On Broadway

So, today on Broadway (4270 Broadway Oakland, CA 94611), I started with a number of improvised contemporary classical piano solos and then I sang about 5 songs, I have written lyrics and put over the beds of sound from International composers’ works. These songs were from collaborations specific to SoundCloud, but I took them out and did them on the steps of a high school along the avenue. The traffic passed. People listened from the take-out at Bluebottle across the street. A woman with her dog walked close. A young man I asked later if he liked my music said it was “Pretty good.” I am not sure how many listened. My head was down mostly trying to listen to the points I had to put the words into the air. The sound system, a Bose S1 Pro, sounded great taking in the iPhone directed SoundCloud music and my microphone. It was very hard at first. I am shy. I did most of the songs at least twice to practice. Tears came to my eyes at times because it’s an old dream and a knowningness that I have ignored pursuing until now. The words are also sad at times. I wish I was never so frightened of expressing myself in public, on a soapbox, but I lost my confidence when my father died. I went from positive to negative when I saw my relatives wearing sunglasses in our apartment. I cried in the bathtub until the bathtub was dry. These songs come from my soul. That’s all I have that’s worth anything. And my purpose is to be myself.