September 2023

First Fridays are a series of live music performances happening in all of your favorite Canal District venues. Several other talented musicians and I will be busking outside around the area to promote the party!

The Rock Harvest Farmer's Market will be set up right outside the entrance to the Worcester Public Market off of Harding Street. I will play with them for three hours, 11-2, and then will move to the Crompton Courtyard for the remaining hour.

stART on the Street is the largest art, music, and performance festival in central MA. I am so thrilled and grateful for the opportunity to join fellow local artists and creatives on this day! I will be busking and also volunteering with the other musical performances on this day.

The Dirty Gerund Poetry Show is a weekly open mic at Ralph's Rock Diner on Grove Street. I am a member of the house band and a regular performer. Any and all are welcome to sign up to express themselves creatively with this loving and supportive community.

Current Creative Endeavors:

A "Step" Forward

I've always been fascinated and inspired by solo musicians. There is such raw creative power behind a performer being able to captivate an audience all on their own. I mainly enjoy the work of singer-songwriters that seem to effortlessly share the deepest and most vulnerable parts of themselves with their audience, and I strive to emulate that energy each time I step on stage.

I've been busking for about 3 months now, and I am always looking for ways to keep my acts fresh and engaging from week to week. I've been cycling different tunes in and out of my repertoire, personalizing the messages on my white board sign, and dressing up in fun, brightly-colored clothes. This time I've found myself a real challenge.

I recently acquired a couple new percussion instruments to enhance my solo performances: a foot shaker and a foot tambourine! These are attached to straps that wrap around my feet in order to sit snugly on top of my foot. I thought to myself that I'd be able to incorporate these into my sets with no problem - I already tap my foot to keep time when I play, how much more difficult could this be? Boy, was I mistaken! I immediately found it difficult to keep time AND play my horn AND shake on each beat. Not to mention, my leg would tire out halfway through a song! This is going to take a lot more work than I initially thought. Challenge accepted.

I already held a huge amount of admiration for all the drummers I've played with over the years of my musical journey, but now I'm beginning to truly understand just how tricky it is keeping time with all four limbs, each playing a different rhythm and still making it sound like one cohesive voice. That's a sport, for sure.

I've been taking advantage of spare minutes within my busy schedule to practice tapping my foot without the shakers - long car rides, for example. I aim to build up my muscle endurance so that I can make it through a full song while keeping a steady rhythm. Once I reach that goal, I will introduce the shakers to my practice regimen - it's like lifting weights, but for my feet! 

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In Reflection:

The Dirty Gerund Poetry Show

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I first attended a Dirty Gerund show sometime in 2019. I was a high school math teacher at the time, and had a free Monday evening, which was rare to come by due to the nature of the profession. I fell in love immediately with the environment, but was sad that I wouldn't be able to return regularly, if at all.

I quit my teaching job in 2021 to address my progressing mental health struggles, and found myself back at Ralph's on another Monday night. The host had changed since my last visit, but the energy was very much the same. I fell in love once again, and offered Nark, the new host, my musical services at the end of the night. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Being a regular member of this community has been crucial to my creative success. Not only do I have the opportunity to play every week to enhance the performances of all the performing poets, I also am privileged to share a warm, loving, and supporting space with so many wonderful folks from all walks of life. I was inspired to write my own poetry, and I pushed myself to share something weekly, no matter how small. Over time, my confidence grew, my creative muscle strengthened, and my community of friends expanded; all of these things continue to grow to this day thanks to this experience.

Perhaps the most influential component of the Dirty Gerund environment is how queer-friendly it is. I realized in my first few visits just how comforting it is to be in a room full of people just like me: colored hair, piercings, and funky outfits galore! The Dirty Gerund truly is a safe space for all, and that's what keeps its regulars coming back every week. If ever I meet and make a new friend, I always will inform them of Mondays at Ralph's so they can experience this wonderful community with me.

To conclude my first ever newsletter (if you've made it this far down, thank you so much!!!), I will include an original poem that I read on the mic at an almost weekly basis to this day. I had written it shortly after I paused my teaching career and was floundering at what to do next, what direction to go, where to even begin; all I knew at the time was that I wanted to be happy, and that seemed like a good starting point. Two years later, I can safely say that I am continuing to achieve that goal every day. Thank you for being here with me - your support truly means the world to me. 

Finding Happiness

By MD

I thought finding happiness would be easier than this;

Turns out it requires a lot of work

And attention,

And maintenance,

I'm not looking for happiness,

I'm improving my living conditions

slowly,

brick

by

god

damn

brick.

I'm building a new home for it;

I'm hoping it stops by for tea,

or dinner

or a sleepover.

Each little adjustment increases those odds slighty,

Every little bit counts.

I won't find happiness;

I'll find myself happy one day.