Celebration

I played a short duo gig with my friend Brice Albert today at Cal State Northridge. It was a small outdoor reception for the Microbiology Student's Association, with some tasty catered food and nice weather. While Brice chunked away on guitar (no power for us!) and I played some quiet alto sax, I came to a realization: being a musician has allowed me to be a part of many celebrations. From something as simple as a school reception to my good friend's wedding, I've witnessed a great deal of ceremony and smiles and had the opportunity to be a part of it all, to add something to the occasion. And very rarely has my presence gone unappreciated; people love good music, even if they aren't listening all the time, even if they don't realize I slipped in a chromatic ii-V7, there will always be a few people to thank us for the music or to offer us a drink or some conversation.

As was the case today, it's nice sometimes to play these gigs that, at first thought, might seem silly or random, but then they remind us how fortunate we musicians are to be doing what we love and bringing a touch of something happy or new into others' lives. It can be a struggle as a creative musician to remember that not everything we do has to be groundbreaking, or technically dazzling, or deeply thought-out. While we should all push ourselves, it's also okay to just make good music, whatever that means to you and your ears.

Played Take The "A" Train before? Good. Let's play it again.

Hello World

Hi all,

My first step into the blogging world...aren't you glad to be a part of this monumental moment in internet history? In all seriousness (or at least part seriousness), I'm excited to begin sharing and documenting my thoughts on music and life. I'll also be posting about my new and ongoing musical/artistic/professional/what-have-you projects and endeavors, and sharing links to things that make me happy. For example, this video of the master Sonny Rollins cruising on Oleo.

Please feel free to interact, leave comments, ask questions, share thoughts and items of your own. Part of the reason for creating this blog is to try to take advantage of the extraordinary resource that is the internet; there are so many great people and minds and works out there, and we should all seek interaction with one another for friendship and inspiration.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog debut. I hope you will check back regularly, and if you wish to receive emails when I post, let me know...there's some way to do that.

I'm off to read Steppenwolf and get some sleep. Goodnight and good luck.

-Michael