I'm QUITTING the band/venue scene. I'm in one band, which is LUCKY, to work once a month.
Even with flu shots, within the last 2 years, I have gotten sick only twice, but for me, I felt REALLY sick for those 2 times, had to go to hospital once, compared to all the other ill spells I have had through my life. We / I have not gigged that much within the last 2 years, so it seems no coincidence, and it seems significant, that each episode of illness happened 3 -5 days after a gig. At gigs, people are mingling, moving around, during singing, breathing in increases, and the air is trapped within the venue. And these episodes occurred even before COVID. I am 68, have a couple underlying conditions, my wife has a SERIOUS underlying lung condition. I don't know how long this COVID thing will last, it may now hang around every year. All of April is lost, we have no gigs now on the calendar. Maybe the clubs/venues will not start jumping in full-force even in May, and I'm not sure club patrons will be jamming the dance floors and restaurant tables immediately, within the next few months. For me, the risks of contagion within the next few months, and even further, for both my and I, are too high. I don't really want to have to go back to a venue/club environment. Frankly, even with no gigs, I'm getting "burnt out" even having to consider the possibility of getting back into it. Honestly and frankly, after many years of gigs, I'm FUCKING TIRED of playing the same BLOOZ-RAWK, guitar-based, DECENT-LEAD-AND-HARMONY-VOCALS-DEPRIVED, repertoire, which seems to not vary, from band to band. It seems like all the guitar players have only a few guitar "gods", Clapton, etc., have no respect for appropriate rhythm guitar, dynamics, ensemble playing, or any other music genres. I write and record songs, and with the bare minimum recording equipment I have, I can produce, satisfying to me, home demos. May drum at occasional jam sessions, or with acoustic song-based artists in the future.
Even with flu shots, within the last 2 years, I have gotten sick only twice, but for me, I felt REALLY sick for those 2 times, had to go to hospital once, compared to all the other ill spells I have had through my life. We / I have not gigged that much within the last 2 years, so it seems no coincidence, and it seems significant, that each episode of illness happened 3 -5 days after a gig. At gigs, people are mingling, moving around, during singing, breathing in increases, and the air is trapped within the venue. And these episodes occurred even before COVID. I am 68, have a couple underlying conditions, my wife has a SERIOUS underlying lung condition. I don't know how long this COVID thing will last, it may now hang around every year. All of April is lost, we have no gigs now on the calendar. Maybe the clubs/venues will not start jumping in full-force even in May, and I'm not sure club patrons will be jamming the dance floors and restaurant tables immediately, within the next few months. For me, the risks of contagion within the next few months, and even further, for both my and I, are too high. I don't really want to have to go back to a venue/club environment. Frankly, even with no gigs, I'm getting "burnt out" even having to consider the possibility of getting back into it. Honestly and frankly, after many years of gigs, I'm FUCKING TIRED of playing the same BLOOZ-RAWK, guitar-based, DECENT-LEAD-AND-HARMONY-VOCALS-DEPRIVED, repertoire, which seems to not vary, from band to band. It seems like all the guitar players have only a few guitar "gods", Clapton, etc., have no respect for appropriate rhythm guitar, dynamics, ensemble playing, or any other music genres. I write and record songs, and with the bare minimum recording equipment I have, I can produce, satisfying to me, home demos. May drum at occasional jam sessions, or with acoustic song-based artists in the future.
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