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 Refinance & lower your interest rate by 2% A * YOU SHOULD WRITE FOR THE TV/ NEW MEDIA BEAT OF DAILY ARTS! 4 *1is offer is not valid on edAg UMCUloans. Offer sub to crdit and coaeral appnval. Not vad with any otr offer. Minimum interst rae of NCUA I ZODkua fw AW RA VO appis.Crci tcard, ome e uitt leste asue ntlans are cled. Other rmcem ay apl iw - CU To request an application, e-mail arts@michigandaily.com.