i spent a good amount of time in new orleans recently, performing music on the street while also brushing up against voodoo culture. a lot of this was out on the street, particularly in the french quarter. it’s not a place i love to be though. the amount of hustle that’s required just to play a few notes on the violin… it makes me glad to live in a town with laws that prevent the type of ecosystem which flourishes in new orleans. i suppose you could avoid hustling if you weren’t concerned with making money. it’s the part i don’t enjoy. but focusing on financial sustainability can be a large part of sustainability as an independent artist. sometimes too much of a focus.
despite all this, i can’t help but stand in awe at the beauty of new orleans reflected in a simple canal feeding down to the bay; a different kind of ecosystem at play. nature often reflects how simple and beautiful our complicated lives truly are, if we only allow it to be.
-marc