ROCK STAR TOUR BUS DRIVER
When I was a kid I dreamed of living on the road. More specifically, on a tour bus traveling from gig to gig. While I eventually got my wish, it only took a few years for it to lose its luster and become a grind. Everything becomes a grind at some point - even being a rock star. But I loved those tour buses. I loved watching satellite TV in a top bunk while the miles passed by. I loved how the bus floated down the road on air. I loved how silent it was up front, with 45 feet and 25 tons between you and the powerful diesel.
But what I remember most was my desire to be the bus driver. There’s a place to stand up front down by the entry door, opposite the driver. That was my favorite place to ride. Since the front of the bus is completely flat, it would feel like I was floating across the road like Jack and Rose on the front of the Titanic. I’d spend night after night up there watching the country go by while talking to the driver. These guys had the life: They sleep all day, wake up in the early evening, give their bus some attention, pick up the band after a show, captain a cruise liner on wheels all night long through the dark and tranquil countryside, stop for fuel and snacks at a travel wonderland, deliver the band to a hotel in the early morning, drop the gear at a venue, then repeat. What life could possibly be better that that?
YEP. THIS WAS THE JOB I WANTED
But wait: Wasn’t being the rock star supposed to be the dream? Wasn’t the aspiration to be the guy partying in the back of the bus, or writing the next hit song? That’s a great question, and thanks for getting me to the point of this post.
Fast-forward maybe 15 years. I’ve got a neighbor who I chat with as we put our trash to the curb. The first time we met we did the usual meaningless thing that always seems important: exchange what we “do”. Me a music producer, him a sports agent. As a football fan I wanted to talk endlessly about his sports universe and his clients, many who throw Super Bowl-winning touchdowns. He didn’t care about all that. He’s a music fan. He just wanted to talk about the drummers I’ve worked with, how records are made, how vocals are tuned, and so on.
It seemed that our own worlds were mundane, but there was adventure in the other’s. I’d trade a few of my musician friends for a couple of NFL stars, Heck, in that moment I probably wanted to swap our jobs altogether. Lucky I didn’t. I thought I worked hard, but he takes hard to a new level. There’s always another crisis phone call; Always another fire to put out; Always another deal to make or save. It makes me tired just to see it from a distance. Besides, I’m terrible at remembering stats and people’s names. Those two things are pretty important to his work I think.
OKAY, SO I SHOULDN’T BE A SPORTS AGENT
But the rock band tour bus driver thing still has legs. That grass is definitely greener, right? Deep down, I know better. Every job is a grind. That bus driver watches the same cracks go by in the same roads year after year. That rock star plays those same songs night after night for years while trying to bring the same excitement they did the first time they played them. The sports agent closes a never-ending string of deals while putting out endless fires (only he does it from the sidelines of the Super Bowl, so there is that). Every job has its glory, and every job has its grind. I just have to remind myself every so often.
LEARN TO LOVE WHAT YOU DO
The popular saying these days is: “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life”. I would find that clever and cute if it didn’t make me so nauseous. I’ve done what I love for 35 years and I’ve worked every single one of those days. We are meant to work, and I’d self-destruct if I didn’t.
I’d argue that it’s not “Do what you love”. It’s “Learn to love what you do”. The job is going to become a grind. It’s going to become mundane no matter how glamorous it starts out (or appears to be from the outside). I love what I do. Heck, I’ve loved all of the things that I’ve done as I adventure along through my career. When it’s time once again for me to do something different I don’t know what I’ll be doing, but I’m sure it will be an incredibly rewarding challenge and an unbelievable grind all wrapped up together.
And I’m not yet ruling out that bus driving gig.
