travis k wrote:Just make work. Record it . And make more work until someone comes along.Wise words.

Seriously thinking it might be time to quit the whole amateur indie rock band guy thing. Its starting to feel silly and embarrassing as I roll steadily through my 40s. No one wants to see middle aged guys get sweaty and play loud except other middle aged indie rock guys and most of the time those middle aged indie rock guys can t / don t want to leave the house for a show or band practice.I suppose it d be different if I was in a band that had some sort of substantive history or following.

Dave N. wrote:^^^I get to thinking this periodically, but then I remember that I don t have a whole lot riding on it. It s simply a thing I do.Same but the whole diminishing returns thing keeps coming to mind. I just don t get much out of it anymore. Less and less as time goes by. I have very little free time and more often than not playing music has seemed like a less and less worthwhile use of what I do have.

Me Again wrote:Yeah, there are musicians who play shows well into their eighties (and beyond), so it's not without precedent to stick with it.If you're enjoying yourself, and creating music gives you a path forward, then who cares what "the world" thinks?Well it s not the glowing adoration of throngs of fans I m seeking. I just find ˜dad-life increasingly affords me less ˜personal time and having played music for decades I find I have less patience for doing anything somehow less œrewarding than the same musical ground I ve tread a dozen times before. I m far from a virtuoso and I m not the worlds greatest gift to the craft of songwriting but I find I have less and less patience for playing music with people who aren t pushing me musically or ˜artistically . I guess there s no way to say it without sound like a total d-bag. Long and short of it is I just wish I had a situation where I was the weakest link in a band. I m not exactly shredder extraordinaire but it s been a long time since I played in a band where I felt like the drummer was God incarnate and the rest of the band an army of blessed rock angels or some shit.

It s not about adoration or having my ego stroked by someone else. I m really just musically frustrated. I think that is the main point.I kinda don t care what anyone else thinks of the music I make. I just want to find a musical team to be a part of that will really keep me creatively fulfilled (and preferably be nice people).

travis k wrote:It's rough stuff . Especially compounded w parenthood.I guess my real problem is the way my brain is wired I can t just say œI m done with playing music now. Let s move on to something else! Having been music obsessed since I was 12 it s kind of all I know. My brain is analyzing every bit of sound that comes at me all day everyday. It s distracting. I will literally lay in bed at night thinking about how parts of songs fit together and such.

It's been a long, long time.

^^^I get to thinking this periodically, but then I remember that I don t have a whole lot riding on it. It s simply a thing I do.

I ve always made friendships through music, either as a player or a listener. I suppose that s a big reason why I stay in the game. Also, playing bass and writing lyrics are about the only things I do somewhat well (subjective, I know), so that seems like a good reason to stay active, too. If I were a good bowler, I d probably want to keep bowling.I ve played a lot of shows in my life, and maybe one-tenth of them had more than 50 people in the room. Either way, I was out of the house and with friends, and I made new friends along the way. It s not always fun. Sometimes I clear the room. Sometimes young people look at me like I m pathetic. Sometimes I blow them away. I ve always kind of looked at playing music as my pulse, as a symptom of being alive. I d be very worried if I stopped.

If Greg Gonna had his lucite Dan Armstrong stolen, what the hell was that in the Seattle Mopop exhibit?Did he recover it down the line, pull the tape off it, and lend it to a Pacific Northwest Museum with Big Corporate Ties?