Readers, fans and band members will all know that The Negotiators have had a bit of break recently. This has been necessary as our singer, Nancy, has had a bit of a sore throat. Which means that we've cancelled quite a few gigs (pissing off a few publicans no doubt) and had almost a total break from rehersing.
In my case this has gone one step further, and I've hardly even picked up a guitar for a couple of months. I have an excuse though, as whenever I play something Nancy tends to sing along to herself, and she had to have a total break from it. Anyway, having a few weeks off has meant that I've had more than a couple of weeks without band stuff happening in it for the first time in years. The break's been lovely.
Having my weekends returned has been great. It's pretty stressful if you work all week and then don't get to have a couple of days off. I know that many people work longer and possibly harder than I do, but that's just the way I am. There's so much more to life than working for the man, and if it takes a day to get over the working week then I like having a day to actually do things for their own sake. Thus, the value of weekends.
When you're in the band, you lose this regular weekend guarantee of sanity, in exchange for late nights, long afternoons, heavy lifting duty, exhaustion. And when you're not doing it on stage, you're practicing to do so. It's a long road indeed...
But Rock'n'roll is more than just playing on weekends. That would truly make one a 'weekend warrior'. There's an extension of this into 'real life', it happens whenever we are living as though always capable of those exquisite feelings within that rock music draws out on a good night. And when you start walking around with the music in you then, if that music is rock, you can be a little ocean of sanity in the day to day days that eat up the years.
And when you realise you got the music in you, you realise that the work and the weekends were worth the while!
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