Ten Freaking Months

Well, technically that milestone shall not become breached until Monday, but at 1:30pm on Friday I somehow doubt that I'll be getting any Magical Job Phonecalls for this next workweek's 8am. Hey, just because I'm trying to be Mr. Musician doesn't mean I'm not still looking for regular work. I have no problem going back to losing sleep in order to fulfill my creative side if Real Honest Work takes up 40+ hours per week, I did that for years without much issue outside the periodic bout of sleep-deprived insanity (which honestly, sometimes I enjoy a little bit). Fact is, probably 78.932% of musicians I consider My Heroes have normal day jobs when they aren't busy cultivating their soul's life requirement, because unless you make The Big Time, that is pretty much how things go. Note: I'd rather get paid strictly for music-based work, and that is my current goal, but if it doesn't pan out it's not like I'm going to quit playing. Which brings me to this recent discovery:



The album is called Transmutations by the post-core / jazz group Yakuza, and wow is it amazing. I listened to it once several months ago but forgot about it, then last night stumbled upon a great article about the Working Stiff aka Starving Artist during this current recession which featured Bruce Lamont from the group, and got to a re-listening. Once again I just casually tossed it on in the background, but a little beyond halfway through the album it caught me unawares and I sat there staring at the stereo waiting for what word of wisdom it would spew forth next. Oh sure, everybody loves albums with great a lead-off track, but sometimes it's really fun when the strong stuff is left for the tail end of things, perhaps to whittle out the nonbelievers and only grant the real cheese to those truly paying attention. This is not an album for most people, but if you prefer your rock n' roll a bit more adventurous, or maybe you're an old jazzhead looking for the next natural progression of things instead of growing endlessly tired of your genre being taken over by muzak, perhaps this would make a proper avenue to explore.

So here I am in the double-digit land of monthly unemployment, with the real rate hitting 16.4% as announced today, albeit seemingly slowing down from the utter catastrophe it was becoming just a short while ago. In other words, things are still getting worse, just not as quickly. I still do not expect any great changes to anyone's overall jobless condition, simply because I do think we have reached a turning point in this world, and yet I still wait for someone of public importance to stand up and say: "the old ways have failed, we must now move on to this Great New Thing." Until that happens, the gradual slide shall continue. Bring on the Amero!