The urge to play live again hit me unexpectedly, so I fully embraced the idea. What I hadn’t considered: the many months of foundation I had to lay just to get on the stage. I moved to Tacoma back in 2016 and many of the venues outside of Seattle have folded or disappeared in my decade-plus hiatus; those that are still standing have turned over ownership.
Social media has barely evolved (maybe even devolved) over the years and somehow Facebook remains a must for networking and promotion. The acquisition of Instagram probably extended their shelf-life, but I checked out of the music scene before then and only opened an account just to catch used record releases from Hi Voltage. Twitter is no more and has been shelled and gutted; X replaced it and the place is so toxic it’s not worth rejoining. I only just discovered my long-forgotten YouTube channel while videos, both short and shorter, seem a promotional must-have. I remain thankful I never fully abandoned my website. It, too, is a fixer-upper.
In short, I’m starting from scratch when it comes to booking shows and my only saving grace is a recorded discography that I remain proud of. But I need to reinvent myself for a new online era and I’m not allergic to change. It’s exciting and daunting in equal measures, so here goes…something.