"If there's music inside of you, you've got to let it out." (From my song, Music Inside of Me)

Hi! I'm Trudy Rushin, and this is my blog, created in June 2009. I am a singer-songwriter-composer who plays guitar. Born and bred in Cape Town, South Africa, I blog about whatever captures my imagination or moves me. Sometimes I even come up with what I like to call 'the Rushin Solution'. Enjoy my random rantings. Comment, if you like,
or find me on Facebook: Trudy Rushin, Singer-Songwriter.

I also do gigs - solo, duo or trio - so if you're looking for vocal-guitar jazz music to add a sprinkle of magic to your event, send me an e-mail to guitartrudy@gmail.com.

To listen to me singing one or two of my original songs, type my name on www.soundcloud.com or www.youtube.com


















Thursday, 10 December 2015

“Am I the same girl?”

One of the very interesting things about this year has been reconnecting with a few people from my past. Regardless of whether it was five or twenty-five years that had passed, I found myself thinking about how much had happened since our last meeting, and, inevitably, how much we’d changed, as a result of our life experiences, as well as the ageing process. 

When these encounters happen, sometimes there’s a relaunching of the friendship. In the initial stages, there tends to be a lot of nostalgia, as each party tries to remind the other about things that happened all those years ago. What I find myself dealing with is the awkwardness of having forgotten something the other person has remembered; I feel like I’ve let the person down, somehow, by not having retained the memory. Fortunately, it also happens the other way around.   

What I like is when the rekindled friendship feels like a comfortable fit, where, despite the relationship having discontinued many years ago, there’s an ease of communication, ready laughter, and a natural flow of who and where we are at this stage of our lives. It’s a really good feeling, and something that I find wonderfully affirming. I love it when the energy of a good connection, made at one stage of life, resurfaces many years later. It confirms my belief that certain bonds are permanent, even magical, defying geography or the passage of time.  

But what is decidedly in a category of its own is a friendship revisited after forty-plus years, when your last connection was in your childhood, and you meet up again as middle-aged people. Very strange. In so many ways, I feel like a different person to whom I was when I was 11, yet when I hear the other person’s views of me, it seems one’s essence remains unchanged. Having said as much, what unnerves me - ever so slightly - is someone expecting me to hold the same views I held decades ago, when surely the whole point of life and growth is shedding what no longer serves us, and taking on what does. I rather like the process of redefinition, both conscious and unconscious.

As I approach the end of yet another year, I can’t help but smile as I contemplate the regaining of lost connections. Some destined to play a bigger role in our lives than others, they definitely give us a fresh perspective on who we are, and of how big a ripple we’ve caused in the pond of life.   

            L-R: Aunty Helena, Mom, Wendy, me & Dad, +- 1970, when I was 9 or 10 yrs old. 


Wednesday, 2 December 2015

Planning my next concert: Sun 27 Dec 2015

Last week, Wayne confirmed a date on which we could do our annual concert (during his visit to Cape Town), and today the venue was confirmed. 

For now. I'll announce just this, with all other details to follow shortly:

I'm doing my 3rd annual concert with guitarist Wayne Bosch, undeniably the musical highlight of my year, on Sunday 27 December, at the District Six Museum, at 4pm. We will have two sets, featuring young musicians in the opening set. Wayne and I will do a longer set, putting everything into our one duo performance for the year. 

Tickets will once again cost R100 each, which includes the delicious refreshments served after the show. 

I invite you to contact me to reserve your tickets as soon as possible, as last year's concert was sold out, and many people were disappointed.

Contact me on my Facebook musician page (Trudy Rushin, Singer-songwriter), or e-mail me at guitartrudy@gmail.com

             Wayne Bosch and I at our 2nd annual concert, on 28 Dec 2014 (District 6 Museum)