And Dancing in front of the Mirror

Every once in a while a situation presents itself to me and whacks me on the head. Sometimes it becomes a “hallway catalyst” (Chadism) that leads to many doors.

I belong to a guild of folks, called The Media & Technical GUILD of the Catawba Valley. Founded by Alan Jackson of The Jackson Group & Jackson Group Interactive, we meet on the third Tuesday of each month and exchange ideas and knowledge of each other’s business. Sometimes individuals will share interesting projects they may be working on; other times we’ll have a round table discussion of the latest technological gadget. It’s very informal and extremely varied from meeting to the next.

The last meeting, member Dan Goss asked the group if anyone was familiar with TED. My mind started its usual process of Rolodex ADD Association (another Chadism): Serial killer, actor from Cheers, actor from Caddyshack, Bill’s Excellent partner in Adventure, producer of Van Halen’s first 6 albums, 26th President of the United States, founder of CNN, Cat Scratch Fever musician turned bowman…

I wasn’t even close.

TED is an acronym for a non-profit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading”. It brings together thoughts from three different worlds: Technology, Entertainment and Design. The TED conferences present some of the world’s most innovative and fascinating thinkers… all of whom have 18 minutes to give the talk of their lives.

During the meeting we watched a few of the freely distributed but oh-so-inspiring videos from the TED web site. Afterwards, we discussed the potential of having our own TED conference in Hickory, NC: TEDx Hickory, hosted by the Guild- and with Guild members speaking.

Being a regular performer, I relished the idea of speaking at an event such as that. The challenge of speaking to a group, holding their interest, and inspiring them is exciting. I taught guitar when I was younger. I speak to audiences regularly. I could do it. I wanted to do it.

So I started researching the TED speaker videos to get a better feel of what would be expected at a TED conference. I watched hour upon hour of some of the most intelligent people I’ve ever witnessed. And one truth became more and more evident the more I watched: these folks were much smarter than I. The more inspired I was by these folks, the less inspiring I felt I was.

Whenever I feel that way I usually play my guitar to escape. I put my headphones on, grab my Fender Stratocaster, plugin and turn it up. Sometimes I jam along to songs through iTunes piped through my set-up.

To really get away, I need music that is a continual groove so that I can noodle around without worrying about chord changes to the sonic landscape. iTunes has a nice radio station variety, so last night I chose a techno station and started improvising riff-grooves on top of the beats.

As I was playing, I started connecting with the beat… riff after riff came out. There was no more thinking; eyes closed. I was suddenly transported to a stage, with my band jamming along with me, and a crowd of folks who were nodding their heads to the beat. We were all connected by the electricity of the groove.

I was really just dancing in front of the mirror. Again.

But this time was potent. I suddenly realized I’d been on that stage before, hundreds of times actually. I’ve had thousands of people watching me at once and sharing the live electricity of performance. And after those performances I’ve had folks come up to tell me they play an instrument, or played in a band, or written music. They wanted to share their knowledge and perception of the event. They wanted to connect further.

I suddenly realized I had inspired people many, many times.

So my newly-found understanding means I simply have to dance in front of the mirror- but with a different medium. This time it will be words instead of a guitar.