Where in the world am I today?: Flying from Ottawa, ON, Canada to Edmonton, AB, Canada
I arrived in Ottawa for Canada Day (July 1) on Tuesday, June 30th and had made arrangements to hook up Al Miller as I had seen via Facebook that he was headed to Ottawa for Canada Day. He actually arrived about a week ago and has spent the past week busking in the Byward Market. So I get down to the Market and the weather’s looking a bit ugly, but there are at least a half dozen acts in on the pitch ready and chomping at the bit to work the streets on Canada Day… A few new faces I’d never seen before, a few familiar faces that were good to reconnect with… Al and I went to dinner along with Kate Mior as a chance to catch up (hadn’t seen him in years, hadn’t seen her since a gig we did together in China), have some dinner and see what the weather was going to do.
For years this was very much my life… Show up to a town, find the pitch and hang out with the acts who had also arrived to work the streets. I did a whole tour of Australia like this in 1990 in a car that kept breaking down. I’d drive to one town, work to pay for what ever repairs were needed, drive to the next town and work to fix what ever else had broken… It was a great adventure and a whole lot of fun and certainly the friendships I made on various pitches around the world are some of the strongest I’ve had in my life but my life took a left turn at Albuquerque when I met my now wife, we got married an started a family. All of a sudden my focus was spilt in a most challenging and wonderful way.
On the one hand I still very much loved (and still do) the life I have as a performer. The simple and addictive pleasure of making people smile for a living is something that I hope I can do until the day I die. I simply LOVE being on stage and playing for a crowd.
On the other hand my growing love for the challenges, pleasures and rewards of being a father and husband kept sneaking in to my myopic performer-centric existence and providing such a wonderful distraction from the life that I had so long clung to.
It was/is a weird transition and I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to enjoy a dual existence as I really do get to enjoy both… I get the Performer Fix when I’m on the road and I get the the Family Fix when I’m at home… The tricky part for me happens when I try to keep things in balance when I’m working AT home. If I find myself at home and have a show to do I always feel more drawn to being with my wife and kids than chasing another show… Somehow the chance of adventure with the home team just resonates with me more as I get older… Especially as I’m well aware that my kids will soon hit an age where they want little or nothing to do with me.
Wallow in what ever the day has to offer seems to be the motto I’m living by these days. If it’s a day of performance…well then bring it on! If I’m at home and I can spend a day at the beach with Emiko, Koji and Owen well then I’m there! I sometimes think that I might be a better performer if I hadn’t let this other life divert my course a bit, but I’m well aware of the fact that my life is made SOOOOO much richer because of my Beautiful Distractions!
