I Love running my open mics. It’s a labour of Love – and a LOT of work – but I find that I get swept away in running stuff and not LISTENING – which is a mistake. I come away thinking “this guy is good” or being impressed with a woman’s writing and performance, but still coming away emotionally unaffected. I’ve been feeling jaded and saddened by that jading.
But I think it might not be so much the jading as my lack of attention. I think I haven’t been listening.
I spent a lot of today working over my last open mic’s recordings of Cynthia Marie – I was mixing the audio, fussing with the video, trying to synch up the audio and dance with transitions. But above all, that meant I was listening carefully, watching her play piano, watching her move, watching the shoulders shift and her voice acrobatically lilts, you fall a little bit in Love with a good performer – and Cynthia Marie hits hard. She’s charming, charismatic – an interesting writer. I know lots of GOOD writers. I know a few really GREAT writers – but interesting ones seem fewer on the ground.
Heather giving a little Heather smile while performing with The Weathered Road at One World Coffeehouse in Columbia, MD. T’was a wonderful night.
But I feel bad that I hadn’t noticed it until I was doing the video side of things. It reminds me of painting. Having to slow down and really notice how things fit together. Where the curve REALLY is, not where you think it is. Video editing doesn’t force you to look in quite the same way, but it forces you to watch and listen over and over and over again. More like re-reading the same paragraph in order to really memorize it. That doesn’t make it sound as romantic, I suppose – but it’s a good thing.
That being said – I’m glad for the upcoming trip. Being away for about 6 weeks will probably keep my romance with open mics running a little hotter. I’m definitely feeling a bit of fatiiiigue.
