A meditation on making it through + music on the way
Good afternoon friends!
First off, thanks to everyone who made it out to Elastic last week for my Trio's performance. It was great to see some people I haven't run into in a long time, and make some new friends too. If you weren't able to make it out, or if you want to re-listen to any of the performance, it's archived on Elastic's Youtube channel.
Life amid a storm
It's chaos in the USA right now. The unpredictability of what is to come each day truly has me realizing how shallow my idea of stability has been. I'm grateful every day to get to do things I love and have access to sufficient food and shelter, which to me have been major signifiers of stability. What I've never fully considered is the extent to which things can be disconnected. As corrupted and inequitable some thing like the medical system is, or as energy draining and biased as something like social media can be, I think I've fundamentally assumed deep down that there's always going to be a way to get that appointment or communicate that message, even if it comes at a steep cost. The attempted coup going on in our federal government right now makes the idea that all you really have is what's in front of you a very real possibility--and that's something myself and many Americans conceptually or physically haven't had to grapple with before.
At the same time, the idea that the world keeps on spinning one way or another is very true as well. As of now, I'm hearing cars go back and forth outside in the same way they did three weeks ago. Maybe their drivers have different stuff on their mind, but people and their communal obligations are still in tact, even if federal funding gets blocked. At the end of the day, everyone is an important link in the chain of events that plays out.
I refuse to live in a state of panic. I will be informed, alert and on edge, but panic doesn't help anyone. I hope we can all hold each other to this. More than ever we must be aware of our surroundings and how people are being treated. We don't have to put our needs and wants aside, but we should be prepared to sideline them when an opportunity to act on behalf of someone more vulnerable than ourselves presents itself. There's no right or clean way to save the day, but we can all work to build mutual nets of stability.
Though I can't claim to have high career hopes economically as a musician at this time, I can still be dedicated to my drums and my music. Those, along with loved ones, are the things that give me the will to live, and therefore the power to hold others in community.
Please stay safe out there, but don't give up the fight.
Music on the horizon
I've been spending a lot of time with my old recordings and releases, which date back 10+ years at this point, and I've come to the conclusion that there is no better way I can document the moment than through music. When I listen back to the things I composed and wrote on my albums, I'm immediately transported back to the mindset I was in at the time, and reminded of the lessons I was starting to learn then and continue to learn now.
With that in mind, I am very excited to share that I'm in post production on a couple releases you can plan to experience in the near future. Most imanently, you can expect a duo project from me and synthesizer player Kyle Werle and a live recording of my quartet at the Art Institute. Both are sweeping and cinematic in their own right--which is something I'm really prioritizing artistically.
The synth project is distopian yet cathartic, blending elements of my solo drum work and past excursions in electronic production, with a bit o heaviness I've only hinted at before.
The Art Institute is beautifully reverberant and acoustic--the hopeful and bounding counterpart to the equally in-your-face synth record.
Beyond that I have a studio session from the Golden Dagger house band I'm dusting off and planning to turn into an album experience, and the ultimate goal of documenting the compositions I'm working on live with my trio and quartet.
I hope through out all this that these upcoming projects will provide you a sense of release, joy and thoughts of forward momentum.
Until next time, stay safe and aware, but also appreciate the little things around you.
Tommy