A few friends (long-time friends of my wife, actually) started a blog a couple of years ago called "Ionarts" that has grown into a significant group effort to comment on arts, music, literature, etc., particularly as they pertain to the Washington, DC area. Click the link at the top of this message, or in my blogroll, to take a look (and check out the Chesterley shout-out from yesterday...thanks Chuck!). It could be very helpful if you find yourself traveling to DC, or if you're looking for music recordings, books, etc., to purchase.
Successful musicians are those who are innovative enough to piece together various jobs to form a career in music. Very few musicians can survive on performing alone. The moderator of the aforementioned blog, Charles Downey, is an example of someone who has learned to work with the different facets of his academic identity* to construct a really interesting career for himself. He has a Ph.D. in musicology from The Catholic University of America where he studied French Baroque Opera, among other things. Downey not only writes a great deal on his own and via the blog, but he also teaches and performs on a regular basis. One might say he's living the dream musician job by earning enough to live while having the time to write, perform, and teach. And he even has a growing family (wait...a working classical musician has a family?? Imagine that!). Many thanks to Charles and his colleagues (a couple of whom I know) for serving the arts in numerous ways.
*More on this academic identity idea later...this is actually at the heart of my new dissertation topic.
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