Music The Key of Life

I it is 1981 in boston, and we were doing alright, compared to most bands. we got regular gigs at the usual spots and paid our dues as they say. We played this club pretty regularly called Cantones! It was a   complete dive ,small room but something about it, I just loved! Same thing though, three bands every night, two sets each, you'd be lucky to come out of there with $100 bucks. Most times we didn't we drank it all or our road crew would, which consisted of my 16 or 17 year old brother and a friend of his. By the time we were loading back up, they were so drunk they couldn't carry an amplifier out to the cars. Who cared, it was the way things were.
But I really feel that a lot of people don't know how competitive the music business is, even at that primal level. All we wanted to do every night, was BLOW the other bands off the stage!! That was our goal, and that's al we would talk about before, during, and after a gig!! It was really competitive. But one night, at Cantone's, Dotty, who everyone knew that played the place came in and she was basically a drunken old lady, who I think lived upstairs. I am not sure but anyway, after the show she was smoking her cigarettes and slurring her words and we were polite, but I think about a week later, we heard she had died. It was a shock she was a true music loverman. She loved watching these young guys come in and try to strut their stuff, but she was a staple and Boston lost something. after that, I really don't think we ever played there again. Matter of fact, I think they shut down.
Anyway, even on other levels you see bands that are up and coming and they get the right tour. I'll never forget seeing AC/DC open for Aerosmith at the Garden in probably 1978, and I turned to my friend after the show and said, Wow, AC/DC blew them off the stage!! It was true Aerosmith was drugged out and lost at the time and whoever booked that band to open for them was a complete genius, because, they were the real deal!There were a few other cases like that over the years but that one stands out, Aerosmith was still drawing but not really producing nightly and that band was freakin hungry you could see it.
I heard they only lasted another two weeks on that tour and Aerosmith dropped them, I could see why! Anyway, music is the one thing that seems to connect so many people, it could be the most powerful art form on the planet, and I am glad to say, it is what still moves me immeasurably to this day. There is something about a great song that just makes you a completely free person. It makes you forget all your troubles or it makes you think about them and connect with the artist. Whatever........ it is so powerful and always will be. Most people I know here a song and you can remember where you are or what you were doing when you first heard it. What is more powerful than that? I can't think of one thing right now, that's why I am still doing it. Happy 4th everyone!!! Thanks for reading, please keep following! Joe