If you saw the recent announcement where I had my first show(2/26) since I had surgery on my left shoulder(10/30)...here is how it went.

Setting up was more difficult than usual. I often leave my gear at our rehearsal studio so I haven't had to set it up much in recent weeks. Also, when setting the gear up where we rehearse, I am not in so much of a hurry. Now I had to do it fast and with one hand, mostly.(Sounds vaguely dirty)

But I carried everything in myself and got it all hooked up in time to start the show(bonus). I felt a sensation of butterflies I haven't felt in years, thinking about how I wanted this to sound like a Liquid Nixon show and not like a Liquid Nixon show with a still-recovering Chapman Stick player.

The show went really well. Once the show got started, I got comfortable in a different Stickist role. Rather than attempt to dazzle the guitarists in the audience with my two handed independent magic( ), I focused on more subtle melodic fills in my right hand with supporting root/third harmonies in the left. This was still fairly challenging since I was changing(often on the fly) what I had previously composed as a "set" arrangement for our songs. I also was less interested in the sheer number of notes I played and tried to play less notes with more feeling(something we all know we should do anyway).

It doesn't matter how important a particular performance is to me or the band I am playing with, I can never resist the urge to explore my instrument or the song in a different way (in other words, if we were suddenly called to perform on the Late Show on national TV, I still wouldn't be able to keep from trying to play something new, regardless of the consequences). This causes a certain amount of tension between me and some people I play with, but I can hardly help it. Long story short, I felt even more liberated once getting warmed up since I would have the excuse of pointing to my shoulder and saying, "Still Healing, couldn't be helped".

In the end I think we had one of our better shows--band energy-wise, and audience reception-wise. I cannot in good conscience recommend getting injured to help you play better, but in this case, I think it gave me more sense.

I am still hoping to regain the use of my finger, but am no longer worried that I will be less of a Stickist if I don't get it back. Just don't go calling me nine-fingered-Frodo, k?

Mike

Wow Mike, congratulations, you deserve it! More notes, less notes, more fingers, less fingers.... It's just about the music in the end, right? happy for you man!


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What Rodrigo said; Sounds like it worked out, Mike!

Thanks guys. Can't wait till our album is done so I can share it here. It is getting there, slowly.

Mike

Can't wait to hear that! cheers Mike


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