For some reason, I usually feel as if questions like “what’s the best compliment you’ve ever received” focus a little too much on vanity. Naturally, when I read today’s prompt, I shied away and was trying to figure out how I was going to redirect it into a completely unrelated discussion.
And then it hit me: I’ve actually got an interesting anecdote for this one.
It all goes back to one of the first songs I ever wrote. And the first time I played it for people.
I was in my early 20s. A group of friends and I had rented a beach house for some holiday somewhere. It might have been spring break. And it might have been Myrtle Beach. I honestly don’t remember.
I used to bring my guitar around with me everywhere. I was more than happy to sit in a corner and provide background music or lead a group singalong, but back then I only played covers. I had a few songs that I had written, but dared never show them to another person. I don’t remember much from this particular trip, but what does stick out in my mind is sitting around with my friends in some room — everyone was belting out some tunes like Sweet Caroline or Brown Eyed Girl. We were having a lot of fun. At some point, someone asked me to play something that I had written. And for some reason, I agreed. Maybe it was the atmosphere — after all, when you sing with people, you connect and bond on an energetic level. Maybe I had finally mustered the courage. To be honest, though, I think it was just that I had come to the conclusion that everyone’s level of intoxication was so high that no one would remember the next day anyhow.
So I played a song I wrote called Losing Time. Everyone seemed to be impressed. They said things like “wow, that was really good. We had no idea you could sing like that!” That’s not the compliment I’m talking about though. Oh, and don’t bother looking for the song either — I’ve never recorded it.
The next evening, one of these friends approached me and said “hey… could you please play Losing Time again?”
Wow. It’s weird to hear the name of something come out of someone else’s mouth for the first time. Up until that moment, it really felt like it had only existed inside my head. And I guess I had been wrong about everyone’s levels of intoxication… because they had remembered.
So I played it for everyone one more time. Again, they said things like “wow, what a great song.” In fact, they told me that I should try to go play shows or at least start frequenting open mic nights somewhere — that my music was “that good.” Okay, great. Those are nice things to hear of course, but it’s still not the compliment I’m talking about. Sorry to say, I did mentally write off most of those statements and assumed people were just trying to be polite or supportive — that’s an issue I still struggle with today, but I think I’ve at least made some progress.
A few months later, I went out and found an open mic night. I was nervous as hell. There were probably 30 people packed into a tiny room with a modest stage. I waited for an hour or so, watching others perform, until they finally called my name.
I was sweating. My hands were shaking. It’s a miracle that I didn’t forget my own lyrics, but I managed to successfully get through three songs. One of them was Losing Time.
After I got off stage, I walked to the back to find my guitar case and pack up. Some guy approached me. He was holding a notebook.
He said, “I really liked this one line in your song…” He looked down at his notebook and read aloud one of my lyrics that he had written down. “How did the next part go?”
I told him. He wrote that down, too. “That’s beautiful,” he said. “Thanks for sharing your music. I really enjoyed it.” He went on to tell me what he thought I might have written Losing Time about, what it made him feel, and what it made him remember.
I never saw that guy again, but I wish I could send him a gift basket or something.
Now… I’m not sure if that’s actually the best compliment I’ve ever received, but it was a life-changing moment for sure. This totally random stranger had felt moved by something I created. He had nothing to gain by sharing that with me. I had no logical way to dismiss his words. I mean… this dude had actually written things down! In that moment, I had to accept the fact that my music could have some sort of an impact on someone, somewhere. It could elicit a response. That’s a big deal.
If you want to compliment an artist or musician, don’t just say “I liked your thing.” Tell them why you liked their thing… or how it made you feel… or what it made you think about. That kind of encouragement might just be exactly what they need to hear in order to do their next thing. I promise it’ll make a difference.
Good morning and happy Monday, friends!
Lots of fun stuff this past week and cool things coming up soon!
For starters, I posted my Gods of the Internet article. As promised, it’s full of weirdness. We’re right on the verge of Spring Equinox, so I posted a writeup about that as well. This final sabbat post actually completes my journey around the wheel of the year. I’ve officially written about all 8 of our lovely wiccan holidays… and now I’m officially sick of that topic.
I’ve been recording a rocked out version of Earth My Body. There’s a rough demo available on Patreon with a scratch vocal track and some very sloppy guitars. It’s been surprisingly fun to work on and I’m really looking forward to finishing it and sharing it publicly, but it’ll still probably be a couple weeks for me to get in some proper vocal takes.
I went on the Mystery College podcast. I’ll share the link when it’s up and available. We had a fun chat about fluid condensers, runes, and music.
Today I’ll be interviewing Christopher Penczak. I’ll have the “early access” raw interview footage up on Patreon for supporters as soon as possible, then over the next week or so I’ll be working on turning it into Episode 9.
I have a bunch of really interesting community spotlight articles coming up soon. They’ll be featuring the Summer Magick Fest 2024 headliners as well as the wonderful women who run the entire festival. It still amazes me all of the people I get to connect with and talk about witchy stuff. You’ll see the first installment later this week.
I mentioned leatherwork last week. I started off with a simple card sleeve/wallet thing and found out that even just cutting leather cleanly is actually not as easy as it looks. Between switching, burnishing, and every other thing that’s involved, it’s a pretty complicated craft. Although it’s complex, watching leatherwork videos to learn more about it is actually pretty relaxing. I found lots of tooling videos too, so I decided to try my hand at tooling a dragonfly.
More or less a leather dragonfly
I’m happy to accept this as a first try. I’ve never really been one for drawing or painting — I’ve tried over the years and was never able to really accomplish anything. Leather definitely makes for an interesting canvas. I’ll probably try making some flowers or something next.
In other news, Selene and I had a belated wedding anniversary dinner on Saturday night. We ate some delicious pasta at one of my favorite Italian restaurants. On Sunday, we Dune Part 2. One word: Amazeballs.
Aerik Arkadian 
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