That Yankee Drive

Probably before the ink dries on this post, I'm gonna catch hell for what I'm about to say...
I am a New York Yankee fan(atic).
What makes me this way you ask, well, a couple of things:
I of course for many who may not already know, grew up in the Bronx (born and raised...), I lived 2 blocks east of the old Yankee Stadium, close enough to smell the hot dogs mustard and relish (did I mention the sauerkraut...).
Beside music the only other thing that completely kept my attention was the Yankees. As I grew into manhood, one of the things that stood out to me was that Yankee drive.
Now don't get me wrong, I've heard every argument there is about them..."they're best team money can buy, it's easy to be champs when you have a trillion dollar payroll," and so on and so on.
Yeah, I've heard it all, but even you naysayers can't deny that my team will fight you to the death to win.Even when they lose.
Herein lies the subject of my post for today.
As a musician, I have learned to fight tooth and nail for my band. Although I consider myself overweight, when I'm in the company of the Carpenter Ants, something just changes me, or better yet, something transforms me. At times I feel like I'm coming from a Miles Davis bag where I want a performance to be cool and sexy, and groovin', other times I come from a Hang "em High slick standpoint, and still other times I come to blow the room away ( in the same way that Paul Simon says in the song "Late in the Evening...")
I wonder myself now and again what's the purpose of me doing that. I tend to think that if people are nice enough to venture out in all types of weather, with all types of problems (economy as well as personal), the very least I can do is entertain the hell out of  'em.
Every band, just like every team has days when they're not at their best, but I still want you to walk away and say, DAMN, those guys really tried it tonight man, or even better, that band slayed 'em tonight.
Musicians sometimes get frustrated because they look out and only see a sparse amount of people sitting out there in the audience, and I have to admit that it can be very discouraging ( in baseball terms, think of what it must be like for some teams to look in the bleachers and  not see fans...), but I'm sorry you gotta work through it. You have to push forward, change direction if necessary, you've got to bite the bullet and do Mustang Sally for the umpteenth time, but most of all you have to keep playing like your life depended on it.
Then one day you'll be able to look up, and that same audience who wasn't there yesterday, is there today telling you how great you are and hanging on your every note.
People are funny, they like to see us with drive, they like to know that we feel them, it's crazy how that works, but it can be even crazier if you don't try. I know first hand how it can be, but believe whether there are 2 or 2, 000 I'm coming to play.
So when you start watching your favorite team this season, remember, that in your own professions, and in your own performance you gotta grab that Yankee drive.
I'll be rootin' for ya...

Support Live music today tomorrow and always.