Just under the wire here!

"Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday."

"You're singing that wrong."

"How? I made it up!"

- Kimmy Schmidt

Every Friday that joke runs through my head. It also lives there rent-free nearly every other day of the week as well.

I have faith that I won't fall off my posting again - without warning anyway. I can imagine a time in the future where I might take a break, but I'm feeling that this reboot will carry me through indefinitely.

In addition to my blogging reboot, my practice also needs a reboot. For me, practicing is a need. Playing guitar is a need. Writing songs is a need. Singing is a need. And there are times where those needs go unmet and I start feeling wonky (that's the technical term for it). I'll then go through my mental checklist and realize, "Oh I haven't practiced." And then I'll go practice and often times it's an instantaneous relief. It keeps me centered.

Music is a grounding force for me. Regardless of the commercial success of Amy Mantis & the Space Between, I need to play and write and sing and repeat. As a friend of mine put it once, music is the lens through which I see the world. And he's right.

Whenever I'm feeling stuck as a player, I go learn a song or a solo and that usually unjams me (no pun intended). I'm working on Jeff Beck's classic take on Charles Mingus's "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat." It's a song I feel I should have learned ages ago (shouts to Julien Kasper). The nuance and variety in Beck's playing on it are unparalleled. And it just feels really good to learn something new to add to my own arsenal. Once I learn it, I'll more than likely make a video of it so you can learn it too, dear reader.

Until next time.

Yours in music,

Amy