There's nothing like writing a blog while listening to great music, or at least, that's what I'm about to find out.

Karri and I are frequenting our favorite coffee shop, Milkboy Coffee BRYN MAWR! (nuts to that one in Ardmore!) We're partaking of this great Philadelphia thing called First Friday. First Friday is happens on the first Friday of every month, and it's kinda like sweeps week on television once a month. All these venues put their best feet... best foots?... forward and have some great talent for the evening. So we're listening to these great singer/songwriters from NYC, and I decided to update you all on the blossoming music career of Jim DeSelm.

I've been playing open mic nights on a fairly regular basis lately here at Milkboy, and Karri and I are starting to find a new quasi-community with the regulars. I'm up to about ten songs or so, and I've performed about seven of them, so I'm well on my way to actually having a catalogue of my own. It's intimidating, being a musician who's built his experience on performing other people's music, and getting up in front of a crowd with your own stuff. It makes a lot more sense when you hear artists talk about how personally they feel about what they create. But I'm really happy with the things I've written as a start. And last Wednesday, the host of the open mic approached me about maybe doing my own gig here soon. So I'm feeling pretty encouraged by that, and of course, by Karri, who's starting to learn the words of my songs.

I've got all these questions about where this music thing should sit in my world, and how much thought and energy should be put into it, and whether those questions are premature in the first place. Some days I've got my album cover all laid out and my bandmates selected and we're all moving to some city together to make our big break, and some days I'm ready to just scrap my notebook and stick to playing other people's stuff. On nights like tonight, listening to some guys who are really good and putting all their eggs into the I'm-a-musician basket, I'm wondering if it's even what I would want if I got there. But more than anything, it just feels good to be connected to music, and contribute to the creativity of the world. I think I'm ok with that right now.

So in the meantime between now and my platinum album, I'm just gonna keep doing my thing here in the canvas chairs at the Bryn Mawr. My behind is actually killing me, cause those canvas chairs really do a number on you after a while. Maybe that'll be my next song. Ode the Coccyxical Chairs. Yep. That's a winner.