You vs 10-Year-Old You
At one point when I was a kid, probably around 14, my goal in life was to put on gigs in the front yard.
I was not a DJ. I was not a musician. All I could do was sing. And I knew a bunch of songs. But I had no band, and I had a horrible, ginky fro--so I didn't think I could really be in a band.
Which was dumb. But I thought a lot of dumb stuff then. But the dream was correct.
In reality, I should have just grown the thing out as large as I could and gone with it while I had it. But that's a different post entirely.
The point was I wanted to do music where I was. Wherever I was.
Walking around the fall show in Round Top, Texas, I got asked multiple times by people if I had my DJ sh*t with me.
I don't know why I don't just pack it in the car when I'm going somewhere like that or anywhere. Just set up. Do a quick hour. What could be more fun?
There's just no way to exchange more positive energy with people than playing music.
And some people say, "Do well by the 100-year-old version of you." I say, "Do well by the 10-year-old version of you."
Now, I forget where I read it. But I think I talked about it, too. All the stuff that you liked then, and the stuff that you were doing then, should be the stuff you're doing now.
I really have been thinking about this, as I've got two boys entering adulthood. And my advice to them is like, don't change. You kind of got it all now by the balls. Just keep life like this.
Because there is no real world around the corner.
I think we're all fooled, and a lot of people my age have long since woken up to this.
I'm happily regressing with the music, and the DJing, the booking, and the events.
And I think a lot of people, myself included, were born entertainers. And anything that I've been successful at has been while doing just that.
Not for personal glory, but for the love of making things fun and good and better.
You're DJing, you make a party better. You are playing in a bar, and the band's good. Make somebody's night better. Make the owners of the club's night better if a bunch of people come and drink at the bar.
It's a push-from-behind mentality.
I'm not saying I don't really love being known as a guy who does all this, because I really do. But not for the reasons a 20- or 30-year-old kid would, which would be for self-glorification.
What I love is in the doing, and having done it.
And doing it because you love it. You like to make people happy. You're spreading good feelings.
At the end of the day, the feelings are the only thing anybody can remember anyway.