When I started playing professionally (bars for 20 years) 32 years ago, I drank as much as most of my musical friends did (which was quite a bit). One problem was that it didn't appear to affect my singing or playing at all. Same thing with dope. Grass, hash, coke. All easily available and free (to musicians of course). After about 8 years I started having agonizing hangovers and migraine-like headaches. I stopped. To me, the sad thing was that I never liked the taste of alcohol, and dope often made me dizzy. But to a shy person in an extroverted profession, it allowed me to feel like "one of the guys and gals". Silly reason to get into it in the first place eh?

Guess it gave me enough false confidence to face bar audiences night after night. (too bad I waited til the age of 40 to kick THAT habit!) What got me back to my first love of folk music was reading a LOT of Quentin Crisp. Now THAT guy gave me something worthwhile...with no hangovers!

Rick