Singer/songwriters Kenny Loggins, Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman recently formed the new band Blue Sky Riders, and were profiled by Huff/Post50 in February. They are finishing their first album and will be chronicling their experiences as a band in this blog.
I just got off stage tonight. My voice was shot, allergies were getting the best of me, but it didn't even matter. Kenny, Gary and I played our music in front of 18,000 people, and as I was dancing around the stage, I remembered why I love music so much in the first place: because it makes me feel alive. These are Blue Sky Rider songs, and when I sing them, I feel connected and part of something bigger than myself.
Back in the '70s, an American philosopher named Dr. Howard Thurman once said: "Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Writing and performing music with Kenny and Gary does that for me. This band brings something out in me that I treasure and want to protect more than anything ... my passion.
My pursuit of "passion" has gotten me into trouble a time or two in the past, no doubt. But I believe that when you deny yourself the right to feel and express your passion, you get into MORE trouble. So my life has been an endless search for that ephemeral thing ... I've had it, denied myself of it, had it and lost it again. So the question for me is this: Just how far am I willing to go for it?
Something I've come to learn about myself is that I seem to thrive on putting myself in "uncomfortable situations." How else are you gonna stretch? Don't get me wrong: I enjoy being happy and comfortable as much as the next guy, but the minute -- the very minute -- I stop growing and learning, I might as well be dead Being "comfortably dead" is not an option for me. So I make a change. It may take awhile until I get brave enough to do it, but eventually, I will do it. Ultimately, I'm willing to live in the uncomfortable for a while if I know it will take me to where my passion lives. Because my passion is worth it.
This band is worth it. There is absolutely no guarantee about what's going to come of this Blue Sky Riders adventure, but as long as the music is good, the journey is fun and I feel like I'm growing, why the heck NOT pursue it? It feels like breathing to me. Which leaves me no choice but to do it.
The last few years have been really hard ones for a lot of people. Nothing is as stable as we once thought it was. In terms of my industry, the landscape changed and I had trouble finding my footing. But there are no guarantees in this world; I know that. As a result, I had to put on my big-girl pants and step into the uncomfortable zone once again to try to carve out my own niche.
Two things I've been living by lately: let go, Georgia. And dare to be uncomfortable. It's amazing where that can lead you.
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Follow Georgia Middleman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@gmiddleman
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