Musical Mid-Life

Update (12/19): The mid-life crisis topic’s a bit too depressing, eh? Sorry! I’m cheery as heck about my “crisis.” I’m working on interview questions for this guy. You may remember him from a little trilogy called “Lord of the Rings.” New movie coming out called “Day Zero.” And he has his own record label.
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Oh, the wheels of traditional publishing turn slowly…

For the past few months, I’ve immersed myself in digital music and digital media news. As I brainstorm and pitch what I hope are unique story ideas that will capture the attention of busy editors, I satisfy the writing urge on my blog. I write less on the blog because I’m trying to write more off the blog. But alas, the fruits of those off-blog efforts may not show up for weeks or months, if at all. The life of a writer…

I’m accustomed to hitting a “Publish” button and seeing my words immediately broadcast to the world. That’s why it’s sometimes frustrating dealing with traditional print publications.

Let’s talk about spam. I usually balk at being added to e-mail lists without my permission. Who doesn’t? How frustrating is it to get a bulky, HTML-filled e-mail from Blah-Blah & Associates singing the praises of some author you’ve never heard of with a book to sell that you aren’t remotely interested in reading? Man, back in the day, freelance writers had to jump through hoops to get review copies of books. Now, my inbox overflows with, “May I send you this book/CD/DVD?”

The other problem with PR types is some of them don’t target us writers and bloggers very well (ex: sending financial planning book spam to a catblogger). The Long Tail author and Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson was so frustrated with poorly targeted PR missives, he blocked e-mail addresses and publicly listed them. It caused quite a stir in the techosphere.

On rare occasions, however, I’m glad to get certain PR/marketing e-mail. Yesterday, I received a bulky HTML-filled e-mail from a shall-remain-unnamed entity, part music production company, part band PR firm. And I was delighted! Why?

Somebody at the company either performed a Google blog search for digital music news, found LBC’s recent posts, and added me to the e-mail list, or somebody was already an LBC reader, read the digital music posts, and added me to the list, or…it doesn’t really matter how it happened. It pleases me nonetheless. (And it doesn’t take much these days.)

A music industry type noticed and reacted to my music blogging, and believes my blog is influential enough to share news about his clients. While a personalized “Hello La Shawn, my name is…” e-mail would have been much nicer, I won’t complain too much. One of the benefits of being on a PR company’s radar is free stuff – books, CDs, or, in the case of a PR firm for bands, being added to the guest list for concerts. And that may lead to backstage passes. (The company’s relatively unknown clients could end up opening for well-known bands.)

It’s sort of crazy that I’m going crazy over music at my age. Doesn’t this typically happen to people in their 20s? I hate to trivialize it and call it a mid-life crisis, this new interest in wanting to hang out with bands (what’s that about?), but in a way, it is. So let’s get everyone involved:

Are you now or have you ever gone through a so-called mid-life crisis? If so, do tell. But keep it clean!

Or:

Do you think “mid-life crisis” is a bunch of bunk, simply an excuse to justify doing crazy/wild/weird/immoral things?

(T-shirt image: Modern Drummer Magazine)

Update: I like Charles Hill’s response to the questions:

People do things like that, yes. And sometimes they do things like that at the approximate mid-point of their lives, based on how long they (or we) expect those lives to be. But I think that the idea that there’s a syndrome of sorts, something that compels us to act on things we might not have acted on otherwise, simply because we’ve reached X/2 number of years, is a bit dubious: it’s a convenient shorthand, nothing more.

Or look at it this way: if you’re too young to be having a mid-life crisis, you’re just sowing some wild oats; if you’re too old, you’re doing the second-childhood thing. Same actions, different label.

And this being La Shawn, after all, it’s not like she’s doing something wicked: she’s merely wondering if her sudden interest in music is a sign of the Dreaded Crisis. “Doesn’t this typically happen to people in their 20s?” she asks. Well, what if it does? Life isn’t Logan’s Run; there’s nothing that says “Okay, you’ve passed 29, you must put the following things behind you.” (Well, there’s Paul in 1st Corinthians, but an interest in music doesn’t, or at least shouldn’t, qualify as childish.)

Besides, I keep a copy of Hanson’s “MMMbop” on iTunes up here, just to perplex people half my age. Because, you know, I can.

Cheers, Charles. Not to overplay the “mid-life crisis” idea, I’m actually just thinking out loud. An interest in music isn’t childish, but I think my desire to hang out backstage is something else altogether. What that something is, I don’t know. But I’m gonna have fun finding out!