Chapter 34 - EPILOGUE
When
I started this road journal, I had no idea how involved it
would eventually become or how many lives would be touched
and entertained by it. It was supposed to be just a few short
installments but it slowly grew into a lengthy piece of personal
literature that consumed many more hours than I had originally
intended. It just seemed to grow exponentially. The more I
wrote the bigger it got. The installments increased in number
and also in length as my memory banks began to empty on to
the pages. Each time I started on a new chapter, more memories
would come flooding into my mind and more paragraphs would
be necessarily added to each successive installment.
As I began to write everything down I soon discovered that
my mind had conveniently filtered out all but the best memories
from the tour. These were the memories I would carry with
me throughout my life. They were the memories that communicated
the essence of that wonderful summer tour -- the adventure
of traveling across America on the land yacht, the camaraderie
of the band and crew, the excitement of the performances and
above all the music -- the wonderful, wonderful music.
I'd forgotten
about the hours of tedious boredom on those long bus rides
and the endless packing and unpacking as we checked in to
one hotel after another --going to bed after breakfast, eating
breakfast for dinner and vice versa. I'd forgotten about the
"lonely hours" when the concert's over and it's
just you, alone in your hotel room with CNN, Letterman or
Leno. And that awful backstage boredom after the sound check
that was later interrupted by some brief moments of great
excitement and sometimes-sheer panic on stage. All of it was
just a necessary means to a beautiful end and I have to say
it was all well worth it.
Would
I do it again? You bet! In a New York minute! You know, in
spite of all the uncertainties and difficulties of being a
traveling musician, I wouldn't change a thing. I feel so fortunate
to have had such a wonderful career in music and to do what
I love more than anything else, play the drums. As far as
I'm concerned it's always been a win, win situation for me.
It's kind of like the old show biz saying; "Show business
is a lot like sex, when it's good it's great and when it's
bad... it's still pretty good!"
Lastly,
I would like to thank all of you, the music fans, for your
support and encouragement through the years. I've received
so many kind and thoughtful E-mail messages from readers regarding
the road journal and I'm sincerely glad that I was able to
share a little bit of the behind the scenes stuff that happens
on tour. I'd also like to thank all of you for the many times
you had to brave bad weather and long drives, find a baby
sitter, hassle for parking and wait in seemingly endless lines
to see your favorite artists in concert. Without you, it would
all collapse. So as long as you keep coming out to attend
concerts, musical gypsies like us will probably continue to
jump on the next available land yacht and perform wherever
music fans will gather and listen.
.