Thanks to all of you for the vote of confidence .. and Johnny, you're right ..
Continued ..
Then, the Great Recession hit in 2007/08 .. work dried up, what little there was became a cut throat scenario, with people undercutting just to get the
work .. in just the last few years, things have improved somewhat .. the value of my equipment still took a nose dive .. I was unable to liquidate the
gear and satisfy my creditor .. much like being upside down on a home .. so, I had some money in the Bank, I still had my instrument business /
studio recording business to tide me over, at least I thought .. so, I stayed pat, using my savings and what work I could get .. I don't want to appear
to be a business expert, but when you buy a large piece of business gear, such as a stage rig and all that goes with it, you use the Banks money and
set up a payment plan based on depreciation / expected income / residual value / cost of maintenance .. along the line, I had to supplement what
money I could make with my personal money stash .. in an effort to keep going until business improved .. needless to say, it was probably not my
best decision ..
And as I aged, I got more and more tired .. the mental drive was leaving me, the body was no longer up to what the mind wanted .. I realized I should
have listened to my Doctor and got out .. I was 60 back then, now I'm pushing the big 7 / 0 .. I choose to generally not talk about age, doing so now
just to put things in context .. I've never believed in age as a thing, but I have learned that time takes it's toll .. combined with the loss over the years of my son, my best friend, 4 wives, numerous life long friends .. there are days when the baggage just weighs me down .. the regrets, the mistakes, the second guessing .. and now, entering into the phase of knowing I'm much closer to the end than the beginning, in some ways, it's almost welcome .. a relief in some strange way .. Oh, I'm not ready to throw the towel in just yet, I'm going to hobble along with my instrument business, because I have to
stay busy doing something .. retirement does not appeal to me, it never has ..
I always say, "Do something" .. paint a picture, learn something new, stay as active as you can ..
At any rate .. During the last few months, I made the choice to close my studio in Edwardsville .. a quant River Town near the Mississippi .. during
the 30 years that I maintained it, my best years were between 1986 and 1995 .. doing a lot of demo work for Bands, Radio and TV jingles, the
occational "name" .. however, since the early 2000's, pretty much everyone could get relatively cheap access to Recording gear, thus creating a sub
culture of DIY people .. in the last 10 years, I've basically just clung to it for some unknown nostalgic reason .. it's funny how we sometimes just can't
let go .. and I sold the "Brother Loves Traveling Salvation Show" stage rig for close to what I still owed ..
In the end, it's a bittersweet feeling .. on one hand, the relief of shedding the old, on the other hand, the sadness of thinking of the good times gone
by ..
Let me thank all of you for being there these last few years, and I know it sounds cornball, but as many of you know, I've done more than my fair
share of unloading .. always to be greeted by no judgement and plenty of welcoming acceptance .. it's hard on a self made man, who prided himself
in always making his own way .. the one best thing about the fine folks that reside here .. ?? I learned more about forgiveness, understanding and
the shared ups and downs of life .. if in fact, Fate plays a hand, she played a Royal Flush when we somehow joined hands ..
