In praise of older musicians

If anything inspires me to continue painting, it's to watch perform old-timers. These past couple of weeks, Blue Rodeo and Bachman & Cummings not only brought me back to my younger days, but also gave me a lesson in perseverance. To play and sing so well into one's late 60's or 70's, you have to be dedicated to it every day. Persist, persist, persist. We do love our art and we do it to feel good about ourselves, but there are plenty of distractions, of chores to take us away from our real job. Truly, these guys haven't "let life get in the way"; if anything, they understand who they are, and what this life means to them. They know that sitting on their laurels will not get them fulfilled. If only one person gets inspired and find courage by watching them, it is worth it.