John Montagna: Blog

A Facebook message I received today:

who do you think you are not blogging on a regular basis? you can't leave me hanging like that. for years i've faithfully stopped by your site in order to get my regular jpm fix and you give me nothing since september 9. i might as well cancel my internet. what the hell else am i gonna do?

Wow.  You have to admire young Thomas' ability to simultaneously convey both righteous indignation AND high praise!  One should also admire his ability to snap me into action, since…well, here we are.

So to his question: why have I not been blogging?  A good question, which forces me to go deep and ultimately question just about everything I've been doing with myself and how I've been doing it.  My site has mainly served to present and promote myself and my various musical endeavors.  (There's been no "master plan" at work here; my only goal has always been to make good music with good people.)   

When I launched johnmontagna.com in 2004, I was touring with the Alan Parsons Live Project for a considerable amount of weeks out of each year, so there was much to blog about: international travel, thousands of screaming fans, etc.  I also kept a full playing schedule at home in those days, with a handful of local artists who were building new careers from the ground up.  And so it went for several years, with much news about playing and plenty of time during the day to share my tales from the trail with you. 

And then came Francesca, my darling little girl who entered the world in May 2008.  When people who have children tell you that it changes your life, those words are woefully inadequate.  

First, your body re-boots itself.  In my case, this re-boot came in the form of crippling lower back and leg pain caused by a pair of herniated discs.  Forced to re-think how I use my body, I spent 3 months in physical therapy.  As I prepare to enter my 40s, I am now stronger and leaner than I was in my 20s.  (Lifting a 35-pound child, a folded stroller and a stuffed diaper bag up the stairs out of the NYC subway?  No problem!)

And then comes the mind.  When a tiny, defenseless creature who knows nothing about anything is dependent on you for everything, you learn quickly to silence the voices in your head that have been critiquing your every move since music school and, in the words of George Carlin, DROP SOME OF YOUR NEEDS.  Your existential dilemmas, your gen-x post-modern whining and navel-gazing about your "purpose" and "direction" and such nonsense grinds to a splendid halt.  "You and you alone" no longer matter much, and I am here to tell you that it is a tremendous relief!

The "suffering of the artist?"  Gone.  Artistic integrity and creative satisfaction are completely my responsibility now, and both will come from wherever and whenever I decide.  When I'm in my black suit, laying down disco grooves on Saturday nites for rich muckety-mucks in swanky ballrooms, I no longer grumble; I proudly take their 1% cash and use it to fuel my 99% lifestyle.  But when I sit in with my buddies in Wonderous Stories for their regular Wednesday nite classic rock grab bag set at KJ Farrell's  on Long Island, I hit the stage like a bomb and move as many molecules as possible.  And thanx to ProTools and SoundCloud, I write and record my own stuff and share it with the world at a comfortable pace and on my own terms! 

And so, this is where I am right now.  On my couch in sweatpants and bare feet, with a glorious NYC October sun streaming thru the living room window, Jill at the office, Francesca at school, coffee in my tummy.  There's laundry, vacuuming and dishes to be done (always), and errands to run before I pick up Francesca at school.  I may also squeeze out another bumper for WTF with Marc Maron.  Tomorrow nite I'll be back at KJ Farrell's with Wonderous. 

Are all of these things worth blogging about?  Up until now, I didn't think so.  Of course I have my thoughts and stories to tell about my daily experiences, but I can usually condense them to 140 characters on Twitter (and directly from my phone, at that), but Thomas' note has pushed me to work harder and try harder.  But this has always been the case with Thomas; when we attended Berklee together back in 19-shut-your-mouth, his monstrous bass chops and super-human musicianship always put the fear of god in me, sending me back to the woodshed to practice my ass off and never, EVER slack off.  So maybe I will share ALL of my stories and let you, the audience, decide if they are blog-worthy. 

Thank you all for your continued support, faith and enthusiasm.  And Thomas: thanx for kicking my ass yet again.  Love you, bro.

Bass Bros!  L to R: Wes Wehmiller (1971-2005), Thomas Fiorini, JM

Be well

JM