The common thread here is health. If your health isn't allowing for a lot of playing much less gigging then it's basically over. I'm 76 and extremely lucky concerning health and I'm certainly not bragging because I had little to do with it other than being smart about never smoking and being careful with my diet. Other than that it's all genetics and you can't pick your parents.

I'm still gigging a lot, no pain, no shortness of breath, I can still haul my gear onto the boat to Catalina and do two very loud classic rock gigs back to back at the Marlin Club last Friday and Saturday. Just got back today and other than needing to nap about 29 times today I feel fine. I'm well aware I'm one health crisis away from it all being over so I'm still doing it now because I totally enjoy it. I'm the oldest member in 4 bands including a classic big band and I'm the biggest ham you ever saw. My favorite joke was from Milton Berle who said he's such a ham that when he opens the refrigerator door and the light comes on, he'll do twenty minutes in front of a dead chicken. That's me for sure.

Don't get too much of that from doing taxes and fighting with the IRS on behalf of clients although they do appreciate my efforts. And it's certainly not the money, I'll make ten times the money on one representation case than I do with gigs in a month or more like three months. Something about me doing a screaming, animated organ solo on Gimme Some Lovin and having a group of cute coeds and their boyfriends ohhing and ahhing me. Not that I'm a dirty old man, I look at them like my granddaughters. Then it's a big band gig at a country club and it's their grandmothers ohhing and ahhing me when I do a nice piano solo on Time After Time. But it's still a rush so I'll keep accepting those bookings until something happens and I have to cancel or somebody else has to cancel for me.

Bob

Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.