Cover Art for IV (test #1)  − 18 March, 2008

Well, I have just posted a preview of the cover art for my fourth Jamendo album, Points of Departure (for months, it has been codenamed "IV" in my notebooks).  You can find it on my Wordpress blog.

I also tell a little about the nine songs on the album (yes, I stopped there -- there were others, but they didn't match the feel of the others.) 

And, further, in some almost unbelievable news . . . .

I just checked my download totals on Jamendo, for the first time in months.  As of this moment, my three albums (evolution, handmade, and La vie sous la mer) have been downloaded 2,532 times.  And as far listens or streams go: 16,542 times.

Inconceivable.

I am at the point where I can say the numbers, but not really imagine them.  I have not only moved past the total number of people I've ever played a live show for . . . I've dwarfed it to insignificance.

Now, we're moving to Virginia.  I already have misgivings about the move.  Leaving home is never easy, and the simple fact is I've lived in Gainesville longer than I've lived anywhere else (16 years).

There's no way we can afford the stupidly inflated home prices in the D.C. area.

I'm afraid I'm going to be scrunched into a tiny apartment, playing music only through headphones and direct boxes for the rest of my life.  Forget about the conga drums, the trumpet, and the violin.

But on the other hand . . . .

That inner space seems to be the only place I've ever succeeded.  I used to be in several bands in town.  When that world ended, I took an inward turn.  A year later, I found Jamendo.

Now I'm worldwide.  I can honestly say I have fans in France, Poland, and even Thailand (or at any rate I had a flurry of downloads from Thai servers at one point).

I'm not even going to pretend any of this matters.  I guess I know when it's all over, and by over I mean over, I will be just as dead as any other human being who ever came before me.  A house will not matter; it will just be so much junk to dispose of.  A Hammond organ will not matter if there's no one to play it, to sing through the instrument.  A fretless bass will not matter if there's no one who loves its sound and reaches for it first to work out song ideas.

But maybe, if my music lives on somewhere, I will live on, too.