There's a little pub downtown Anytown, USA; it's dark and dank and reeks of smoke from generations past.  The floors are always sticky no matter how many times they mop and the food is worse than a Sunday morning strip-club buffet, but that's alright.  After all, it's your name on the marquee outside, and when it comes time for your set, nothing else matters.  Not the smoke, the floors, not even personal issues; this is the one place you can leave it all behind and lose yourself.  For that short period of time when you're on stage, guitar around your neck or microphone in your hand and the crowd fixated on you; You truly are a free bird.  No one can touch you.

Sounds great doesn't it?  Sure does to me.  I could live out the rest of my days knowing that one sweep of my picking hand, could send chills down the spine of everyone in that room and maybe even be responsible for the next great baby boom.

Music really is something else.  I've said it before and I'll say it again; music is the most beautiful language on the planet.  It has the power to change lives and spark revolution.  If you've ever seen the look on a woman's face when their husband/boyfriend plays a song they wrote just for them, you know what I'm talking about.  That's what I aspire to do everyday; change lives.  What better way to make a living than by changing lives?

The best part of playing music, is that it's not just a dream job, it's a dream lifestyle.  A true musician always has a tune in his head; whether it's something they made up or one of their favorite songs.  You can make a lot of money just standing on stage doing what you love to best, and when your job becomes a passion, it's no longer a job.  It's fun.

Sure, sometimes the pay is low and sometimes you don't get paid at all. Money is money, but at the end of the day, it's about feeling good about what you do and realizing that it wasn't that hard to do in the first place.  I have played guitar and piano for many years and done many an open mic night to good reactions, yet for some reason I never took my act on the road, so to speak.  Maybe one day I will.  Maybe one day it'll be my name up on that marquee, who knows? 

For now, all I can do is hope to give back to the art that has made my life that much better by being a part of it in any shape or form possible, and if that means writing these articles and reviews to help people understand just what music can do for them, count me in.

If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. 

Thanks for reading.