Will Work for Food (and benefits)

I'm not back to work yet. For the first month I was out, I was able to purge a lot of the crud that built up in my brain and finish projects I have either started or put off for a long time. The last project I've wanted to finish (that doesn't cost anything) is cleaning out the garage and basement. Like the mountain of acronyms and buzz words I accumulated over the last four years, we have boxes and boxes of papers and candles and crap that just need to go. I've been delusional about putting a garage sale together. I'll never get organized enough to justify the $27 I might make.

Big Drag played a show in Chicago over the weekend. It was pretty good - we played well and had no malfunctions or anything. It was interesting because the crowd was really vocal about which songs they liked and which songs were keeping them from talking to each other. It reminded me that I'd been driving into the city for shows for years. I might have turned a mental corner, too. It took us two hours to get from my house to the bar. Loading, unloading, setting up, tearing down, loading, then unloading all that gear in one night is not as appealing (or painless) as it once was. We have gotten fairly expert at getting on and off of a stage. Anyhow, it's not like I'm planning on quitting - I love the part between setting up and tearing down.

A friend asked if I ever get nervous before a show when there's a sizeable crowd. For a long time, playing on stage seemed like the most stable time in my life. Everything around being on stage for an hour was up in the air. These days, even without a job, I'm pretty happy. I'm not trying to prove anything (as much) and all that equipment makes my back hurt.

Maybe I need to get a job that pays well enough to afford me a roadie.