churchill

Memories are something that we capture and express in many different ways. These ways have changed throughout time and have become easier and easier. Other than using the mind to remember something, thousand years ago people captured memories through paintings, songs, stories, statues, sculptures, writings, and other various ways. The years went on and photography was another development. Video came after that and blew everything out of the water. After some years, and Al Gore’s help, the Internet came along and merged every single type of way for people to express their memories. Sites like YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, Wordpress, and many others were created to help people store and share their videos, pictures, thoughts, works of art, and lives. It is incredibly easy for someone to make a video of what they are doing at that very moment in time anywhere in the world because of our technology. We just take out our smart phones and capture our media, upload it in an app that puts it on every social media site, edit our caption, and then see the responses of people we know in various states and countries. Ways to capture our memories have become ways for us to share our lives as we are living them. This innovation of technology has made it easy for us to capture our memories and share them with people. It is invaluable, when you can sit down at the computer and watch videos that you have made and almost relive your life. I took the time to sit down and watch all of the video blogs (vlogs) that I have made for the band. These cover the past two years of my life, and they bring back so many awesome memories. I have been able to travel to different states, see different sites, be involved in really cool opportunities, and enjoy life while doing something I love.  I plan to continue documenting our bands progress and fun. Five years from now, I can’t wait to watch all of the fun things that have happened in my life and how my life has made a difference. Make your memories count. Mike

 Maybe I'll never make it. Maybe my songs aren't good enough. maybe the record label that hasn't signed us yet will drop us. maybe I'll still be working at starbucks in five years. Maybe I'll never be a successful musician.

  I think about these maybes all the time. Probably too much of the time. My creative, also always thinking wife and i were talking over a glass of wine the other night when she told me it's been a while since I've talked about music. I talk about music business. About what booking agents I wish we had, what TV shows I want my songs to be on, record labels, merchandise, money, money, money. It's not that there is anything wrong with talking and thinking about these things, they are essential to building a 'career' in music. The problem is that so often those essentials over shadow the joy of actually just creating. Of sharing. Of connecting with a stranger through melody. Why did I write my first song? Why did my wife paint her first picture? Why did Beethoven create such beautiful symphony's even though he was deaf? To prove he could rise above his disability? To make money? To impress women? Maybe it was simply because he felt something inside him that he knew he had to share with the people around him in spite of wether or not he could hear it, if it was good enough, or popular. He just felt the music.

  Maybe we create because it is in our nature to create. We write songs, paint pictures, grow gardens and tell stories because we are creators. There is something inside of us that makes us create and share our creations. Sometimes, both fortunately and unfortunately for me, there are strings attached. The thing that i create is also the thing I want to be my career, my occupation. I love creating music enough that all i want to do is create music. But to do this there are a hundred other things that must be done; business.

  The dream is, of course, to find something you love and get paid to do it. Lately though, for me, the 'dream' has been a distraction from the original joy of creation. Creating for the purpose of the dream. Not creating because i enjoy creating or because it is a part of who I am. Creating for money's sake. For success. For acclaim. For the illusive 'record deal'. For any mercenary reward.

  This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately, but maybe after writing out my thoughts i'll find a new joy in creating. Maybe the way I think will change to something more like this:

I love creating songs. This song makes me happy. Maybe there are things in my heart and in my head that I think people would like to hear. Maybe I'll write another song tomorrow after I work at starbucks. Maybe just creating is enough.

-Tim