My artistic intention for 2022 is to make it the year of Steve McAlphabet and the Wandering Soul Band. We have four solid sets that we’ve been rehearsing in our bassist’s studio for the last several months, and we think we’re ready for an audience. We still have work to do, and the show will certainly morph, evolve, and improve over time, but with our debut coming up on January 15 in St Pete, where no one has ever heard of us before, I see a lot of refinement into our show between then and March 25th, which is currently our scheduled Sarasota debut at Tamiami Tap.
This year, we grow as a band, the performance gets workshopped and refined into a more cohesive show, and we start to build a fan base. We’ll be writing additional poems and dialogue to introduce the various songs in our showcase, and I believe we’ll find a narrative threaded throughout it to find meaning in the labyrinth of our songs. So that’s my big focus for the year.
I have removed all of the 16 songs that I had previously published as Steve McAllister. My intention was to re-release them as Steve McAlphabet and the Wandering Soul Band, starting with the latest single, “Live, Learn, Laugh, and Love”. However, I haven’t yet been able to release it because CD Baby won’t accept the audio file and TuneCore won’t accept the cover art. Since the two most prominent distribution platforms won’t work for what I actually intend, I figured it best to see it as a blessing in disguise. The greater intention I’ve had over the last several years as I started producing digital content, especially my songs, was that I could use them to incorporate a model of ABC Squared Economics, and since very few people were inclined to listen to the songs upon their first release, perhaps they’ll get more play if I release them the way that I actually want to.
So before I release any digital music, I want to use this year to connect with people who have a similar vision of the possible future and those who more greatly understand open source technology and the blockchain to help develop a digital economic system that can help us to balance out the inequality, waste, and shortcomings of our most recent economic paradigm. Plus, it would be nice to have some demand for the songs I put out so I hope to connect with music fans who actually like what we’ve got going on.
Fortunately, I have a great home that brings me joy through its raised garden beds (as well as food) and inspiration through its connection to nature, allowing me to share the bayou with others through pay-what-you-want canoe trips. I also have gigs as a tour guide for Discover Sarasota Tours and a substitute teacher for Sarasota County, and I sometimes earn a few extra bucks by offering pay-what-you-want poetry at local events. Plus, I have a vision to turn some city-owned property on Whitaker Bayou into a park to preserve the space while also making it more accessible to the community.
Suffice it to say that I have a lot going on in my life right now. I said last year that I wanted to take a 4-month motorcycle tour this year in order to get out of Sarasota for the summer again. However, I may put that off in order to focus on the above. I would like to see us touring, and I would love to do it on my motorcycle. My dream for years has been to have a traveling road show that could culminate in a festival in any town I may go to. Anyway, that will be in my 5-year plan post, but suffice it to say that I see myself touring with a caravan and that one of them will have a motorcycle trailer.
For now, this is the intention that I want to solidify for this first new moon of 2022, and I kind of dig the numerology of 1/2/2022 adding up to 9, which is the number of completion. When we played at the open mic at Stottlemyer’s Smokehouse a couple of weeks ago on the Winter Solstice, we had plans to play ” I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, but we had to cut it for time. Nevertheless, I think that maybe I didn’t play it because I actually have found what I’m looking for.
