Before we all collect our hover boards at the stroke of midnight, I just wanted to say this: My dad has called me Pollyanna for as long as I can remember and that’s probably because, for as long as I can remember, I have had an almost pathological commitment to looking at the bright side. I am pretty sure this quality is, above all else, responsible for my ability to pursue a career as a professional musician; I get really excited by small victories and mostly forget about the myriad of rejections and setbacks I encounter on a daily basis. Over the past week I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s reflections of 2014. At a baseline the kingdom of social media tends to be a pretty Pollyanna-ish environment, in which we are all bound by a code of ethics that bans or at least frowns upon acknowledging -much less complaining- about any less than rosy aspects of daily life. Never does the sun shine upon this land more brightly than the end of the calendar year, as all look back upon how fabulous it has been and how we hope for more of the same in the next. That being said, I must admit I have enjoyed 2014. I got to sing songs in Japan and Europe for the first time. I made incredible new friends, some of whom are now family. I wrote new songs and, for the first time ever, produced and released a new live album in collaboration with an honest-to-goodness record label. Over the summer I spent 10 days in the hospital with my Aunt Johnnye as she transitioned from cancer care to palliative into hospice and the great beyond. Her sister and I worked up a pretty tasty medley of 50’s and 60’s doo-wop songs which we sang to Johnnye in harmony many times over her last few days. I later learned from a hospice worker that they believe our sense of hearing stays with us til the very end. I finished the summer off by performing at several festivals that I have always wanted to play. I let Andrew Pressman drive me all over Northern California and get me re-addicted to coffee along the way. I toured all over the west and east coasts in the fall, with a couple of swings through the midwest along the way. I forgot to book myself gigs for the month of December (I kept telling my manager and booking agent, and myself for that matter, that I was pretty sure something would “come together”) and found myself at home with not much to do for the holiday season. I scrambled some last minute holiday gigs to keep my bank account happy (or at least not too pissed off) and focused on reconnecting with the friends at home that I haven’t seen much of this year. The long and the short of it is that I had some wonderful experiences and learned some good lessons in 2014. I am feeling quite hashtag blessed. None of the experiences I have had would be worth anything at all if not for the people who shared them with me in the first place. Thanks for being one of them. With love and gladness, ~becca
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 02:33:21 +0000
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