Coffee with Seth

Seth is at home between tours (it was Europe in summer, South America just ended, New York this weekend, then Australia and New Zealand for the rest of this month). He set aside time to hang out with me today—coffee and lunch—and I loved every moment of our time together, talking about his kids, politics, climate change, Cristina, the state of education for his children, and of course his life in the entertainment business.

In the early years of his career, he worked 18-hour days, setting up, running sound, and then unplugging and supervising load-out and equipment packing. He had no chance to explore all the parts of the world where he was working: it was off the bus or plane, into the venue, and back to the next bus or plane. 

Now he has assistants who do the load-in and load-out. He has time in every city to walk around, absorb the atmosphere, go swimming in this or that ocean, visit museums. He talked about the beach in Rio, excellent museum exhibits in Frankfurt and Mexico City. He’s also enjoying the work more: he has leeway for his own creativity. He feels terrific, has adopted a plant-based diet, keeps himself fit. It’s all I could wish for him. He’s at ease, relaxed, confident. At the top of his game. 

I’m glad I lived long enough to see this. Everything is impermanent, especially in the world of entertainment. There are no unions, no contracts, no job security. There is this tour and then waiting to hear what comes next. But at this moment my son is happy, and that makes his mom happy.

I suspect the cause of these headaches is something in my neck. I will wait for confirmation over the next month or two, but in the meanwhile, I adapt and carry on. I’m still cutting back on screen time, which does seem to help.