Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
Eddie, you'd probably walk out on us. We do "Sweet Home Alabama", "Brown Eyed Girl", "Mustang Sally", "Sweet Caroline" and quite a few other often requested songs. (Our audience is from 50 to the final coda).


It's not so much that I'd walk out on you as I would not likely frequent about 75% of the places you play. I am an old guy but I don't go to old people events and rooms. I have never and will never see the inside of a seniors community center. Yacht clubs? Nope. That's for rich snobs who have money to waste for a place to dock their boat. Outdoor festivals? With all those people bumping into me? Nope. The rare times I do go out, and that is maybe once every few months, it is to see artists who do their own music, usually for their CD release shows. I'll buy my CD, have the sleeve autographed, and head out after a set. Typically I am the oldest person in the room by a large margin. There are not a lot of 66 year old songwriters doing CD release shows. And the crowd is usually friends of the artist, so they'll be the same age as the artist.

Also remember that I am now and will remain single, so there is no socializing with the spouse or "date night" in my mix. Tried it many times. It doesn't work for me.

I really live a quiet life of solitude. I mean, I named the RV "Samotar", which is the Slovenian word for "loner" or "hermit".

So abso-frickin'-lutely do what makes you happy. Life itself is about being happy. The financial part of music stopped mattering to me years ago. Once I knew I was not going to be a star, I stopped playing for 15 years. When I got back into it, it was to write songs for a CD.

You guys that have managed to keep your enthusiasm for music have my admiration. That is behind me, and it's time to move on to other things. I have no desire to be the richest corpse in the graveyard, so I don't care to be concerned with amassing more money. I am not independently wealthy, but I live such a pristine and frugal life, both by design and by habit, that I don't need to work. I have all I need, and actually my life as it is now has many excesses and repetitions. I just sold 2 26" flat screen TVs to a guy who bought them for his kids rooms. That left me with "only" 2, the 55" and the 32". Why a guy who lives alone with a dog had 4 TVs, I have no idea. I am short of packrat, but I tend to hold on to things because at one time they cost money. As I cleaned out a closet, I found shoes that I bought in Italy and kept for no other reason than I bought them in Italy. I was in Italy in 2000. I have had those shoes for 17 years! Why? That's a great example of why this downsize and purge is going to feel good. But I digress...

I was fortunate to be able to retire and not worry about the "making a living" aspect. Not everybody can do that. Again, I am not rich, just comfortable. And to the many people here who are retired and stayed involved with music, bless you all. I just lost my taste for it. I am sitting at my computer in a blissful state of silence right how, the only sound coming from a small fan that keeps air circulating in my office. With 20 gb of music on a hard drive and about 1200 CDs, I never listen to music beyond a one time through on a new CD that a music community acquaintance may do.

So the list lives on. 'Twas I who retired! smile

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.