Lestat’s Open Mic in San Diego – October 1st, 2012

In the past, I was always reluctant to do open mics because I believed that people wouldn’t take me seriously up on the stage. That open mics were for “amatuers” or something… Well, I’ve learned something. That’s not the case. There were some MIND BLOWING TALENTS that night as has always been the case in my visits to Lestat’s. People who were hilarious, inspiring, magical, and so many other awesome words I could use to FAIL at accurately describing their sounds. These performances showed me that the size of a stage doesn’t matter; it’s the way that you carry yourself on that stage and the passion that comes through in your performance that matters.

Hopefully, my performance had a little passion to it. haha This night, I was an alternate (which means that I’d only get to play if someone with a set time dropped out or the sets were going ahead of schedule) because I was drawn late in the drawing to choose a performance time. While I was a bit discouraged by this, I stayed at the venue hoping that I’d get a chance to touch that stage. The performances started at 7pm and I still hadn’t had a chance to play by 8:30. It was getting a bit late for me, so I decided to tell my group that we could go. We hung on a bit longer, until 9pm, and then finally got up and started leaving. As we started our departure, Chad Taggart, the open mic’s host, asked “Is one of you Tommy Maverick?” to which I responded, “Yeah, that’s me.” Chad gave me some good news, “We’re getting you on after the next person, so DON’T LEAVE!” and so we all went back to our seats.

I was so nervous when I went up there… I was actually shaking in my body and in my voice for a bit, but I was handling the nerves way better than I did the first time I performed there. I performed my cover of “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill and an acoustic version of an original song that I wrote for the EDM project that I’m currently working on called “The One”. I’ll upload the video and post it here soon. To be honest, I didn’t like how I performed the cover, but the acoustic version of “The One” was pretty intense. When I came off the stage, I got a lot of props and heard people saying stuff in the audience like “Holy SHIT” and “Captivating performance.” So many high fives on the way out. haha Here’s the video from Monday night :)

Just a few of my friends who came to support me :) Also, the very talented Chris Carpenter!

I’ll be doing an open mic or some kind of recorded performance every week through the end of the year. Most of the shows will be here in San Diego, but there will be a few in Orange County and Los Angeles toward the end. I hope to see some of you there :) If you’re interested, like my page on Facebook and/or follow me on Twitter to get the dates and info!

- Tommy Maverick

Blogging for an Indie Record Label

The search for internships has proven successful. I am now a blogger for a San Diego-Based Indie Record Label, Aural Gravy Records. I’ll be contributing at least one piece to their blog every month, so if you like my blog, check out AND FOLLOW theirs :)

I’m currently looking for new sources of income to supplement and support my creative endeavors… I want to do something bigger and better than anything I’ve done before. In the past, I’ve given in to working in retail environments even though they often leave me feeling underpaid and unhappy. Right now, I’m looking for something that will allow me to make my dreams come true. I’m not too sure what it will be, but I’ll KNOW when I see the opportunity. I’ll be unable to let it pass me by.

I had an idea a couple weeks ago to start doing open mics and playing guitar/singing again. Monday, October 1st was the first day of the epic journey. Basically, every week, I’ll be doing an open mic or recorded performance of some type. I’m going to record every performance in some way and upload them to YouTube. You’ll be able to see them here, so subscribe to my blog :) Here’s the entry about the first open mic: Lestat’s Open Mic in San Diego – October 1st, 2012

-Tommy Maverick

Reasons

In a couple hours, I’m going to be at Lestat’s Coffee House waiting to play some songs at an open mic… I’ve done it before, but I am a bit nervous. Well, maybe it’s not really that I’m nervous, but just that there’s a lot on my mind right now. I know that I can play my songs and I have practiced enough. I can confidently say that I’m going to do really well… but I guess that I just started thinking about WHY I enjoy doing music so much, which is something I haven’t thought about in a while. It used to be that I made music just to express myself. It was the only way I could deal with the depression that I’ve been battling my whole life. Every word I wrote was a missile. Every chord, a bullet aimed at Depression’s head. I was fighting a war, and that’s why I started this… But now that I’m winning the war, there has to be a shift of priorities; a re-allocation of my resources. I’ve got to see music differently. Music is still a weapon, and it has been since LONG before I existed… I just need to start looking at it as something I can use to influence others.

How can I use music to change people’s lives?

There are so many songs that MEAN SOMETHING to me… Songs that have helped me through things, taught me lessons, made me cry, made me dance, made me want to run away… There’s just so much that music can do, and I want to help music do that. If I’m really successful, it’ll look like music helped ME do that, but I’m really devoted to music itself. Music is my religion. It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to know everything that I can about it. I want to make songs that mean as much to people as the songs I love mean to me.

Anyway, I just want to thank my friends and family for making me feel super supported right now. I’ve been going through a lot recently and I’ve been feeling really lost and confused. I hate the way that I feel right now, and in order to make up for all these crazy feelings, I’m going to rock that stage tonight, even if it’s just a few songs. It’s the first show in a long line of shows, and I’m ready to do my best.

I’m done wishing. It’s time to shine.

- Tommy Maverick

Working Within Our Means

I’ve been reading a lot about “living within our means” ever since this whole recession thing came to be a happiness-sucking matter-of-fact reality… “Living within our means” means living in a way that is financially sustainable. If you’re living within your means, you don’t have tons of credit card debt, you’re paying your taxes, and you don’t have a bunch of shit you can’t actually afford. If you’re spending more money than you really make, you’re likely to end up broke and homeless at some point in the near future… and that’s what our country has come to; that point where we need to do something differently and escape the hole that we’ve dug ourselves into. And no, that doesn’t mean digging deep beneath the earth and fracking around with “clean” coal or whatever the energy companies would like you to believe. I’m talking about being financially responsible, which is in a way, related to me because I’m not making enough money at my current job for the amount of stress and effort that I put into it. I am ready for something new.

You might be thinking, “Hey, Tommy… is it really smart for you to be blogging about this? Won’t you get fired or something if they read this?” Well, yeah, probably… but at this point, I really wouldn’t mind. A minimum wage job should not have you feeling as if you’re participating in the Hunger Games. I should feel like a teenager with a summer job. Instead, I feel depressed pretty much all the time and dread the thought of going back to work the next day. The pay doesn’t make up for it and I don’t have the free time that I need to create, write, or spend time with my friends (some of which I have not seen in weeks). Sure, I have an “income” (if you can even call it that), but I’m pretty sure that it’s time to stop being content with my circumstances and do something that fulfills me financially and spiritually. I have no idea what that is, but my horoscope has been giving me ideas. Here are some clips of wisdom for the Aquarius homies that are reading this.

“While Mars stays in your lofty tenth house of honors, awards, and achievement, from August 23 to October 6, you will likely hear of a good offer, one you will want to investigate further. You will have no trouble getting your foot in the door and to be taken seriously.”

“During August, get your ducks in a row, and be ready to tear out of the gate with gusto in September. Mars will leave his enviable career position on October 6, so make this period count. Your next position will be quite a responsible one and represent a huge step up. You may get a hint about what that new position will entail this month or next, but certainly by mid-November.”

“Mars’ involvement will help you select the right people to surround you in a business sense, should that be your goal. You may hire experts to help you get ahead now, such as to choose a new accountant or lawyer, or a new publicist or business manager. All sorts of collaborations are shining now, such as if you work with a writer to help you write a book you have in you, or a designer to help you create a new logo.”

- Susan Miller’s AstrologyZone monthly horoscopes.

So, I’m looking for something that really makes me feel like I’m DOING SOMETHING with my life. School made my soul feel empty, so I left. I will soon leave this job for the same reason, but since I have financial responsibilities this time around, I need to find something that can fulfill my financial needs. My current job only provides FOUR HOUR SHIFTS, so I’m currently working four to six days a week and making the same amount of money that I could make in two or three days at a job that provided eight hour shifts. It’s so silly. If I just worked eight hour shift four days a week, I would be making so much more money, and STILL have the free time that I need to do everything else that I want to. That’s WITHOUT a change in hourly pay. I feel like I’m driving to LA every day to get to this job… and that’s absolutely crazy unless you’re making MAD CASH.

I am making no cash.

Possession of currency sadly seems such a necessity in our capitalist society (Woah, that sounds really cool if you say it out loud!). Money allows us to buy the things we want and need. We work for it, we earn it, and when we run out, we want more. To get MY hands on it, I work retail. Retail is like putting out a fire on a sinking ship. Retail is a never-ending logistical nightmare of failed management techniques and fluctuating productivity. On a daily basis, I sell clothes to people that I can’t even afford and get patted on the back for things that mean nothing to me. “Good job! You sold $3000 worth of clothes today! Your UPT and ADS were BLAH BLAH BLAH”. I have nightmares about being unable to meet my goals and worry about how the weather is going to affect my sales, when I don’t even make commission. Sure, I’ve learned a lot working retail. For example, I’ve become able to talk to anyone without a reason and convince them to do things. I can help men and women shop for clothes that suit them. I can even manage small teams of co-workers toward completing work-related goals… But in the end, I am left emotionally drained and empty.

I want to set up a canvas in the backyard someday and just like paint what my job makes me feel like. Sadly, I’ll have to try and put it in the form of a poem instead:

I’m strapped to a hospital bed.
The nurse and doctor smile and tell me that I’ll be okay.
I look around and notice that I’m hooked up to machines that drain my blood.
I’m slowly growing weaker…
I’m sedated on the “comfort” of my minimum wage pay;
it’s a weak sedative, but it does the trick.
My heart is beating at the speed of a traffic jam
and my soul feels as if it’s ready to leave behind its corporeal counterpart.
My blood pours through funnels and flasks and beakers and
comes out of the end as piles of coagulated gold
in the hands of a faceless entity
shrouded in the smokey blackness of his million dollar suit.

There will be a day when I can paint this, and while I am not a painter by any stretch of the word, I feel that the product will be interesting to say the least.

So, having money is good and all, but since I don’t make any at my job, shouldn’t I AT LEAST feel emotionally paid?? I say yes. haha “Working within our means” means having the money to live the way we want and the “emotional currency” left over to be happy with our lives. Emotional currency is earned by having a well-balanced life that has the right mixture of friends, fun, downtime, and work. If your job is spending all your emotional currency, then you’re at the wrong place. I’m pretty sure I’m at the wrong place, so if you’re feeling the same way, then JOIN ME in breaking up with our unfulfilling jobs. People will tell you “Oh, you can’t find a job in a recession!” and all sorts of other crap that will scare you into staying in one place until you die, but that’s not how you make progress. When you’re stuck or lost somewhere, pick a direction and just GO. I’m looking for a job that’s easy to get to, pays me enough, and gives me a sense of purpose. It should also leave me with time for all the other aspects of a balanced life, involve something that I love, AND be morally sound, as well as allow me to work with a team of talented, dedicated people of integrity. I also want to be able to afford whatever I am “selling”. I’ll get into what I mean by “selling” in another blog post, but yeah, for the most part, that’s what I’m looking for in a job. You’ve got to have high expectations of anything that will become a large part of your life. For most people, a job is a third of their day… I’d say that’s a pretty big chunk. haha

Anyway, the point of this is that we’ve got to work within our means spiritually/emotionally as well as financially. Some of us work jobs that we just can’t afford to work and I think that’s the greatest tragedy of this recession. There are so few jobs and such a need for money that we’re taking whatever we can get. We’re sacrificing our happiness, time, and souls for basically nothing. We are worth much more than what a macroeconomic model decides the value of labor is worth in the state or nation that we call home. Your time and soul are PRICELESS. That is why corporations attempt to price them. Nothing can be turned into a profit until a price has been placed upon it.

- Tommy Maverick

I’ve Got A Life to Live

I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I realized recently that a lot of the time, young people think they have to be famous or complete school “on-time” to make it in life. In reality, we have a lot more time than we think to do all the things that we “HAVE” to do. There’s nothing wrong with getting a Bachelor’s Degree a little bit later than the kid that made the choice to get a busload of AP Credits and go to college right after high-school (or maybe even concurrently) and graduating with a billion-majillion honors. If you’re 25 and just completed college, there’s nothing wrong with that… that’s just when you ended up doing it. A lot of the time, we shit on our accomplishments with regrets and I-Could-Have-Done-Betters. The fact is that you COULD have done better, but it doesn’t matter now. Get over all those de-accomplishing thoughts and just keep moving on.

I’ll be honest, I feel like I’m behind in life all the time, but that’s what I should expect. I mean, I got my driver’s license when I was 19. I drive like a 14-year old. I can’t seem to find an interest in older romantic partners. I still work a crappy minimum-wage job, and I haven’t actually finished A YEAR of college, but so what? I spent the last two years doing what I loved, learning about the craft of being a producer, creating a brand, and WRITING. What I’ve learned is that this life-style that I want to live is not one of guarantees or consistent income… It’s a business of big moves and hits. It’s a business of selling, persuasion, and reputation. I’m selling myself to people all over the internet through these blog posts, my remixes, and everything else that I do, but I’m not selling out. I’m not going to give up on what I love until it kills me because I don’t believe that ANYONE should have to do what they hate for a living.

It doesn’t matter if it takes a while to get where you want or NEED to be. Just get there, and everything will be alright. I’ve learned that a lot of things suck while you’re doing them, but they are so much better and so much more rewarding when you’re looking back at them and seeing how your life has improved from them. I’m going to follow that advice and do what I need to do to get where I want to be…  That means sacrificing sleep and being more efficient with my time. It means saving money (maybe even looking for a new job). It also likely means tossing an internship on top of all of that, too. hahaha But through all of this, I won’t give up on what matters; spreading my message through my music and everything else I do in life :)

Let’s see how this goes.

- Tommy Maverick