age is a funny thing

3/29/06

One thing that has been amusing Anjali and I lately are all the DJs who are ashamed of their age. You’d think that with a name that includes the word “Kid” I’d be somewhat circumspect about matters of age but Anjali and I both celebrated very public 30th birthdays. Meanwhile I see other DJs in the biz perpetually turning 27 or 28 even if I swore I celebrated a thirtieth birthday of theirs at some point. There is a sentiment of at least some in the industry that the people in power in the biz consider you washed up at 30. That is so much bullshit. Any DJ worth their salt has had years to listen to music, and the better the DJ the better they get the more music they discover. As a teenager the concept of the child prodigy had me feeling washed-up and a failure at age 16. It was too late to do anything or achieve anything artistically meaningful. This is such a worthless thought process. We are only limited by our own belief in our limitations. There is nothing to keep you from doing something wonderful except your own thoughts and beliefs to the contrary. If everyone pretends to be younger than they are then the kids today will have unrealistic and potentially damaging notions of what they should have achieved by a certain age. Instead of the instantly brilliant child we need more role models of those who came into creative flower much later in life whether they be Henry Miller or Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Leave a Comment