Episode 1

"If one but tell a thing well, it moves on with undying voice, and over the fruitful earth and across the sea goes the bright gleam of noble deeds ever unquenchable." Pindar, 518-438 BC

Normally, blogs are supposed to tell the reader something that the blogger wants them to know. But since I'm not exactly normal, I guess I'll start my inaugural blog with a question.

Did (or do) any of y'all ever feel the overwhelming need to make a statement or tell a story that resounds across the earth and sea with an "undying voice" - that resonates irresistibly, not just in space/time but in the hearts of everyone who hears it, wherever and whenever they might be?

For me, that's what it means to be a musician. A lofty and difficult goal, I agree but really, all the supposed glamour and coolness of this lifestyle: being in a different town and hotel almost every night, seeing new places, meeting new people, drinking champagne (or in my case, Kool-Aid) and eating in fancy restaurants isn't worth the effort and stress of the recurring financial uncertainty, the long days and nights spent away from loved ones, the mind-numbing tedium of rehearsals or booking shows... not to mention the endless driving, the ever-present fear of failure and risk of rejection, the not-getting-to-eat-pizza-six-days-a-week-because-it's-bad-for-my-voice, among so many other hardships.

But I do it all again and again just for the chance to make something powerful and beautiful that didn't exist before - to make something that might change the world in a good way, or at least make your life better for awhile.

When I started this journey, I was either so blinded by passion or maybe just too dumb to consider beforehand whether I could make it or not, so I just went ahead and did it. And apparently, I'm still too dumb to cut my losses now and salvage the bit of my life that remains. But what can I say? I'm a slow learner. It appears that I'm not going away anytime soon, so y'all may as well get comfortable. And if you hear a loud noise on the wind sometime, that just might be me trying to get my undying voice to speak across the universe...