Always Be Ready
We were five or six weeks into the lockdown when it crossed my mind that the all-clear might arrive suddenly, with little notice. I posted something to that effect, suggesting that we all need to be ready for that. A smart aleck friend replied: “Yeah? How, exactly? What are you doing to get ready?”
Well. I had no answer handy. I hadn’t thought it through, just had this vague, general notion that seemed self-evident. To make it meaningful, I would need an action plan. As I started working on that, taking stock of where I was, what I was doing, it became clear that I was spending entirely too much time drifting. I had thought I was cheerfully accepting inescapable facts of life, when all I was doing was allowing the chaos to carry me along aimlessly. Helluva wake-up call.
So, I got organized. Inventoried my tools, tidied up my song book (too many loose pages flying around!), caught up with some unfinished business on my US Copyright Office and ASCAP artist pages, restored order to my e-filing system. I’d been so busy playing, recording, promoting, there were loose ends everywhere. Daily to-do lists were immeasurably helpful.
I got busy on the exercise bike. It sure is nice, for a change, to walk up the stairs with decent energy, rather than dragging my butt like I’m some old guy somewhere. There’s much more but you get the picture.
All this is to say: When it’s time to go back out and play, there will be a great demand for live music. Fans will be ready to rock. It’s hard to know what the venue situation will look like, but the pipeline of artists aiming to book spaces and stages will be full to overflowing. The fit and the nimble will have an advantage. Be ready.
~ Pat Nason
Baltimore-born, Los Angeles-based, Pat has been writing and performing for decades, while raising a family and working as a professional journalist. Following his retirement as an entertainment reporter and editor for United Press International, Pat released the EP, “Nearly New,” in 2014 and followed it up in 2015 with the full-length CD, “All The Time In The World.” Pat’s new EP, “Here and Now,” produced by JJ Schoch, was released in 2020.
www.patnasonsongs.com
In an attempt to keep us connected as we continue to find our way through these often stressful times, some in our extended community have been sharing their experiences, lessons learned and hope as they’ve dealt with Covid, lockdown, boredom, lack of inspiration, etc. We are all looking for ways to make lemonade out of the many lemons! This column will continue on a weekly basis and postings will be released at 10 AM Pacific every Monday, so watch for them! For guidelines and submission details, please contact Julie Zipperer at juliez@far-west.org or Marlynn Block at marlynn@far-west.org. Submissions will be posted based on approval from the Lockdown Lemonade Committee.
