Being a musician has its ups and its downs. There's always something waiting to happen around the next corner and this is certainly one of the most exciting aspects of being a musician. You get to meet new people and see new places while making people happy. Well most of the time anyway, cause as we all know you certainly can't make everyone happy. I was due to play a show in one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland during the summer. It's a small fishing village situated on the west coast of Ireland, resident to some of Irelands finest (top class) traditional musicians. This village is called Dingle. I had a few days down there, where I played in St James church and then recorded a podcast in the Dingle record Shop. The final gig was in McCarty's bar. My dedicated touring team and I hung up some posters around the village and I also had a write up in a local paper. As it was such a nice day out, I decided to do a bit of busking on the day of the gig. With the proceeds from the busking, I bought myself and the team a dinner (between us all and there's 40 on the team - go team R.R) and a Murphy's Ice Cream (only the finest ice cream these shores have to offer). So after the dinner was destroyed and the ice cream mangled we headed to McCarty's bar for the show. We waited outside the venue to be let in so we could set the gear up and perform a sound check. Waiting there for over an hour with no sign of life to be seen in the place, we started to ask some local people passing by "did they know what the story was". No one could tell us what was happening and all this time people were starting to arrive for the show. A lot of them didn't stay around too long because I was unable to tell them exactly what was happening. Next thing the restaurant owner next door past by and said it was unusual that no one was about. So then finally someone showed up to tell us that the show was cancelled and the pub was shut. That was a bit of a surprise and it should have felt like all the hard work I'd put into promoting the show was a complete waste of time. Obviously the team and I were starving at this stage and so we decide to head in next door to The Goat for a bite to eat. The owner then asked me if I'd like to play a few songs and that he'd fix up with the dinners. So I said "sure why not" and I set up the gear and (getting a bit carried away) played for well over 2 hours. It was a small intimate restaurant and everyone there sat and listened intently to the songs and stories making it a very memorable night indeed!! So although the show I was suppose to play earlier in the night was cancelled at the last minute and all the hard work promoting it was wasted, it was for a reason. This is what the universe intended to happen so that I could get a free dinner. Its the only logical conclusion! You see things happen for a reason in life and although at the time you might not see it that way or you might say to yourself "why am I even doing this?" "surely there's an easier way?", it's just the way life is. Life never plans out the way you think it should. Although, it does for those people stuck in a box and afraid to live it. So as the good man himself would say "when one door closed another will open". Now, I should by right give full credit to Alexander Graham Bell for that one but I'm not. That one goes to the great man himself Bob Marley from his song "Coming In From The Cold".
"Life Is What Happens When You Are Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
