Eddie1261 - the idea of never retiring is not to be the richest corpse in the cemetery, it's to postpone the trip to the boneyard and live a fulfilled life on the way.

People need a purpose to stay alive, golf and fishing are not enough. We must have a need, not a hobby. The Japanese call it ikigai.

A large part of my gigging income is playing for retirement communities. I started this end of the business when I was 40. I've gotten to know a lot of audience members and I've seen what happens to the majority when they retire. The same thing that happened to my father.

The first couple of years of retirement are like a vacation. Fishing, golfing, dancing or whatever they didn't have enough time for when they were working. Then slowly things start with "Ah, I don't feel like going fishing (or whatever) today, I think I'll just stay home.' Then more and more the TV becomes their focus in life, and in a year or so they die of boredom.

Me? No I'm not planning on retiring. I turned off the TV in the late 1980s, disconnected the cable and took down the antenna and mast.

I gig because it's my bliss. I gig with the musician who is now my wife because it's her bliss. It's our second favorite thing to do.

It gives us a purpose in our life, we have contracts ahead, people are depending on us to bring them joy, we are depending on them to return the joy to us, and for us it's more fun than fishing, golf, sailing, tennis, or television.

If Tony Bennett, Keith Richards and Willie Nelson can enjoy this until they are ready for the big sleep, so can I.

I see no need to retire and let the TV or the proverbial rocking chair get me. I don't intend to die of boredom.

So when the gigs open up, I plan to be working again. And if the restaurant who hired us once a week for 12 years opens, I plan to volunteer to play for meals for a few weeks until the crowds come back.

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