The Painted Birds

My former life as a hirsute, semi-pro musician

Questlove, drummer and bandleader for The Roots as well as a renowned music collector and author, was interviewed in The Guardian last week. The most interesting part of the article was his advice to musicians about preserving their history while it’s unfolding:

“People were living for the day, living for the moment, not thinking about history. So I stress to artists now: dude, every sketch pad, every direction you take from a telephone, save all your history because you never know when you’re going to need it.” -Questlove

This reminded me of the last time I visited my hometown, over the holidays in 2022. I went through a box of concert posters, setlists, advertisements and press clippings. Most of the paper artifacts were for my favourite artists, a few were promoting my own bands. I threw most of it away; one less box taking up space in my sister’s basement. Now I wonder if Questlove was right, if it was important to keep that stuff, in case I needed it one day. Had I made a mistake?

---