Equal and opposite forces.

Equal and opposite forces.

It's been a relatively quiet week, huh? Luckily nature seems to balance things out, so when things quiet down for me socially, they always seem to ramp up professionally at ye olde day job. So the days have been speeding by, swollen with productivity, and I like it that way. The busier I am, the quicker quitting time comes, and the less I mind working overtime. (On the flip side, there's nothing worse than a day full of non-billable work, where you struggle to fill your time, only to have someone approach you with the dreaded, "Hey do you have some time to --" ten minutes to quitting time.)

I am also, for the fist time in a long time, "broke." I bought a new digital SLR to shoot Lollapalooza and never intended to keep it, but I fell in love with its performance so now I'm trying to hold onto it ... and if I can just make it to my next paycheck I'll be O.K., but I'm unused to having to actually watch what I spend. So if I don't make it to see your band between now and next Wednesday, that's the reason why. Luckily I'm DJing Friday at The Continental (flier to come!) so that should relive a lot of the pressure.

I've been having a lot of fun DJing again. Even though the last few times I've been thrown a few curveballs -- unexpected bands to DJ around or being shuttled upstairs to make room for a show -- each time it's turned out to be a successful evening far exceeding expectations. People, both familiar and unknown, seem to really enjoy my style again, and much dancing and smiling and backslapping and drinking and general tomfoolery has ensued.

Someone asked me how long I had been writing about music and DJing, and almost choked on thier tongue in surprise when I answered. Most folks are fooled by my appearance into thinking I'm younger than I am, so when they find out how long I've actually been around and active in music I think it comes as a bit of a shock. Me? I feel I'm lucky to have been in the thick of things for so long. And, even though I've been around, I still get a thrill when I found out someone bought an album because of what I wrote, or got off their chair and shook it a bit because of something I played, or discovers and album that deeply touches them because of my recommendation. I even love it when someone lodges a well thought out opinion that's opposite mine, because it means that I've spurred them to think about something.

Reviewing all the above it becomes clear that I'm a very lucky man, so next time you hear me griping about something just punch me on the shoulder* and remind me of that.

*Not too hard, please.