Polish

I've been making the rounds at open mics whenever I can and the most consistent feedback I'm getting is that my songs are funny and entertaining, the kazoo is great an I need to polish up what I'm doing. 

It's not the hardest pill to swallow. I'm more than aware that I'm not presenting the best performance when I go on stage and this past Monday in particular was especially egregious. It's not about getting too drunk beforehand (I'm a non-drinker in this part of my life) and it's not carelessness. It's just rushing things. It's hard to sit on a catalogue of about 40 songs and force yourself to just focus on a couple. But to be sure, that's exactly what I need to do. In a couple of respects.

Coming out of FAWM and being behind on my goal to play a show is causing me to think I need a recorded demo. Not just the performance reels I have in the videos section of this page. But like an actual good set of recorded songs. I'm contemplating a short EP or maxi-single. But any path I take, It's gonna need polish. 
And that's why on Monday night after getting back from open mic I wrote in big letters on my whiteboard "POLISH ALL THIS TO 5 MINUTES". Once  Friday rolls around and the FAWM challenge is done, I'm going to catalogue all the stuff on my whiteboard and wipe it clean. The only thing going up there will be what 5 minutes I want to work on for the next 6 weeks. That doesn't mean I won't be playing other songs or writing the occasional thing that comes up. It just means that in 6 weeks - let's say at the April 14 open mic - I want to present a very entertaining and polished 5 minute set. 

The time is absolutely right. I've worked out the quantity, I will always have that well to go back to. But now is the time to work on quality. Get my playing chops down, improve my singing and up my performance. The Open Mic crew might get sick of hearing the same few songs over and over the next few weeks. But it'll be really good that I have. One of the aspects I need to work on is my stage nerves and the adrenaline rush I get. Some of that will be meditative and some will be rehearsal an picking the right songs. So as I go through this, I might switch out a song or two.

5 polished minutes. Coming right up.