Harvey Gerst
New member
A band reunion after 41 years, and life in general.
A band reunion after 41 years - how weird is that?
Next week, I'll be driving to L.A. for a reunion with my old band, the Villagers. We were together for about a year or so in 1963, and we had an album out on RCA Victor. The amazing part is that we're all still alive after 41 years. A later band I was with in 1969 (Sweetwater) was less lucky - 4 members have died. In fact, most of the musicians I hung out with in the old days are long gone. I guess it's the price you pay for being a musician. It's not an easy life, and there are both temptations and disappointments all along the way.
It's important to cherish the time you're a musician or involved in the arts. A lot of people hang it up after a while and get into more conventional lines of work. Well, the conventional stuff will never be as much fun as the time you're a musician. A guaranteed paycheck is nice and stable, but it ain't the same as coming offstage to the sound of a 1,000 screaming fans. That's a payday!! It's a rush and a high. And you're not gonna get a standing ovation for delivering a report on time.
Yeah, it's a tough business, and about 99% of the people in it don't last, or wind up being stars. So what? For a few brief moments in your life, you're on stage, getting applause and instant feedback, that says, "Wow, they REALLY like me.". You might never become a superstar, but at least you'll have done something not too many people have done; for a few glorious shows, you were a rock star. Maybe not a big star, but a star never the less. And you'll have the pictures to prove it.
Will you kids think it's hokey? Absolutely not - their dad was a rock star!! How cool is that? I have a picture of me coming off the stage at the Miami Pop Festival - with a wide angle shot showing 40,000 people giving us a standing ovation!! Forty thousand people - all standing, and cheering. The grin on my face goes from ear to ear in that picture. Whatever I did before, and whatever I did afterwards doesn't count. For that one moment in my life, I WAS A ROCK STAR - a "Superstar".
And nobody can ever take that away from me. I may forget my name or the name of my kids, but at least that picture will outlive me, and maybe when someone asks my grandchildren, or my great grandchildren, about their grandpa, they can point to that picture and say, "He was a rock star."
A band reunion after 41 years - how weird is that?
Next week, I'll be driving to L.A. for a reunion with my old band, the Villagers. We were together for about a year or so in 1963, and we had an album out on RCA Victor. The amazing part is that we're all still alive after 41 years. A later band I was with in 1969 (Sweetwater) was less lucky - 4 members have died. In fact, most of the musicians I hung out with in the old days are long gone. I guess it's the price you pay for being a musician. It's not an easy life, and there are both temptations and disappointments all along the way.
It's important to cherish the time you're a musician or involved in the arts. A lot of people hang it up after a while and get into more conventional lines of work. Well, the conventional stuff will never be as much fun as the time you're a musician. A guaranteed paycheck is nice and stable, but it ain't the same as coming offstage to the sound of a 1,000 screaming fans. That's a payday!! It's a rush and a high. And you're not gonna get a standing ovation for delivering a report on time.
Yeah, it's a tough business, and about 99% of the people in it don't last, or wind up being stars. So what? For a few brief moments in your life, you're on stage, getting applause and instant feedback, that says, "Wow, they REALLY like me.". You might never become a superstar, but at least you'll have done something not too many people have done; for a few glorious shows, you were a rock star. Maybe not a big star, but a star never the less. And you'll have the pictures to prove it.
Will you kids think it's hokey? Absolutely not - their dad was a rock star!! How cool is that? I have a picture of me coming off the stage at the Miami Pop Festival - with a wide angle shot showing 40,000 people giving us a standing ovation!! Forty thousand people - all standing, and cheering. The grin on my face goes from ear to ear in that picture. Whatever I did before, and whatever I did afterwards doesn't count. For that one moment in my life, I WAS A ROCK STAR - a "Superstar".
And nobody can ever take that away from me. I may forget my name or the name of my kids, but at least that picture will outlive me, and maybe when someone asks my grandchildren, or my great grandchildren, about their grandpa, they can point to that picture and say, "He was a rock star."
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