Inspirations

I have been inspired the past week, and it's felt great! A number of different things have inspired me; Seeing Brian Blade perform live (with Chick Corea), Listening to the Avishai Cohen album "Gently Disturbed", Watching Roy Halladay pitch a no-hitter in the playoffs, reading Music Success in 9 Weeks (by Ariel Hyatt.)

Brian Blade
Wow, he is such an explosive drummer. I realized that one of the main things I found so captivating about his playing was his dynamic contrasts. He sizzles along and cooks and then, BAM! he drops a bomb out of nowhere. When he hits his cymbals, he HITS his cymbals. He played his butt off with Chick Corea and Christian McBride the other night.

Avishai Cohen Trio - Gently Disturbed
I was introduced to this album the other week by my good friend, Tom Richards. I haven't stopped listening to it, nor have a listened to anything else since (literally.) The writing and playing on the album are both fantastic, and it's super-rhythmically complex. I'm really digging it, and I've already started writing a tune that it inspired.

Roy Halladay
A couple of months ago, Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies. I read about how he's one of the hardest working guys in the majors, and how the day after he threw the perfect game, he was the first person to the park to work out. That's how you succeed. Hard work...EVERY DAY. When he was a rookie with the Jays, things weren't working out for him, so they sent him back to Single-A ball (which is a huge demotion) to rework his game. And now, he's one of the best in the game. Hard work = success...Inspirational

Music Success in 9 Weeks
This book deals with getting your social media act in gear. When I ordered it, it came with a side book discussing different social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr) and how you can use these to your advantage. I've taken that to heart, and am spending some time focusing on cleaning up my social media....stuff. In terms of the book, I will be blogging a lot more about it over the next 2-3 months....

Being inspired is a wonderful feeling. The challenge is to keep this going....