ENDLESSLY REBOOTING
It happened over the summer. The idea that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to play some live music again. It seemed simple enough until the reality set in: I have been out of the live music game for 10 years. Even though I never abandoned music, the landscape changed along with the requirements for entry; the visuals now lead the music and it’s not enough to post some tracks and hope for the best. Videos, reels, gifs—it’s necessary to attach your music to a moving image (or well-designed still) to be heard and maybe win a little attention in the attention economy, all while hoping the algorithm smiles upon you. Live venues want to see your social media presence for their booking consideration; is it to see how many fans you have (even if fluffing your numbers has been a thing since Myspace exploded in the early 2000s) or simply to share posts and announcements about an upcoming gig? Probably a bit of both. Too bad for me, since I mostly shunned social media in favor of my mental health, and things have only gotten worse online with gross manipulation of what we see and read—if we even read past the click-bait headline before storming the comments section to rage or approve (or express ourself with a heart emoji or angry face). It’s a fucking mess, quite frankly, and now I’m supposed enter that domain again, arms outstretched and pants around my ankles? Yeah, I guess so.
I have no video presence and no press photos after 2011. I haven’t been in a studio to record anything since 2013 and Seattle became unaffordable, so I moved to Tacoma with my wife and son. No longer in proximity to a major city’s music scene (Seattle’s population versus Tacoma is about 780k to 220k), I’ve grown to love the change in pace and location. Should I embrace my inner Roger Murtaugh and say I’m too old for this shit? Is there simply too much work to be done to convince a jaded and unsuspecting public I still have art to share?
Nay, I say: I am NOT too old for this shit and there is a lot of work to be done. It’s also “use it or lose it” time and so, much like I did 20 years ago, I’ll use this space to write about music and what it means to reenter the haunted arena with a vastly different perspective. I’m a friendly (but crabby) ghost trying to make contact with the other side, pushing vases off of shelves and making the lights flicker in hopes someone notices a change in temperature. I’m still here. I’m still here.
