James Lee Stanley

Last night I performed at Lisa Nemzo’s (www.lisanemzo.com)  birthday party and peace benefit at Kulak’s Woodshed (www.kulakswoodshed.com) in North Hollywood, California.

She invited a pile of her favorite singer songwriters to come and perform and celebrate her birthday with her.

The room was packed and the audience was made up of music lovers and musicians, composers and dogs.  

Needless to say, the whole audience sang on everyone’s  songs and this was the amazing part.   All the songs were good.   I have rarely found that to be true but last night it was.    Everybody brought out their best for the benefit and the egos were checked at the door.   And there had to be about eighteen performers.  Lisa (www.lisanemzo.com) was the hostess extraordinaire and played some great songs and guitar herself.

There were, of course some personal favorites for me.   Julie Chadwick (www.jmyspace.com/juliechadwick) and Joe Hamilton (www.joehamiltonmusic.com)  played back to back and both of them were extraordinary.    Lisa Turner (www.lisasongs.com) turned in  her usual wonderful song and performance (and she sang back up for nearly everyone,  always nailing it.)    And Marc Platt (www.myspace/marcplattmusic) always writes a good song.

But literally everyone was good.  It was a joy and it reminded me why I go out to these kinds of things.   And why you should as well.   There really is a community of musicians, songwriters, performers and if you support each other, you not only get enriched, you get inspired.

You hear a song, a lick, a lyric twist, something and off you go, into something new to and for you.  

It really is a never ending learning process and the more you hear and the more you expose yourself to the creative flow that comes from these events, the more you grow as a musician, composer and person.

Plus as artists, we need the community of artists in order to thrive.  Nobody does it, makes it, or lives it alone.   There always has to be a support system and last night I was feeling woven right into the fabric of this creative thing that we do.   

Be part of your creative community.  And every community has one.  It’s there.  Find it and nurture it and  yourself.  You won’t be sorry.