Well, February is upon us (what happened to January? What year is it?). February is always the month for the RPM Challenge – the concept of which is that one writes and record an album all in one month. Mike and I wrote an EP’s worth of songs last year as our side project “East Paris,” (more on that soon), and it was so much fun that I thought maybe I’d take a stab at doing a homemade EP of my own this February.
I’m going to keep writing and recording (I’m getting to be ok at this whole GarageBand thing, finally!) all month and see where it goes, and I’ll try to post some snippets on the way. But I know that what I WILL do for sure is blog every day about this month’s musical journey. I’m inspired by my friend David Garcia (whom I’m going to see speak at Whole Foods tonight, check it out!). He blogs every day about his ongoing weight loss and fitness journey. It keeps him accountable to his readers, of which there are now many. And in turn they’ve come to count on him for advice and inspiration. (Including me – East Paris wrote this song about him!)
I wouldn’t presume to give anyone advice, really, but my motivation is similar to what David’s was when he started his blog – I want to be kept accountable. I’m very lucky to be able to do music full-time now, but for an indie artist there’s always so much to do that it’s hard to even know where to start some days. I’m also dealing with some health issues that can be discouraging, but I think that if I share my story – no matter how many or few people are reading it! – I will be less likely to shirk practice because I’m tired, or get frustrated with the progress of some new song or another.
Day 1 of February has passed, so for a quick recap: yesterday I worked with my friend Kim DiVine on a new cover, and we’ll be polishing it up and then making a video for it next week. Of all the songwriters I’ve been lucky enough to meet, Kim is truly among the sweetest. We just bonded right away (we already have a funny habit of saying the same thing sometimes), so of course we had a great time singing and playing (is there anything better than harmonizing? It just feels great). In my typical clumsy style, I started the practice by sliding right out of the rolling chair she’d given me, onto her floor. I was holding Kim’s acoustic guitar so my instinct was to fall backwards – SAVE THE GUITAR! I bounced back, sore butt and all, to have a great session. I will, of course, share the video with you next week!
P.S. In the meantime, check out Kim’s new EP – it sounds incredible!