My earlier post was somewhat facetious, but the truth is that I had NO encouragement. When I was very young and started lessons, both parents were all like "Look at my boy only 5 years old and already playing the accordion so well." When the Beatles came to town and I decided that I wanted to play guitar, their support waned, if not vanished completely. Fast forward to the point in life when I decided to play music full time, and they both detested it, because in their minds, based on the fact that the only time they saw live music was at weddings, being a musician was not a real job.

Other people in the business understood, and many of them were supportive, but so many musicians I have known are jerks. They put other players down when that other player is better than them. Rather than elevate their own game to catch that person, the try to bring that person down to stroke their own ego. I have never seen such egomania than I have in musicians who all think they are just the best thing since pop tops on beer cans while playing that whole list of awful songs at every show. I know writers who refuse to acknowledge that anyone else on the planet writes music, yet they are afraid to play their originals at shows. I am actually pretty glad to be done with performing. Now I can write when I choose to, and not write when I choose to. Nobody hears it but me anyway (well, the dog...), so what's the point? Why bother? April of this year made 61 years I have been at music. Enough already. Time to move on to something new.

I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.

1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.