Back in the saddle

We played our monthly gig at Junior's Icehouse last night, and it was SO fun! It wasn't just that we had a good crowd (we did), or that the show itself went well (it did), or even that it was National Fried Chicken Day (it was - I had some fried chicken quesadillas to celebrate); it was also just that fact that we were back on stage after a week and a half.

It wasn't a planned break - it's just how our gig schedule worked out, but it was a nice break, and it was even nicer to get back to it last night. It's amazing how when you start playing every week, sometimes several times, taking just a week and a half off can feel like an eternity. Getting back to work last night at Junior's felt great!

It's good to take breaks, since life has a way of piling up on you when you're in constant motion. Sometimes you need to stop, get off the hamster wheel and take care of "stuff." I doubled-up on my break by also taking some vacation time from my day job, and I got a lot of "stuff" done. It felt great!

And a week and a half or so is a good period of time for a gig break, because it's enough time to let you stop and breathe, but not so much time that you get rusty.

It probably sounds crazy that you get rusty after just a few weeks of not playing, but it happens fast. You suddenly can't remember how a song starts, or you get to the second verse of a song, and you start singing the first verse again. You know these songs, and it actually surprises you when everything doesn't just come by rote.

But you get warmed up and get going and everything is fine, as long as you shake off that initial feeling of "What just happened?" when the brain fart catches you off-guard. You can't let it get to you or your whole show will be blown.

I've heard that golf is the same way - that you have to do it all the time to stay sharp. I don't play golf, so I can't vouch for that, but that's the word on the street. The homies say it all the time: "Golf, man. You gotta stay on top of that shit." So, I guess I'm saying that playing music is not like riding bike, which apparently you never forget, and it is like playing golf...which honestly sounds nothing like playing music, so I don't know what you guys are talking about with this golf thing.