8 Hour Work Day.

I had a moment recently where my 20 year old self would have laughed at my 40 year old self.  It occurred when I realized just how excited I was to have seats for a show that I attended in March.  I also have to admit that at that same moment, I was admiring the contour of the wall and how it deflected some of the volume of the band onstage.   In defense of my 40 year old self, I like to think that going to concerts keeps me feeling young.  I am not looking to recapture my youth through long boisterous nights on the town but I am striving to find a “work / life balance”.   Even though I have been behind the scenes of the music industry for close to 20 years, the act of seeing live music can still be a great, care-free release.  And as I try to navigate the waters of my life at 40, I have been finding myself wondering if I share any personality traits with Peter Pan, the legendary character created by Scottish novelist J. M. Barrie.

Clearly I am not the only associating The Lost Boys (and not the 1987 Thriller/Teen film of the same name) with the world of music.   Peter Pan, the character, is a mischievous boy who can fly and never grows up.  I worked/toured with bands for over 2 years and it was exhilarating not being in an office.  Not having a regular 9-to-5 job was not lost on me.  The freedom of making my own hours and meeting new people out at shows 5-7 nights per week never got old but there was also the reality of not knowing when I would receive my next paycheck.  Not surprisingly a popular music joke is:  

Child: “Mom, when I grow up, I’d like to be a musician.” 

Mother: “You can’t do both.”

Most recently I heard a Peter Pan connection in Ruth B’s 2015 song, “Lost Boy”.  The lyrics “Neverland is home to lost boys like me / And lost boys like me are free”.  It also jogged my memory for Edwin McCain’s 2004 song, “Farewell to Tinkerbell” in which the protagonist in the song is desperately trying to convince himself that he has grown up.  Although I am still searching for my ideal “work / life balance”, I would like to think that I am close.  On Thursday, May 12, I will be a fan at the Avett Brothers concert at Stage AE where I will be joining the “kids” on the lawn and then on Friday, May 13 I will be earning a steady income working onsite for the Dierks Bentley show at First Niagara Pavilion.   Now if I can only remind myself why a current United States Senator once said, “Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.”

Thanks for reading.