Coo-coo!

Trump Hogg and Ryan P Coltrane

… and so Rosco was selected to chair Boss Hogg’s oversight committee.

Time to enjoy the good things

It’s quite likely that I’ll never be “on the road” again, and I’m content with that. Playing music is one of the most enjoyable careers there is, but don’t be fooled, a lot of it is a pain in the rump. The traveling will kill you. I dreaded airports more than most people probably do. It was just such a huge task packing up instruments, lugging everything through overcrowded terminals, hoping no one in our party would get bumped from the flight, waiting in interminable lines of irritated fellow travelers, many of whom were just plain rude and then nestling into the middle seat on every leg of a journey. Then you had to hope your instruments all came out the other end and that they were all in one piece.

Driving was a whole other experience. A bunch of men in a van for twenty hours can be fun when you’re young, but after two decades of it, it wore a little thin. We’d often travel for an entire weekend to play for a half hour or forty minutes. The shows were generally full of merriment and jollification. Generally. When the crowd’s with you, there’s nothing like performing on stage, but when they aren’t, it can be downright painful. I’ll admit there were a few times I couldn’t wait to be finished.

I’m still playing music, getting out to the occasional session here and there and singing around the old apartment, but it’s all on my terms now, which is a great stress reliever. It’s really put a lot of the joy back into music. There was a time when my life was completely upside down that I wondered if I’d ever enjoy it again. I guess I figured I eventually would again, but it didn’t always feel that way, if that makes any sense. I’ve also hit the airports a few times over the last couple years and let me tell you, it’s a lot easier traveling with just two people and backpacks. I take back roads instead of highways whenever I can now, even if it makes the trip a lot longer, and that, as Robert Frost might say, makes all the difference.

So I guess what I’m saying is that life throws everyone curve balls. I never thought I was capable of depression, but I discovered it a few years back. And then things got better.
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