I still fantasize what it’d be like to live life as a musician.

If you’ve been with me for a little while, you’ll notice this is the third consecutive post incorporating music in some shape or fashion. 3 out of the last 5 posts, in fact, have done just this.

I was talking to my friend David over the weekend at his Saturday (the 14th) show in Waco at Hemingway’s. I hadn’t seen him in quite some time–we had fallen out of touch, though I keep apprised as to his music and follow him on Twitter. It came up in conversation as to why I hadn’t gone the way of music–how I had ventured into law. Frankly, I’ve thought about this a lot. It’s simple; I’ve had to explain it in interviews when people look at my resume.

I realized that there was only the tiniest possibility that I would ever make it in life as a musician. I couldn’t perform or teach music for a living. I loved being around the people that excel in music–the people I consider to be practicing, functioning musicians. But, I couldn’t crack it for myself. I knew that I was destined to be one of the many students of music whose highest hope is to be part of an ensemble on a weekly basis.

And, the conversation continued, David sagely pointed out that music is just as much about the people creating music as it is about the people consuming and supporting music. I’ve known this, and I’ve taken comfort it, but I had never heard the same from a musician that I personally know and respect as both an artist and as a human being.

I’ve known almost innately how important the arts are, how they enhance the experience of the human condition. I’ve been on both sides of the stage. And, I know that I must always be an advocate for the artist and his art. Wherever I may find myself, it’s not the large interests of an industry I’m concerned about. It’s about David carting his guitar around the country with little more than the clothes on his back. He’s got no money because he just spent his last eight dollars on gas, and he’s plugging in wherever there’s a mic and some speakers, hoping to get some free beers, sell some CDs, and maybe land a place to crash on the couch of some kindred spirit.

Anyone who’s ever read Kerouac’s “On The Road” knows just what I’m trying to get at. And, I think if it ever becomes impossible for vagabonds like David to live their craft from place to place, then America has become something irreparably irrecognizable from the romance that Kerouac saw on the roads of my beloved country. And, I think it’s safe to say, when we mark that day that the Davids of America can no longer wayfare about–that day would be a very silent, cool day. One where I wouldn’t even know to shed a tear–because it would be too real of a loss.

I’ve been through a lot listening to John Mayer. He’s one of those artists that I can say not only have I seen grown and become more dynamic, but I can also identify my growth and dynamism with his path as an artist.

I eagerly await the arrival of the new album next week. It can already be streamed from Rhapsody, and I started to listen to the first track, but I felt like I was being unfaithful to the process. When it’s a new artist that I don’t have a lot of history with, I feel just fine getting a teaser stream of the album. But, with John, I want to get the album and listen to it once straight through in full quality.

I feel I owe that to artists that I truly follow, obeying the process, trusting the artist. John is one of the few I can classify as such.

One of the things that truly has made this time leading up to this album more personable has been following John’s tweets (@johncmayer). He has been painstaking about artistic transparency on this record. He’s done a wonderful job with it; it doesn’t feel anything like voyeurism or crowdsourcing. It’s just open honesty about what he’s doing with the album from writing to tracking to pressing. I’ve had the opportunity to see it all for an artist that I truly admire in so many ways.

As it goes, I don’t condone everything he’s done, but I don’t have to. He hasn’t done it for me or for any of his other millions of fans. He’s done it for himself, and he’s been up-front about it the whole time.

With all of that said, here’s the video for his first single, called “Who Says,” off the new album, “Battle Studies.”

The title of this post is part homage to my finals present to myself (a headphone amp) and part homage to the arrival of the new quarter tomorrow.

It’s been probably the best Waco weekend I’ve ever had. Among the great activities: dinner at George’s then a night in with friends at my apartment; breakfast at Harold Waite’s Pancake House, catching up on TV, then a beer tasting in the evening; church today followed by a good lunch at Olive Branch. Though I liked my down time in Waco, I do hope to visit my family before Thanksgiving rolls around.

This quarter will be intensely Intellectual Property most of the time. I’ll finish all of the credits needed to complete the Intellectual Property concentration. I’m excited, but I know I will be very busy. Being very busy will make this quarter fly by. Then I’ll go through the most difficult exercise in my entire life. And, finally, I’ll achieve the end goal of becoming an attorney.

I still feel very young, but these very adult milestones are arriving. And, as time goes on, my life becomes more inextricably intertwined with Sara’s. It’s exciting and humbling, as it should be. Sara has been such a great confidant for me, especially when I am under immense stress and pressure. I take comfort that I’ve been the same sort of refuge for her in her trials.

God has been most gracious; for this, I am incredibly grateful.

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I am a law student in the great Lone Star State. I consider myself to be a moderately-endowed poet and musician. That was before I was a law student, though.

@clarkdebonair

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