Some nights as a rockstar, everything is a little off.
You know what I mean. For whatever reason, things just don’t click the way that they should.
It happens to some nights, unfortunately. When Carl and I are a little off, no one really notices. We do, but no one else seems too. It’s frustrating, but all part of the experience.
Nothing you can do about it really. Like a run-away train that is rolling out of control, you basically just hang on and try and limit the damage.
Well, that might be an overly dramatic interpretation of the evenings’ events, but you get the idea.
What I’m trying to say is that when we get the opportunity to entertain people, we really are never happy with any outcome other than excellence. When we are in the midst of one of those performances, we are distracted just by the fact and work even harder to correct it.
Sometimes we right the plane. Sometimes, there is a long slow uncomfortable flight; but always, we reach our destination alive.
Most of the time, what we do hinges on the people that we have the opportunity to entertain. Carl and I might be hitting on all cylinders, but if there is no one to hear, then it all goes for naught.
Some nights there are just other things going on, or the weather takes its’ tole on the crowd. Sometimes, it is a bad calendar night, when there is a holiday or huge event the night before or the next. When that happens, as frustrating as it can be, we just have to push through and do all that we can to have fun, or appear like we are.
That might be one of the hardest things that we ever have to do. Put on a happy face, when the crowd is small. Most of the time however, the people get us through. It’s not always the numbers that make the night, but the quality.
Just the right person or persons will go a long way in making the evening memorable.
Though I keep trying to illustrate all the fun and excitement of being a rock star, I ultimately fail. Honestly, it’s a great way to get paid while spending a lifetime doing something we both enjoy.
For me, it is a way to be creative. That is my favorite part of the entire experience.
It is a way to communicate with people our love of music: being able to share our interpretation of other artists’ intimate thoughts and feelings, through song.
Having taken time here to explain in painful detail just how frustrating it is to us when things are not in sync, I feel compelled to note: No-one cares.
No-one ever notices when we are not “on”. People don’t see it, know it or especially care about it.
To be honest, it really isn’t a big deal. Carl and I know it, and we really don’t dwell on it either. We realize that it will pass.
By and large, throughout our musical career, there have not been many nights all at when things don’t do the way we expect them to.
If for some reason it’s slow or tough or the plane is faltering . . .
Do not fear. We’ll just put it on auto-pilot and land after the in-flight drinks have been consumed.
Rb
