So, not too many posts lately. It has been a rough few weeks. Won’t go into details here but every time I got up something was waiting to knock me down. I’m still here.

One thing about getting older is that you know you made it through other times like this, I have to confess to a certain amount of ‘Why me, why now’, but of course life goes in cycles and sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it isn’t. This time music and musicians got me through.

I had been to see Finding the Voice and then dived into John Farnham reaction videos and from there into interviews with some of our best known names. The thing that struck me was how they came back from adversity. Fame is a bit of a roller coaster, performances, especially vocals in live performances, can be like standing up there naked.

In reality all creative endeavours are like that. Creators put a huge amount of ourselves into works, it hurts when someone says something negative about them. Getting older lends a certain amount of ability to balance the good with the bad and even if the bad still sticks with us for longer, time lends us some perspective.

It’s hard to step away sometimes, young people under pressure can sometimes crumble under it, older artists can sometimes be crushed by that last straw. Critique is important, it’s how we get better at what we do. Constant criticism without support to improve is soul destroying. We all need the feedback and the support.

To those musicians who have shared their tough times in videos as well as their music I thank you. I’m blown away by your care for others and spreading the word about self care to especially young performers.

While I’m sure readers can think of others right now I’m thinking of John Farnham and his family, Irwin Thomas aka Jack Jones, Virgil Donati, Phil Buckle, Brett Garsed. Your stories told with humour and humility helped more than I can say. I’m sure I’m not the only one to feel that way. What you do makes a difference.