whew

Come on, come ON.

Sorry. Just slightly frustrated with myself. Slightly, don't worry, I'm not going to use this entry to vent.

There's just a lot to do and when that happens, the risk is that you end up doing nothing, or at least you find reasons to do less important things.

I actually tried to post a while ago, but the computer was not cooperative. In that last effort, I was talking about a musical networking thing on the horizon for me.

Shall I take it from the beginning?

OK. I have a friend in the St. Louis Symphony named Taki. He is who I quoted on the Mars poster at my website....

Someone just came by and talked my ear off for almost an hour. He knew I was doing something, but, oh well.

ANYway, I met Taki through my dad, who played a videotape for him. He didn't think he would enjoy it because Taki (a violinist) is much more of a traditionalist than someone who'd be interested in whatever it is I'm doing. (original solo piano music) But, he's a supporter now.

I mention Taki because he thinks that Leonard Slatkin, former St. Louis Symphony conductor and current National Symphony conductor in Washington DC, could be very interested in what I'm doing. That's exciting because Slatkin happens to be one of the most important people in the realm of classical music anywhere in the world. [I seem to fall under the classical umbrella]

The really good news about trying to get his attention is that he will be back in St. Louis in a week or so to help kick of the St. Louis Symphony's 125th season. So, I need to make some kind of interesting package or something for him and Taki's going to talk to him about me and give him the stuff.

More really good news about this:

Brad, a musician friend of mine and student, went on a road trip recently on the way to a Berklee songwriting workshop. Somewhere along the way, he went to a church, and a percussionist from the National Symphony was playing drums!

Brad took it upon himself to meet him and tell him about me. Pretty amazing of him, right? Indeed. So, he got the guy's card, and Brad's going to call him and I'm going to send HIM a videotape.

So, even if Slatkin ends up being not especially motivated to watch my stuff after coming through St. Louis, there might be another advocate for me in Washington DC when he gets back.

Of course, no one knows what Slatkin will think of my stuff if he gets to it, but, it certainly seems like it's important that he hears it. That's what these circumstances appear to be saying.

So, in terms of that, I jut have to brainstorm a little more to see if I can come up with some interesting design for a package to give to Taki to give to Slatkin. Not exactly crucial, but it can only be helpful.

I've also got to keep working this website thing. I'd like to have a design and stuff within the next couple months and then start peddling the website because I'm planning to have some video of me performing. A compelling advertising approach actually can go pretty far. The good news this time is that I'm not trying to promote a one-time event, I'm trying to promote something they can take a look at anytime and which wouldn't really cost anything (that being a look at my video online).

To that end, I bought kennysite.com today. It's easier to remember and spell than kennyjaworski.com, which isn't that bad, but, it's easier, and that matters.

So, on the promotional side of things, I've gotta keep trying to come up with more ideas and things for a number of different promotional...things.

There's also a few concert possibilities on the horizon that I need to get figured out and squared away, a couple of them being out of town (but only one with any real promise as of now).

I've also got to get things squared away for the one credit hour of compositional study I'll be taking this semester. To that end, I may have to meet with the chair of the music department. It looks like he wants to know what in the world I'll be up to this semester. I hope that's it, because we had a pretty historic run-in of sorts last year.

Also, I can't forget to send out some videos I promised, and follow-up with a few people. Most of these people I'm referring to I met through working at Opera Theatre of St. Louis over the summer, a couple of whom I got to play for or show my video to who seem to be fans now, and one of whom is friends with composer John Adams, who's one of the most popular current composers anywhere.

I'm spelling out all of this because I'm feeling almost overwhelmed with the gravity of what I have to do, how I'm supposed to do it, WHEN I'm supposed to do it, what else I SHOULD be doing, and on and on.

Thanks for reading. Be a slice of pie along the road of lesser desserts.

I'd prefer a slice of french silk pie myself

Are you a slice of french silk pie?

on the air

piano under the weather

music

I'm at the campus supposedly working on some new music. If I come up with anything interesting, I'll post it when I get home.

How can I claim to supposedly be doing something? Don't I know?

Matt's audio blogs are really cool, aren't they? [www.the-mans.com/blog]

Are these questions rhetorical?

politics overflowing from their BRAINS!!!!

I just tried two random blogs and they were BOTH expressly political in nature.

Wow! That's pretty suprising for me. Maybe I'm just not aware of the amount of people out there who are that engaged with the process and etc. It's a good thing, for sure, just...suprising for me for some reason.

That would probably be evidence that, since blogs are mostly used by younger-to-young people that there's a very large segment of the generation X and NEXT populations who are politically engaged. That's pretty cool, and more than I would've thought (if my line of reasoning is correct in any way, shape, or form...or ANYthing. Never a foregone conclusion).

Personally, I find that I'm a little more with it than some, but I don't allow myself to, or even care to, get steeped in it. That's partially because I see what it can do to people. Turn to MSNBC or Fox News almost any time of the day or night to see people so wrangled by their political persuasions that it obviously causes true and actual stress in their lives.

But, I respect it, if it's from true caring. For some, it seems to just be something to do, or because they seem to get something out of winning arguments and making other people look bad.

ANYway, the audio post thing is pretty neat. A little long-winded this time, but that's ok.

Hope all is well! Thanks for the comments!

"You will meet an important person who will help you advance professionally."

That's what a fortune says that's sitting here next to this public computer.

Well, ok. Let's see how much I actually USE this thing.

Oh, and if someone's actually reading this, hello hello, and merry Augustmas.

I guess I should do some pretentious introductory thing because this is the first one, and I always feel like I should mark the occaision.

Or, I could just show you part of my first Livejournal entry:

The first one
OK, here it is. HERE it is. The first one. The FIRST one. This is it. THIS is IT. FIRST one. FIRST one, man. Yeah. YEAH. THE first one. The FIRST one of its kind. Number one. Out of an indeterminate number. 1. Uno. First thing. The number that comes before two is the number of journal entries I have so far...if you count this one, which isn't done yet. So, technically, it's zero. But after I finish THIS one, I'll have...

ONE.

Whew! OK, glad to get that out of the way. There's a lot of pressure surrounding this entry...you know, the FIRST entry, if I didn't make that clear enough.

The main reason I got this, other than really enjoying what Matt has put in his blog, is to utilize the audio thing, so, if I had to guess I'd say I'm going to use that most often, if not almost exclusively. That's just too cool to not take advantage of.

So, there's a lot going on, but I think I'll save it for the audio thing.

Bye for now!