Last night I kept saying “this is the way my Lair was always SUPPOSED to be”. +/- the fact that I kinda wished my beanbag chair was downstairs and that I REALLY wish Rowan was there with us. Kristen’s just received her vaccination appointment and hopefully I’ll be getting one soon and while this morning has got me feeling optimistic about a return to SOME sort of normal, it also has me feeling a little sad because I really, really Love having my family down here like this, I like performing in this comfortable space – it’s LIKE going into the studio without the pressure. With an audience. With all the joy, none of the stress. I like dancing on my rug, playing guitar, singing my heart out.
Beyond the feeling of togetherness – last night was just a really fun show. As we head back to outside gigs and probably an UNDOING of all I hath wrought in my lair, I DO feel like it’s dangerously close to perfect! Wires through the walls, monitor carefully placed, headphone amps, cameras angled, switcher switching – I’m pretty proud of where all this evolution has brought me, and I’m legitimately kind of bummed to probably be reaching a point where it all just comes back apart.
Not that it’s perfect. I’ve got an old PA to get rid of. I’ve got a couch that should probably move. I should probably take a lot of the posters down and create some blank space so that our visuals are not so complicated – but perhaps none of that matters because all of this is about to cease.
That’s complicated too because I don’t want to throw away the fan base we’ve generated (or reconnected to) online. “Cooking with ilyAIMY”, Twitchlings, all of that stuff. How do I keep that working this summer? I’m assuming most gigs we’ll often still be webcasting – and as I think it through I could imagine moving Live from the Lair to a low-impact time slot like Sunday afternoons or something. I like to think that as long a Live from the Lair means playing with my friends (even ‘just’ my wife) they’ll still feel like Christmas. Back to a previous “what a lucky boy am I” theme – who the Hell else gets a little Christmas EVERY WEEK?!
Sitting in the Lair on my old futon (where DID this thing come from? Is this a House acquisition? Did it come with Kristen?) listening to Kristen play on Sharif’s piano while Heather complains about her kids and Joey gets DEEP and Sharif drifts off on the floor before launching into some bizarre tirade in his old College Perk Irish brogue… playing with these friends is SO good – but THIS is close to a perfect, perfect, perfect moment.
I ain’t gonna get sad about it. You never know when the LAST time is. The last time play feels like play. The last time you’re all together. The last time your fingers work or your voice doesn’t crack or you don’t get killed crossing the street (or catch a bug that leaves you dying by inches). We’re such tenuous creatures.
Listening to a friend talking about their child upset and mourning a childhood game that’s not the same anymore, worrying that that was the best times of their Life and now they’re gone forever? Don’t worry kid, it’s gonna feel like that again and again and you probably don’t even REMEMBER the first time Life left you crying on your bedroom floor. That’s not a lot of consolation, but that IS Life. Try your best to Love it.
Well, this post meandered. My advice to the world at large? Whether you end up crying on it or lying on it and staring at the ceiling post-show listening to unpracticed Chopin licks (are Classical riffs called licks? OR riffs?!) – buy a really good, soft rug.
As I went to many many concerts in large club, arena, and stadium scale, it struck me how many acts’ stage setup literally included a nice area rug. Yes you could see it from whatever upper deck, but it was never a logo or brand-forward art, it was always clearly just ‘this looks/feels comfy for us to be playing around.’ not viable for many local gigs, but man.
I need a rug in my basement.