The Shark is a Lonely Hunter

As noted previously, I've had difficulty staying motivated to engage in my favorite pursuits, in particular, my music. I had a spell of motivation preparing for the Baton Rouge Soul Food Festival and was pleased with my performance. The show was filmed and one of my songs, Wrong Place, Right Time, is being including in a documentary film that's in production by some of Henry's associates.  Our vacation in Maine came right afterwards. I didn't have a guitar along and it would have been difficult to practice or work on songwriting anyway since Mary Lou, Jenny and I all stayed in one room. When I returned home, it seems I'd lost the momentum and I didn't pick up my guitar for almost two weeks. Last Thursday, I made myself throw together a set to play at the Listening Room and performed it in a perfunctory manner. However, I was determined not to languish and this got me started again. 

Now I'm working on an all original instrumental set for tomorrow (Thursday, August 19). The centerpiece is going to be The Shark is a Lonely Hunter, a favorite composition of mine I've never performed for an audience. To prepare, I've spent maybe 10 hours the past two days studying the second and more recent version I recorded to improve on the rough original (of which I'm inordinately fond) that I only have on mp3. I do have tracks from it to work with but they have major problems. In any case, the lead guitar parts on the rerecorded version are quite spicy and I've meticulously studied and relearned them. The song ends on a very fast 17-note riff that is tricky for me to play cleanly due to my chronic difficulty with staying focused on my fingers and not dissociating into a detached observer. It's doubtful I'll play the song perfectly but it's a great exercise for me to relearn the entire part and work at playing it accurately.  

All of this has reminded me of the thousands of hours I've put into my music since 2005 when I became inspired to take the guitar back up and strive to play as well as I can.  I've got a large archive of audio and video recordings to show for it, intellectual property that will be inherited at some point by my children.  I hope someone appreciates it and they don't throw my work away after I'm gone.