Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Music Whore

I have run quite the gambit of regular jobs . . . from retail, to restaurant service (hostessing and waitressing), to canvassing (fundraising on the street. . . to usually un-excusably rude passersby), to retail again. So as the economy kept dwindling, and I began developing carpal tunnel syndrome from filling out application after application, and refreshing craigslist every hour on the hour became too exhausting, I realized I had to stop. While I have been a professional performer for most of my life, I never really focused on that being my entire job.


This is why I decided, in February of 2010, to make the switch to a full-time self-employed performer. It has proven to be a difficult task, yes. . . . having to drastically decrease my "drinking" and "fun" budget in order to pay rent and bills, never knowing how much money I will actually make in a given month, and more often that not, playing gigs to the proverbial "chirping crickets", but at the end of the (long. . .stressful) day, I truly am grateful to be able to do what I love.


I am a music whore. I am open to doing anything and everything that will pay me involving music. I teach voice lessons out of my home studio in Capitol Hill, I gig and sit in with several different groups in the greater Seattle area, and I am always looking for the next project to keep me busy and well fed (and well-wined).


While I hear from my friends who are married, child-bearing, and otherwise "successful" (see my next post for more of that joy), I sit on my fold-away couch in my small apartment where I live with my boyfriend, Val, and dog, Milly, wine in hand, representing the ever-growing number of full-time performers around the world. . . we are not (yet) sellouts. . . we are under-rated. . . we are on the "poor" diet. . .we are starving artists.

2 comments:

  1. Starving artist are a vary unique breed of people! Weather we sing in the shower, paint in our P.J's or just lose track of time from being in the zone.... We stil need some cash to know that what were doing is still what we are ment to. Yes we may be poor, under rated and under apreciated, but I wouldn't change who we are as a person, for the world!!! Starving from lack of cash, but rich creative souls!

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  2. Exactly, EMm!

    That is why I created this blog. There are so many connotations of the phrase "starving artist". .. starving LITERALLY (for food). . . starving for attention. . . starving for fame. . . either way, it is important to understand the artists BEHIND society's pre-conceived notions of the stereotype.

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