Goals: Make $1495 in the month of March
Play 2 shows in March
Book 1 show for April
Memorize 2 covers a week
Blog every day
Cut a new Demo to sell in while on the street
Bills: Rent 350, Internet 15, Phone 30, Food 120, Fun 60, CTA 232, Grace 20, Nathan 60, Misc Debt 687
Current Funds: (Not Counted Toward Goal) 53.00 - Allocated 20 for Fun, and bought 33 CTA pass
77.00 from Day 1
68.00 from Day 2 (Allocated 30 for food)
88.00 from Day 3
Need: 1262.00
Below Goal:
Above Goal: 38.00
Day 3 of 26
Goal: Make 65 dollars by any means possible.
Actual: 88
TIME: 5 hours
WHERE: Grand, Chicago
CD's Sold: 2
Temp: High 39, Low 21, feels like 24
Yeah nice weather yeah
Alright. I'm blogging right now because I must. Because this is part of the goal. Because I said I'd do this every day. I'm exhausted. I made 88 dollars today - I wrote an anthem. And amazing song about youth. About passion. About fire. - But I'm going to have to update this all tomorrow, because I'm simply too tired to give it the time and thought it needs tonight. This is a shameful post. I woke up too late to post this morning, and am now too tired to post tonight. I apologize for that. Really.
An incredible update is coming. Some amazing things happened tonight surrounding this anthem I wrote.
Till the morning.
Ryan
EDIT.
So, yesterday. just a steady day. a regular old stead day. Until about 7pm. 2 things happen. Kent shows up.
Kent is a 70 something overweight white male who is thrilled by my music, and wants to talk of nothing but politics. He talked about how Carter was the best thing that ever happened to the country, and how the Bush Administration destroyed everything he worked for. He dropped me a handful of change, and a few dollars - but what was really remarkable was that - after he heard my first song - he came up and asked - "What got you into folk music?" - He called MY music, Folk music - He's the 1st person that's ever said that to my face - and it rocked my world.
It woke me up. woke me up from my money making stupor and I started to feel the platform. Feel the energy - the people on the platform. Feel Saturday night. That's the start -
Then -
10 or 12 college kids show up on the platform. They're decked out in neon's and St. Patricks day gear, were half drunk, and having the time of thier lives. Each of them came over - dropping dollars, smiling, some were dragging thier friends back to me to make them give me a buck - and as this was happening - I had come up with this new harmonica riff. One that struck a chord - one that was different - and that - combined with these kids - This lick of lyrics shot out -
"We are young, and we're free, and we're burning with fire. We're young, and we're free, and we're filled with desire"
I sang it for 10 minutes straight. Through several trains - people dropping dollars left and right. Something about it was connecting with me, connecting with them - and exploding on the platform. I came up with a few sets of lyrics - but nothing solid.
I switched platforms at this point - had to switch out with another guy. So I roll to Chicago - Where I play the song, working lyrics every time the train passes - by the 2nd or third train, I had the lyrics - and I played the whole song.
Now - There were about 13 people on the platform - and as I played it - throwing the whole of my soul at it, no one existed - nothing was there except for me, Ol' Red, and my harmonica. Everything was flowing - full of motion - circling around me - I finished - and the entire platform burst into applause.
That - in all my years of playing on the streets - has never happened. They were all right there - with me - in that circle of rotating melody - lost in the tornado of it. Of playing that song - for the first time in its entirety. 2 people bought CD's immediately - one of them said they'd never given a musician money in their life. And she bought a CD - That song, inspired her so much - that she snapped out of her world - and came into mine. This song - that screams of the beauty of youth - that shouts above the clouds about having all the time in the world - She heard it. They all did - and they burst into applause.
I don't have a great recording of it yet - but - this is the beginning, I walked into my apartment - told my roommates to get in the living room pronto - and played it for them with all the passion I could after 5 hours of playing. Its a start - Its the first song I've ever thought really needed to be filled out. It needs drums, it needs piano, it needs a banjo, it needs a violin. - But this is the start and I'd like to share it with you all.
https://soundcloud.com/ryan-westwood1/we-are-young-the-first
So much energy - so many different people went into this song - all of them on that platform.
An incredible night.
Ryan
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