6/7/17 There Will Be Goodbyes By Dozens, So Practice Being Brave

Partly Sunday and low 60s.

So, Nashville.  I don't need to go on about how great the game was or how much fun the fans are, you've got Google for that.  The thing I took away that doesn't get talked about is the turnover of young people in that town.  Young people that arrived to try to make their way not only as musicians but people who moved there to work in a variety of industries be it restaurants or tourism or for one of the sports teams or even for the museums (which I guess is an offshoot of tourism but I'd like to think that locals visit museums too).  The stories I heard reminded me of this new Mountain Goats song which is a fictional story about a real guy who was in a band called Sisters Of Mercy.  The story talks about him going back to his hometown after years of trying to live the dream.  The lines that leapt to mind as I was hearing about these folks were:

"See the children bound for London
You'll all be back too
Everybody tests the membrane
But no-one pushes through"

It's a bittersweet sentiment because these kids took a shot and they failed, on the other hand at least they have a welcoming home to return to.  One of the things about youth is unless you're very, very lucky you're going to fail at things and failing at something you love is what hurts the worst.  Time continues to move, you have to make a living so you take the punch, get up, and get by some other way or you don't and you wind up dead or addicted or down some other dark path but if you're lucky you wind up getting by, somehow.  I think most of these kids that I heard about will be OK though, swings and misses and impermanence seem to be less terrifying to them than they are to me.  

Here's the album version of the song which sounds quite different.