Ian pushed this piano down the entire island of Manhattan
By Andy Ogden
Last night I was lucky enough to grab drinks with a good friend of the Al Dente team, Ian Temple. Ian's made this blog before for putting on an incredible show (involving giant puppets with wind chimes for teeth) with his band, Sontag Shogun . He also runs his own company, soundfly.com, a growing library of fun content that teaches users what it takes to chase their musical dreams.
Soundly was founded on the idea that anyone can be a musician. And as it turns out, last night I was not feeling like much of a musician.
"Who am I to be writing a score to a musical? I'm no musician." See, I told you.
But this is where Ian's magic kicked in. Because once I said those three words, he kicked into a frenzy of pointers, tough love, and infectious excitement. "Dude. It's been done before. It's all been done before. Don't try to reinvent music, just find someone you love and straight up copy them. Once you do, you can't help but be original. Besides, you know what hasn't been done before? A singing eggplant. That's what people want see."
At the time I didn't have the heart to tell Ian we'd never written an eggplant into the script and didn't intend to. Still, the point is he's right: what's the point of doubting whether I'm good enough to redefine the American musical? What says that's even what I want to do?
There are so many obstacles we'll have to overcome in getting Al Dente on stage. If I got anything from last night, it's that it's time to stop being one of them.