so now i am professional
House on Red Corner · 2009-05-24 · Eckenrode
i just recently had a birthday, which means that my facebook page exploded with greetings from my friends. i am very thankful about the connection that this offers to me. plus is sort of feeds my ego.
at the same time, i received a notification through one of my friends who happens to be Australian and a pretty good musician that there was a call for a Didgeridoo player by a concerned parent to be present at her child’s Multiculture Awareness Day. negotiations ensued and it turns out i was to receive scale pay for a session and ta da I am professional.
the gig was in New York City, and i took a bus to get there. i stayed with another friend and was able to see some old friends and walk around the old neighborhoods. the gig was fun and nice, the kids were attentive and very appreciative of the instrument and quite curious about it. one parent was a bad apple but that is to be expected in a population base as large as NYC.
perhaps my favorite thing happened on Friday night as i was entering Union Square around dusk, a gathering of drummers was getting underway. people were swelling into a crowd and they began dancing. this was a drumming inspired by the dancing so that the lead dancer was dictating the rhythm of the drumming. i saw another fellow with a didge, sort of sneaking some sounds but not quite certain of joining in by himself. so i signaled to him that i was also a didgeridoo player and he rushed over to join with me. suddenly we became a very active part of the drum music. our efforts were hard to contribute in the bass ranges due to the particular combination of African and Caribbean drums being employed so we pretty much limited ourselves to the higher vocalization and animal calls. people took our picture and danced in front of us and it was a great blast. four hours later, our jaws were about to fall off and my voice was completely horse but we were saved as the police rolled in a calmly informed us all that there were noise complaints.
everything broke up peacefully and i head off to bed. the rest of the trip was nice and calm but now i am quite happy to be home with my family.