The City Veins

This partially explains our semi-disappearance in the last few weeks:

At the firm where I work they often refer to the “work-life balance,” which (fairly obviously) comes down to  how much time you spend working and how much time you have for everything else in your life.  To have both a full-time job and a fulfilling personal life can often be difficult enough to achieve; being in a band further throws that balance out of whack.

I’m writing about this because after a whole host of shows in August (not incredibly smary planning on our part) we’ve been pretty inactive since.  Initially, on my end anyway, it was just to take a breather and get away to the woods for Labor Day.  Since then, though, Aaron has started up a new school year (he’s a teacher) and has had all the responsibilities that go with that, my professional workload has increased pretty dramatically, and I’m not sure about Charles.  So it’s been pretty quiet in City Vein land, except for booking some fall shows.

I am reminded lately of something my good friend Charles said when we set out on this endeavor a year and a half ago: being in a band is something only insane people do.  (Maybe this explains why so many musicians are egomaniacal lunatics).  Seriously though, with all the competing interests of modern life, it can be difficult enough to find the time to balance work, significant others, friends, family, money, etc.  Why would any rational person want to start a venture in a crowded, competitive field that is almost guaranteed to lose them money, suck up a lot of time, and have very little chance of ever being successful?

I guess the answer is 1) for the love of music, 2) for those unparalleled (yet few and fleeting) moments of feeling accomplishment, and/or 3) for the overriding desire to obtain what is almost unattainable glory.  As long as you put your priorities on the first two, I think you remain sane.  Trouble occurs when being in a band is more about chasing a dream than it is about doing something you love and having fun with it.

And that’s why I’m thankful for this band, because I think that Aaron and Charles are on the same wavelength.

Anyway, that partially explains our recent abscence, but the good news is it will be fairly short-lived. Our friends Bellman Barker had to cancel a show at the Black Cat on Sept. 24 and have offered us their slot.  It’s a pretty great bill, with Brooklyn’s Wakey Wakey and DC up-and-comers The Tiger and the Snow, and we’re on last. Details to come.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/2008/09/04/mainstreaming-the-mean-girl.aspx

There’s nothing like the Republican National Convention to remind me anew how low and vile the Republican Party can be.

As has been documented here, I’ve had my share of differences with Obama.  I’m not totally in love with the Democratic ticket the way many others are.  However, his speech last week reminded me of the best that America has to offer.  The worst he said about McCain was that he was too much aligned with Bush’s policies.  Other than that, he sought to inspire, to get us out of the name-calling, partisan mire we’re in now and recognize that we can disagree with the hate and vitriol that has come with that in the past.  Agree or disagree with his policies, you could never say he’s unfairly vicious.

Sarah Palin’s speech last night was everything that’s wrong with politics.  For almost an hour, it was low blow after low blow, many of them personal and quite hypocritical.  After 30 minutes, I was so disgusted I turned off the TV.  I cannot tolerate the low-brow insults of the Republican party anymore.  What’s so wrong with civility to them anyway? Are they afraid if people look rationally at what they’ve accomplished, they’ll realize how badly they’ve left this country?

If America is to ever advance and meet the myriad challenges we face, we have to get past this kind of nonsense. Sure, it’s funny and makes for good soundbites, but that doesn’t help end a war, revive an economy, or inspire people to come together. The snarkiness and sarcasm displayed by the Republicans are exactly the opposite of what we need today.

But I guess that’s part of the Republicans unspoken motto: “If you can’t inspire them (or lead them), insult them.”