???I'm pretty lucky.
???In between stressing out about graduation and the lack of potential jobs available, I realized that I'm pretty lucky.
???Maybe I'll have to worry about my future children and my future wife, but the words I spit out will never mean anything to thousands of strangers who'll never hold me up on some pedestal that I never would be able to comprehend.
???But if being a musician was my dream, and I wanted to touch people with my lyrical prowess, I would make sure I was everything the people who looked up to me thought I was.
???And that's what bothers me about musicians.
???Music isn't just pleasurable noise; it's about the words that we don't have the power to say. It's the words that we need to help us get by.
???So, if they are willing to spill their guts with verse and prose, why can't they be personable to the fans that adore them?
???I can completely understand being shy and reserved. It makes sense to me.
???What I don't understand is how bands and musicians have gotten away from caring about the audiences that surround them.
???I've been privileged enough to get to speak to and see some of my favorite bands whose words have guided me through the times I thought I would never make it through.
???For weeks, I anxiously awaited my chance to see lead singer of Saves the Day Chris Conley last year. After their show at the Water Street Music Hall, he remained on stage and met every person who waited hours, weeks and years to get a chance to tell him how much his music meant to them.
???For Conley, it was an hour of his time. For every one of his fans, it meant so much more.
???That's why it makes me sick going to shows and realizing that all those kids sitting and spending their money at the merch tables aren't going to meet their heroes.
???There isn't an excuse for disregarding how important it is to talk to your fans.
???Hipsters, scenesters and general elitists like to throw their two cents around when it comes to major label heavyweights Fall Out Boy.
???Too bad the people complaining don't understand how hard that band has worked not only musically, but also by building up their fan base from the ground up.
???To this day, Fall Out Boy could relegate themselves to performing in oversized stadiums and sold out outdoor festivals.
???Instead, they continue to perform in intimate settings and make themselves available to fan club members pre- and post-show.
???But no matter how important it is to me to talk to my idols, I'll never be able to understand what it's like to be onstage with the spotlight solely shown on me.
???I'll never understand what it's like to be followed around by hundreds of people when all I want is just an ice cream sandwich.
???I'll never be responsible for picking up the nameless people who have fallen down.
???That's why I'm lucky.
