleased with the vibe and the energy of the crowd. It was an extremely warm crowd and it’s always a pleasure to help entertain them. If you were someone just dropping in tonight, you saw some really great artists/bands.

I have to start setting up for this Midwest trip we’re taking I’ve been so consumed with this promotion work that I have yet to turn the focus to my band…which is why I’m not working full time in the first place. Perhaps an examination and realignment of my priorities is in order.