Grand Ideas, Baby Steps

I did it again. My eyes were bigger than my stomach this semester, so to speak, and I let some things off my radar, including this blog. I feel the itch to write again, though, so I’m going to. It won’t be the same as before – I want to be more honest and creative – use this blog as an outlet and source to help clarify my thoughts when they jumble as they so often do.

I will still do a weekly band, and I’ll update when I can. For now, here are my thoughts on creating and fear.

It seems the average person always has at least one idea that they believe would be a brilliant addition to the world, which they then proceed to let fade into their minds without taking action. I’m fairly confident everyone has done this at some point, so why don’t we take that idea and make it happen?

Mostly, I think, it’s a fear. A fear of changing habit, a fear of putting effort into something that could fail, a fear of actually having to try. To me recently, it’s been a fear that in the end what I create won’t really matter anyway.

I’ve put in the effort before, made my ideas reality, created something that once was just wishful thinking, and still never felt like it was enough. But really, who decides what’s enough? Is it the people involved with the project, the crowd, the all-knowing “they?”

No, it’s me. Each person gets to decide for themselves what they believe to be enough. Satisfaction comes from creating your concepts, even if they have cracks and look a little crooked. It’s still a feat to be able to say “I made that. And now I get to share it with the world.”

So just take that first step, even if it seems impossible. Whatever fear you have can be kept at bay through the will to create and be passionate. If you lose yourself in trepidation and doubt, find a source of inspiration, whether through music, a friend, or quotes on the internet (all of which I’ve utilized), and lose yourself in it instead.

A Complicated Emotion

The majority of the posts on this blog are dedicated to sharing my advice from experience and from research, and to expose people to bands that I believe in that deserve to be acknowledged for their music. Today, however, I’m going to talk about my life the past couple weeks in a more personal way.

Although I love what I do, I’ve been struggling a little bit lately to keep my head above the stress of the industry, the difficulty in finding people that I can feel close to, and balancing the two without going crazy.

 

I’ve always been of the belief that I can do more, that I shouldn’t be satisfied with merely “good enough” – which is motivating, but it’s also disheartening and overwhelming sometimes.  The past two weeks have been non-stop for me, with managing a band for the first time, working 4 days a week, and writing for this blog as well as The Berklee Groove. I love everything that I do, but there have been times when I’ve thought to myself “What have I gotten into? What if it’s too much?” all while planning the next step.

 

It was especially difficult because, for nearly a year, whenever I was a little too stressed for my own good, I could turn to my significant other for support and perspective. However, things ended badly just before I came to New York and we’re no longer on speaking terms. I lost a best friend and that’s not an easy thing, especially living in a new city.

 

It’s not just affecting me, either. I haven’t been going out with friends nearly as much – and not at all during the week. It’s really been isolating and, without some serious support, makes the stress even worse. I can tell my friends are getting tired of inviting me out and always getting declined. I know it’s a learning process, but fuck if I know what I’m doing.

 

So what am I going to do about it?

 

Well, this past weekend I basically took a complete break – I didn’t work, or stress about something that needed to get done; I went out both nights and helped my friend shop for a birthday gift on Sunday. I danced and flirted and met some amazing people. It was a godsend really.

 

I’ve decided not to commit as many articles to The Berklee Groove, and luckily, because I’ve been working with the band for a couple weeks, the most time-consuming work for them is finished. Now it’s a matter of maintaining and keeping up with their current activities. I’m taking my own advice and learning to take time for myself and to have the ability to say no.

 

There’s no other industry I’d rather be in. I’m constantly amazed with where my life is headed – sometimes I just need a little perspective.

Musikleigh Lived #7 – Running Pain, Home Sweet Home, and Rooftop Parties

I’m halfway done already? What?? I’m already thinking about my plans for the end of the summer…and it’s kind of depressing. I wish I could just stay here, but I suppose I should probably get a degree. Being so close to graduation and all.

The good news is I got a new phone this week! Pictures are back (although I’ll definitely miss the puppies). Here are a few things I did this week:

 

Went to Googie’s Lounge to see my friend Jordan play, although I couldn’t stay the whole because of how insane my life has become…I swear I didn’t have a social life this week.

Decided to attempt to get back into running, especially because it’s such a nice area, but alas my knee started hurting almost immediately so that’s probably not going to be happening any time soon.

My awesome boss with her cat Hunter! She’s leaving for a week and he was being mopey the WHOLE day. He totally knew.

Last night I went to this awesommme rooftop party in Chelsea, with free food and drinks. I felt a wee bit under dressed…it was fancy as shit.

Went to an awesome bar called Home Sweet Home this weekend. They played music that was exclusively from the 50s and 60s, I want to go there always.

Tomorrow’s going to be a little bit of a different post. I’m going to talk about life and emotions and all the fun stuff that comes with taking on too much. Plus some single lady talk. It’s gonna be a good time.

Show Count: 1 (see? no life)

Musikleigh Lived #6 – Punkass Kids, Arlene’s, and Hibernation

I had a week that was so full of the most jolting ups and downs, I had to resist the urge to look for Ashton Kutcher (Punk’d anyone?).

In order:

1. Started managing The Oats (awesome)
2. Confronted my venue internship supervisor (not awesome)
3. Got my purse from the MTA lost and found!! (awesome)
4. Was mugged by a ballsy 16-year-old in Brooklyn (not awesome…don’t worry, I’m fine)
5. Now work 4 days at Ariel and have a 3 day weekend (awesome)
6. Can only sleep on the weekends (not awesome)

I think my body decided to shut itself down yesterday due to some kind of PTSD. I slept 10 hours, then took a 3 hour nap

Because I now have no phone, there is a lack of pictures to document the past week…Also, I’ve been living off of bagels and peanut butter and jelly because he got my debit card. Welcome to Brooklyn.

To fill in for the lack of pictures, I was going to post a visual representation of why Pinterest is pushing women’s rights back few generations, but I decided I needed something soothing in my life instead.

Therefore, I bring you puppies:

 

 

Source: google.ca via Marla on Pinterest

Source: petapixel.com via Sara on Pinterest

Source: thatkindofwoman.tumblr.com via Bea on Pinterest

Source: bloggingsimple5150.blogspot.com via Yang on Pinterest

Source: via Ashton on Pinterest

 
 

Source: funny-cute-dogs-puppies.blogspot.com via Allison on Pinterest

Source: lnkgt.com via Smile on Pinterest

You’re welcome.

Musikleigh Lived # 4 – NMS, Retweets, and the Fat Cat

The insanity of this week was just beyond…everything. I had the New Music Seminar (and work), more open mic nights, and a couple shows. The only way I could be more surrounded by music is if I had a mariachi band as my posse.

I’m okay with that.

Sunday, the New Music Seminar opening party started off with the “Fiery Sensations.” I was not prepared for this:

There were some…interesting people at NMS (press pass ftw)

Monday and Tuesday consisted of a gaggle of music industry people discussing why we’re in such a shithole and how we should dig our way out. The head honchos of Pitchfork, Hypemachine, Fluxblog, and Okayplayer hashed out the role of music discovery blogs in the world on Pandora and Spotify Radio.

My favorite panel was the Social Media Movement, by far. I tweeted a quote from the CEO of ReverbNation and they TOTALLY RETWEETED ME. I was feeling pretty famous for about 5 seconds there.

Social Media powerhouse right here. Representatives for Facebook, Spotify, Reverbnation, Bandpage and more discussed social media tactics and changes. I’ll be posting an article about this panel soon.

My friend scored a gig from an open mic night last week, so our little group headed out to Caffe Vivaldi in the blazing heat to hear his beautiful voice (he totally played The Beer Pong Song)

Back to The Bitter End! I’m starting to really dig that place. My friends Cosmodrome rocked the house (funked the house? idk…) and we met some awesome musicians.

Not Captured in Pictures:

Met a lot of new people this week, which always makes me happy. At NMS, I made friends with a band from Mexico City called The Oats. You should probably check them out if you like The Strokes or The Pixies.

After meeting a musician at an open mic a couple weeks ago, I discovered he actually graduated from Berklee 2 years ago. The vast Berklee network continues to amaze me…

I started contributing to Berklee’s internship blog! Check out my first article and, if you like it, check in every week for another!

Look for my first album review on Thursday!

Is there anything you want to know more about (social media, interning, etc)? Let me know either in the comments or by email to Musikleigh@gmail.com.

 

Hello Internet!

This is my introduction post and my first ever blog entry. Care to join me on this adventure?

Check out my About page to learn more about me and why I started this blog.

For my first post, I’ll write the steps to starting a blog (as experienced by me):

1. Decide you want to start a blog

2. Realize people might not be interested in your blog. Why would they anyway, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY

3. Screw those people, you just want to write

4. Read everything you can about blogging

5. Become overwhelmed

6. Waste a couple months waffling between starting and not starting a blog

7. Just freaking go for it, yo. You know you want to.

8. Write first post

9. Add lots of pictures (preferably of cupcakes)

10. Watch the accolades come pouring in (my prediction for the future of this site)

The lesson here is that, no matter how much research you put into starting something, there comes a point where you have to take action. This blog will be far from perfect, but I’m just gonna go with it.

Words to live by: “I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.” – Jonathan Winters

I’ll let that all sink in. In the meantime, here are some great music, business, and music business sites I follow:

Ariel Publicity

NME

Hypebot

Lifehacker

Fast Company