July 14th, 2021
There was a fun anniversary yesterday that I kept thinking on but never got around to posting about.
On July 13th, 2003, I had my high school graduation party, and The Next Step released their first EP, called Tangled Cords.
I know 18 years seems like a random and not very seminal anniversary, but quite the contrary: it means that the music I’ve made as that artist has existed for exactly half my entire life now. That’s kind of crazy.
I remember stepping off “stage” (my front porch) to an audience of mostly deaf people, when my grandmother Gladys (who, to her chagrin that day, was not deaf) approached me.
I didn’t have a trajectory set after high school (and still don’t), so she asked me with her characteristic bluntness: “That’s not what you’re planning on trying to do with your life, is it?”
I think my grandma is okay that I objectively failed as a professional musician.
I still ended up releasing another EP and three full-length albums, kept playing shows throughout my twenties, and there was even rumors of live shows planned for 2020 (though we all know how that year went…).
I still love music with all my black heart and there’s stuff that maybe I’ll still put out there into the universe some day.
Until then: there’s Spotify, YouTube and memories of me tearing up venues and countless dive bars, like Turf Club, Big V’s, Hexagon Bar, Uptown Bar and even 7th Street Entry that one time.
Maybe not too far away I’ll be yelling “Hola, mi amigos!” to kick off a show once again.
The Den 