I randomly came across and revisited this video tonight, recorded at the Prince Theatre (now the Garfield Center for the Arts) in Chestertown, MD in 2006. I had moved to the area about a dozen years prior; enough to become established in the "small pond", despite all of my efforts to lay low in the local music scene. I've witnessed musicians moving to an area such as this with the intention of taking over king (or queen) of the small pond status. I was the opposite. I had plenty going on in the markets I came from, and still could commute (or otherwise travel) to. And I've never taken the approach or attitude of competing with other musicians. There's a place for everyone with a contribution to make. I had no intention of disrupting the status quo, or disturbing the pecking order, or anything like that. All my life, though, at least from high school on, I would become aware of other musicians having competitions with me, that I was otherwise blissfully unaware of. I didn't care, and still don't. I was always and only interested in doing my thing, as best and effectively as I could figure out at the time. And now, this video strikes me differently than before. It reminds me of the place of respect that I was afforded in the community where I lived. Not because I sought it, rather as the result of the contributions I was blessed to be able to make. I didn't seek opportunities so much as receiving them when they came to me, eventually leading up to, among other things, my relationship with The Mainstay and the (literally) hundreds of collaborative shows I've curated and performed there. When a much younger musician, I purposed and accepted music as my calling.  This video reminds me of the blessing of being true to that.

Last night's view following soundcheck for Libby York's (fun) show at The Room at Cedar Grove in Lewes DE. In some ways, The Room is similar to the Mainstay (where I have a long history). In others, noticeably different. And now, one of the similarities for me is, shall we say, positional: I'm out my front door and at The Room in about 10 minutes. Which was, more or less, my proximity to the Mainstay when I lived the Chestertown area. For over 30 years, greater Chestertown was my "small pond" in which I lived and worked (to the extent possible in a sparsely populated area). And for the last 20 or so of those years, I would call the Rehoboth/Lewes area my "other small pond"; where I would commute an hour and a half or more for gigs, often several times a week (back in the day). Yes, sometimes it was annoying (especially in the summer season where an hour or more could be added to the drive). But no more so than back in the '90s, when I lived in Elkton, MD and commuted about 100 miles (each way) to Atlantic City six, and sometimes seven days a week. And for that matter, many other occasions where the one word that would best describe just about any day was - plow. It's still busy now, but different. Reversing the polarity of my small ponds (I still drive back to the Chestertown area for things) along with having many other things in continual swirl around me will keep the hopping. Staying focused, practicing stillness, and staying the course will keep me going  :)