__2004-05-02 @ 11:34 p.m._______
I was completely flattered three days in a row this weekend. First off, I was referred to as “witty,” “an awesome person,” and “a kickass musician.” Oh, and also that I have “an unbelievably sweet voice.” Yes, the comments weren’t the most descriptive or specific, but they came from the right places. And really, it’s all about context. I wouldn’t normally write about some glossy, overtly ego boosting comments that I received over the weekend. However, it’s pretty rare to have a truly great weekend and have it happen so subtly. I had lunch with one of my best friends, hung out with my girlfriend and made food for each other (took care of each other while we were both sick), was given two cds from two separate friends (both of which are artists I absolutely love- Owen ep and the new Pedro the Lion), wrote a couple of songs that I really like, played music with some new people, got paid, watched a couple of Cubs games, and drank for little while Saturday night ‘til I had a small, warm buzz. The funny thing is, I’m still sick from this cold. And while it is frustrating (to no end, mind you), I think it tamed me. Usually, I still go out and get drunk like all of the other college kids in town on Friday and Saturday night, spend the days in a hung over haze, and complain on Sunday about how much money I spent. I think its clichéd to think that type of lifestyle is immature and it's awfully judgmental. And I think that it would be boring and disingenuous of me to not go out to a pub or local watering hole and socialize with friends. So, I don’t really know where I’m going with this- except that it was nice to tone it back a little and be lucky enough to have such a good weekend…things just kind of fell into place. Isn’t it best when it happens that way?
I’ve always hated over-planning, yet, I’m an over-planner by default in many cases. Beats me. I have that personality where I try to have some organization in my life, yet give some room for thing to fall into place. But what ends up happening is that when I hang out with people who plan absolutely nothing or procrastinate to no end (and you would be surprised to know that I have an inordinate amount of friends like this- most of which are musicians), by default, I panic and try to make sure that anything I do with them doesn’t go to complete shit. And then, who would have guessed it, that’s when I end up over-planning and it makes me look like a control freak or just a jackass in general. Case in point, last weekend Nolan was invited (months before) to play Riverfest in Iowa City. I, of course, had already planned on doing a show in Meadville, PA, because I knew that we would be playing for a college crowd that would really like us and they would pay us much better than the University of Iowa (plus, we play Iowa City all the time). I was set on having it this way and planned our whole “tour,” around it. As it turns out, not only could we not do the show in Meadville (among others) but we missed out on the Riverfest show in Iowa City (which had pretty decent crowds). Here’s the reason I looked like a jackass or an over-planning idiot- the bands that played Riverfest were all paid almost twice as much as the show in Meadville, PA, would have paid. I planned our whole tour around a show in PA when I could have just planned it around the Iowa City show. And all of it could have just been avoided by relaxing and keeping our options open for a little while longer. It’s true, I’m rambling on by now, and if these are the things that I worry about day to day, my life is not all that bad- I know this. But stop me next time I’m over-planning something…it’s annoying.
Come over here and buy the Nolan album Rotation.
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