Afterglow 2013 - Day 2 Sunday

I thought that it was a given that we would rage on KK every night. That's what we do at Afterglow, right? I guess I was wrong. I didn't tell anybody else that I was going up there, but I didn't know that I had to. So like last night, I sat up on KK alone with my thoughts, the moon and most importantly - the whiskey. So I guess I wasn't really alone then.

There are a lot of things to do during the day at Afterglow and I often forget about the fun things to do at night. The biggest one is the nightly campfire with the makeshift band who tries to entertain the crowd. My Mom knows her away around a crowd and can get the masses clapping their hands and singing along, but her repetoire is (no offense) mostly geared towards the younger demographic. Now I love All God's Critters and Puff the Magic Dragon as much as the next guy, but the paying audience demands more. That's where Kevin and I come in. We're here to make sure that every single man, woman and child gets screwed out of their hard earned money. But seriously. Anyone dumb enough to throw down a couple bucks to see us deserves to have their money siphoned into our booze fund.

Carol, Dale, Mark, Stacy and Aunt Sandy also come to hear us play. They are adults. They have no excuse. They should know better. But like I said, even something bad is made better by being up here at Afterglow. This place has a magical power to make you forget about pretty much everything except what is truly important. Everyone has their core beliefs and I'm not going to speak for anyone else. But I could probably do it if I had to. Don't put me in that position. I'm fairly comfortable where I am. Don't upset the apple cart.

It's a good thing that we play for free because these people can't ask for their money back. We tell them ahead of time that we aren't that good because we don't plan on ever making it so we just keep on faking it. Luckily that didn't seem to bother Aunt Rose, my Mom and Clare as they were probably more focused on hanging out with Maddie, Nate, June and Bella. I'm ok with that. Children are the future. They need constant support and guidance so they don't end up forming a band and playing hack covers of popular rock songs.

I'm going to knock myself for every single fault that I have, but one legitimate claim is that I have an awful memory. I can barely remember my childhood. I don't know what I've done in my life unless I tweeted about it or took a picture. I have trouble memorizing song lyrics. I'll never make it as a real musician because I need the words and chords. But do I really need to be one? People are very forgiving at Afterglow. They're family. That makes it easy for me to pretend to be a real musician. Dale doesn't care. Beege doesn't care. My Mom has criticized us in the past but I'm sure she's just trying to encourage us to be better. Sometimes you need tough love.

I don't give myself any credit. So what else is new? But I shouldn't knock Kevin at all. He's got some mighty big shoes to fill even though Timmy probably only wore a size 10. Kevin doesn't have a musical background, has not taken formal lessons and hasn't dedicated his life to honing his guitar skills. Considering that he is self taught he's pretty damn good and far better than I will ever be despite any musical advantages that I do have. I'll never say we do a good job. I'm too critical of myself. But I bet Clare and Jenny would do it for me.

When night falls at Afterglow there is no place I'd rather be then right here at the campfire. I do want to continue to work hard at my guitar playing, vocals and memorization skills to help fill the huge gap that Timmy left behind, but I need to stop comparing myself to him. I'm not Timmy. I will never be as good as he was. But I can still be Scott. Kevin can still be Kevin. I'm ok with that. As long as everyone else understands that we can move on. And we need to move on. That's how you Rage for Timmy. The music must go on.

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