Credit: www.TheRavenEffect.comThis is my tribute to Kanyon.
He was one of my closest friends, in the business or otherwise. I should have posted this much sooner, but sometimes life gets in the way. And more importantly, I wanted every word to be exactly perfect.
RavenOf those who have chosen this profession, I can think of very few that would trade it for any other. We recognize however, with a deep and indelible sadness that as incredibly high as the highs can be, the lows can be drastically lower.
If we are not employed by the same company, it is possible to go weeks, months, or as mind-boggling as this may seem, even years without seeing our truly close friends.
My wife says I don't live in the real world because I get comped for concerts, and amusement parks and cover charges and all sorts of things. I don't wait in lines, I don't have to wake up at 7 for a nine to five job.
However, I sleep so poorly that every night I wake at least 7-8 times forcing me after a few days to sleep 10-12 hours just to catch up. With all the injuries, travel, time away from loved ones, emotional baggage, sleep disorders, addictions, etc, it can make it hard for those who do what we do to function in the real world. Add being bi-polar (manic-depressive) into the equation like it was for Kanyon and some days it can be damn near impossible.
But one thing that is real, and, far more real for people who do what we do than for those living a normal life are the friendships. When we are on the road together, we're inseparable. We spend more time with friends when we are on the road than we do with loved ones. We are more like family than friends, even the ones we don't particularly like.
We wake up, meet for breakfast, go to the gym, eat again and drive to the show together. The drive alone can sometimes take 5 or 6 hours one way, which means 5 or 6 hours back the other way. We hang out backstage together, sometimes we perform together, and then we turn around and drive back, but not without stopping to eat again. At that point, sometimes we go out, or sometimes we go back to the hotel.
But the day isn't over yet, even though it's well after midnight and we've just spent anywhere from 10-16 hours together. Now we call each other even though our rooms could be connected, (the lazy bastards we are) to plan tomorrow and see what the other one is watching on TV. If it's a good movie, or more specifically, local, indy, bad wrestling, . . . we'll even watch TV on the phone together.
Then we get up and do it all over again, sometimes for weeks or months at a time.
