Past Blogs:

    It Was A Long Way To Fall (1.3.08)

    Stories...Available on CD Baby (12.6.07)

    What's been going on? (12.21.06)

    Playing at the Canvas (8.26.06)

    Thoughts On The Bistro (8.10.06)

Performing at The Canvas

Frances Ancheta

Art Hanging From the Wall

August 26, 2006

Playing at the Canvas

The thing that always strikes me about the Canvas is that it is always packed.  Whether it's for an art exhibit, a DJ, their open mic, their independent film showings, it's just a place to be seen and see others. 

It's a place to duck into when the fog starts to settle in on the outer / inner sunset.  A place that's warm and inviting with all it's multi-colored art, voices booming in every direction, and cozy corners to have a conversation.  Or maybe it's a place to stand out along with it's large ceilings and cavernous space.  Places start to have a life of their own after a while and people start to take on it's personality.

I had a chance to step into the Canvas with Frances Ancheta and play a Sunday afternoon gig this past week. We both got paid (I even had a little girl stare at me and drop a one in our tip jar).  The manager rebooked us.  You can never complain with a day like that, especially a Sunday afternoon. 

Neal, a Bay Area photographer and musician, stopped by to take some pictures of the scene.  A friend Laura and one of her daughters stopped by for a glass of wine, some music, and a conversation with me after I performed.  A long lost friend also walked by and came in to see what was going on. 

People sometimes ask me how do you get up the courage to perform?  I could never do that.  There have been times in my life when I felt that way, keeping me from venturing out and doing what I enjoy.  Fear of failure, not being well received, whatever might have been going on for me.  What I've found is that those thoughts and rules are of my own doing.  When I go to a place like the Canvas all my former myths about myself are untrue.  People like my music.  People pay me to perform.  I enjoy performing and the joy I get from sharing apart of myself that is pure and true to what I feel and think. 

Music is not a choice for me.  Lot's of people I talked to feel that way about music or maybe something else they enjoy.  The more I try to escape my love of music, whether performing or writing, it strikes back harder and taps me on the shoulder to say, "Here I am, don't escape who you are!"  I've learned not to avoid this part of me but embrace it as who I am and something that is uniquely me.