Death to stagnancy!

I'm gotten to be rather unmotivated in terms of my own mic attendance, even for the one at Caffe Vivaldi which I've been figuring throughout this time is/will be my ticket to getting a really nice gig - that is, if I ever get invited to the once-a-month open-mic invitational. Though now that it's midway through November and I do have a gig lined up for December that I want everyone to come to, what's the point of aligning myself properly to get asked to the December invitational at Vivaldi ("aligning" myself means I would go to the open mic this week and next week, for Michael the host to remember and consider me for the event)? Wouldn't adding a gig right before another, very important one be the scheduling equivalent of shooting myself in the foot? Okay, and/or maybe I am just lazy and cheap (it seems like I've already tried every special drink an the Vivaldi menu - and $7 every time really adds up!).

So here I am, sitting at home, and Vivaldi open mic begins in less than an hour and is at least a 35-minute walk-and-subway trek from here. Um, yes, it looks like I won't be going. This poses a particular obstacle/opportunity: to make valuable use of my evening even though I've chosen not to get myself out on the scene. There seems only one equally productive alternative: work on writing tonight - maybe even finish a song! Now THAT would be a thrill.

Here's the good news: I've got a new contact. This past weekend in Philly I met the extended family of one of my housemates, including her uncle and aunt who are actors here in the city. I got the chance to play a song for the whole crew (after a scrumptious early Thanksgiving dinner), and when I had finished playing - the song was Fortune-teller - her New York aunt said, "Do you have a demo? If you could get it to me I could give it to my friend. He's VP of artist development at RCA Records." Well, okay! I think I could scrounge up my demo!

Now, I've had record label contacts in the past - the opportunity to be heard by friends of friends who work for Aware, Interscope, Sparrow - and none of them have ever panned out. So I'm not getting my hopes too high. But, I am buoyant about it, because there's always a chance that something significant could come of it - a record deal, fame, financial security, artistic fulfillment, corruption, cynicism, ruin - everything I could hope for or dread. And that's exciting, either way. I'm not kidding. Because even if signing to a label turned out to be a troubled path, it seeems to me the movement of itself would be good. I mean, I would begin with one set of circumstances, a lot would change, and I would end with another set. So much learning and growth to that! And things wouldn't be stagnant. Death to stagnancy!