Originally posted on Facebook HERE

Well… obviously not at home again today. I’m at the Fairfield Inn in Verona, WI after what could possibly be the best show of the year last night for my band Pink Houses. It was incredible. At least 1,000 people is my guess. New Glarus Oktoberfest is usually the last show of the summer season for us, and it’s always great. The energy was off the charts. Everyone was having fun.

I wish there were more moments in life like that. Everyone getting along. Having fun. Making friends. Smiling. Singing along. Dancing and jumping and hugging each other. It’s awesome, and the feeling you get when you’re in a band at shows like that? Amazing…

I remember years ago — the mid 90s — I was in a short lived band called the nobody’s. They needed a bass player, I tried out — of course I was the best bass player they had ever seen in their lives — BUT… I was old. I think I was 35 at the time. Since they couldn’t find anyone younger than me that could play worth a crap, I got the gig. But I realized that — for years I was almost always the youngest member of the bands I was in, or one of the youngest, and now? I was the oldest.

Then — a couple years later I got the gig with Road Trip— again — at 37 years old, well… I became the oldest member of that band. And when I hit 40 — I started to wonder, you know — how many years can I keep doing this?… so I started to think about having a career I could fall back on when I had to give it up…

That eventually led to me leaving Road Trip after the New Year’s Eve show in 2005 to focus on my career in real estate at the time. That was my plan, anyway…

Life has plans for us we only see when we’re open to them, though. So many of the most important things in my life have come about because I was willing to scrap my plan and head another direction based solely on intuition, and the opportunities that were presented to me. I took a risk.

And in 2006 I left real estate to start my Edward Jones business. Everything I did my entire life prepared me for that job. The day I got back from getting my license I told my wife— this job is going to change our lives. And wow. I love it. It’s a huge business now. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, too — building it up over time. And I took a few years off from music. I finally had my “real” job…

But… music didn’t listen so well, and in 2009 I played with another local band for a year…

Then I filled in here and there with Road Trip and a few other bands…

In 2020 I realized a dream and started The Fusion Project — what an incredible band that is. Two all original, all instrumental albums that I’m super proud of…

And in late 2024 I was made aware that Pink Houses was looking for a bass player. I got the gig in 2025… I was 65 years old at the time. Crazy how life works, right? 30 years prior to getting the Pink Houses gig people thought I might be “too old”… but here I am, still playing at now age 67… I do thank our guitar player JJ for his presence, which makes me not quite the oldest member in that band, though 🙂

And so here I sit — still playing music at 67. Still working my day job, which I plan on doing for at least five more years yet. And looking back on it all, I’m very grateful for all of it. For all the shows I’ve played, all the people whose lives I’ve touched in some way through music, and in many ways even more so with my work as a financial advisor. We make a difference in people’s lives every day at that job. And I’m so lucky… so lucky — to have lived my life being able to touch others through work that has always felt meaningful to me.

Shows like we had last night — the culmination of 53 years of playing bass. Incredible. Moving our office back to Edward Jones this year and having 95% of our clients come with us? Incredible.

Life has plans for my future I’m totally unaware of right now, but I guarantee you I’m always looking. Because when I feel a pull, when something really feels right to me — even though on the surface it might seem crazy… I have to listen.

Intuition never steers you wrong. But it can be scary. There is almost always a pot of gold and a rainbow on the other side of the fear, though.

What’s pulling you in an unexpected direction today? Are you listening?…