Got the blues?

[redmax61]

Leftover Fajitas and a Diet Coke.

I'm just curious about something. I wonder how many musicians will admit to being manic/depressive. The way I look at it, most musicians wear their hearts on their sleeves. They more or less have to because they invoke so much emotion into their playing/singing. I mean, one of the most popular of all modern genres of music is based on being down. On the opposite end of things, look at how excited some of us get when we are expecting the Wells Fargo Wagon to deliver us something special.

Time to fess up. How about it?

[tone4days]

cup of instant wonton soup / diet pepsi (if i can break a tenner for the vending machine)

i can't cop to being bipolar - i'm a pretty moderate guy on the psycho-emotional front ... no super highs, no super lows ...

... then again, i'm not all that talented a musician :D

cheers
t4d

[johnreardon]

Definitely subject to mood swings, especially if I haven't played for a while.

[Peter]

Haven't had lunch yet.
I'm not manic-depressive: I don't have the manic part. I've dealt with depression my whole life, never particularly serious, but usually there as just a haze over normal life. It's only been the past year or so that I've done something about it, and that has been a wonderful thing.
I would suspect it is fairly common among musicians. The "artistic temperament" has a lot to do with being moody and dark.

[Aldwyn]

Peperoni Pizza.

I have been depressed in the past, mainly as a teenager. And then in my early 20s when my longterm GF and I broke up. I wrote my best songs when depressed.

I get depressed now and again, but it's like one or two days every three or four months, so it's not clinical.

I am happy to have traded happiness for song writing, though... if being able to write songs again means I need to be depressed like that again? I'll never write another tune.

But... I AM a little out of the ordinary as far as my beliefs and thought processes go!

Peace,
Aldwyn

[Marty Horne]

The drummer I've worked with for the last 8 or 9 years is either life of the party happy or totally miserable. I'm usually in the middle and I'm comfortable there.

[irwcustom]

I guess we wear our hearts on our sleves by answering this thread honestly. Yes, I have been prone to mild stuff like that. More situational for me - which I guess you could say it all is situational. It's amazing how the mind can effect the body and I said I'm never going to go back to feeling like that again, but it still hapens on ocassions. You've just caught me on a bit of a downer -last couple of days. One of the things I get upset about is doing 12 years of studying to a high academic level whilst working as well, with what feels like very little gain and more upsetting is the lack of prospects. Yet I know I can run rings around people who are financially anyway more sucessful than me who have put in about 1/18th of the effort and skill that I know I posess. I feel resentful of (probably) being forced to change direction and I don't know which direction that will be - it's frustrating and draining. I have many strings to my bow, but I feel that in having them, going in one direction for just one of them would be a waste of my talents. After 18 years of that effort though, who wouldn't be?

I like a joke however and am not character wise that way. I have gained some good songs also. Nice answers chaps; good thread.

[Big Mike]

Pepper Steak and noodles from the corner deli for lunch. Sobe Lean Peach tea.



I likely am whatever you want to call it. I'm fairly stable, but I do have times of severe depression, but i don't get the swings far to the other happy side. I'm lately always in a moderate form of depression due to stress and pure hatred for my job, and lack of reaching certain goals in my life.

But that's a personal deal I have to attend to.

[John LeQuire]

Lunch today: 6" Subway Club, Iced Tea

I'll admit to being on the sad/depressed side most of the time. I've always been the "serious" kid in the family, and have never really been able to be happy and bubbly and enthusiastic in and of myself. Most of the time it's not that bad, but I will have a really bad night or two every couple of months. The only thing that makes it worse is that my friends tend to avoid me when I get down, which only makes things worse. I think sometimes people underestimate the positive effect that their presence alone can have on someone.

[Rusty]

Frozen chicken wrap and water.........mmmmmmmmmmm good! Serious!

Although I am not diagnosed with anything, I find myself depressed or discouraged when my mind and heart are set on or relying on things, including music, to bring me happiness. Although this things may be good and beneficial in certain ways to me and others, they will all eventually pass away. I have to remind myself of that every day.
And John, I think you are absolutely right, we all need good friends who will stand by and do what ever it takes to help.

[CAFeathers]

Deli Sliced Turkey Breast on a Sourdough Roll.

I'm just crazy as a loon, Just ask anyone that knows me.

[Goober]

Smoked turkey and jack cheese on wheat.

Sometimes I am SURE that I am a fruitcake.
Other times I feel like I've got all my ducks in a row.
My happy/not happy ratio is probably close to 75/25.
That makes me only 25 % wacko.
I guess I'll just have to be happy with that! :)

[WhaleBlueTwentyTwo]

Meatballs & ketchup. Side order of Guiness ;)

I've never really been manic depressive, just manic :D

There was a time of my life where I was genuinely upset with someone and pissed off with the world, but it soon passed.

[Dancing Bear]

Peppered ham w provolone on Rye. baked Cheetos watermelon and Bargs red cream soda.
Manic Depressive ? Gosh. You guys are scaring me. You are an elite group in your musical abilities and your instrument ownerships . Look at the rest of the world and thank your lucky stars for your blessings. Depression, Unless it is clinical get past it . Life is full of wonder open your eyes up and enjoy it.
Big Mike find something new its not worth . As far as goals they are just that things to reach for . I wanted to marry Barbara Eden and be the next Elvis . Independantly wealthy and the envy of the free world. It didn't happen,But heck it could be so much worse. Who knows next week maybe.;)

[jmadill]

Ya gotta suffer fer yer art! :)

Yeah, I have my depressed moments. Like now, for instance.

However, over the years I've learned that depression can be a blessing. Without it, you'd never get to appreciate the good times anywhere near as much.

Without black, there is no white ... or shades of gray between.

Yin Yang, baby, yin yang.

http://www.absalom.com/mormon/images/yin-yang.gif

-jm

[WhaleBlueTwentyTwo]

16 slices of toast, and a sandwich, and a bag of crisps, and some KitKats. I'm not that fat, I swear.

Work today, needed my energy, but I'm a "people-person" so I'm never depressed at work.

[bleujazz3]

I loved when Robin Williams did a sketch on being schizophrenic, talking to himself. "Shut up. No, you shut up!" Kind of makes me wish I was that normal. Or even that abbynormal. :D

[Vinni Smith]

I'm just crazy as a loon, Just ask anyone that knows me.
Yep. He is just about as crazy as they get. Heh Heh Heh

[skypup]

Migas + coffee.

ADD (but no H, pretty strange for a dude).
Wife on Prozac.
Son is bipolar.

My poor 'normal' daughters get to live with this.

donnie