If you're a singer/songwriter or a local musician and you're in it for the money and fame, you're in the wrong line of work. Music, sometimes, is a labor of love; a struggle to share what you have created and, at the same time, entertain. For the longest time, playing live gigs was a real struggle for me. These days, with only a few gigs here and there to worry about, I'm actually enjoying the experience -the actual experience of playing and hearing myself play. I'm getting into the songs and the music. I think I'm finally at a level of playing/performing where I can hold my own against the true pros. Todd Kreuzburg is one such "true pro" -the guy's a machine when it comes to playing the guitar. Whether it's Pop, Rock, Blues, or Flamenco, the guy just kills it every time. He's also a genius when it comes to recording, arranging, and producing other people's music... like mine. Todd has done all my recorded material. I don't think I'd be doing what I'm doing (musically) if it wasn't for the opportunity that Todd gave me of hearing my music brought to life in full-color production.And so it was my honor and privilege to have Todd as my guitar wingman for tonight's gig at Luke's Grille. We didn't have any pre-gig practices, I didn't send him over a bunch of chord charts or arrangements. No. I just stood there and called out covers and originals and Todd nodded and played along. I enjoy playing gigs with Todd because he's such a master and he always takes my nervous edge off because I know he's got my back. But sometimes I just get lost and mesmerized with his guitar playing and I end up flubbing the chords on my guitar because I'm too busy admiring the cool lead or fill that Todd just came up with out of the blue. It's funny and annoying (more so to Todd, I'm sure).
I guess the main thing that I'm starting to grasp now is you can have a great performance (like tonight) without having a great (or large) audience. I think I'm at the point now where I can actually observe an aspect of the gig as an audience member. So even though there was nobody there most of the night (except for a few good friends who kept us company early on), I really enjoy the performance and, as always, I learned a few gems of information from Todd in the process. Music is a labor of love. But I'll take love over fortune and fame any day.
