WHAT NOW?
Decisions
Gord Lightfoot had an interesting but not unsurprising take on when it’s appropriate to “call it a day” career-wise.
I’m paraphrasing here, but the gist was, “You don’t retire in this business; you just keep going until no one wants to hear you anymore.”
Another way of putting it is: ”I can’t quit; I’m booked.”
In light of recent events (and, I suppose, the fact that I’m close to seventy), people are asking me if I am retiring.
I agree with Gord on the subject, but I’ll add that the question is irrelevant to begin with.
Bollocks
This isn’t like working for Ford or IBM for forty years and then suddenly sitting on your arse at home collecting a pension. Let’s be clear, in the almost fifty years I’ve been in the music business, I have already spent enough time sitting on my ass between gigs. Hell, I’m even sitting on my ass during the gigs.
And there’s no pension to speak of. Our union has a laughable fund that I’ve been regularly contributing to all these years that will net me 200 dollars a month. That won’t even pay for my beer.
So I’m not stopping. I mean, stopping what? I’ll keep playing as long as the phone keeps ringing.
Besides, I love music. I’m just fortunate enough to make money pursuing my hobby.
Get Real
Aha! Time to finally install that deck, build a model railroad, take ballroom dancing, travel, travel, travel……. Huh?
Over The Rainbow
I will compose a symphony, produce a Broadway musical, record a number-one hit song, and write a New York Times best-selling book describing it all. And if none of it pans out? Who gives a flying duck fart in a rain barrel. Here’s a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “It’s not the destination. It’s the journey”.
Never mind that when Ralph E said this, he was an eccentric old coot who had transcended the reality of putting food on the table or paying rent.
We Thought They’d Never End
For me, the euphoria of performing great music at famous concert halls paled in comparison to the joys of practicing endless scales, memorizing Italian music terms, driving 12 hours between gigs, borrowing money for my bar tab, and healing carpal tunnel syndrome. Those were the days.