„6, drugs & rock’n’roll? Let’s rock all 12!“ – Volume 16
Cheerioh!
As a live musician, stage days are universal: preparation, travel, set-up and dismantling as well as the performance itself sometimes demand everything from you, both physically and mentally. I need 100% physical and mental performance and 100% focus for a relatively long period of time.
But the nice thing about it: if I play in the right place for the right audience, I get so much energy back that at the end of the day I still have power and beyond that I feel absolute fulfilment.
However, if the framework conditions are not right, it is a war of attrition. And that’s how I see it in all areas of life. The line between use and wear and tear is sometimes very narrow and practically non-existent in our meritocracy (performance driven society).
What helps me: questioning everything and constantly looking for new ways and solutions. Meanwhile: listen to your inner compass. But this compass needs movement. Every step, be it in the right or the wrong direction, helps to plumb it. Because our inner compass needle is very easily influenced. However, the more we move, the more reliably it shows us the direction.
This is exactly how a completely new path has emerged from a roughly planned tour. At the moment I feel like an arrow in a taut bow, just before the shot, after the “point of no return”, in that millisecond when it’s all about the shot to perform well.
This moment is as scary as it is mesmerizing. You’re moving into new territory, doing things you’ve never done before and are completely at the mercy of the flow of life – with nothing but your skills and experience. In front of me lies an abyss over which I can no longer jump carefully. From now on there are no guarantees, no going back – if there ever was.
It may sound strange, but the only fixed point for me at this moment is a milestone that is still far away: the big waves of Nazaré. You can of course find out here whether, when and how I achieve this. Until then, I’ll give you a perspective that I had just a few days ago.
blu12 perspective
Every month there is my very personal point of view at this point: today the view of a bay on the Costa Smeralda. Many compare Sardinian coasts and bays with the Caribbean. However, I think these places have their own character, especially with a low winter sun and no crowds at all.
News in short:
- New blu12 profile on Ko-Fi – check it out: www.ko-fi.com/blu12
- New tour direction – stay tuned … and excited!
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V-belts sometimes tear faster than you think, so it’s better to have them changed right away!
blu12 backstage journal
At this point I would like to tie in with the “offroad blog” from last month: Despite reassuring words from several workshop foremen, the V-belt actually lasted less than two weeks and tore right on the dot in a large parking lot in Cagliari. That’s how I got my first experience of driving without power steering and got to know members of the band who were the first to bring samba music to Sardinia. Because they installed a new V-belt for us.
I could go on and on about how we drank tea and coffee in our van in a gorgeous beachside parking lot with a Sardinian with “French” roots who sounded like a cross between Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Murphy; how we spent hours trying to get to a dream beach over stones and mud; or how I came to play a blu12 surprise concert for disabled people in the Sardinian hinterland – but that would go beyond the scope here today.
However, I have created a new profile for this: on Ko-Fi I will be sharing visual, textual and auditory insights into my tour for “members” in the future. By the way, you can also just support me there if my insights, music and thoughts have inspired you (or you just don’t know what you want to give for Christmas). Earnings from my Ko-Fi profile go 44% to my music/art, 44% to the Paradise Express tour van and 12% to charitable projects to protect the coasts and oceans.
With this in mind, I’m sending you a fresh ocean breeze with holiday greetings and we’ll read each other in exactly one month when „6, drugs & rock’n’roll? We rock all 12!“ is back.
Martin aka blu12
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