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Blair Borax
11.3k Plays3 years ago
After releasing her first EP ‘everything is light work’ in May 2021, Blair Borax released her debut full-length album “Keep Walking” in June 2022.
“Keep Walking” will take you on an emotional journey of moving forward ~with your head held high~ beyond trauma and heartache.
It is the perfect companion to help you keep walking too.
New single 'Delight Me' out on December 9, 2022.
Check out her website for calendar update and merch blairborax.com
Follow Blair on Instagram and TikTok @blairartthou
Her music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, and wherever you listen to music.
https://www.blairborax.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Something Rather Than Nothing'
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host, Ken Delante. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
Reflections on a Misleading Relationship
00:00:23
Speaker
I think I loved who I thought that you were
00:00:29
Speaker
Now I must think it over You never were who I thought you were Never my four leaf clover I painted my dreams on the canvas you seemed Under fresh painted figures Layers on layers that I could not believe
00:01:01
Speaker
pretty picture you were never my pretty picture four leaf clover ever after happily star cross lover endless summer flash and blind fantasy we stared up at the sky and we didn't know why but i thought
00:01:34
Speaker
But I look in your eye just the truth you deny Never my star-crossed lover On that hot day in July on the beach you took my Heart in your hand and you held her But when leaves turn to gold all your lies they got
Themes of Broken Dreams and Realizations
00:02:02
Speaker
You were never my pretty picture, Four leaf clover, Ever after happily, Star-crossed lover, Endless summer, Flash and blind fantasy, You were never mine, never mine,
00:02:30
Speaker
You were never mine, never mine You were never mine, never mine Never mine, never mine, never mine You were never my pretty picture Far leaf clover, ever
00:02:55
Speaker
Star-crossed lover, endless summer Flash and blind fantasy
00:03:26
Speaker
Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind. Never mind
Transition to Music Career - 'Keep Walking' Release
00:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, it's always great to talk about art, philosophy, and creating things, and the music you create. I was telling you before we went on here, I just really love this album, Keep Walking came out this year, and a beautiful photo in cover art and beautiful music. Tell us a little about Keep Walking.
00:04:23
Speaker
this album.
00:04:25
Speaker
Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it. I'm glad you've enjoyed it. I released Keep Walking on June 10th, 2022. It was also the day that I quit my job as a teacher. Well, really I gave them notice way in advance, but it was my last day of work as a teacher and I decided to release the album on the same day, which was maybe a bit crazy thing to do. But that's kind of how I roll.
00:04:54
Speaker
Yeah, so I was kind of leaping into my music career as far as like that timing goes. And the album, it's nine songs. It's my debut full length album. And I recorded it, produced it with James via Groundswell Studios. So it was very much a collaboration in that way. It's obviously you can hear it's not just me and my guitar. He helped a lot with the arrangements and
00:05:23
Speaker
played most of the instruments. He's a very multi-talented person.
Songwriting as Healing from Breakup
00:05:29
Speaker
And I'm super grateful to get to work with him. And the content of the album is, a lot of it is kind of angry breakup songs, you might say. I was processing a breakup, a bad breakup from a worse relationship, I would say. It was a short and not sweet relationship, but it was
00:05:53
Speaker
pretty traumatic, I would say. And so the way that I process my emotions and the difficult experiences that I might go through is through songwriting. And so I was really grateful for that process because I got to take this really painful experience that I had had and turn it into an album in less than a year. And so it felt like
00:06:22
Speaker
really empowering way to move forward, to keep walking, keep my head held high through those difficult experiences and keep moving forward and healing. Yeah. Yeah. And storytelling and song, you know, obviously be a, you know, art and helping, you know, bring that along. That's great to hear.
00:06:46
Speaker
I, I, uh, during my day job, I work with the teachers and rep teachers and stuff. And I know how big of a deal teaching is, uh, for teachers. So I guess maybe I'm a little sensitive to the jump that, that you made right there.
Identity Shift from Teacher to Musician
00:07:01
Speaker
Can, can, you know, tell us a little bit about, you know, as far as identity and, you know, I mean, you're always a teacher in a certain sense, but like that, that big step that day going from one to the other. Yeah.
00:07:14
Speaker
Um, definitely big leap, big leap of faith. Um, I was in the world of education for eight years before I quit. And I kind of, I wasn't really planning to be in that world, but it kind of fell into my lap. And for most of those eight years, for all of them really, I was.
00:07:34
Speaker
in alternative education settings and teaching gardening, cooking, nutrition, health and wellness, mindfulness and yoga. I was teaching in food banks and Head Start preschools at high school farm education programs and community colleges. The last three years I was at a K through eight school
00:08:03
Speaker
And I got to teach, I was the health and wellness specialist there. So I taught all those subjects. I got to teach middle school health and sex ed, which was a really gratifying thing to do. And yeah, so it taught me a lot through those eight years. I grew up a lot through that experience, through all those different experiences, but it wasn't really feeding my soul anymore.
00:08:33
Speaker
And unfortunately, education is not the most valued field financially and otherwise, but I just made the decision, like, this is not gonna work for me long-term, so I better make a different choice. Yeah, yeah. And it's such a leap, like you said, and it's great to connect with you
00:09:00
Speaker
here and talk about art and talk about you know creating in the sense of you know how it's helped you as well and probably helps others in listening to your music but uh conceptual conceptual podcast of course and you know some some some philosophy here on that um you know talking about art and i talk about art uh you know on this show and thinking about some of the bigger
00:09:25
Speaker
the bigger ideas and concepts. So you take a leap into the performing artist, music artist itself.
Philosophical Exploration: Meaning of Art
00:09:33
Speaker
But about art itself, the big question is, what is art for you? What do you think art is and what value does it have for you?
00:09:48
Speaker
That's such a good question. That's a big question. I actually, I went to college for visual arts and environmental studies, but I was doing all sorts of visual arts before I kind of switched my focus to music, which was never really in the game plan. It just, again, kind of fell into my lap via a cheap old free guitar. And
00:10:18
Speaker
I think that humans are innately artists. It took me a long time to be able to call myself an artist. Like when I was studying art in college, I struggled with that a lot. And I know that's another question you like to ask. I jumped the gun. But it took me a long time to use that term to describe myself because I kind of felt like
00:10:49
Speaker
I don't know, I have to get to a certain place, I have to be good enough, some unnamed place. I don't know what that place is. I don't think it actually exists because I think humans are innately creative and part of the creative process is for me making meaning out of the human experience and making meaning out of this life, this one life that we all live. I think that's the philosophy part for me that
00:11:18
Speaker
It's human to try to make meaning out of things and art for me helps me do that. But I was thinking about this question earlier and
00:11:32
Speaker
I decided to Google, what's actually the dictionary definition? What is the right answer? What is the right answer in the Oxford dictionary? And they said, art is the expression or application of human creative skill. And then they went on to say painting, drawing, that kind of thing. But I think we should broaden our definition of what art is because
00:12:00
Speaker
Creativity can be so many different forms. Like I think of my dad who's an engineer, which is not my art at all. Like that's like way over my head and it doesn't connect with me at all. But maybe that's his art of being able to be a creator in that way and inventor in a more like technical sense.
00:12:21
Speaker
But there's this quote that I've thought about for many years about what is art. It's really not what is art, but I think what is good art. And it says, maybe you've heard this one before, but it says, art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. And I really like that. I like that. It's by Cesar A. Cruz.
00:12:46
Speaker
And I think that that's a cool way to look at it because for my art personally, it's all like in the feelings for me, it's all comes from the feelings. And I hope to make people or help people feel things. And I write a lot of songs about my experience of being a woman. And I think some of those songs can make
00:13:09
Speaker
hopefully will comfort other women who've had similar experiences and might make like, might make men a little bit uncomfortable, uncomfortable, questioning where like what their role in that dynamic is.
00:13:25
Speaker
No, and I liked it on that definition because the reason why I heard you say is because I think about art and maybe two very different ways that are captured there. One is like the processing or maybe the connecting to the song or for me like the metal song to get out like you know all those frustrations in that piece but there's also the piece of
00:13:54
Speaker
piece of the art where folks are comfortable, they are settled, they are prejudice, they are all these type of things. And, you know, it's within their too, that your comfort, which is based on some illegitimacy, maybe that you have to look at things a different way and have that disruptive piece of it, which we don't think is maybe like healthy, you know, like in the sense of being disrupted, but
00:14:22
Speaker
disrupting folks, making folks think. When you talk about, or even asking that question, one of the things I like to do is to get into the thinking of what the experience is and to try to articulate it with words, which is difficult with big questions like this. I wanted to ask you, Blair,
00:14:47
Speaker
when you're talking about you know taking on the roles like along the lines of identity right so we say you're a teacher and then you're an artist right and i think we know that there's a lot of pieces you know that are that are within both but when you call when you started to call yourself an artist or you call yourself a musician i know i've gone through the process of when i saw myself as an artist over the last few years of
00:15:14
Speaker
It felt so weird. And then you say, and then kind of, you are. What is that magic place that you arrived to and you are? That big leap was, did that feel like a big leap of identity for you and how you present yourself with that move? I think so, yeah. I think it really wasn't until maybe a couple of years ago that I really felt like I could own that identity. Even when I first started,
00:15:44
Speaker
performing live in public, which for the first time I did that was an open mic in 2018. So it's been four years since that first open mic. And even when I did that, I was like shitting my pants scared. I don't know if I'm supposed to curse on this thing. I forgot to ask. Yeah, you're supposed to, particularly if it captures the experience in how you felt. Shitting my pants scared.
00:16:12
Speaker
And with a lot of self-doubt about like, who am I to get on that stage and to sing into a mic? Like, what do I have to say that's valuable to other people? And it's, I mean, it's a constant, I definitely now say confidently that I can own that identity of an artist, but it is a constant dance for me still of stepping into that power of
00:16:42
Speaker
Like I am good enough and worthy. I have something to share. Like what I'm doing is valuable. I'm always like reminding myself of that because it's a hard thing to do. It's not an easy thing to do. Yeah. It's a, it feels, it feels like a big, a big risk, right? Um,
00:17:05
Speaker
The role of art, which is a question asked that's related to this, I think we might have popped into this as far as maybe helping or disrupting. About the role of art, does the role of art feel different or do you think it's actually different, say,
00:17:27
Speaker
now than it's been historically, I think just maybe modern events and people react into such as the pandemic, environmental crisis, things of this nature. Do you think art's different or might have a different role now or is it kind of, this is our, this is the environment that humans create things generally. Do you think anything's different nowadays?
00:17:52
Speaker
That's a good question. I mean, I think that the world is constantly changing and art is a reflection of the world and what's going on. So I think like the art that gets created is always changing. And I think going back to that idea of like that art
00:18:11
Speaker
disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed. I think who those people are depends on who the artist is and what they're addressing in their art. So for me, that might be comfort women or people who've had similar experiences to me as someone in a female body in the world and disturb people who don't have that experience.
00:18:42
Speaker
if it's somebody else talking about a different issue, a different social issue or a different personal experience, the people who fit in those categories of comforted or disturbed will be different. And yeah, so I think it depends on the person in place and definitely the time too, but
00:19:07
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good question.
Grandmother's Artistic Influence
00:19:10
Speaker
My grandmother was an artist and she just passed away about a month ago. Actually, she was 11 years old in four months, 101. Imagine living that long, right? Yeah. And she talked about how, and I've been really enjoying talking about her and singing about her on stage
00:19:36
Speaker
lately to kind of honor her memory. She talked about how, so she was born in 1921 and when she got her first job, maybe it was like 1930 something, right? She said the only options for women were to work for the phone company to be a secretary or to be a teacher. Those were the career options or obviously the stay at home mom, uh,
00:20:03
Speaker
That's definitely a job as well. And she didn't want to do any of that. So she, her first job was at a photography studio and she was, she would hand paint color onto black and white photographs. And I just think that that's so amazing to think about that time. And so obviously that's changed because we have color photographs now, but she went on to become an amazing painter and sculptor.
00:20:33
Speaker
And yeah, I think art becomes a reflection of the times that we're in and the experience that we're each personally having in the time and place. Yeah. Not only to, you know, cause of the connection you have the inspiration for you to, you know, to, to do what you would like to do and, and, and kind of to carve that out. I, um, my, uh, I have a best friend and his, um, grandma, uh, older Canadian French.
00:21:02
Speaker
lady. We use the name Meme, right? But she's my oldest podcast listener. She's 101. So yeah, somebody has been very important to me and just amazing when you think of, you know, and she's still got a, you know, a lot of a lot of pep and vigor and asked me how I'm doing and stuff. So
00:21:26
Speaker
Shout out to Mamay out there. She's out in Rhode Island. Blair, I'm super excited because you said you would play a song tender lately. And I was wondering if you could do that. I feel pretty special. We should all feel pretty special.
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I got my guitar here. And I wanted to play this brand new song because it kind of goes on with the theme that we're talking about, that art changes. I think even as a musician, my art changes from album to album, from song to song, because it is a reflection
00:22:19
Speaker
of what's going on in my life. So whereas the last album, Keep Walking, was a lot about moving forward from this painful and very specific experience. A lot of the songs I've been writing lately, and I've written a bunch over the course of this fall, are a bit more
00:22:40
Speaker
about thinking about love and thinking about mortality and death and with my grandma's passing up and thinking a lot about that and with jumping to move forward. Yeah, so this sounds called Tender Lately. Let's see if I can get a little guitar action in this shot here. Can you hear it okay? Yeah, it's wonderful. So this is called Tender Lately and I think I might name the
00:23:09
Speaker
Name the album after it too. We'll see. It's the working title for now. I've been feeling tender lately. Thinking
00:23:35
Speaker
You don't want to be my baby I've been nearly going crazy Wondering why you won't tell it to me plainly
00:24:02
Speaker
Yes, love takes a certain kind of bravery And you've got armor on, but you can't break free And I know, honey, there is no guarantee
00:24:32
Speaker
I've got courage to find out what could be. I don't want to be someone else's fantasy. All I want to do is darling, dance with you.
00:25:04
Speaker
This song's about being ghosted. You've been out of touch, oh eyes of lately. Going about your days like you can't always know me.
00:25:35
Speaker
I can agree. Holding your breath for a death untidy distance makes a lonely heart grow hungry.
00:25:58
Speaker
And I guess you'll just keep living in my dreams. I'll dance to once again, I'm feeling lovely. And you'll miss the chance to love me, love me, love me.
00:26:27
Speaker
I don't want to be someone else's fantasy All I want to do is darling dance with you I don't want to be someone else's fantasy All I want to do
00:26:57
Speaker
It's funny that's with you. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. You. Ooh.
00:27:42
Speaker
Wonderful. Thank you so much, Blair. That's incredible. Thank you for playing. Tell us about the new stuff coming out and folks, a lot of listeners here in the Pacific Northwest.
00:28:04
Speaker
and Blairs based in Oregon. And I know you got a show. This podcast will come out before your show and right around the time of some new music. What's going on in December for you? Yeah, I am going to be releasing a new single called Delight Me in December. So after I wrote this album, Keep Walking, there was lots of breakup songs I wanted to think about.
00:28:34
Speaker
what I want moving forward, how I want to find love. And I wrote this song, we'll play it at the end, right? Yeah. The song, yeah, cool. I wrote the song and then I realized that I was still kind of talking about what I don't want, but it's a bit of a process of elimination. But I am releasing that song to light me on December 9th, and I'll be playing a couple shows
00:29:04
Speaker
in the Pacific Northwest with Hallie Gregg, who is an artist based in Seattle. We're going to be playing at the Ballard Homestead in Seattle.
00:29:13
Speaker
on December 2nd, and then we'll be playing at Mississippi Studios on December 12th with the band. And I don't always, I play lots of solo shows, but I get the band together every couple months. So it's a special occasion for sure. And then I played that song. I'm going to be starting this month also, or December, to start recording and producing this next album, again, with James V.S. I'm excited to be able to continue to work with him and
00:29:42
Speaker
Um, get new music out in the world. Again, it's nice to have a new project to focus on and, um, soon to share with the world too. Yeah. We really look forward to that. And, um, Mississippi studios, uh, just a great, great venue really for people who love sound and, uh, the acoustics. They're really incredible. I see a lot of great shows there. Yeah. It really feels like a treat and honor to
00:30:12
Speaker
to play on that stage where so many artists that I admire have played before and continue to play. Yeah.
Claiming the Artist Identity - Overcoming Doubt
00:30:20
Speaker
Yeah. I remember seeing, I don't know, Emma Ruth Rundle there. And I know Peter Buck has been over there from REM as far as some of the recording and things like that, too. So it's a nice stage, Blair. I was playing there as soon as Vanessa Carlton. OK. Yeah. OK, damn. Yeah.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, incredible. No, that's great. That's absolutely great to hear. I want to ask you over towards another big conceptual question, title of the podcast, the question that's met with giggles and frustration at times. But the question formally posed is, why is there something rather than nothing, Blair Borax?
00:31:14
Speaker
It's a, it's a great question. I hate it. Everybody hates it. That's why philosophers, that's why they poison Socrates. Philosophers can be annoying. They can ask annoying questions. Yeah. So the other kind of teaching role that I have been in is that I was a yoga teacher. So I, um, yeah, so I was, I did like a 200 hour training and a, and a 300 hour training. And then I taught for three years.
00:31:44
Speaker
before I stopped doing that, like in the middle of the pandemic. So I used to spend a lot of time with kind of esoteric questions like that. And as I was thinking about this question, I, yes, frustration, frustration giggles, mostly frustration, actually. But I think I,
00:32:10
Speaker
in my role as a yoga teacher and when I was deep in the yoga practice and deep in yoga communities, sometimes I would get frustrated by some of those big esoteric questions, especially once I started to see like some hypocrisy happening between what people think or talk about and what people do. And I'm much more concerned with what people do and how people act in the world.
00:32:38
Speaker
We have one life, we have a choice every day about what we do, how we act, how we treat other people, what kind of habits we form, how we respond to conflict. And I think that that is a lot more important than
00:32:59
Speaker
like esoteric philosophy conversation. But as I was thinking that through, I think in a way that is also answering your question because I think there is something rather than nothing because it's exactly that we have one life, whether it's five years or 101 years,
00:33:23
Speaker
hopefully not five years. Um, even 101 years as I was reflecting and as my family was reflecting on my grandmother's life feels like a blink, a blink of the eye. Like it feels like not enough. And we get to choose what we do with that life that we have. And that's certainly something. Yeah. No, I, I, I,
00:33:48
Speaker
I really appreciate that. I think on philosophy, I've been influenced by philosophers that do. One of the famous statements by Karl Marx was, philosophers have only interpreted the world thus far. The point, however, is to change it. I think a lot of times it's
00:34:09
Speaker
I think I guess maybe when it comes to philosophy for me, it's the both right. It's the using of Like the brain power maybe to figure out or try to get at some of those esoteric things But I think what you're talking about if you find out what somebody thinks they find out what they're saying Whether it's in the yoga community or church community or whatever Well, once you've said it, I think we probably share this is like, okay you said it and I
00:34:36
Speaker
What's the doing? Yeah, exactly. There's a quote that when I was first starting on that yoga journey from Iyengar, and I probably don't remember it precisely at this moment, but he talks about how humans are caught between Earth and sky. So part of us is reconciling, trying to create meaning out of the mundane or meaning out of this
00:35:03
Speaker
existence that we have and then also like on the ground where animals and what are we doing with this one life where animals we need to like feed ourselves and get all of our needs met and all those things.
00:35:20
Speaker
I'm sorry to interrupt, but when you mentioned those words, I haven't done it in a while, but one of an artistic practice which I found pretty profound and kind of captures some of those elements was Japanese flower arranging ikebana, which is based on how you form the flowers, that there's an element of ground
00:35:43
Speaker
in horizon in the heavens built within like the structures of how you're presenting things you find out on a hike and maybe sticks and beautiful flowers and I always thought it was such a marvelous yeah I mean you don't have to do it that way but the tradition is to
00:36:02
Speaker
bring in those elements so there's a harmony between what you're presenting. And I always thought that was quite beautiful because it was embedded within the practice itself. I think there's some nice beauty within that. I think a lot of hearing music and notes and the layers can have some of those kind of same effects of the different layers that are impacting you.
00:36:30
Speaker
All right, so the something rather than nothing. I really appreciate it. That was a great, you didn't seem too annoyed. That was so wonderful. It's funny because one of the things I want to do on the podcast someday is only capture what would be that space between me asking the questions and the sounds that the guests make being like, okay, it's the title of podcast. You said you're going to ask me. It's still annoying.
00:36:55
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, totally. But I appreciate what you said about about change. And it reminded me of like, maybe my that maybe this is my favorite quote, when it comes to like philosophy and thinking about spirituality and it has stayed with me for a long time. It's by Octavia Butler. Oh my gosh. Writer. Yeah, she wrote Parable of the Sower.
00:37:20
Speaker
Herbal of the Talents, which is kind of like a prophetic book in a way. It was like a dystopian futurist novel, one of my favorite books. And in that book, the main character, she says, all that you touch, you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change. Wow. Wow. Yeah. And I love your quote because it reminds me that like all the way you touch, you change every day.
00:37:49
Speaker
no matter what you're doing or not doing, you are changing it when you interact with it or with whom. And all that you change changes you. You're also being changed in the process and that the only lasting truth is change. We are constantly changing. We're constantly dealing with change for better or worse. And that's, I think, a really cool definition of what God is.
00:38:19
Speaker
change change change you can't step in the same river or you can't step in the same number of twice you can't step in the same river once you can't it's uh it's constant flux you can't step in in in in those same same rivers uh you octavia octavia butler fan i adore octavia yeah um uh listeners i hope you do know about octavia butler but uh african-american uh science fiction writer writer of
00:38:50
Speaker
profound talent. And I think she was, I can reasonably say maybe rediscovered amidst the pandemic or within the pandemic about some of her sci-fi speculation and incredible themes of identity, identity in being. So yes, love me some Octavia Butler.
00:39:20
Speaker
One of the things I wanted to ask you about Blair is, I cover a lot of Portland music, it just ends up where a lot of listeners in Oregon and in Portland.
Community and Growth in Portland Music Scene
00:39:37
Speaker
What has it been for you to kind of, you know, connect with other artists? I know you've played for Larissa Birdseye, who's been on the podcast, wonderful guest, that Brewster plays with her, has been on the podcast. What's your experience been like, kind of, you know, it was new to you as starting out as far as, you know, connecting to the, say, the music scene in Portland? Yeah, that's such a good question, because the Portland music scene is
00:40:07
Speaker
has been such a sweet, welcoming, nurturing environment for me to grow as an artist and as a person. I started, well, back in 2018, my friend Austin Farrell, who's a musician in town as well, he asked me if I would open for him. And at the time I thought that was like an insane idea, but I still said yes. And then I was like, well, I had never performed in public before.
00:40:36
Speaker
I had never used a microphone or plugged into my guitar. And so he took me to an open mic, the Eastburn open mic with Callie and Brian of Shady Pines Radio now. They run Shady Pines Radio. And they started just by hosting open mics. And that was my first time performing.
00:41:01
Speaker
Cali actually took some photos that day, so I have pictures of professional photos of the first time I ever performed in public, which is a pretty cool moment in time to capture. And then from there, I continued to go to different open mics at the Waypost, and eventually I found this open mic at Mississippi Pizza called the Atlantis Underground every Tuesday night through the fall and winter seasons.
00:41:30
Speaker
through the sad season so we can create some community and warmth during the gray rainy months. Christopher Worth and Jacob Westfall run that open mic and I started going there right before the pandemic and
00:41:54
Speaker
I again went there so nervous because there's a lot of really talented people that play there and eventually those really talented people all became my friends and my community and I've grown so much through those relationships and through the practice of getting on stage and it really feels like a supportive place
00:42:21
Speaker
in the singer songwriter community that people want to lift each other up and not tear each other down or compete with each other. Supportive, supportive of our community. Yeah. Yeah. Really grateful for that for sure. I don't think I got the guitar and I lived in LA where I lived in another place. I may not have found the confidence to get up on stage and
00:42:52
Speaker
and keep going. Yeah, but once you did it, then you did it and then everything's behind you. Right. So that is addicting. Yeah. Yeah. Performance, performance. What about one other question before I'm going to ask you generally to make sure folks can find out where all your videos, photos and where all the music is. But I just wanted to ask just right before that, what about
00:43:21
Speaker
What about you doing yoga? Is there any connection between that towards creating art? I know for folks, even physically, some of the physical stuff as far as breathing. And I've read a lot about a lot of singers, and they'll talk about yoga mostly, and then a little bit more than that. What was your experience with how yoga came in and its relation to you doing art?
00:43:50
Speaker
Yeah, well, if you listen to my first EP, I released a five-song EP in May 2021, and that one's called Everything is Light Work. I started working on it right before the pandemic, and we had to kind of pause everything during that time, so it came out a bit later. But if you listen to that EP, you'll hear a lot more yoga themes to it. And so I think
00:44:18
Speaker
At the beginning, it definitely was very distinctly connected. My yoga practice and songwriting and performing, definitely on the physical level. Learning how to breathe properly and learning about the diaphragm has helped me become a better, stronger,
00:44:40
Speaker
singing is a very physical practice and just trying to be mindful of like, where is the sound coming from in my body? Where do I want it to come from? And I think the yoga practice in general helped me to just connect with myself and understand myself and be able to express myself. And I think it did help open that kind of that door
00:45:09
Speaker
to songwriting and singing? Yeah, I'm glad to hear that. I've done yoga myself and it's really helped. The biggest thing for me is I've noticed that it's helped me control the pace of my breathing and breathing through my nose where the actual breathing practice I was engaged in was creating the anxiety of fast breathing. So it was the chicken or the egg type of thing.
00:45:38
Speaker
my breathing off because I'm anxious or is the breathing, is I'm anxious that that creates the breathing. And I know yoga has been a big help for me with that and breathing techniques.
Where to Follow the Artist's Journey
00:45:50
Speaker
All right, Blair, where does everybody go to find, you know, best find your music? I know your band camp and like your visuals on Instagram. I know you're very interested in display, a lot of beautiful photography of which some of your, you're the subject
00:46:07
Speaker
So tell people like what the where the where to find find you Yeah, if you Google my name Blair borax, you'll find me in all sorts of places Find me you can find my music on Spotify Apple music Bandcamp wherever you listen title wherever you listen to your music You can follow me on
00:46:34
Speaker
Instagram or more recently TikTok. I'm trying to get on the TikTok thing. Both of those handles are Blair Art Thou. And that's why I keep updated about upcoming shows and music releases and just kind of more personally what's happening in my life. It's where I keep in contact with friends and fans. And I do enjoy the sharing on Instagram.
00:47:03
Speaker
And yeah, you can also find my upcoming calendar on my website, BlairBorax.com, as well as Bands in Town. And I've got an online merch shop. You can purchase CDs and vinyl records and merch if you want to. Yeah. No, that's wonderful. Thanks for letting us know.
00:47:30
Speaker
One thing I wanted to mention you, I like Blair and Thou. One of my favorite philosophy works is by the Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, and he wrote I and Thou. And not a well-known work nowadays. I think it was much more popular during the heyday of mid 20th century existentialism, but a really beautiful book about our relationship as humans between people and things and the idea
00:47:59
Speaker
that what we want to establish is an I and thou relationship as opposed to the relationships that we have. So when I see your Instagram, I think of I and thou and Blair and thou. So just my philosopher brain. I figured I'd convey that to you. I came up with that in high school somehow and it stood the test of time. Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. And yeah, folks,
00:48:25
Speaker
Martin Buber is a great Jewish, seen as an existentialist philosopher last century. And the book I Endow about relationships, how we relate to folks. So Blair Borax, I got to tell you, as you know, I tend to be an enthusiast and love the art and the artists that I bring on.
00:48:52
Speaker
I find your music very impactful. I very much look forward to seeing you live and hear the new music you got coming out. So thanks for spending the time and actually thanks for playing. It's really special kind of thing for the show and for the listeners to hear where you're playing right from you and hear what you're thinking about and your story. So I wanted to thank you deeply, Blair, for coming out to the podcast.
00:49:23
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me, Ken. It's been a pleasure. Yeah, yeah. Oh, and one more thing, Blair. We're going to have a track at the end of this. Did you want to tell folks a little bit about that track? Yeah, this song is called Delight Me. I mentioned it a little bit before. It's about moving forward, trying to find love, kind of
00:49:45
Speaker
a little bit of what I want and a lot of bit of what I don't want, a process of elimination. But it's a joyful, cutesy tune and I hope you enjoy it. It'll be out on all platforms on December 9th, 2022. That's wonderful. Here's for joyful, cutesy tunes. Thank you so much. It's a great pleasure to meet you and to enjoy your art.
00:50:16
Speaker
Thank you, Ken. I appreciate it.
00:50:26
Speaker
I don't want no hot and heavy Give me your slow and steady I don't want no fast and fury You wait till we're right and ready I don't want my head over my heels These feet will touch the ground I feel I don't want to lose myself in you And find my heart so black and blue My heart, my heart so black and blue
00:50:58
Speaker
So move slowly For good in plenty of time We'll see If you'll delight me I don't want no now or never Don't take my time, I'll take mine I don't want to hurry up and hurt Say sorry, say and never
00:51:26
Speaker
become someone you'll get sick of I don't want to go through hell or high water high water Soak in slowly for good and fine tea of time we'll see if you'll delight me
00:52:06
Speaker
storm the sea so wait for me like winter for water if you want to
00:52:57
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.