I'm Just a Singer in a Rock'n'Roll Band

As many things as I've collected, I've shied away from amassing many band/concert t-shirts.

The trend started early, when I bypassed t-shirts celebrating "Long Distance Voyageur" or "Broadsword and the Beast" as my friends enthusiastically scooped them up.

To whit, I can offer a brief roster of the rock t-shirts I now have: Bettie Serveert, Olivia Tremor Control, Tortoise, Clem Snide, Jennie Stearns, Elephant 6, and most recently Akron/Family.

I don't know if that selection reflects on who I am, but it is a sign of how NOT to chart a successful music career. Collectively, those bands have sold about 100,000 albums and been together for about 50 years.

I gave up trying to forecast the success of bands when I saw Mazzy Star in 1990 and predicted them as the Next Big Thing. Yeah, I know... Mazzy who?