Thanksgiving is this Thursday and so this week (starting yesterday) is mostly family stuff. We’re hitting an open mic tonight in Pleasantville, NY – but from then on till Friday night it’s all family and holiday…
Which I guess is fairly typical – I mean I guess the statement “I won’t be playing out till this weekend” isn’t that uncommon. Yesterday Kristen and I joined up with a bunch of her cousins and an uncle or two out in Virginia – a family gathering that dragged people home from California and Annapolis – literally coast-to-coast and three generations – to eat some barbeque and shrimp and absurdly large cupcakes and I remembered something that I’d forgotten: our job is pretty special!
It’s easy to forget that not EVERYONE’S job is just enabling them to get out and play music. Hell, there are people out there who don’t play an instrument at all! Or even sing! Yup – computer programmers, doctors and bakers that DON’T steep themselves in the local music scene!
Our job, our travels, our stories – it’s fun to be reminded that they’re exotic! It’s good to be reminded that to the majority of people out there being a rock star is still romantic and that no matter the fact that we sleep on other people’s couches for an awful lot of it, or that paying the bills is generally a bit more of a struggle for us than many of our friends – no matter that we’re *gasp* renters! Some people think our Lives are pretty cool.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in our own little world where EVERYONE has a gig, and everyone has a new CD and sometimes Facebook is used just to stay in touch. I think I needed that little reminder.
(below, a big photo dump from our visit to Udvar-Hazy)
