This is a blog about engaging the musical life at age 60. If you, like me, have decided at a later stage in life to go for it, This Musical Life is designed for you.
It’s not a blog for the younger musician, though certainly younger musicians will find a lot of useful information here. No, this is for the creative musician/entertainer who has decided to leave “conventional wisdom” behind and start a satisfying career in music. In my mind, a satisfying career in music must be (a) fun and (b) self-sustaining.
This blog is a record of what I’m doing, day in and day out. It’s a record of what others like me are doing or have done.
Most of all, this is the blog that will give you everything you need to know about starting new, late in life, and building a musical career that allows you to express your personal joy through performance and recording.
Starting from Scratch
Unlike you, perhaps (or perhaps not!), at 50 I found myself in a collapsing tech career. I’d started a successful technical publishing company that lost all of its business to outsourcing within the same two-week time span; the company I started with a “friend” collapsed thanks to that friend’s lack of integrity and a little touch of embezzlement. Yes, my wife and I lost it all: House and home, and a lot of self-respect.
What this means at 60 is that I’m starting over. From scratch. No retirement, no 401k, no safety net beyond what I may receive from Social Security someday. That sort of thing can make a fellow curl up in a ball.
Don’t know about you, but I’m a “stand up and fight” kind of guy myself.
I won’t belabor the mess and heartache and anxiety and stress my wife and I have endured along the way. We got a little help from time to time, moved out of Santa Cruz, California, to the mountains of North Carolina where we could afford to live and attempt a recovery from disaster. Everybody has a sob story.
Everybody.
Waking Up
What happened to me was an awakening, a full acceptance of my own mortality, and an absolute commitment to owning what my life is like. I refused to be a victim. I remain still unbroken.
I’ve been a musician all my life. No, I’ve been an entertainer, writer, and performer all my life. But it wasn’t until I turned 55 that I started thinking, well, what the hell? I’d secretly always wanted to make music and put smiles on peoples’ faces all my life.
At 60 I have a sparkling new chance to do precisely that.
“Making It”
I don’t know what you consider “making it in music” to be. I have no interest in becoming a “rock star”. (Good thing, too, as I’ve probably aged out of that nonsense.) What I am interested in is loving this life to the day I die and making music to match.
And at 60 there’s no time to waste. Join me on the journey!
Welcome back to This Musical Life – Onward!