OUT TO SEE: CAN TOO MUCH MUSIC LEAD TO ILLNESS? I’M SICK…
I had less than ideal health this past winter. I’m not saying I was ever on my deathbed. In fact, over the course of a year I only missed three days of work due to illness (if an Internet source is correct, the average full time worker takes 8.5 days of sick leave). The situation is that starting around December, I went through this routine of getting colds that lasted about three days. I’d recover and then figure I could just go back to my normal routine, and then about two weeks later the sniffles would return.
I am either getting old or perhaps it is just bad luck.
Sidebar. As I write the first draft of this column, I am fighting back another bout of a sore throat and runny nose (that in fact in retrospect lasted longer than three days).
One friend recommended that I give up the night life and go for 8-9 hours of sleep. Perhaps she is making an appropriate recommendation. Of course, I argued that exercising out in the cold winter nights probably contributes a tad; you know, breathing in cold air –- this is what I’d like to believe.
My latest run of bad luck illness hit after four nights of music scattered amid three days of cold winter night exercising.
Here’s what perhaps led to this latest illness.
Monday: I headed off to Spaceland to catch Castledoor (pictured left) and Princeton (pictured right). I’ve previously made reference to Castledoor. What was unique about this night was the fact that it might have been 
Castledoor’s last ever set. At a minimum, it was their last set in their current form. Really sad. It was only the second time I’d seen them and I was liking them. As for Princeton, it was their residency month. For their last song, they invited anyone so willing to come up on stage. A number of folks got on stage and they had a dance party. (I would post photos of the dance party, but I’m not sure people would appreciate having their photos up on intraffik.com.) Two friends were supposed to meet me at Spaceland. Both made it to Spaceland, but didn’t get inside. When I arrived at 10 p.m. I walked right in, but it was already crowded inside Spaceland. I sent off warning texts. Unfortunately, my friends got caught in the long line that quickly formed outside after 10 p.m. Interestingly, they know each other and I’m sure they were standing in line at the same time, but neither noticed the other.
Tuesday: I was off to see Oh, The Spanish Moss and Roll the Tanks. Siria mentioned this night briefly in her ‘What I Listened to . . .’ column. I have to give props to Oh, The Spanish Moss. Their bassist had just quit on them before their gig. They decided to play anyways. Who needs a bassist anyways? As for Roll the Tanks, there was an interesting situation where one of their amps started picking up a Spanish radio station. You couldn’t hear it while they were playing, but in between songs you’d hear Spanish coming from the amp. It was amusing for the audience, but frustrating for the band. (more…)