March turned out to be an amazing month. Mostly, I got to spend time doing live performances of nonfiction at several venues. There was First Person Live out in Arlington Heights featuring a fabulous crowd. Then I got the chance to do a very personal story for Is This a Thing? at O’Shaughnessy’s Pub on Ravenswood in the city. It’s the latter that actually inspired one of my current projects, but more importantly, it’s been a while since I did something so cathartic. People laughed, they cried, and some felt like someone saw them in a way they hadn’t ever been observed..
The sad thing is I wasn’t entirely sure the story would go over. Although I spent several weeks preparing, the full narrative never really felt right. Mostly it seemed like ripping open old wounds then intending to fling blood (metaphorically speaking) at the audience, occasionally praying things would seem absurd enough for a chuckle. On the drive over, though, something finally clicked, and the whole performance came together on stage. But since I was worried about bombing, I didn’t record.
The lesson there is to roll tape no matter what. After all, I’m still quite terrible at playing the social media game. Such a video would certainly help there. However, it’s easy to anticipate failure when one has a perpetually pessimistic perspective, and I had no desire to document defeat. That expectation is what tends to keep me grounded. Always doubting if something is good enough tends to help refine material. The trick is not getting overly critical to the point one becomes self-defeating.
The lesson there is to roll tape no matter what. After all, I’m still quite terrible at playing the social media game. Such a video would certainly help there. However, it’s easy to anticipate failure when one has a perpetually pessimistic perspective, and I had no desire to document defeat. That expectation is what tends to keep me grounded. Always doubting if something is good enough tends to help refine material. The trick is not getting overly critical to the point one becomes self-defeating.
That’s why it’s nice when certain victories arrive unexpectedly. My contributor copy of a Sherlock Holmes anthology recently came in the mail. It contains my short story “A Case of Clay”. The story centers on a knocker-up whose romantic partner vanishes after robbing a ship which seems to only contain crates full of a strange clay. It comes to a satisfying, albeit grim conclusion. In addition, the publishers seemed to enjoy it enough they asked me to pitch something for their next anthology. While there’s no guarantee that will get accepted, having the opportunity feels good.
Meanwhile, I’m getting ready for live shows in April. I’ll be performing at Serving the Sentence on April 14th in Rogers Park. Me and several other splendid storytellers are given a sentence as a prompt we must use in whatever kind of tale we tell, whether fiction or factual. Afterwards, on the 26th, I’ll be featured in 20x2 at the Gman Tavern in Wrigleyville. That’s essentially where twenty performers are given 2 minutes each to deliver their take on a specific prompt. And just for fun, on April 1st I’ll be at Grandpa’s in Glenview to do some nonfiction.
And of course, work is coming to a close on the next Beerfinger album “The Wreck of Hope”. The main delay, besides being the only person in the band, has been just trying to get things right instead of rushing to the end. I don’t want to settle for good enough on this one. As much as I do my best, some tracks in the past could have used a second polish. In addition, as I’m taking my time, I keep coming up with extra ideas which means I’ve added four songs to the album in the last few weeks. All that’s left is recording vocals on the new tunes. I am honestly aiming for an April or May release at this point, so fingers crossed all goes well.
Thanks for checking in. Keep safe, stay weird, and always steal shot glasses from bars that have bad service.
Thanks for checking in. Keep safe, stay weird, and always steal shot glasses from bars that have bad service.
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