datamusicata

A few days ago, I talked about what one (specifically me) has to do to prepare for a performance in an article entitled What Do You Do To Prepare For A Gig? I talked about how unprepared I was to do a few songs on John’s show at Kulak’s Woodshed (www.kulakswoodshed.com).

Well last Saturday night, John Batdorf and I did a show at Boulevard Music in Culver City (www.boulevardmusic.com) , and the opposite was true. I knew I was doing a full concert so my preparations started (as they should) the night before. I let myself sleep til I woke up Saturday and had a leisurely morning and an easy day. Around three p.m. I began to pack up for the concert and then got cleaned up and was ready to go when John picked me up.

At the show, I was just bouncing with energy and did myself proud. I could hit every note I wanted to and it was easy to stay focused on each song and each story. That’s the deal about energy, it also helps you stay focused. And energy is what I want to talk about today. Because when we’re up there on stage, performing live, what we are really selling is energy. The energy we bring to each note, each lick, each joke, our posture, our delivery, everything done up there requires so much energy that it looks like it’s effortless. If you are tired, you forget things, you appear lackluster and you simply aren’t as good as you really are.

What brought me to this energy awareness today is the fact that I watched two music DVD’s. The first last night was the Kingston Trio story (www.kinstontriostore.com/html/dvds.html ). For those of you too young to know, the Kingston Trio changed America from duck tails, stove pipe pants and pointed black shoes to weejuns, button down collared striped shirts and short hair. The entire collegiate thing was started by them and influenced the way the entire boomer generation dressed until the mid sixties when pot was mixed in and hippies were born, but still, the bell bottom paisley pants are gone, but the collegiate look is still available everywhere.

What I’m trying to say is that they were huge. And I wanted to see how they became so huge and successful. They essentially built the Capitol Tower on Vine Street in Hollywood. (www.capitolrecords.com) And what this DVD demonstrated over and over again was their enthusiasm and their sheer energy. Every performance was infused with energy and joy. Don’t forget the joy.

Then tonight I watched the McCartney concert 3 DVD set that my friend Nadine bought me for Christmas. It was utterly fantastic watching this fellow perform across decades and still bring so much energy and joy to the performance.

So while it’s important to practice and to have great material and to have enough time in the spotlight to be easy in its intensity, it is most important to bring energy to the stage, energy and joy.

You have to watch this McCartney DVD (www.paulmccartney.com ) of the Glastonbury Concert. (It’s actually a three DVD set called the McCartney Years.) Glastonbury holds the biggest music festival in the world and they’ve been doing it for decades. They finally got Mac to perform and he did himself proud.

He was singing great, nothing like so many of the performers that you see who can’t deliver outside of the studio (the recent Grammy Awards show comes to mind…so many alleged artists displaying no artistry). McCartney was inspirational. So much so, that as soon as I finish writing this piece for you, I’m going back out to the studio and play for an hour before I pack for the road.

Which reminds me, I will be touring the south with John Batdorf for the next week (you can check www.jamesleestanley.com for the appearance schedule) followed by the National Folk Alliance Conference (www.folkalliance.org) in Memphis, so my posting may be a little spotty. But I’ll have lots to report about this conference and acoustic music in general when I return. In the meantime, get plenty of rest before a performance and remember this. The day of a performance take it easy. You will be working when everyone else is out to relax and have a good time. The best way to be prepared is to be rested. That way everything that you can bring to the performance is available to you.