The First of Many...

Hello World,

My name is Damion. I am an HRIS Analyst by day, but the more interesting part of my life takes place 3-4 nights a week, when I am playing drums for Blue Man Group here in Boston. It's always been a dream of mine to play for Blue Man, and 4 years into it, I still feel extremely lucky to be doing something I love professionally.

Hmm...what to write about...

It really feels like the Blue Man drummer is an alter ego sometimes, and the two worlds clash in more ways than you can imagine. My love for drumming, music, and musical folk has kept me up too many nights to count, and the musician lifestyle really doesn't equate with "dayjob holder," so there have been many daytime struggles to keep from staring at the computer screen in blank wonder for hours at a time. Hey...maybe that's not just something unique to my situation....I look around my office, and everybody seems to be staring...waiting to go home. It's amazing things get done around here.

It's an interesting balance...living in both worlds. The "professional" world is quick to judge me by my love of hitting stretched plastic with sticks (it does sound pretty childish, I have to admit). And, the musicians I know (that don't also have day jobs) are quick to point out that I don't pay enough attention to my art. Trust me...if my art paid as well as my day job right now, I'd be completely devoted. Unfortunately, drumming's not quite doing enough for me yet (nor I for it), and I'm not willing to live on ramen, peanut butter, office bagels, and olives for extended periods of time (I know...olives...weird choice, right?...I actually did this once...but that's cuz it was the only thing left in the fridge). That all may change soon...

While I do enjoy some aspects of the day job and find a bit of intellectual motivation from it, it's really a means to enjoy more music. I guess one could say I am my own sugar daddy. I pay the bills with my day job, and the musician in me can afford to blow all the disposable income on unnecessary gear that takes up full rooms in my house. Because of the two jobs, I don't get a whole lot of time to play everything I have, but one thing is for sure...Gustav, my cat, sure enjoys sleeping on tuxedo bag drum cases. I do hope to play all that gear someday...and often...

I'm pretty new to blogs so you might have to bear with me these first few times. I know what I wrote about today is pretty damn boring to most people. As it seems, it's just a "techie's diary" until I find something to write about that others can actually relate to. Well...now that grad school is ending for me next week, I hope to be doing this kind of thing way more often!

D