My Most Fun and Saxy Interview . . . (and the Importance of Re-creation)

No professional guitar player has ever called me to do an interview.  Until now.  It’s a sign of how desperate COVID has made people for entertainment.

Mike Godette is a NYC guitar player who also has a cool video podcast where he interviews people who have “day gigs” but who play music on the side.   After seeing my cameo in the movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” he learned I played saxophone in a rock cover band. His video podcasts dish out a diet of great guitar player interviews, and he must have thought a sucky sax player would give it some spice.   

He’s an interesting interviewer, and he posted his podcast this week.  After listening to it, I realized he pulled a lot of crazy stories out of me I wouldn’t have otherwise told.  Like . . .

? Jamming in Hanover, NH (4:00)

? Swinging dance gigs with a WWII veteran swing band (8:00)

? Honking with a Dutch Funk Band on a transvestite canal boat (12:00)

? Auditioning for a Rolling Stones tribute band in Philly (14:00)

? Best Concert I saw . . . at an Amarillo Sirloin Stockade (29:00)

? Dinner and “This is Spinal Tap” with a famous String Quartet (37:00)

You might have zero interest in eighth-notes, Led Zeppelin, or playing funk music on an Amsterdam canal boat bar, but you probably do have an interest in re-creation – in feeling happier.

Webster's definition of the word “recreation” says “The things you do to screw around when you’re not working.”  Instead, it should be hyphenated it as “re-creation:”  Things you do to re-create yourself so you have bounce in your step the next day.

Endless types of hobbies can re-create: Gardening, DIY, crafts, photography, even sucking on the saxophone.  COVID gives us that chance to recapture these – or find new ones:  time travel, taxidermy, witchcraft . . . whatever.  

Unfortunately, most of what people do doesn’t re-create them.  Look at most kids.  They spend endless free time texting, tic-tocking, surfing, or watching TV.  Granted, these things are amusing and effortless ways to kill time until they can fall asleep again, but they don’t re-create.  They’re no bouncier the next day when they wake up.

We have surprising amounts of time to re-create hobbies that re-create us.  What did you once like to do that you could dust off and try again?  It’s easy to think we don’t have the time and energy to do it again or to pick up something new.  What’s funny is that once you start messing with a hobby, all of this energy magically reappears.

After doing this interview a couple weeks ago, I committed to myself to play my sax at least 20 minutes every night. Now my family has to drag me to bed. It's the only way they can prevent hearing loss and get some sleep.