By Chris Gardner
HOW DO I FOLLOW
MY PASSION WHEN
I’M JUST BARELY
HOLDING ON?
A wannabe drummer goes from shy to fly
She’s Got Rhythm
Newbie musician Alla Marinow was one part terrified and two parts
triumphant. Perched behind a drum set, she could see the faces of the
80 people in the audience—though she tried not to look. Her band played
its first two songs, and gradually her fear fell away, the panic replaced by
elation. “It’s like freedom,” she says of playing live. “It’s like flying.”
This recent Walnut Creek, California, rock show was the entrepre-
neur’s first paid gig. She started lessons about two years ago, at age 56,
knowing “nothing, zero, zipola!” about drums. Weeks after her first
lesson, she began feeling tired. Doctors implanted a pacemaker. Then
came two more surgeries, for a thyroid disorder and for breast cancer.
FROM LEFT: RENNIE SOLIS; LOCATION: RED HOUSE STUDIOS; ART STREIBER
But Marinow kept practicing, even when she was so exhausted she
couldn’t walk. When she began attending jam sessions, meeting fellow
musicians and forming a band with them—just for fun—it led to playing
for pay. “I feel great now,” she says, fully recovered from her surgeries.
“Why should the kids have all the fun?” —Leslie Quander Wooldridge
I’m a home remodeler whose
business is suffering due to the
weak economy. How do I follow
my dreams when my income
is down by 70 percent and I’m
struggling to pay my bills? I’m
happy to have work, but my
debt seems endless.
—Doug M., 55,
Morgantown, West Virginia
Playing with others
is the surest way to
develop your musical
chops. So hire a great
teacher (for tips on
how, visit wannaplay
music.com) and ask
for help finding a band.
For a supercharged
start, schedule a week
at camp. Interlochen
Center for the Arts in
Interlochen, Michigan,
welcomes all skill levels
at its adult band
camp ($425 tuition;
231-276-7387; college
. interlochen.org). Puget
Sound Guitar Work-
shop near Bremerton,
Washington, also offers
one-week courses in
summer ($799; 360-
647-0741; psgw.org).
See musicafter50.com
to find more players
and programs. —L.Q. W.
How do you choose between pursuing your passion and doing what
is practical? The hard truth is, you
have to do both: Pay the bills and
make time for what inspires you.
(John Grisham wrote his first thriller while working 60 to 70 hours per
week.) When we push ourselves,
we tend to find that we are capable
of much more than we thought.
As for your debt, do whatever is
necessary to make ends meet. Will
you downsize? Take in boarders? It
may sound harsh, but your old reality is gone. The only way to return to
a life you love is by dealing with your
new reality. I’m not saying it will be
easy, but it will be worth it.
The film The Pursuit of Happyness chronicled Chris Gardner’s rise from struggling
single fatherhood to success on Wall
Street. Now he advises others on reaching their goals. Got a question? Ask Chris
at aarp.org/chrisgardner.
IMAGINE IT’S
YOUR TURN
Planning to fulfill a longtime dream? Let us
photograph you doing it. Go to aarp.org/yourstory.
