Sick and Tired

I've spent the past week feeling ill in one way or another: hurt my neck, got a cold, muscle pains in my arm and the list goes on. However, that's in the past I feel good and less sniffly; I'm ready for some more blogging.

I work in a shop, a big one. If you've been to England then you've certainly seen one if not been in one. Last week I was working and thoughts went through my head along the lines of how much I'm looking forward to getting out of that place and how bad it is to work there. It then occurred to me that lots of musicians (if not all) go through this transitional period from day job to career and I thought it would be good to list some point about how to approach work and what gets me through my day job when it gets me down.

The People


I've often heard from co-workers that they hate the place but love the people. I suspect this is only partially true; some people hate both but don't want to tell you to your face that they think you're an arse. I would say that I've made more friends at work than any other single institution I've been to. The experiences that you have with people are one of many that will shape you creatively, go on nights out, meet for Quasar or Go-Karting or whatever.

On top of this you'll need people to go to your shows and co-workers will function well as audience members and spreading knowledge of you through word of mouth (what else is there to talk about at work?).

You Will Need Money


I wouldn't be able to be where I am without my day job money. Paying for transport, gear, lessons and beer all adds up. The only problem you may find is the flexibility of your job. I am lucky in that my job is very flexible and I only work two days a week, but even so I find it hard some times: I work a ten hour shift on Saturdays. This makes it very hard for me to do gigs on Saturday nights and I have missed many gigs because of this.

When You Get Down Remember: You Can Quit Any Time


There was a time at my job when a manager was desperately trying to change my hours so that I was working a lot more and I'd have a lot less free time. I was told I'd have to choice and I'd be obliged to do it. Eventually, with some help from my Mother, I realised that I did have a choice: I could quit. Getting another job of the same kind isn't as difficult as people would have you think, or I could have started trying to teach. As it happens my letter of resignation was rejected and I stayed, since then I've been working less and less.

The above is just a short list of that I thought about, I hope it helps me to remember what it was like being a G.A.

On a completely different subject, I've been spending this week listening to Frank Zappa and these links here and here really show him off at his best.