Ray Charles dream...

I have to type this immediately because I'm afraid the memory will fade.  I just had the awesomest dream come to me during the awesomest afternoon nap.  In the dream, somewhere, supposedly in Philly, I think, I was in a room that seemed like it was inside an old dingy strip mall, swinging all glass door, old carpet on the walls, (come to think of it, it might easily have been this place)...

with what I think was the late Ray Charles, who was showing me this incredible musical performance setup he had going on. 

The first thing I saw is almost unimaginable.  There was what looked like a lap steel inside a see-through box that had a 48 key keyboard on the business side.  The lap steel seemed to play itself as he hammered the piano keys.  To his right was a grand piano with a moveable sliding gap in the cover over the keys (not sure what this was about).  Sitting on top of that piano was an loop station/drum machine that he was using to record what he was playing and loop.  The microphone was even hooked up to said loop station and, I shit you not, he beat boxed at one point along with a drum beat he had just tapped out. 

Underneath the grand piano, the bottom was missing and he showed me how each string was individually miked. Strangely, there was also a collection of coffee mugs dangling from the inside by their handles. 

The whole room was setup like it was some kind of museum, and people could just come in and watch him tinker with his setup. 

This is by far the strangest dream I have ever had. But I think it's a sign that I need to start performing my own music this year.  I've had three people tell me that in as short as a few days.  I have been wanting to get something set up where I could take my keyboards, guitar and laptop out live and do some fantastic looping and mixing live.  In fact, I have everything I need to do so now, except for a few carrying cases.  All I have to do is write all the music that isn't written and figure out how to perform the stuff that is.  So, now I think it's time to take a new look at an old project that's been brewing since 2009.  Okay, go!