In response to my “Fire’s Still Burning” post from a couple days ago (link below), a reader sent this quote:

Academics get their content from curators. Curators get their content from creators. Creators get their content from battle.

During today’s rehearsal for the new band’s show on Saturday, that last phrase in particular resonated. This whole being center stage thing’s a new pair of pants, and while I’m doing a decent job of not descending into over-analysis and unwarranted trepidation, I’m nervous in a kind of way I haven’t felt in years.

But as we settle into our groove, the muscle memory takes over, and I’m reminded that this is what I know, that it feels natural not because I am, in fact, a natural, but because of the thousands of shows in which I’ve sounded like an absolute asshole, the few thousand more in which I’ve sounded halfway passible, and the, like, seven I’d say I’ve objectively nailed.

If nothing else, I’ve been to battle, time and time again. And I’m going to enjoy to hell out of Saturday.