Speechless

It depends on when you start in trying to figure out how long you have done something. Since I have never held any other job except for performing it is hard to say when my career in the business began.  I was performing as a kid, but $10 dollars for a show may not be considered a career.  Any way you figure it, I have been doing what I do for a long time and it gets longer each year.  If you start the clock during the summer I started working at Six Flags over Texas it is more than 45 years.

That said in those decades I have only had to cancel two shows because I didn't have the voice to perform because of illness.  The first time was a decade ago and the second will be tomorrow.  There have been times when I was not 100% in the chops department, and other times that I probably shouldn't have performed because of illness. I got through them but knew that I could have done better if healthier.

I have been nursing a cold since Halloween. It got better, moved from my nose to my chest and finally has settled in my throat.  Although it is taking longer to go through those stages it is a familiar pattern for me.  I thought I would be fine by tomorrow but knowing my chops as I do, it just isn't going to happen. I was scheduled to perform with Darwin and his voice is a real push for me on good days.

It is not a paid engagement.  In fact the only other show I had to cancel was a freebie as well. Not to say it was not an obligation that I made and wanted to fulfill. If it was a paid engagement with money on the line I probably would have pushed through it, and paid the price. Fortunately the show tomorrow was scheduled to be as my part a quick bit in a large show. My absence won't drastically effect the performance. 

Wednesday I had an on camera interview with Bob, but Bob was not able to make it. I coughed through the information without him and it was okay.  The interviewer suggested that I have Bob with me anyway even though he wasn't going to participate.  I told the interviewer he didn't know Bob.  If Bob was there physically, there is very little I could do to keep him from trying to express himself.  He wouldn't have sounded good. Again if it was a stage performance I might have pushed through, but certainly didn't want that experience filmed.  In a world where bad performances get more YouTube exposure than good there was little I could do to keep it from happening except refuse to let Bob be photographed. 

It is the new age problem, things get sent and uploaded and forwarded so fast the rule is, don't write it, photograph it or tape it if you don't want the world to see it.  Last night there was a news report on a 14 year old girl who photographed semi nude pictures of herself for her boyfriend. She posted them on the internet. The pictures got hacked and went viral, four years later they are still being circulated. She was really upset and felt violated, as well she should.  BUT she took the photos and put them on line.  If you don't want those pictures to be seen, don't take them. We are in a time when the expectation of privacy is not the expectation of our grandparents. 

The Supreme Court is hearing a case this week over that very issue of expectation of privacy.  The FBI placed a GPS tracking device on the car of a suspected drug lord.  The FBI did not get a warrant to "tap" the car in such a way and the case has gone to the highest in the country. The lawyers for the FBI argue that no one should expect privacy when they are driving on public roads.  It is a constitutional issue and will be a bench mark case for future rights for warrant less surveillance.  I believe if we allow this sort of spying with out some probably cause, we will become an Orwellian state of fear based living. 

The argument is... well if you are not doing anything wrong then why would you care if you are being spied on?  The problem is how do you define wrong, that is usually a power of the state.  In the middle east it is against the law for a woman to drive a car. 

I am a strick believer in absolute rights.  The original philosophy of the constitution was that every American had the right to do anything to him/her self they wanted to do as long as no one else was being harmed.  That has changed radically over the years and the government limits more and more the concept of telling you what you can do.  Remember how well prohibition worked out?

Do what you want to do without harming anyone or any thing else, but by all means whatever you do... don't take pictures of yourself doing it and posting it on the internet. 

As you were,

Jay