Understanding Adam Savage

A few months ago I was reading an interview with Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame. It was a pretty insightful and cool read, but there was one thing I just couldn't wrap my head around. He said something along the lines of "seeing old-school carpenters sitting with their morning coffee and thinking about how that would just be the life."

And I could never figure that out.

I've got nothing against carpenters, hell I think most carpenters do some fantastic work. But, the job has zero personal appeal to me. It's not a job I don't think I could do comfortably, or do well. So, I just couldn't figure out what Adam Savage was so entranced by.

At least until today. For you see, today, I found my carpenters.

Whilst chilling at my local Borders, I got to listen to some live tunes. It was this group of old folks with some acoustic instruments were just grooving along to some old-school standards. A little jazz, some bluegrass, a bit of celtic, and tons of folk. And it wasn't anything original or revolutionary, just a bunch of old friends making noise in a public space.

And it was perfect.

There was no concerns over image or musical skill and complexity. There was no pressure to achieve any kind of fame and glory. They wore comfortable clothes and played whatever they felt like playing. If nobody knew the song, they figured it out on the way. If someone, wanted to play another instrument, they'd swap with someone else, and figure out how to play the thing during the song. Whenever someone screwed up a line, or botched a solo, everyone chuckled, shrugged, and rolled with it. There was no "getting the parts right," or making sure everyone was in time or tune or whatever. If you're having a musical problem, you get through the tune and deal with it later.

Even the audience didn't matter to these guys. They'd sit and talk with each other between songs until everyone was ready to play something else. It didn't matter if an audience was watching them or not. They were going to talk guitars and give each other shit until they were good and ready to play another tune. It was fantastic!

You see, I'm someone who runs over every note and beat with a fine tooth comb. Constantly, I worry about how a song is flowing, whether or not things are in tune, if I have enough measures to cover an intro and a set of verses.....blah blah blah. At this point in the game, I couldn't imagine taking my sweet time between performing songs, for fear the audience might get bored.

So to watch a bunch of old-school guys play like that, well it was just too cool. I kept thinking to myself, "How cool would that be? To just play whatever with a bunch of chums, and not care about the end result?" To be past that point where you're so comfortable with your place in life, that you can jam without thinking about how well your doing. To just play music because it's fun.

I know, a lot of you probably figured this out a long time ago. What can I say? I'm a little slow. But, I'm catching up. I can finally understand what Mr. Savage meant, and I can definitely see the appeal. Hell, maybe someday, I'll be able to make a little good-time tuneage like my new buddies at Borders.

Chances are good, I'll still be an obsessive perfectionist, but at least I have something to shoot for.