As I begin typing, I realize I’m about to compose my 8th blog for michaelaba.com, which is interesting as I’ve always considered 8 to be my “lucky number”. Why “8”, one might ask? Well, let me think about it…
In Junior High School, I was the only one in class - and indeed, perhaps in the world - who bet on Muhammad Ali to knock out George Foreman in the eighth round. My classmates Rich Nadworny and Pete Kelley dutifully paid me the five dollars owed. Why did I pick the eighth round? Well, because I always liked the number 8… so this can’t be the original reason…
Hmm… Well, I remember when I was twelve or so I already developed a tendency to wax nostalgic over the old days and somehow came to the conclusion my favorite year was when I was 8. Let’s see - I guess that puts me in third grade, and I’m not recalling what was so uplifting about Mrs. Leary’s class at Flynn School, but maybe this was the year I started to play a few chords of guitar. It’s possible… after all, I was already a major Beatles fan, fated to be devastated two short years later when they broke up. Of course, it was impossible to understand all the subtleties of their music at such a young age… I remember thinking the words “my love is strong now” from the song “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” meant John’s girlfriend must have been doing a lot of push-ups… Who knows - maybe that woman turned out to be Yoko… John had a well-documented affinity for the number 9, which maybe influenced the decision to choose a number for myself, I don’t know. But for me, 8 just looked better than the other numbers. As if the symbol for infinity suddenly decided to stand up and relax a bit. These early observations might have been a good indication I’d someday pursue a life in the creative arts. Perhaps an introduction to some form of therapy might have been useful as well…
When I started recording songs of my own, I simply numbered each batch, and while I was happy with all those early compositions, I always suspected I’d hit my stride when I got to the eighth one. This kind of self-imposed pressure - and maybe this was subconscious - led to an unwillingness to continue the once-a-year recording schedule I’d maintained right till the 7th effort. Well, this and the fact my four-track Tascam cassette recorder broke down. By the time I was ready to learn Garageband and start recording again, I had accumulated what turned out to be 73 new songs and called the ensuing collection “the never-ending 8”. And you know, my inclination was right, I guess; I did seem to hit my stride.
Those previous 7 batches will surface on the website someday. This is a warning.
And - this is true - I actually did meet a woman on 8/8/88 and we ended up dating for almost two years. Bolstered by an optimistic sense of numerology, I couldn’t help but consider she might be the woman I would someday marry, but no - and it’s funny - she is the only ex-girlfriend I haven’t remained in touch with in any shape or form over the years. Not that I wouldn’t want to… Erin - if you happen to read this - how’ve you been? Wanna buy a book?
So anyway - there’s a bit of pressure to make my 8th blog somewhat unique, but I’ve got to get this off before the short month of February is over, so we’ll have to settle for this.
And I promise - I didn’t check this out till now - but we’re now currently on the eighth paragraph of this blog! Best wishes from michaelaba.com - I’m lucky to have you all here!
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