4B - Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
A long and winding road back to the 'U'
LSA senior learned because I didn't grasp concepts.
But in these classrooms, I just
from academiC wasn't getting it. And surround-
ed by the brightest kids I'd ever
hiatus, music career met, it seemed like I was the only
one. I felt helpless and all I want-
By RAY MALO ed to do was avoid thatfeeling.
DailyArts Writer So instead of seeking help,
my semester was mostly bros
I had achieved my lifelong and beer bongs, beer pong and
dream: to play music for people barn dancing. Besides those first
in a different city every night. weeks, I barely remember set-
But it was a huge risk to give this ting foot in a classroom. Never-
a shot. I was starting to feel like theless, I was surprised when
it hadn't been worth it. I was the academic probation letter
happy to be a piece of the band's arrived. This school is so big.
success, but that success wasn't How had they noticed?
necessarily my own. And then I The suspension came after
found the e-mail. another unfocused semester. In
It was November 2010. I was an effort to get back on track, I
in a motel lobby in northern Cal- spent the summer taking classes
ifornia, taking advantage of the at New York University. But dis-
complementary Wi-Fi. Having tractions, as you might guess,
been on the road for weeks, bored have a way of seeking out an
with the usual website options, I 18-year-old in New York City.
gave my old Hotmail account a After a final desperate attempt
look. I had received an academic to re-enter the University, living
suspension from the University on campus to "immerse myself in
in 2001, so I forwarded my Uni- academia" while taking the bus
versity e-mails to this account to Washtenaw Community Col-
to stay in touch with old friends. lege, I came home to New Jersey,
My inbox now was mostly junk. defeated. I had achieved practi-
"Re: Hi," read most subject lines, cally nothing in college and any
from computer-generated girls attempt to process this just made
who wanted to meet up. me feel sorry for myself. I wasn't
Why I clicked on the actual smart enough. Or just didn't care
junk folder, I will never know. I enough. Either way, I realized
guess if this nonsense got past that I despised the very concept
the spam filter, I wanted to see of school. I simply couldn't figure
what it was actually catching. it out.
Incredibly, there it was near the I began working part-time in
top of the heap: an e-mail from fashion retail. Unlike the class-
Dan Freidus, my academic advi- room, this was an environment
sor at the University. Dan had in which I was comfortable
written, simply, "Hi, Ray. Did sticking my neck out, work-
you ever finish school? If not, ing hard and moving up. In two
would you consider finishing years I was a store manager. Four
back at U of M?" years and three stores later, I was
promoted to the Puma store in
Wrong Turn Union Square and made a move
to Brooklyn.
I was intimidated the first few Still, I spent a lot of time try-
weeks of my freshman year. I ing to plan out the next thing.
had been an average high school With no degree, I knew a career
student - mostly because I like this had a ceiling and would
didn't manage my time well, not always require thankless late
I
I
Maio played piano for two tours with April Smith and the Great Picture Show.
nights and weekend shifts. ed by the professionals who had
My daydreams drifted toward made it in the New York scene.
playing music. A musician since But I figured it couldn't hurt to
age four, I'd always written check this band out. I began con-
songs. I was an anxious perform- sumingwhatever bits of informa-
er though, especially as an adult, tion I could find on April Smith
and open mics, cover bands and and the Great Picture Show.
collaborations had come and Hey, originally from Jersey,
gone - but then came the oppor- too. A Kickstarter-funded album.
tunity. Whoa, winner of an NPR Battle of
the Bands.
The Risk This band was established.
I immediately downloaded
An employee walked into their record. And from the first
work one day and said, "Ray, kick drum, Songs For A Sinking
you play piano, right? This band Ship took a running start and
I know needs a keyboard player bowled me over. I was complete-
for their next tour. I'll forward ly charmed by these perfect,
you an e-mail." I always perked nuanced pop songs. And that
up at these offers, but ultimately solid gold voice. My head bobbed.
backed out. I truly thought of My foot tapped incessantly.
myself as an amateur, intimidat- I made contact. April was real-
ly sweet and seemed genuinely
excited after listening to a sam-
pling of my work. I had a week to
learn the 12 tunes on the album
and then I'd audition at their
next practice.
I can still remember how
alive Union Square felt the eve-
ning I walked out of my store for
the last time as its manager. I'd
nailed my audition and gotten
along well with the other band
members. I was their new key-
board and violin player. No more
thankless late nights. New York
felt inspiring again.
The first tour was the expe-
rience I'd always wanted. We
played clubs of all shapes and
sizes, with big shows in cities
like Chicago, L.A. and San Fran-
cisco. I was seeing the country,
connecting with friends and
family in places I'd always want-
ed to visit.
Only a few shows in, I had
become one of the guys. We had
deep talks on longrides, swapped
books, listened to great records.
Stevens, the bass player, and I
would pick the best two items on
every menu and split them both,
landing us the inevitable collec-
tive nickname, "tour girlfriends"
COURTESY OFRAY MALO (even our actual girlfriends used
the term).
There were some lows -to
match the highs, mostly frustra-
tion from subpar showings or
breakdowns in transportation.
Our booking agent dropped the
ball on getting us gigs on the
way home, so our tour finished
15 hours from Brooklyn, at Sum-
merfest in Milwaukee. But what-
ever, it'd been almost six weeks.
And we were homesick.
On the long drive home, my
financial anxieties began to take
hold. I realized that, at best, I'd
broken even on this tour. I was
going to have to borrow money
from my mother to cover rent
and needed to find an employer
that either wouldn't mind if I
had to leave after a few months
or that I could fool into hiring
me short-term before the next
tour. April wasn't sure whether
another tour would even happen.
I began to think maybe my plan
wasn't so well thought out.
Back in New York, it took me
almost a month to find part-
time work. I scraped by for five
months before band manage-
ment put together another tour.
In that time, the band had done
some big things: gotten a few
songs licensed for television
shows and ads, made a high-
production-value music video,
played shows at Newport Folk
Festival and the U.S. Open Ten-
nis Championships. We were a
band on the rise. But a glimpse at
the tour schedule said otherwise:
We were playing essentially the
same small venues as the last
tour. And on the West Coast, an
alarming number of dates were
empty and thus void of income,
though we were assured that
they'd be filled in soon.
They weren't.. The financial
worries really started to set in.
The day I stumbled upon Dan's
e-mail was an unproductive day
off. I was intrigued by his concise
message, nine years after we'd
last spoken. The tour was end-
ing in Chicago and from there I
was intending to visit Ann Arbor
anyway. I wrote him back, asking
if he could meet me. He replied
right away, setting up a meeting
the day I got into Ann Arbor.
We met for three memo-
rable hours. Dan charted a path
toward finishing my degree and
we spoke at length about my var-
ied experiences. While he empa-
thized with my current situation,
he saw more clearly than I could
how much I had learned in my
years away. The risk was worth it
in the end.
The Return
Things moved quickly after
that. I quit the band on good
terms and, though I was sad to
end this chapter, I knew it was
the right thing for myself.
Needing a strong semester
elsewhere to repeal my sus-
pension, I enrolled at the New
School in New York in January
2011. Charged with a new con-
viction, I churned out four solid
As. An earnest, reflective peti-
tion later, I was readmitted to
the University.
In the last year and a half, I've
acquired a passion for classroom
learning that would have been 4
entirely foreign to my younger
self. I'm now able to do the things
most students at this University
do effortlessly, like turning in
assignments on time and par-
ticipating in class discussions.
And I have found inspiration in
the body of work I've created: A
final paper in a creative writing-
class proved practically euphor-
ic. Something clicked and words
just flowed.
I'll always play music and I'm
sincerely looking forward to my
next show, whenever it is.
I'm not your typical college
student, and I'm not naive: Part
of me wishes I could have done
the traditional four years. Yet
the detours I have taken on the I
way to a degree have provided
invaluable challenges I other-
wise wouldn't have faced and
rewards I would never have
received.
After his first year at the University did not work out, Ray worked in fashion retail.
WHAT SHOWS ARE
YOU GOING TO
CATCH UP ON OVER
FALL BREAK?
,' TOO MANY TO NAME?
4
I
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