we were on a break

Here's a thing about working in the music industry that I never, ever, ever anticipated. It made me forget about music. Or not forget, exactly, but push it aside and compartmentalize it into my "work" box and not my "everyday life/passion" box.

I grew up singing, in choirs and in my bedroom and in musical theater and a cappella groups. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, but I always did that, always sang. Right out of college, when I lived in Manhattan for a blink, I was one of those obnoxious people with headphones permanently affixed to my ears. I loved finding a new song or a new band and getting lost walking around the city to it.

And then I left the city and came back to Maine and worked for this non-profit whose mission is to make touring a more environmentally-friendly venture. A tough battle, for sure. And I met some of those new bands or some of those old bands with their new songs, and they were nice and normal, mostly, and things were fun and I took in a lot of shows from VIP seats or from the stage and that's a pretty great way to see a show, but also a lot of mystery was gone.

I never knew much about the artists behind my favorite songs. I liked what I liked and there it was, and all of a sudden there was an actual person responsible for making what I liked and I knew them and sometimes we were friends, and I came to the realization, without really realizing it, that music wasn't something I could get lost with anymore.

And then I left that non-profit, and went to work as a tour manager for a band, and if the mystery wasn't gone before then it was definitely gone then. It was a wild ride, my couple of short years on the road, and in that time I stopped listening completely. Like, literally. I mean, aside from having an ear on the show every night, I literally did not listen to the radio or an iThing or a record.

Honestly, I don't know. Maybe it was just a phase that happened to coincide with my career in that world.

Whatever the case, I prefer having a veil there, and I think now, after a few months away, I can just listen again.