90 To Nothing

I should be working on songs right now, but instead I'm writing.  Not that I haven't been working on songs for the past week now, because I have.  It's just that this is a part of the transition, the way in which I gradually take off one of my hats and put on the other.

Just as a quick update, I've slowed down production on my new book for a few days in order to deal with a different type of wordplay.  You see, where there was once output there is now input, a gradual absorption of lyrics and meter and rhythm.  No, I have not crossed over into the realm of the aspiring poet, not entirely.

But I have joined the New Orleans-based band 90 To Nothing as their new lead singer!

It's been about eight years since I last took the role of a front man in a band, where I utilized my vocal abilities and what interpersonal skills I'd learned with an audience from being a singer on Bourbon Street for the better part of the six years prior to Hurricane Katrina.  While it's true that I've become older and shorter of breath, I am still confident in my ability to sing!  And as far as the interpersonal part goes, well, we'll see how the subtraction of alcohol since 2009 works with regard to my ability to connect with you the audience.

Of course I'm saying all this in jest, and I couldn't be more confident and thrilled to be a part of something like this now again in a city where it seems as though I'm truly picking up where I left off.  I'd forgotten just how much of a network there was here, especially now that I realize that I've left some sort of mini legacy behind during my nine-year sabbatical.  Where at once I used to reflect on how New Orleans must've treated mention of me as one would treat the mention of a person who'd passed away and thus had no hope of returning, now I understand that talk of me has mostly centered around the possibility of my returning to an identity and role that has already been established and is very much in place.

With new musical opportunities coming in, all of which I plan to consider and work on throughout the rest of this year, I have also been actively seeking out other opportunities to throw my music hat into the ring.  On my wish list is to return to Bourbon Street as a vocalist.  Although I started out down there as a bassist that eventually just sang, I have to say that at this point in my life I consider myself a much better contender to work alongside the amazing talent on that street as a singer, and a singer only.

And so I've slowed down the writing for the time being, and I do mean for the very-brief time being, so that I can give these new opportunities the time that they deserve.  I've always claimed to be of these two halves, the music and the writing, and a man who does two things at once really doesn't do either of them well.  So wish me luck as I jump from one side of the green grass to the other to digest some words, and then with any degree of luck, back again very soon to lay down some more of my own.  

Go give the Facebook page a like at: https://www.facebook.com/90toNothing