Maggie and the Magpies...

Day; 173. A cool feel in the morning, fall is approaching. Breezy all day. Temperature on outside kiln; 82 degrees

Back in the studio today after a day off yesterday... Still thinking about how much fun I had yesterday up in Dixon with Maggie and the Magpies.... We did our current two-short-sets of 17 songs for downtown Dixon's Farmers' Market, 8 vendors maybe? We be talkin' pretty small, but that suits this lead singer who has terrible stage fright!! How did that happen?! The one band member with the worst stage fright is the one out front singing most of the songs!? Well, it's good for me.... some day I might even get to the point where I am not afraid and I actually enjoy myself... I think I need to do a few more farmers' markets in order for that to happen...
 But I was thinking about why this is so on the way home, why is it so hard for me to be out front? To be the center of attention, to be visible? ....Well, we would have to go back 50 years to answer that question but suffice it to say that staying in the background was how I got through childhood, if I was not very visible, under the radar as it were, I was safe. To be noticed was to be vulnerable, and that was not good...

But the Dixionions were wonderful- so welcoming, so appreciative, so much positive feed back, it was really a good experience for all of us I think. And after making a few mistakes and realizing that no one but the band noticed, I loosened up and really started having fun. Our  ukelele player Miya Endo lives in Dixon so many in the community came out to see Miya and find out what her band was all about....
  There is something about a small town where everyone knows everyone else that is so heart-warming and feel-good... I loved singing while people were buying their vegetables. It was small-town America at it's best, just a small rural northern New Mexico community coming together for an afternoon of chit-chat, sharing, buying provisions and eating ice cream while listening to some local music. Nothing fancy but yet at the heart of what community and sharing means. I felt so pleased to be there and to be able to share out music with whomever showed up.
And we made over $20 dollars in tips! yippee!! Paid for the pizza we ate afterwards sitting in a circle as the evening faded. I heard that one of the attendees said she loved the deep voice of the lead singer, that she really enjoyed listening to her sing,...  Oh lord, that  lead singer is me and she will never know how much that means to me, it gives me the courage to get up and do it all again......