A New Direction in 2017

Greetings from Sturgeon Bay, WI 

I am writing from my new home in Sturgeon Bay, WI. It's north of Green Bay and honestly not even a consideration to visit as I drove around the country this past year. I did meet a wonderful bass player named Tony Menzer in Madison at a blues jam he hosted. Tony expressed with enthusiasm, "you really need to check out what we're doing in Sturgeon Bay. There is a songwriting festival in June that you should apply to." I explained that I was heading west and since it was only October, hard for me to imagine where I would be in June the following year. Well he kept at me and I did find myself as part of the songwriting group this past June. I found a place where music is thriving and as I looked closer a place to call home.

You can follow my world at my Cathy Grier site or on my social media pages using CathyGrierMusic or Cathy Grier as a search. and read more about what I am doing on my "Now" page inspired by Derek Sivers as a way to provide up to date info on my life.

I will also keep my NYCSubwayGirl.com as a resource for buskers in NYC and beyond and hope people will enjoy discovering some of the amazing people and other performers whom I met and filmed as I performed in the Music Under New York Program. I want to thank everyone in the Music Under New York Program especially Tim Higginbotham who has been such an incredible rock for me throughout the years. 

More about the songwriting festival called SteelBridge Fest . It's a place where songwriters meet 3 times a year to write, record and perform the songs written in a cool retro renovated motel called The Holiday Music Motel. And the brainchild of none other than a prolific songwriter named pAt mAcDonald of Timbuk 3 fame. The experience inspired me and I found a new home to live.  After almost 20 years in New York City and most of my life on the east coast (except for the ’90’s when I lived in France), to find myself in the miid-west will bring different and enriching possibilities.

I'd love to hear from you. You can contact me here.

Aubrey Lynch Arts Educator

Cathy’s Question

I had a thought about one of my favorite questions that Cathy aka NYCsubwayGirl asks regularly. “What inspires you?” I was thinking that what inspires you today may terrify you tomorrow and that is okay. In fact, when the thing that drives you begins to frighten you, this is a sign that you are alive and pushing towards your fullest self. You finally started that business and you know in your heart that the only way for it to grow is to quit your day job. That’s pretty scary. Or, maybe you have lost your job and the hobby you did for fun is now looking more and more like the way to make a living. Not so bad until it comes time to figure out how to make money doing it. How about this one? You’ve been at the same job forever and you know it is time to go. You have no idea where to go or what to do but you know you can’t stay where you are. Deep stuff. So many of us are living these realities including me! What should we do? Look to our inspirations. There is light there.

However, I find that inspirations aren’t so inspiring if we attach outcomes or goals to them. In my current life transition I have faced this a lot. I turned to my inspirations and found fear where I once saw possibility because there was an expectation that these inspirations were supposed to do something for me, propel me forward into the next phase of my life. The most important thing that I could have done was to notice this way of thinking and turn the lens just a bit to refocus.

Remember, while you are looking to inspiration look FOR inspiration and nothing more. Does that make sense? I mean, look for inspiration and expect to find it but just leave it there before you like a sunrise. Inspiration will be everywhere. When I caught myself and did this, I even found inspiration in my fears.

In fact what would it be like to look for inspiration in each other, in each other’s eyes while expecting it to be there? If we all did this right now everything would change. We couldn’t think of hurting someone purposefully if we looked for inspiration in them. What would it be like to look for inspiration in the eyes of our enemies? There’s a scary one. Not an easy thing to do. However, even the thought of doing so starts to open the mind. Okay, I’m pushing the envelope here but we’re going to have to if we hope to get our planet back on track. This need for global awareness starts within each one of us. We can do this.

So what inspires you when you expect to see it? I would guess almost everyone and everything...

Update

on 2011-06-06 21:38 by NYC Subway Girl

check out a part 2 clip from Aubrey and my conversation in LIRR Station

Aubrey Lynch stopped by LIRR station while I was performing. In this clip he describes what he's up to now. Another spontaneous interruption provided us with a touching moment. This month Aubrey is my guest blogger   

Check out Aubrey's What's Your Inspiration? clip. See how he has taken a career of dancing, choreography, and producing to now mentoring and using dance art to heal people.