Last night I experienced my first big storm system coming through the Nashville region. What did I think?
I want my sleep back.
It wasn’t just one storm. It was storm after storm after storm after storm. It’s 7:00am and they’re still coming. And they’re supposed to continue for three days. WTF? I hid in my interior walk-in closet for a while and hoped a tornado wouldn’t hit my building and suck me out because I live in a third-floor apartment.
I’ve lived in Washington State, Kansas, Indiana, and Maine, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this. In Kansas, the storms were bigger, but they also went by quicker and it was done. Plus, I had a basement. In Maine, the storms more often come in the form of snow, soft and quiet. You just have to dig yourself out in the morning. It rains all the time on the west side of Washington. It’s dry and sunny on the east side. Indiana was meh.
I’ve got to say, if I had to choose, I’d take Maine. Thunder storms can be exciting, but who wants to get sucked out of their third-floor apartment?
What’s this got to do with music and songwriting?
Nothing. That’s the point.
I came to the Nashville region for an academic advising job. The music industry is secondary. So far, I haven’t done much to try to make any ins into the business. And you know what? I don’t think I will. I know the drill. You work your ass off and dream big and then wind up disappointed.
Rodney Crowell announced another song camp. It sounds fun but it won’t get me a hit song or a record deal. It’ll just cost me $4000. I doubt I’ll go.
I’ve created a YouTube Channel to share my songs. I’m only doing that primarily for the record. My daughter, family, and friends will be able to have recordings of my life’s songwriting work after I’m gone. If some big-wig artist or producer happens to stumble on my channel and hears something they like. Great! Let’s write up a publishing deal. I’m not counting on it.
Sometimes you need big-ass storms.
So WTF is this post about?
Life.
Sometimes you need big-ass storms to remind you of how short your time is on Earth. I’m almost 62 years old. I have blood cancer. I’ve been doing some thinking and coming to some conclusions lately.
I want to do things that make me happy as I get older. I love songwriting, but I also love sports cars, Border Collies, snow, oceans, photography, and poetry. I prefer quiet places over huge metro areas. I could retire this summer. I don’t think I will. I’ll probably stay in TN and work a bit longer. But I’m seeing that it’s time to start making a definitive plan.
All of this because of some big-ass storms kept me up half the night. – dse
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